This is the second chapter to my story! Yes this update came quite quickly, but I have exams soon so I will be revising a lot.. But then that means by the end of the week chapter 3 will be up!

Get ready for an actual moment between the star couple this chapter :3 Enjoy.

Second Meeting

- "We only part to meet again." [John Gay]

The meeting between his daughter and Sun Jian's son had gone less than successfully much to the disappointment of the two. Although they felt that even though they seemed to not get along so well, the issue would be fixed with another simple 'get-together'.

"Yes, this is probably just a case of needing to get to know each other." Qiao Xuan had thought to himself in his office. This is why upon finding out that the two had stormed out of the room and away from each other, Sun Jian had invited her to the Wu palace. There, she would get to know his son and they would surely get along better. Qiao Xuan got up from his desk in his office and went about looking for his daughter.

As usual, she had been sitting in the garden with her sister. Looking at the two made him feel as though he was looking at a beautiful painting. Walking towards the two, he could catch part of the conversation they were having which, he had to say, was less than pleasing.

"…yes Xiao Qiao, he was just that bad. This is not even an exaggeration." she caught her father approaching the two of them and immediately hushed up. He had a disapproving look on his face which could have been taken as curiosity, but did not blame his daughter if she did not like someone. Still, he felt he must put some effort into this budding, actually not even budding, relationship. The two girls bowed their heads to their father in respect, acknowledging his presence.

"Da Qiao, Lord Sun Jian has invited you to the Wu palace to meet his son, Sun Ce, again." Qiao Xuan said. Although he had used the word 'invited' his tone implied that she would have no choice in the matter.

Of course, this news did not sound good to Da Qiao's ears. She didn't really have an idea of how to get out of this. Looking at Xiao Qiao for assistance, her younger sister seemed to be drawing blanks. For all her tricky capabilities, Xiao was choosing now not to think of anything. Time was running out and Da Qiao knew she would need to reply soon before there would have been too long a silence.

Hesitating first, stalling for time to make sure the next thing she said made sense the raven-haired girl said "Uhm, but me and Xiao Qiao had already arranged that we would tend to the flowers today.." It was a partial lie she felt. Although it was not something on either of the girls' agendas, it was something that they could have ended up doing.

To her disappointment, her father seemed prepared for some form of refusal. "Xiao Qiao can still tend to the garden. We have many manservants here; they can help your sister."

"But father, we always do it together." Xiao Qiao added, hoping this would help her sister in some way.

"There is not really a choice in the matter girls. Da Qiao, you will get ready and go to the carriage now. Xiao Qiao, you can wait for your sister to return and do the flowers on a different day." He was the head of the house and although he could see his daughter truly did not want to go, the man knew that his friend's son was not a bad person. Whatever had happened between the two would most certainly be fixed this day. At the very least, he was not going to let his daughter give up without even trying.

Although she was desperately trying to think of more ways to get out of the meeting, Da Qiao resigned herself to her fate and sighed in submission. "Yes father." she said with a subtle sulky pout, using her appearance as a last resort to get him to let his daughter stay. Alas, with years of training and experience of this with Xiao Qiao, this tactic would not work with him. He walked away from the two with an 'it'll-be-alright' smile and brief nod so that he could head back to answering letters.

There was no way he was going to see that girl again - especially not after the way she spoke to him last time they had seen each other Sun Ce had decided. However he had found himself walking away from the meeting room his father had been in after finding out he needed to get ready to meet the Qiao Beauty again. Why should he put himself through that?

"Screw it." he said to himself. He was right. He wasn't going to see her. Instead of going to the room where he would have met that crazy woman, he made a detour out of the palace. One of the guards who saw him leaving told a manservant to pass the information on. Of course, being the heir to Wu, none of them were going to stop him leaving. After all, they had not even been told that he was required to stay in.

Already in the carriage and headed on her way to the palace, Da Qiao wondered why she could not even have the company of Xiao Qiao on the journey. Although they could get to the palace by carriage, it was still a fairly long journey. Still, the solitude would allow her time to think. But maybe thinking would not help her to feel any better. Knowing that no one would be there to watch her, Da Qiao put her feet up on the chair opposite and got into a comfier position and decided it was silly to feel sorry for herself.

"We will be there shortly ma'am" the carriage driver spoke up after a while. Da Qiao knew she was entering the home of a demon. Actually no, not a demon. Demons were scary; scared was the furthest feeling she felt when she was around Sun Ce. But this did not mean she felt good either.

