By the moonlight spilling through the window, Ye Jinzhi could clearly make out Bella's sleeping face.
She was sunk deep into the pillow, her breathing steady, her long eyelashes casting a small shadow.
Unlike the cold defensiveness she showed him during the day, right now she was as docile as a porcelain doll lying in his bedroom.
Ye Jinzhi walked silently to the edge of the bed.
He slowly bent down, lowering his posture, sniffing the scent on her body as if possessed.
In the silent night, he didn't even dare to breathe heavily, terrified of disturbing this stolen moment of tenderness.
His fingers hovered in mid-air for a long time, ultimately just tracing her silhouette through the cool air.
"Bella..."
"What should I use to keep you by my side..."
He murmured silently, the morbid madness in his eyes weaving into a bottomless sea.
Resting his palm on the edge of the bed, Ye Jinzhi slowly leaned down again, getting close enough to feel Bella's warm, shallow breath brushing against the tip of his nose.
In the end, he couldn't hold back. Not daring to use any force, he simply held his breath,
and carefully pressed his lips against the delicate skin of her slightly flushed cheek, leaving a soft kiss.
For a moment, it was as if the surroundings had been muted.
A secret, paranoid sense of satisfaction spread little by little, filling his empty heart.
"Mine..."
"Bella, you are mine..."
He roared silently in his heart, the madness in his eyes burning scorchingly hot in the darkness.
"Bella, you're so good..."
"So good..."
Ye Jinzhi straightened up, his fingertips gently brushing over the spot he had just kissed. The greedy obsession in his eyes was not appeased by this kiss; instead, it burned even brighter.
His gaze swept over Bella's left hand resting at the edge of the blanket. His thin lips slowly pressed against the back of her hand, then followed the base of her fingers, kissing every single knuckle.
His gaze moved downward, landing on the patch of snow-white skin exposed at the end of the blanket.
Just as his scorching breath drew near, the girl on the bed turned over without any warning.
His fingertips stopped in mid-air, and even his breathing slowed down.
In the end, he didn't stay long in the room. Instead, he quietly retreated, returning the way he came and closing the front door.
Standing in the hallway, he slowly let out a breath of stale air and dialed the number he already knew by heart.
The ringing of the phone seemed particularly piercing in the night. Almost the next second, Bella's lazy voice came from the other end.
"Hello?"
"Bella, it's me. I'm at your door."
The other end of the phone fell silent. After a long while, Bella finally replied:
"...And then?"
"Don't you remember what I said after school yesterday?"
Ye Jinzhi's voice was deep, carrying a deliberately disguised sense of loneliness.
"Do you see what time it is?" Bella growled helplessly on the other end.
"Open the door, I've been kicked out of my house."
Bella didn't speak, just listening to his nonsense.
She raised an eyebrow, her tone sarcastic: "Oh, the Ye family went bankrupt? Such big news, why haven't I heard a thing about it?"
"Open the door and let me in first. I don't have any money on me, and I have nowhere to go."
To be honest, even Ye Jinzhi felt this lame excuse was ridiculous.
But when he heard the "clack, clack" of slippers rubbing against the floor on the other end of the line, and the sound of the girl gradually approaching the door, the gloomy darkness in his eyes instantly dissipated, and a smile curved his lips.
He was really looking forward to seeing her open the cage for him with her own hands.
Bella opened the door with a messy head of hair, not even sparing him a single glance as she walked straight to the kitchen.
A moment later, she brought out a glass of cold water and slammed it onto the coffee table in front of the sofa with a loud clatter.
"Sit down, homeless Student Ye in the middle of the night."
Ye Jinzhi followed behind her like a docile shadow, obediently taking a seat in the corner of the sofa.
With her arms crossed, Bella stared at him as if interrogating a prisoner, her large eyes projecting a coldness that clearly said, "Let's see how long you can keep making things up."
The young man knew exactly what was going on; now was the time to put his acting skills to the test.
He lowered his eyelashes, his voice trembling slightly:
"I... I was kicked out by my father. He has always had an illegitimate child on the outside, and today he officially brought him into the family."
He silently muttered in his heart: I'm sorry, Daddy and Mommy, but in order to bring your daughter-in-law home in the future, I have to wrong you today to take the blame.
"So?"
Beibei raised an eyebrow, obviously not completely moved by this melodramatic script.
"The crown prince of the Ye family is wandering the streets, without even a hundred bucks on him to get a hotel room?"
Ye Jinzhi slowly raised his head, a hint of tears surprisingly shimmering in his eyes.
He spread his empty hands and let out a self-deprecating laugh:
"I left in a hurry and didn't bring anything. Bella, besides your place, I really have nowhere else to go."
Bella didn't say a word, turned around, and went back to the bedroom.
Ye Jinzhi was ecstatic, quickly following her like a clingy large dog, terrified of being shut out if he was even a second too late.
He stood at the bedroom door, inhaling the scent of the room, his gaze landing on the bed.
It was a bit small, but they could barely manage to sleep together on it.
However, when his gaze swept under the pillow, his pupils constricted, and his heart couldn't help but tremble.
He suddenly recalled the phone call from just now. Although Bella's voice was lazy when she answered, it was incredibly steady without any of the hoarse grogginess of someone who had just woken up.
So, from the very beginning to the end, she was...
"Heh... hehe..."
Ye Jinzhi could no longer suppress the surging thirst in his chest. He raised a hand to cover his face, a string of twisted, obsessive low laughter spilling from between his fingers.
It turned out that what he had been coveting was not a delicate flower, but a rose covered in poisonous thorns, ready to pierce his throat at any moment.
Bella looked down and counted out some hundred-yuan bills from the drawer, turning around to hand them to him.
"Take it. This money is enough for you to stay at the hotel by the school gates for a few nights, Student Ye."
Ye Jinzhi's gaze stopped on those red banknotes, but he didn't reach out to take them.
His throat felt dry. The dark, twisted emotions in his eyes that had previously been deliberately suppressed completely burst forth at this moment.
"It's too late, Bella," he murmured softly.
If she hadn't shown a trace of vigilance just now, if he hadn't discovered the cold scissors hidden under her pillow, perhaps he would have continued to play the role of the distressed young master kicked out of his home, patiently taking his time to plot.
But now...
Since she had been wide awake and watching his ugly behavior from the very beginning, since she had long been gripping a sharp blade waiting for his intrusion, then there was no longer any need to maintain this hypocritical peace.
Ye Jinzhi suddenly took a half step forward, his shadow enveloping Bella.
He raised his hand and forcefully grabbed the wrist of the hand she was using to hold the money. His five fingers tightened with such force that Bella frowned.
"Since you were awake, you should know exactly what I just did to you... Did you really think this little bit of money could send me away?"
He lowered his head and rubbed against the earlobe he had bitten.
"Why don't we... experience what it's like to be taken in your sleep, hmm?"
Author's Note
Whether you have already seen the news on your phone or not,
please take some time to pay attention to today's trending topic—Aunt Mei's arrest ˗ˋˏ♡ˎˊ˗
