I'm Your Sister, Brother Chow
Chapter 42: Leave It All to Me

Vivian only then realised that the confetti that was now raining down onto them both was just part of the restaurant's way of welcoming them. Since the waiters had made a big show of welcoming them, the other patrons in the restaurant were also looking at them with envy in their eyes.

Vivian blushed and tried denying it by brushing it off. "Um, w-we're not-"

Before she could deny that they were a couple, Chow had quickly interrupted her. "Thank you. A table for two, please."

"Right this way, please," a waitress said, gesturing for them to enter.

However, before she showed them to their seats, she smiled expectantly at them. "Since our restaurant is celebrating our anniversary today, won't the lucky couple grace us with a couple dance on our specially prepared dance floor?"

Vivian tensed up anxiously when she heard the waitress suggest such a thing. She quickly glanced at Chow, who had a similar look of disgust on his face.

It was the first time Vivian felt so happy to see such an expression on him.

She let out a sigh of relief and relaxed her muscles. Chow must have caught sight of the change in her expression because he raised his eyebrow at her next.

"What? Are you relieved that you don't have to dance with me?" he asked slyly with a smirk.

When she saw the teasing look in his eyes, Vivian tensed up all over again.

"I-I don't know how to dance," she whispered, gulping nervously. "Can we not do this?"

Chow took another glance at Vivian before turning to face the waitress. "Lead us to the dance floor, please. We can't eat a free meal without doing anything in return."

The waitress was delighted to hear that such a handsome young man was willing to accept the dance invitation. Her eyes turned starry as she quickly showed them the way. "Please follow me!" Vivian couldn't really escape because Chow had wrapped his arms around her shoulders. As she was hoisted along by him, she let out another plea. "Please, Brother Chow, I really don't know how to dance! I'l end up embarrassing you too!"

Chow glanced at her from the corners of his eyes and scoffed. "Who do you think you are, that you can embarrass me so easily?"

All the colour drained from Vivian's face when she saw the determination in Chow's eyes.

Some of the patrons also got up and followed them to the dance floor in the middle of the restaurant.

Vivian glanced around at the people who were following them. It made her feel even more nervous knowing that they would be watching them dance. She gradually stopped in her footsteps.

"I really don't know how to dance, Brother Chow," Vivian said shyly. "Let's not eat here anymore. We can just go home for dinner. I'm sure that Aunt Blaine must be waiting for us!"

However, the more nervous she looked, the more Chow felt like teasing her.

He would never have batted an eye at the waitress' request had it not been for Vivian.

Of course, he had no intention of telling Vivian about this.

Chow patted her shoulder and continued pulling her along, not allowing her to protest any further. "Don't worry, just leave it all to me. I won't let you embarrass yourself."

"But..." There were so many people watching them. Vivian really didn't want any of their attention on her.

Even with her face full of panic, Chow still led her to the dance floor without a choice.

It was obvious that the dance floor was just a temporary setup. It was simple, minimalistic, and a little crude, but the restaurant staff had put in effort decorating the floor with flowers and lights all over. If anything, it looked more like a school dance than a professional dance floor.

Simple, but a lot of thought had gone into it.

It seemed as if everyone had been waiting for this lucky couple to show up. A good-looking man picked up a microphone and started addressing the small crowd that had gathered. "Hello everyone, I'm the owner of this restaurant. I'm very happy to inform you that today is our third anniversary! Since we've managed to invite the luckiest couple to the dance floor tonight, let's all give them a round of applause as they give us the first dance of the night!"

"Everyone gets a free drink and a free dessert on the house tonight! I hope that you'll all continue being our loyal customers for many, many more years to come. Now, let's bring on the music!"

As the owner snapped his fingers, the lights in the restaurant started to dim. The lights that shone the brightest were all focused on the couple in the middle of the dance floor.

The first notes of a romantic piano piece filled the air.

Everyone's eyes were on Chow and Vivian.

Vivian was no stranger to being the centre of attention. However, it was almost always because she was the subject of ridicule, so after time, she had begun to get wary and sensitive to attention. She could feel their stares on her increasingly tense body.