He had been wandering around the forest for a while now; it felt good to be out of the palace though. A while ago he had seen a carriage travelling along the track - it was probably that Da Qiao. He wondered, with annoyance, why the Qiao sister was still being suggested to him as a bride. Did his father not realise that the two of them did not like each other? Qiao Xuan must have been a very good friend of the family for his father to want his own son to marry his daughter. A feeling of curiosity swept over him as he looked back on his path, wondering how long it would take for him to get back to the palace. In the end, he decided against it. "No. Let her wait."

His wish seemed to come true. Da Qiao had arrived at the palace, having actually made an effort to look presentable in a red dress with subtle, blue floral patterns lining it. Her hair, although only hanging down past her shoulders had a golden flower pin in it which seemed to complete her look. She was lead into a room which seemed to be in a similar set up to the one that had been in her own house (although, it had to be noted that this was definitely much grander than the modest Qiao residence) with two seats either side a table. It was Sun Jian who had come with her and was keeping her company at that moment.

"I apologise, my son is not here at the moment. He went out this morning for a walk and has not returned yet. I assure you he will be back soon though." he had explained to her. She smiled and said it was fine. Her father had been right with one thing: it seemed that Lord Sun Jian was an excellent man. He was not rude like his eldest, Sun Ce. She was sure Sun Ce was probably the only one tarnishing the Sun family's reputation. They continued to chat for a long time and there had still been no sign of his son.

Eventually there was a sound at the door behind them and Sun Jian's face looked hopeful - perhaps his son had returned? No, it was merely a maid who had come in to say that he had a visitor of his own to see to. Getting up and promising that his son would be there soon, Da Qiao was left alone in the room with nothing but the faint sound of a wind chime twinkling as it hung from the large window beside her. Once again, she was allowed to be left with her own thoughts.

For what seemed like hours Da Qiao sat in her chair, feeling sillier and sillier at each passing second. Was she being had? Looking out the window, the sun even appeared to be setting. This was quite enough. Surely her sister and father would be worrying about her by now. She considered the thought of leaving the palace, wondering whether she should let Lord Sun Jian know or whether she should just escape some how. In the end, she thought it best to just sneak out. After all, it would be a lot easier to come back and apologise rather than have to deal with telling the powerful man that she was not willing to wait for his son.

Walking gingerly up to the door, Da Qiao pressed her head against it only to find that there was silence. She had thought this was odd and so decided to take a peek. Opening it slightly, she poked her head out only to find that there was not even anyone outside. Perhaps leaving the Wu palace was going to be easier than she had anticipated. Acting casual was probably the best way to go about things so that is what she did; the young lady seemed to slip through the many halls unnoticed. It wasn't until she reached the main door of the palace that she realised her carriage was nowhere to be found. In fact, little to her knowledge, Sun Jian had sent it back in the hopes that his son was going to arrive soon. Perhaps, to make up for the wasted time, he could take the beautiful Qiao home and allow the two more bonding time. Deciding that requesting for a carriage would risk her getting caught. In fact, after sneaking out, it might even have seemed cheeky to ask for one.

The next twenty seconds of her life probably involved the riskiest thing she had ever done. The girl who usually stuck to the rules made a mad dash to the gate and managed to go unnoticed by the guard as she sneaked past. Da Qiao reckoned it was due to her small height that she was so lucky. She continued to run for a while, feeling safer if she made some distance from the place.

He had been out for ages, with not really any aim in mind but to just avoid home. Eventually he decided that whether or not that Da Qiao was back, he would just head back. Anyway, any time they did have left together would be short he was sure. He felt rather pleased with himself. She probably had to sit in that room for hours by herself, waiting like a.. He tried to think of a good word to use.. "Like some sort of potted plant.." It didn't sound that catchy in the end, but it seemed to fit. A potted plant had to stay rooted to the spot just looking pretty, couldn't move until someone did it for them. His thoughts were interrupted when his battle senses felt the presence of someone else.

"What if it were to start raining.." the young girl thought as she looked to the sky. Were those clouds forecasting rain? She wasn't able to tell.. And speaking of that, she really hoped the path she had been taking was leading her home. Da Qiao also heard someone near. She looked around while wondering if it had just been her imagination when a familiar face came out of the foliage, Sun Ce. Their faces seemed to mirror each other at first. The other was definitely the last person who they assumed the presence to be. However somewhere in her expression of surprise, something in her seemed to click and she understood why he was out here.

