For a moment, Ji Xixing didn’t know what to say. After two seconds of silence, she naturally walked over and sat down on the sofa in the room.
Looking at Gu Wangxuan, she put on a smile again. “I just want to sit here for a while. Mr. Gu, do whatever you like.”
The excuse was perfunctory to the extreme, yet Ji Xixing’s gaze was far too sincere.
Sitting there in her pajamas, the smooth fabric outlined her graceful figure, and when she smiled, two faint dimples appeared on her cheeks. Her long eyelashes fluttered with every blink.
Gu Wangxuan’s eyes darkened. “By whatever I like, do you mean I can do anything?”
“Of course.” Ji Xixing failed to catch the hidden meaning behind his words and was secretly pleased with her successful little scheme.
After hearing her answer, Gu Wangxuan crossed the distance between them in a few strides and pulled her to her feet. In less than two seconds, the distance between them disappeared completely, leaving Ji Xixing stunned.
Once again, she felt a strong sense of being overwhelmed and instinctively struggled. “What are you doing?”
Gu Wangxuan held her tightly. Resting his head near her neck, his warm breath brushed against her ear, making her desperately want to escape.
Her attempts to move only earned her an even tighter embrace. Looking up at him in panic, tears had already begun to gather in her eyes.
Her soft voice carried a pleading tone. “Can you let me go first? Please.”
“Didn’t you tell me to do as I pleased? Then whatever I do shouldn’t be considered excessive, right?” Gu Wangxuan’s deep laughter sounded beside her ear, and only then did Ji Xixing realize what he wanted.
Her instinctive resistance to such unfamiliar intimacy grew stronger.
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
No, absolutely not.
Last time, she had been drugged and had made such a mistake. This time she was completely clear-headed. She couldn’t force herself to agree.
There was no relationship between them, and they shouldn’t be doing something so intimate.
But Gu Wangxuan seemed not to hear her refusal. His closeness made her body tremble involuntarily.
Eventually, Ji Xixing’s resistance became weaker and weaker. Her cheeks flushed, yet she still pushed against him with what little strength she had.
Gu Wangxuan restrained her movements and held her firmly. Their faces were so close that she could clearly hear his voice.
This time, he loosened most of his hold and simply wrapped her tightly in his arms, whispering beside her ear, “Tell me, do you want this?”
Ji Xixing bit her lip lightly. Her eyes misted over, tears falling uncontrollably as she shook her head frantically.
“No. I don’t.”
She resisted fiercely, but Gu Wangxuan still didn’t let go.
Only when she cried so hard that she could barely speak, tears streaming down her face, did she tremble and ask, “Mr. Gu, what are you doing to me?”
“You always say you want to marry me, but where does that leave Miss Ye, your childhood friend and the woman everyone says is a perfect match for you?”
“Wasn’t one ridiculous mistake enough? Why does there have to be a second time?” Endless sadness filled Ji Xixing’s eyes.
She had heard those words before and engraved them deeply into her heart.
At last, Gu Wangxuan released her. The frown on his face revealed his irritation. He pulled several tissues from the round table nearby and gently wiped away her tears.
“Who told you these things?” he asked after a few moments of silence.
“Everyone says it. Do I really need to hear it from someone specific?” Ji Xixing cried so hard she could barely catch her breath, and the more she thought about it, the more wronged she felt.
“We’re neither childhood sweethearts nor a suitable match. I have nothing to do with her.” Gu Wangxuan frowned as he explained.
Seeing her crying so pitifully, he patted her back gently. “Stop crying.”
“I genuinely want to marry you. I’m not close to Ye Qingyi either. As far as I’m concerned, as long as it’s with you, none of this is ridiculous.”
His explanation only made Ji Xixing even more upset.
She swore that if she could do it over again, she would rather stay alone in her room and scare herself to death with her imagination than step into this room again.
So now, still angry, she had no intention of accepting his attempts to comfort her.
“Rumors don’t appear out of nowhere. If Miss Ye really isn’t close to you, as you say, then why is everyone talking about it?” Ji Xixing stubbornly held onto the issue, deliberately emphasizing the word everyone.
“She keeps pursuing me.” Gu Wangxuan rubbed his forehead with a headache.
Over the years, Ye Qingyi had repeatedly approached him. He had rejected her countless times and had grown tired of it himself, yet she still insisted on staying close to him.
Later, for the sake of the older generation in their families, as long as she didn’t cross the line, he would occasionally tolerate her presence during social gatherings.
But he had never once said he intended to marry her.
As those rumors spread, perhaps even Ye Qingyi herself had begun to believe them.
Yet in Gu Wangxuan’s eyes, the entire matter was nothing but a joke.
So what if the elders of the Gu family liked her?
As long as he refused, no one could force him.
“She keeps chasing you, but you never rejected her properly,” Ji Xixing argued.
“Then marry me and keep an eye on me. Next time I see her, I’ll remember I’m a married man and naturally know how to reject her.” Gu Wangxuan smiled charmingly.
Ji Xixing was angry, but she wasn’t foolish.
She knew very well that Gu Wangxuan was trying to trap her with his words, so she ignored him.
In truth, she didn’t dislike the idea of marrying him.
What she couldn’t understand was why he persisted so seriously. He didn’t seem like someone merely playing around.
It was almost as though he truly meant it.
But what exactly was he after?
Ji Xixing couldn’t figure it out.
“Still angry?” Gu Wangxuan leaned closer again and pinched her puffed-up cheeks, seemingly unable to understand how someone could stay angry for so long.
Ji Xixing turned her face away, intending not to look at him, but accidentally caught sight of something she shouldn’t have.
Her face immediately turned scarlet again.
Driven by curiosity, her gaze shifted back and forth a few times before she finally asked, “Um… aren’t you uncomfortable?”
Gu Wangxuan, who had been watching her all along, naturally understood what she meant.
He chuckled softly.
“If you help me, I won’t feel uncomfortable anymore.”