Chapter 22

Who started it, who turned that kiss into something else? She couldn’t say.
All she knew was they’d been at it for at least an hour, both lightheaded and lost, one drunk, the other burning up with fever, and by now, both reduced to single-celled animals, capable of only one thing.
Lu Yi said he picked it up fast. Practiced, learned, perfected.
“Of course, my teacher’s excellent,” she nodded, pleased with herself. Without a good teacher, there’d never be a star pupil.
Her lips were shock-red, so puffy they could hardly move, a small price for such a thorough lesson.
“Teacher Lu,” Lin Jinshen whispered.
Their eyes caught across the little gap between them, nothing innocent in the way they looked at each other. It was like they’d already kissed a hundred times in that one glance.
Like opposite poles of a magnet, drawn together past all resistance, colliding at the moment of contact.
Their lips met, breaths tangled, and her jacket slipped from her arms, to the floor, along with so much more.
Lin Jinshen’s tie, his suit jacket…
Heat radiated from him in front, the glass behind her icy cold, she felt her soul being pulled apart, caught between falling and free fall.
Just before she lost all reason, Lu Yi suddenly remembered: Puff was still here. One arm around his neck, the other bracing his chest, she gasped, “Wait.”
Puff was curled up in his little bed, wide-eyed and staring, fascinated by the spectacle.
“Puff’s watching!”
“?”
“We can’t corrupt the youth,” she mumbled, face buried in his shoulder. Her breathing was wrecked, hair tangled crazy where her hairpin had vanished god-knows-where, black strands veiling her bare shoulder.
She clung to him like a drowning girl to driftwood.
Lin Jinshen’s strong arm stretched across her back, hand hot at her waist. He held her effortlessly, like she was nothing heavier than Puff. His voice was ragged: “You really want to hit pause now?”
She didn’t really want to stop.
She was drowning in him, his heat, his power, every part of her shivered under his hands. She knew this feeling, craving wrapped in nerves, both thrilling and a little terrifying.
She met his gaze, and there was almost a shimmer in her eyes.
His look was fathomless, face sharp as sculpture. In the next instant, he slipped his arm beneath her knees and swept her up without effort, strides steady as he carried her upstairs.
Hardly like a guy sick with the flu at all.
As he shifted her, Lu Yi panicked, clutching his neck so she wouldn’t fall.
The bedroom door opened and she was tossed onto the pillowy bed. Before she even caught her breath, he was braced over her, mouth claiming hers in a deep kiss that stole both air and reason.
He was all bold invasion, testing her limits, taking everything she had to offer.
Lu Yi’s mind was gone, afraid the alcohol was numbing her senses. All that mattered now was the excitement, the anticipation, she wanted to be honest, listen to what her body begged for, and forget the rest.
There’s nothing shameful in wanting.
Lin Jinshen knelt over her, ripping off the shirt buttons. The crisp white fabric made him seem almost monkish, right up until that facade dropped away, revealing the long, sculpted lines of muscle, raw vitality that was all his own. He was dangerously attractive.
From the drawer, Lin Jinshen grabbed a handful of condoms, dropping them onto the bed in a messy little pile, not bothering to count.
If he went through all those, she might never walk again tomorrow.
“We haven’t done it for a month. Taking off your week for your period, and averaging three times a week, I owe you nine more rounds,” he said, still coolly keeping score, as if he’d kept careful track and wasn’t letting anything slide.
He could do the math but couldn’t resist tallying up.
Lu Yi watched his preparations, thoroughly confused. “Are those all for tonight?”
“Who knows? We’ll see how far we get.”
“What if you can’t finish?”
“Installments. We’ll catch up next time.”
“…”
Only half-processing, Lu Yi felt like he meant to use every single one. But Lin Jinshen could read minds, telepathic, almost, he saw right through her, covered her mouth, and decided kissing would get his point across much better than words.
“Let’s see what we manage. We’ve got the whole night ahead, don’t we?”
“Mmph.”
Her eyes were wide, a tear shimmering at the corner.
In the hush of the night, Lin Jinshen plunged beneath the surface, sending out ripples that lapped the shore.
That night, they both felt fevered and lightheaded, maybe drunk, maybe burning up, maybe just completely lost in each other, sharing the same skin. All the uncomfortable symptoms intensified and tangled, consciousness blurring as they drowned, lost breath, then broke the surface together, gasping for air they couldn’t get enough of.
In the thick of it, Lu Yi refused to be just some plaything, she was determined to take the upper hand.
She gripped Lin Jinshen’s shoulders, pushing him down, flipping their positions so she could straddle his waist, her posture full of swagger, the first hard-won victory of the night.
Lin Jinshen looked up at her, caught and consumed in a snare made precisely for him.
He gave in willingly, sweetly, content to be conquered by her.
That secret night was absolute madness. Lu Yi had lost count of how many times they tumbled together; all she remembered, in the end, was Lin Jinshen tearing open a wrapper with his teeth, his glistening skin pressed against hers, both of them saying things they normally never would.
The heat seared right through to her heart. Dazed and blurry, she mumbled, "So hot… He’s even hotter."