She supposed she could not blame the man. After all, she had not been thrilled to go to the palace either. "Lord Sun Ce, I'm sorry I could not see you at the palace today.." All she did was say this with a small bow of her head and then give him a small smile as a sort of 'okay, I don't really care anyway.." and continued on her way. At this point in time, she wasn't really in the mood to have any arguments with him. Anyway, it was probably going to take her a few hours to get home if she walked quickly.

He noted that she liked to just walk away from him; it was annoying to say the least. Actually normally it would have annoyed him, but today he felt a little sheepish. Like he had, well not really 'like', been caught in the act. Sun Ce watched her walk on her way. It was at this point that he was frustrated with himself for noting how small and fragile she suddenly appeared to be. Was it his fault that she was walking the distance to her house? Something in him was tugging at his conscience. Tugging on it to apologise. He shook his head - he would not.

"Where's your carriage?" he called to her.

Turning around on the spot, worn out from the day she had had and shook her head. "I don't know. I expect it was sent home.." At first she believed that the carriage had merely been stored somewhere she did not know how to get to. But by now the small girl was sure that the Wu palace was aware of her departure. If her carriage had still been there, then it would already have caught up with her for certain.

"Pops made you walk home?" he asked. This did not seem like something he would do. Had she said something to offend him maybe? Her situation was getting more curious by the sentence.

Once again shaking her head, Da Qiao smiled a little sheepishly. "I'm afraid he was not aware of me leaving…"

"So you escaped the palace." It hadn't really been a question, just something to confirm. Well, he had to give her credit for having the courage to do that. But still, it was still a weird situation to have placed herself in. Again the feeling that he had a part to play in this still lingered.. Before he knew it she had headed off in her direction again.

"Wait up" he called after her. The girl stopped and looked back, a little surprised.

"I won't tell anyone that you decided hide from me out here in the forest." Da Qiao said with that smile of hers. The comment stabbed at his pride. She seemed to have the uncanny ability to not care about stepping on his feelings.

He shook the statement off with a shake of the head, and tried to maintain his pride. "No, no. I wasn't going to say that." Although now that she mentioned it, it would've been a big favour if she didn't. "I'll take you home. Take it as an apology for me not being there." This was the excuse he was using, and although there was truth behind these words, but the real reason he did not want to admit was that he would not be able to sleep if knew she would be walking through this place in the dark. Who knew what would pop up here and there. Not to mention this was a defenceless little lady they were talking about.

"No thank you. I can get home just fine by myself." she said not stopping anymore to talk and continuing her route. She was surprisingly stubborn towards him. He noted that she acted fairly docile towards everyone around her, apparently he was the exception to this. And no, that didn't make him feel any better.

"Don't be stupid, woman. Do you even know what's out here? Wild animals? Bandits?" he couldn't believe she was actually deciding against his company. The majority of ladies would rather have his company than walk through a forest by themselves.

"Oh. That had not crossed my mind."

"Really?" Sun Ce was shocked at her naivety, and didn't want to know what she would have done to defend herself if something did happen. However it didn't sound like she was refusing his company now. He chose not to remind himself that she hadn't exactly said she wanted his company either. "What were you planning to do if something happened then?" he asked, almost telling her off.

She was quiet for a little bit, clearly embarrassed at being caught out on this. Why was he telling her off? Well, if he hadn't left her by herself in the palace then she wouldn't find herself walking. "I would have blamed you, my Lord." she replied with an amused tone that balanced out the annoyed tone of the young man beside her.

He smirked, again she had managed to one-up him in the words department however he felt he held a small victory over her having clearly pointed out the hole in her little plan. This victory was short lived though and an uncomfortable silence settled between the two and Da Qiao and Sun Ce continued walking. The only thing that interrupted this silence was the pitter patter of falling raindrops after a while.

Da Qiao looked up and guessed it was predictable that this would happen. How could it get any worse? That was when the thunder boomed above them and she jumped up, startled. It was awful. She hated thunder and now she'd have to walk through it. Her little scare hadn't gone unnoticed by Sun Ce who cocked an eyebrow up.

"You're afraid of thunder?" There was no reply to this which only confirmed it. He chuckled, "You are, aren't you!"

"I think you will find that you are incorrect. Of course I'm not afraid." she retorted. Instead of saying it in her normal, relaxed tone this had actually snapped out to which Sun Ce only laughed at. Although fear of thunder was quite a common thing he supposed, he had never met anyone who actually had this phobia. On the next clap of thunder she didn't jump although it was noted that her pace had quickened. Sun Ce wasn't going to let this go.

"You know for someone who's not afraid of thunder, I gotta say.. You're walking a lot quicker.." he smirked.

