Ye Yunjin glanced at his chat with Liuyue.
The conversation was still sitting on the same exchange from half an hour ago.
“I need to bandage two kids. They were fooling around in the dorm and bumped their foreheads.”
“Okay. You go ahead.”
His reply had been restrained.
He hadn’t asked when she would be finished or added any unnecessary concern. They were both adults, after all, and should know to give each other plenty of space.
He couldn’t act like some clingy, lovesick boy who wanted to be tied to her every second of the day.
Besides, Liuyue had told him in advance that she had something to take care of, which put his mind more at ease.
So he closed the chat and turned back to the pile of unfinished work at hand.
He checked off the meeting minutes and project schedules one by one. When he had finally finished, he stood and stretched.
He had just closed his laptop and was about to get a glass of water when his chest suddenly began to pound.
Hard.
He first checked the time. It wasn’t that late—barely eleven.
Still, he had stayed up late several nights in a row for a new project, not falling asleep until two in the morning for three consecutive days. The fatigue in his body hadn’t completely faded yet.
He frowned and pressed a hand against his chest, thinking, Is my body finally sounding the alarm? I really need to start going to bed earlier.
But in the next second, a familiar yet strange sensation spread from the corner of his lips.
It felt as though someone had gently pressed a warm finger against his mouth. The touch was soft and achingly real.
And it carried a flutter that didn’t belong to him.
His spine stiffened. He stood frozen in place.
His pupils contracted slightly, and his breathing grew ragged.
Ye! Yun! Che!
That little brat!
At that moment, Ye Yunjin’s urge to murder his younger brother reached its absolute peak.
…
The mountain breeze stirred the leaves and grass tips, sending a soft rustling through the night.
Yet Ye Yunche felt as though his entire body were burning.
A thin layer of sweat had formed on his palms, making the spaces between his fingers sticky. Even the hand he was holding was warm and damp from the contact.
His mind was still a little hazy.
The scene from moments ago lingered before his eyes.
Liuyue’s fingertip had brushed the corner of his lips. Then she had said, “I really like it.”
The words had slipped lightly into his ear, then traveled down the ear canal and set fire to the deepest part of his mind.
At the time, all he had felt was the spot where her finger pressed against his lips burning like a flame. His entire face had grown hot, and his heart had pounded so hard it felt as if it might leap straight out of his throat.
Then, almost on instinct, he had opened his mouth.
And given her finger a light bite.
He swore it had truly been unintentional.
It definitely hadn’t been some calculated move by a cunning player.
Those three words had hit him so hard that he’d been completely dazed. He hadn’t even known what he was doing.
By the time he came back to himself—
Oh no.
How had things turned into this?
Zhu Liuyue’s movement had paused. Then she slowly withdrew her hand.
She couldn’t help frowning slightly.
A faint bite mark remained on her fingertip.
She raised her eyes to look at him.
Her tone held a trace of disdain, along with a hint of amusement.
“Are you a dog? Why are you biting people?”
With that, she grabbed him by the collar of his hoodie.
Treating it like a rag, she rubbed her finger against it several times.
Ye Yunche’s mind was still a blur, and his gaze followed the movement of her hand.
Seeing her rubbing her finger back and forth against his collar, he instinctively caught her by the wrist.
The words escaped before he had time to think.
“That won’t get it clean. Besides… my hoodie’s dirty.”
The moment he said it, he regretted it. However he looked at it, the sentence sounded strange—almost as if he were making excuses for himself.
Zhu Liuyue tipped her head back slightly to look at him, a faintly amused curve at the corners of her lips.
Her voice was lazy and teasing. “Then… how should I clean it?”
The look in her eyes sent a jolt down Ye Yunche’s back. The tips of his ears burned as if they might drip blood.
He swallowed nervously, his Adam’s apple bobbing several times.
Then, as though he had finally made up his mind, he lifted the hem of his hoodie, revealing the thin white undershirt beneath it.
But that wasn’t all.
The undershirt came up with the hoodie, exposing a small section of firm, well-defined abs.
Under the dim light, his skin gleamed with a warm, honeyed sheen. The muscles of his abdomen rose and fell slightly with each breath, and several shallow lines were clearly visible.
He guided her hand, pressing her fingertip against the warm expanse of his abs.
Ye Yunche lowered his head shyly, not daring to meet her eyes.
A flicker of surprise crossed Zhu Liuyue’s eyes.
Her fingertip did not immediately retreat. It lingered against his skin for a second.
Her gaze moved from the lines of his abdomen to his face.
“Ye Yunche, are you seducing me?”
Having been seen through, Ye Yunche wished he could find a hole in the ground and crawl into it. His ears were so red they looked ready to catch fire.
His voice came out low and muffled. “Hmph. Who—who would do something like that… I really just…”
He had merely picked up a few “little tricks for attracting girls” from the internet.
They had seemed quite useful when he read about them. But when it came time to put them into practice, he discovered that he simply didn’t have thick enough skin.
The next moment, Zhu Liuyue’s voice came with a smile.
“I quite like it.”
Ye Yunche jerked his head up, his amber eyes lighting up instantly.
He still hadn’t released her hand. His thumb unconsciously rubbed over the base of her palm.
“Then can I also…”
He pointed at himself and leaned slightly toward her.
His voice held a cautious expectation, along with a hint of unconcealed greed.
“Ask for a reward?”
“What kind of reward?” Zhu Liuyue asked, raising an eyebrow as she watched him. She didn’t pull her hand away.
Ye Yunche shamelessly kept a straight face as he said, “I don’t want much. Just the same as my brother.”
Honestly, could that possibly be the same?
Zhu Liuyue said nothing. She simply pulled her hand free from his palm.
Ye Yunche’s heart sank, and disappointment surged through him.
He turned away indignantly, preparing to express his displeasure through silence.
Then he felt Zhu Liuyue pinch the hood of his hoodie from behind.
Before he could ask, What are you doing? she gave it a sharp tug.
The oversized hood fell over his head, covering his eyes and tousled fringe. Everything before him went black.
Through the gap along the edge of the hood, he could see only a blur of light and shadow.
He struggled to pull the hood back. “Wh-what are you doing… Mmph…”
Before he could finish, Zhu Liuyue had already risen onto her toes.
One hand still held the hood’s drawstring, while the other rested on his shoulder.
Through the thin fabric of the hoodie, she could feel his shoulder blades tense.
Then her warm kiss landed on his lips.
Every sound in Ye Yunche’s mind vanished in that instant.
It was as though someone had pressed the mute button.
All that remained was the sensation of their lips touching.
Soft.
Warm.
