“So what do you want?” Yue Linze, now calm, asked her word by word. “After doing so much for me, what do you want?”
Tao Yu’s lips moved, not doubting that her next words, whether true or false, might get her thrown out. Previously, her medical professional ethics had prevented intimate relations, but now that she was his source of aggression, professional ethics seemed less important compared to healing the patient.
But it was too late now. Yue Linze wasn’t stupid. Her repeated rejections had convinced him she had deceived him. Any explanation now would be superfluous.
“Okay, I admit I lied about my period,” Tao Yu helplessly approached him, abandoning her professional smile and looking somewhat troubled. “Just listen to my explanation, please don’t be angry.”
“Explain,” Yue Linze coldly watched her hand, though his anger was growing, he didn’t push her away.
Tao Yu coughed, lowering her head and speaking softly: “But I do like you. If you ask what I want, I just want you to be happy. I want nothing else.”
Yue Linze looked at her impassively, uncertain if he believed her.
Tao Yu glanced at him, her eyes reddening: “Although I helped you, you don’t need to compromise yourself. I never expected any payback. Doing this makes me feel uncomfortable—it’s not a reward, but a kind of torture.”
She reframed the night’s rejection, as if Yue Linze’s actions were merely to repay her, and she became a devoted lover who cruelly refused to let her beloved suffer. She wondered if she could salvage the narrative.
While she spoke, Yue Linze continuously stared into her eyes.
Tao Yu smiled under his gaze, glancing at his loosely hanging towel, coughing and turning toward the wardrobe. When her back was to Yue Linze, she clearly felt him staring, like a beast eyeing its prey.
Startled by her own imagination, she blinked away those chaotic thoughts, quickly finding a sleep robe in the wardrobe and returning.
“You’re a bit cold. Put this on,” she held the robe before him.
Yue Linze looked down, standing motionless.
Tao Yu sighed, walking close to him, their height difference obvious. Standing extremely near, her head could feel his breath.