Her heart was beating quicker in her chest although she found it somewhere within herself to speak up and have the last word, "Yes my Lord, that was an excellent observation." Another thunder clap sounded and she jumped again with a quiet squeal she hoped only she had heard. Before he could make fun of her again, Da Qiao resigned to admitting the truth, "Okay, yes I will admit I am a little frightened of the thunder. We're only lucky that there isn't any li-lighting!" There was a flash in the sky which caused the girl to look down. She really didn't know how to explain her fear of this naturally occurring phenomenon, but it was just something that scared her. Actually it wasn't so much the 'thunder and lightning' she was scared of, more the flash and the booms that came with them. She decided this didn't make her reasoning any better so would not verbalise these passing thoughts. Still, silly thoughts filling her mind was better than the silence making the light and thunder claps the focal point of her conscience.

Somehow the rain seemed to subside though, and she somehow felt warmer. Why could she still see the water falling down hard now then? Could it possibly have been dripping off the foliage around them? Actually no, it was more that now she could not feel the rain anymore and the warmth seemed to radiate from the man beside her.

So he would admit that he found her fear of thunder a little amusing at first; it had seemed like such a childish thing to be afraid of though. It was only when he could see that she was really afraid of the thunder that he couldn't let her continue without being comforted. He was not the kind of person to make this sort of gesture - not even for his little sister - so he felt she had better appreciate him doing this. Seeming to be focusing most of his attention on the road ahead of them, mostly due to his shyness, in one swift motion Sun Ce lifted his mantle over Da Qiao and pulled her closer to him to shield her from the rain and maybe make her feel better about the thunder and lightning around them.

"You don't have to be scared." he had told her simply.

It was an extremely kind gesture that she was very thankful for. She gazed up at him to see if she could see what he was thinking. No, she couldn't. He tore his eyes away from the road for a while, seeming to check up on her, or something along those lines, and both their eyes met. It was odd. Although they had caught each other staring at each other, they wouldn't look away.. Not even to blink. Eventually one of them did and their heads shot around. Sun Ce back to facing the road, and Da Qiao back down to her feet. It was a good thing she had been under his mantle, it would hide the mystery blush she could not quite explain at the moment. Likewise Sun Ce, who rarely reddened in the face, had a slight tint of rouge to his cheeks at that moment. For the rest of the journey to the Qiao residence they stayed like this, in at least a more comfortable silence.

Eventually the two did reach Da Qiao's home. It felt very late and there was no telling what hour of the night it was however the rain had fortunately subsided. Qiao Xuan came out, having obviously been very worried about his daughter. "Oh my child, where have you been?"

"The carriage had been sent home earlier than expected.. But luckily I was in the mood for a walk. I am alright father, Lord Sun Ce had accompanied me."

Qiao Xuan looked at the two with a more relaxed expression, glad that the two seemed to be getting along somewhat better. "So, how did things go today?" he asked the two, curious as to see what the status of their friendship was now.

"There was a delay, but we eventually saw each other in the end. Actually father," Da Qiao began, looking at the person next to her with a raised brow and a smile that Sun Ce knew meant trouble "I was under the impression that my Lord did not even wish to see me today." With that she headed back to the house.

Sun Ce smirked, no longer impressed with her subtle way of making fun of him that meant only he knew she was doing it. Bidding farewell to Qiao Xuan and wishing him a good night, the young man turned round so that he could head on his way home. The father of the Qiaos however could not help but notice that this young man was dripping wet from the rain and had even come all the way from the Wu palace (as far as he knew) to bring his daughter back safely to him. The least he could do in return was let him stay the night.

"Lord Sun Ce!" he called back. To this, the young man turned around. "I cannot let you go, stay the night in our guest room."

"Oh no, it's fine. Really, you don't have to do that for me." Although the offer was tempting, Sun Ce did not want to wake up in the morning and open himself to the possibility of experiencing an awkward breakfast with Da Qiao. Yes they had so far only had one moment where they seemed to be getting on and this was not enough to convince the heir of Wu that they were on friendly terms just yet.

"Nonsense my child. Come in and let the maids take care of you." Qiao Xuan insisted "I would never forgive myself if you caught a cold."

Although Sun Ce tried to politely decline the offer, it seemed he would not win the argument. Before he knew it, he was passing out in the comfy bed of the Qiao residence guest house..

End of chapter 2^^

See? I told you there would be a moment. Thanks for my first review, that made me really happy.. Anyway, please keep them coming - I would really like to know what you think :3

I think I may not be able to post the next chapter until the end of the week.. So I'll leave you with this to think about until then: it's going to get pretty steamy ~~

Annie x