Lin Jinshen propped himself over her, his eyes dark as midnight. The curtains still fluttered with the breeze from earlier that day, soft moonlight slipping in. Water shimmered on his lips as he husked in a low voice, "Why cry? You’re beautiful, Miss Lu. Really."
"…"
By the second half of the night, Lu Yi could barely move, lazily clinging to Lin Jinshen like he was her whole world.
Her memories splintered into scattered flashes: in the steamy bathroom, she saw his pressed lips, the carve of his jaw tense and defined, so refined, so handsome.
She couldn’t remember how she made it back to bed. When she glanced up, the bedside trash was overflowing with crumpled white tissues.
She closed her eyes. The last thing she saw before sleep claimed her was Lin Jinshen’s long, coal-black eyelashes.
Lu Yi kept drifting in and out of feverish dreams. She clung to Lin Jinshen’s shoulders, his muscles flexing and relaxing beneath her touch, every movement so deliberately different.
She was burning up, parched to the point her own voice rasped raw.
Lin Jinshen kissed her, again and again, soothing the cracked dryness of her lips.
She felt like she might die from it.
The heat devoured her, bones and all, until nothing was left.
It wasn’t until the sunlight blazed in, curtains offering no mercy, lighting every inch of the bedroom with summer’s unforgiving glare, that Lu Yi finally snapped awake.
Her first clear thought landed, though her mind lagged behind. She blinked slowly. Finally, her eyes stung, and she rubbed at them, stopping abruptly as everything came flooding back.
Bit by bit, she remembered last night.
Yesterday, Lin Jinshen said he wouldn’t be coming home, so Lu Yi called friends over. She lost at games, drank too much, and, with a blur, Lin Jinshen appeared, expression dark, surveying the room with icy calm.
Then…
She spilled every secret she had.
She’d asked him why he came back.
Invited her friends next time only if he wasn’t around.
Told him the only reason for her message was to make sure he really wouldn’t return.
…
Lu Yi swallowed, her throat aching faintly. Memory shards flickered through her mind.
She had kissed him, unprompted.
They made out by the giant window, she told him his lips were soft.
She tugged on his tie, pressed her mouth to the hollow of his throat.
His usually pale skin flushed with fever, the kind of red that went far beyond his cheeks.
And then there was her body, sore everywhere, her joints feeling newly assembled and awkward. Beneath the blanket, she wore nothing at all.
She instinctively wrapped herself tighter in the covers.
They’d done it. Multiple times.
Worse, she remembered what she’d said in the heat of it all: bold enough to make even herself blush. It was so much, it felt like watching someone else’s life play out in her head.
She squeezed her eyes shut, bit her lip, and sincerely wanted to perish on the spot.
Just then, the arm she'd been lying on twitched. Lu Yi finally realized she’d spent the whole night sleeping on Lin Jinshen’s arm.
He shifted slightly beside her.
If only, she wished, he’d just do his usual morning routine: get up, shower, dress, and head to the office, so she wouldn’t have to face him, and could chalk it all up to drunken nonsense.
But Lin Jinshen defied her wish. His faint stirring soon stopped; it was as if he’d gone back to sleep.
"…"
Honestly, understandable. He’s over twenty-five, maybe the most fit for his age group, but still. When they collapsed into bed, it was already dawn, five, maybe six in the morning?
She had no clue what time it was now, just that the blinding sunlight screamed “late.”
She pushed herself to wait ten more minutes, but couldn’t keep up the charade any longer. Gritting her teeth, she prepared to be the first to escape.
She rallied her nerve, sat up, blanket clutched tight.
But Lin Jinshen moved at precisely the same time.
Shoulder to shoulder, they rose together, unspoken, in perfect sync.
Their eyes met, both faces painted with the awkwardness and lingering wildness of last night, stuff neither of them would ever dare while sober.
"Morning," Lin Jinshen forced out, eyes darting to the kiss marks circling her collarbone before his mouth snapped shut.
Lu Yi: "…Morning."
Now she really wanted to die.
It was a mutual, miserable realization: waking up in the same bed, naked but for the blankets, and still politely saying good morning, like two total strangers.
Awkward.
Colossal, world-ending awkwardness.
Lin Jinshen cleared his throat, gaze sweeping to the scattered clothes on the floor. Nothing matched, nothing was in its proper place. Lu Yi noticed too, her bra dangled off the nightstand, god knows where her panties had gone.
No way was she hunting for a new pair in the closet right now.
But just as a fresh, horrifying realization dawned, Lu Yi squeezed her eyes shut in surrender, then, voice trembling as thin as a whisper, turned to ask, "My underwear…?"
Lin Jinshen frowned, confused at first, no clue why she’d be asking him. He didn’t know where his own stuff was.
But then, as some blurry memory sparked, he rolled over, still clutching his blanket, his back turned, painted with crimson scratch marks, very clearly someone’s handiwork. He reached beneath the pillow, and pulled out a little pair of white lace panties.
Pulled out bit by bit, one side already warped and torn.
He was the one who took it off.
He was also the one who stuffed it under the pillow.
“…”