His distress reminded me of when Dad was seriously ill. Kneeling in the temple, I prayed for his safety. Yin Zhongtian knelt with me, offering to pray daily if it helped. During sleepless nights, I would sit on the bench outside the hospital in a daze, and he would stay with me, accompanying me through the long nights.
I still remember sitting under the old elm tree, my lips turning purple from the cold, and he draped clothes over me, making me believe that someone in this world could give me warmth besides Ye Zhengchen.
But what did I give him? I let him witness my betrayal without giving him a chance to vent his emotions.
“Zhongtian?!” I called out, only to have my wrist gripped tightly and pulled back into the room. The door slammed shut, and Ye Zhengchen glared at me coldly.
The ice had melted, and water seeped from the towel, trickling across the glass coffee table and splashing onto the floor.
Suddenly, Ye Zhengchen embraced me, lifted my face, and kissed me fiercely. Although I had experienced this many times, his sudden kiss shocked me. The wound on my face throbbed as he continued, his powerful arms trapping me, his lips ravaging, and his tongue invading my mouth.
I felt increasingly breathless, everything before my eyes blurring, with only the intense mixture of love and resentment between us remaining clear. Eventually, I lost all sensation, collapsing weakly in his arms, without the strength to breathe…
Noticing my state, Ye Zhengchen ended his kiss, supporting my swaying body. “Darling? What’s wrong?”
My head was dizzy. “I’m just… very tired.”
I felt completely drained. Ye Zhengchen noticed my poor complexion and checked my heartbeat. “Are you feeling unwell?”
“I’m a bit dizzy,” I replied. After working all day, not eating dinner, and then experiencing so much, followed by a passionate kiss, how could I not be exhausted?
“Wait a moment,” he said, carrying me to the bedroom and laying me on the bed before rushing to the kitchen.
He soon returned with a cup of hot sugar water, placing it at my lips. The temperature was just right—hot but not scalding, sweet but not cloying, spreading warmth through my empty stomach.
“Feeling better?” he asked, wiping the water droplets from the corner of my mouth.
“Mm.”