On the other hand, Chow remained calm and composed. He bowed to her in a gentlemanly manner and extended his right hand towards her, revealing a dazzling smile.

Vivian looked at him blankly, not daring to respond for a long time.

Chow smiled again and took the initiative to reach out and grab Vivian's hand. He planted a kiss on the back of her hand and whispered softly to her. "Don't worry, I'll take care of everything." With that, he suddenly pulled Vivian towards him and gently held her waist.

Vivian exclaimed in surprise. She wasn't prepared for Chow to pull her right into the middle of the dance floor.

The chasing lights followed them around. Vivian was still very hyperaware of the eyes on her and moved about stiffly.

Nonetheless, with Chow leading her in the dance, her steps eventually became less awkward. She was eventually dancing along to the music without even realising it. "B-Brother Chow, I still don't know..." Despite her fluid moves, Vivian was still in a panic. It was written all over her face.

Chow's lips curled into a smile as he looked down into her flustered eyes. "Relax. Just follow my lead."

Vivian's mind was already in havoc. In a moment of panic, she accidentally stepped on Chow's shoe.

"Oh!" It wasn't Chow who exclaimed, but Vivian instead.

Even though his foot had been stepped on, Chow's expression hadn't changed. The rare smile was still on his lips. "Lift your head and look into my eyes. Don't be such a nervous wreck. I'm still here, you've still got me. Relax."

His soothing deep voice was like a lullaby. As if in a trance, Vivian did exactly as she was told and stared back into Chow's eyes. Slowly, she started to calm down.

He was still here.

As long as she still had him, she didn't have to be scared or nervous anymore.

For the longest time ever, the only place she wanted to call her home was by his side.

Since they hadn't planned on coming to this restaurant for dinner in the first place, Vivian was just wearing her plain pink dress and regular ballet flats on her feet.

She didn't quite seem to belong in the picture with Chow, who was dressed like a prince.

However, the scene of them hugging each other while dancing was beautiful indeed.

Vivian gradually lost herself in Chow's deep eyes.

At that moment, it felt like there was no one else there. Even the music seemed to fade away into the background. It was just the two of them, under the lights, looking deeply into each other's eyes. Vivian was suddenly transported back to that snowy day on a cold, winter evening.

It was just three years ago, but the memory felt too far back in the distance every time she recalled what happened when she'd barely turned fifteen.

It had been snowing so thickly that the entire ground had been covered in a thick layer of snow.

The surroundings were also covered in a blanket of snow, making it look like a winter wonderland. However, that didn't stop her from getting picked on by the neighbourhood kids again. "You're such a shameless b*tch! You're gonna be just like your mother!"

"Let's snowball her entire face! Throw harder!"

The kids were a lot younger than her, but their snowballs were so fast, heavy, and painful that Vivian couldn't even get up from the ground since she got pelted with them.

"Hey, what the hell are you all doing?" The sudden roar had all the kids fleeing immediately with their snowballs still in their hands.

When Vivian raised her head to look at her saviour, she caught sight of a person who looked like an ice prince.

He didn't show her an explicitly kind face. In fact, his eyebrows were still tightly knitted together.

But in the fluttering snow, he lowered his body and stretched out his hand to her. "Are you alright? Why were the kids bullying you like that?"

At that time, she hadn't known that the person who was reaching out to her was Chow.

However, it was right then when her teenage crush got out of hand. She fell for him so hard that it was impossible for her to go back to how she was before she met him. Vivian often thought that if she were not her mother's child, she would've been able to bury him in her heart forever, leaving herself with only good memories of Chow.

However, there were no such things as 'what ifs'. Her fate had been tightly entangled with Chow's from the very start.

Perhaps, staying by his side was a good thing after all.

At the very least, she had never thought that the ice prince from that day would be dancing with her like this in his arms, twirling her around gently to the music and behaving like a true Prince Charming.

It seemed like the gods of fate had finally decided to show her some mercy. She had been on the receiving end of Chow's hatred for a very long time.

But it was because of that very reason that she was able to stay by his his side and occasionally get a sweet taste of what felt like true happiness to her.☐☐☐☐☐