Some people come in our life as a surprise. Surprises are always unexpected. That is why they are called surprises after all. Some turn into the most beautiful dream while others turn into the worst nightmare.

For Ye Jie, Xu Mey was a surprise which was neither a dream nor a nightmare. She was a reality. His reality. His beautiful wife.

For Xu Mey, his existence in her life was skeptical. He was her husband. But a paper husband. She never planned on letting her feelings astray. But feelings can't be controlled and she was mindful of that.

-The Next Morning-

The sky was still a bit dark. The early birds' chirps were breaking the silence of the early morning.

Xu Mey stirred a bit in sleep as her hand felt around on the bed but couldn't find Ye Jie. Her eyes shot open at once. She sat up, frantically looked around in the still dark room.

She pulled the duvet off her body and ran outside the room. She hurriedly came down the stairs without caring about the fact that she was bare-footed.

There was a time Xu Mey was actually the timid and innocent girl. She was just a kid with a broken family. But the reality of having a broken family was just the start in her life's misery. The later miseries made her scared of a lot of things. But with time and help from people close to her, she managed to rise above her fears except for a few.

Solitude!

Being all alone...

Loneliness was one of the things that scared her the most even now. Every inhabitant gets used to its environment. Stars get used to fame. Animal gets used to Jungle while people get used to cities. Even loners make an accord with their solitude.

But Xu Mey couldn't become one of those people. She still couldn't get used to her solitude and insecurity. This was the reason she never bought a house or even an apartment for herself. She spent all her life in hostels or hotels with a lot of people surrounding her. It didn't matter if the people around her were strangers as long as they were living breathing people, it was enough for her.

When Lin Shen advised her to buy a house, she refused. Jun Li Na suggested that she can hire servants to keep her company at the house. But perhaps, she got accustomed to being a vagabond.

At the moment, Xu Mey wasn't afraid of Ye Jie leaving her alone but rather why wasn't he beside her. But figuring out the reason for her worry for him was out of her mind. At the last step of the stairs, she heard a faint voice singing the ending theme song of Black Butler, 'I'm Alive'. She halted in her steps listening attentively.

The voice was exactly what she was getting familiar with; low, husky and elegant. He was singing with a perfect sense of tone adding his own allure to the song. Reaching the end, he started humming the tune pleasantly.

"You're up?" His voice broke her dazed state as she looked at the handsome- wait! He looked like a hobo. His brown hair was disheveled, there were huge bags under his beautiful eyes giving away his sleep-deprived state. He was wearing an apron over his clothes, which was in worse condition than him. He looked like, he'd fought a long and hard battle.

But how he managed to smile brightly in his state was a mystery to Xu Mey. Ignoring her judging look, he said, "Why are you up so early?"

"I usually wake up at this time." She replied honestly in her daze. "Did you binge-watched the entire season?"

Ye Jie scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. "Yeah... I got into it too deeply."

Xu Mey chuckled loudly which made all Ye Jie's tiredness vanish in thin air. "Sorry..." Her apology was definitely not sincere but he didn't mind at all. "Did you like it?"

"Yup! I did... But I think Sebastian is..." Xu Mey glared at him daring him to say anything unacceptable. "He's amazing... Definitely... Very amazing..." He replaced the word 'old' with 'amazing' avoiding the wrath of his dear wife. My Virtual Library Empire (M-VLEMPYR)

He was thinking about how Black Butler released a decade ago but he couldn't possibly say 'old' ever... Not in front of her...

"He sure is amazing..." She replied amused by his comment. Ye Jie released a sigh of relief. "There are not many people who can compete with Sebastian's charm."

"What about me? Can I compete?" His body lowered forward towards her. His coquettish bearing made her feel nervous as she looked anywhere but at him.

She was thinking of ways to get out of this plight when it suddenly hit her, "It wouldn't take the entire night to binge watch one season. Why didn't you sleep?"

He straightened his body saying, "I wanted to make a healthy breakfast."

"You spent the night making a healthy breakfast to eat for yourself?" She found him rather odd at the moment.

"No, my dear wifey, I spent hours making a healthy breakfast for you." Her body went rigid at his words. Her heart was beating so loudly that she could hear it. To make it all worse, she did the mistake of looking into his eyes. Instead of humor, they were brimming with sincerity.