Indoors.
A hazy white mist wrapped around them, filling the room with damp heat.
From the room next door came the sound of Jiang Ruitian opening and closing the door. Only after the surroundings had fallen quiet again did she speak.
“Brother Yan, get out.”
This was the women’s hot spring room.
How could he come in here… and pin her against the wall like this?
“…”
Jiang Zongyan’s icy gaze locked onto her like hooks tempered in frost.
Before Zhou Suisui could react, he reached out, seized her wrist, and abruptly pulled her into his arms.
“Mm… let go…”
Annoyed, Zhou Suisui began to struggle.
Jiang Zongyan pressed her hands down firmly.
With no clothing between them, she could clearly feel his searing body heat and rapid heartbeat.
The overpowering scent of him engulfed her, making it difficult for her even to breathe.
“What are you doing?!”
Zhou Suisui finally realized that he was angry.
It was completely inexplicable!
He was the one who had suddenly broken their appointment and then appeared here without saying a word.
What did he have to be angry about?
She planted both hands against his chest, trying to push him away.
But his tall, solid body was like a wall of muscle. She couldn’t move him even an inch.
The abs beneath her palms felt completely different from those of the unfamiliar NPC athlete she had touched earlier.
They were hotter, harder, and carried his own distinctive masculine scent.
The heat made her fingertips tingle.
“Touch them.”
Jiang Zongyan’s voice was hoarse with emotion.
His usually indifferent eyes now churned with intense jealousy and possessiveness. “Are my abs not as nice to touch?”
“Are his better, or mine?”
One question after another came crashing down on her.
His face drew closer and closer until the tips of their noses were nearly touching. His warm breath brushed against her lips, laced with gritted-teeth frustration, though he was struggling desperately to restrain himself.
“Why did you touch another man’s abs?”
“Good girl…” His long, strong fingers brushed gently past her ear, his magnetic voice low and seductive. “From now on, you can touch mine, all right, baby?”
“…”
Zhou Suisui’s mind went blank, leaving only the scorching sensation beneath her palms.
She tried to pull her hands away, but his grip tightened, forcing her to feel the contours of his abdominal muscles rising and falling with every breath.
“I—I didn’t… Ruitian pulled me into it…”
She tried to explain in a small voice, but her entire body had gone weak and her voice trembled uncontrollably.
“She pulled you into it, so you touched him?”
Jiang Zongyan’s eyes darkened frighteningly, like those of a beast on the verge of losing control. “If she pulled you into doing something else, would you agree to that too?”
The image of her touching another man’s abs flashed through his mind. Instead of calming the fire in his chest, it only made the flames burn hotter. Along with it, the feelings he had suppressed for so long could no longer remain hidden.
“Zhou Suisui…”
He lowered his head until his forehead rested against hers. His voice trembled faintly, nearly feverish with possessiveness.
“I can’t stand seeing any man get close to you.”
“Whenever someone looks at you for too long or says one extra word to you, it tears me up inside. I want nothing more than to lock you away somewhere only I can see you, so that I’m the only one in your eyes.”
His gaze was burning and unrestrained as he stared fixedly into her eyes. He spoke each word slowly and clearly:
“Don’t tell me you can’t see how I feel about you!”
His words exploded in Zhou Suisui’s mind like a thunderclap.
Her entire body jolted. Her pupils contracted as she stared at his face from such a close distance, forgetting even to breathe.
He liked her?
How was that possible?
Wasn’t he her brother’s sworn enemy?
Didn’t he like men?
Wasn’t he back to attend a matchmaking meeting… and about to return to America?
Boom!
Her heart began pounding violently.
Shock and fear swept over her at the same time.
She could feel that the situation was slipping out of control.
She had no idea where she found the strength, but she suddenly shoved him away and turned to run out of the hot spring room.
“Ah!”
She was running too fast. Her foot caught on something, and she nearly fell.
“Careful!”
Jiang Zongyan’s eyes sharpened. He caught her in the blink of an eye.
His palm wrapped around her waist, its heat startlingly intense.
Zhou Suisui felt as though she had been burned.
Ignoring the pain, she shoved him away and rushed into the changing room without looking back.
“…”
Jiang Zongyan stood where he was, staring blankly at her fleeing figure.
After a long moment, he gave a self-deprecating smile. A flicker of frustration and disappointment passed through his eyes.
Had he… been too hasty?
Had he frightened her?
In the changing room, Zhou Suisui leaned against the door and gasped for breath.
Her heart was pounding so hard it felt as though it might leap out of her throat.
Her cheeks were burning, and even her ears were bright red.
The scene from moments ago replayed over and over in her mind. Jiang Zongyan’s scorching body heat and his words—“Don’t tell me you can’t see how I feel about you”—echoed in her ears like a spell.
“What was that?”
Hearing the commotion, Jiang Ruitian immediately came out, wrapped in a bath towel, to investigate.
She had watched Zhou Suisui run into the changing room and hadn’t even noticed that she herself was standing right beside it.
“Suisui? What’s wrong?”
Jiang Ruitian walked over and knocked on the door, asking with concern, “Why did you run so fast? Are you feeling unwell?”
“N-no, it’s nothing.”
Zhou Suisui took a deep breath and hurriedly came up with an excuse. “The water was a little too hot. I felt stifled and uncomfortable.”
“Uncomfortable?”
Jiang Ruitian looked suspiciously at the room.
Why did she feel perfectly fine?
The temperature was neither too hot nor too cold, and there was even a faint, pleasant fragrance in the air.
Still, if Suisui felt uncomfortable, then it must not have been good for her. Jiang Ruitian was used to rough conditions and didn’t mind it herself.
She didn’t think much more of it. “Then let’s go. Staying in too long can make you dizzy.”
“Mm.”
Zhou Suisui let out a quiet sigh of relief.
She had no idea whether Jiang Zongyan was still in the other room, but she had no intention of going back into the hot spring.
After changing, the two of them walked out of the changing room.
They immediately saw Jiang Zongyan standing by the entrance.
He had already restrained his frighteningly cold expression and returned to his usual aloof, distant demeanor, as though the uncontrolled, possessive man from moments ago had been nothing more than a hallucination.
Only his eyes kept drifting toward Zhou Suisui, carrying a trace of nervousness and anticipation that was difficult to detect.
“Brother? What are you doing here?”
Jiang Ruitian froze for a moment before hurrying over in surprise. “Weren’t you discussing business with President Wang? Why did you come?”
“I came to pick you two up.”
Jiang Zongyan spoke indifferently, but his gaze remained fixed on Zhou Suisui.
“…”
Zhou Suisui instinctively hid behind Jiang Ruitian, deliberately putting some distance between herself and him.
Jiang Zongyan’s eyes darkened, but he said nothing.
The car was filled with silence throughout the ride.
Jiang Ruitian tried several times to break the tension, but each time, Jiang Zongyan’s icy glance stopped her.
Zhou Suisui kept looking out the window, pretending to admire the scenery, while her thoughts were tangled in a hopeless mess.
Jiang Ruitian looked from one of them to the other. The atmosphere felt strange, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on why.
When they arrived back at the Zhou family villa, Zhou Suisui opened the car door almost the instant it stopped.
“Goodbye!”
She called the words hurriedly to Jiang Ruitian, then turned and ran toward the Zhou family’s front door, not even daring to look at Jiang Zongyan.
