Jiang Wangsheng shook her head and aimlessly wiped her tears against his chest. His expensive shirt was immediately stained with water. Xie Lan looked down at the small head against his chest, resisting the urge to devour her with kisses, and let her wipe her tears there.
“You lied to me first, so I don’t want you anymore.”
The woman lifted her head. Her stubborn gaze met Xie Lan’s, and his heart jolted.
“Baby, when did I ever lie to you? I didn’t.” He reached out to wipe the tears from the corners of her eyes, rapidly running through the events of the past few months in his mind.
Was there something he hadn’t covered up well enough?
As Xie Lan wiped her tears, Jiang Wangsheng saw him trying to kiss her again. She grabbed him by the neck and pushed him away, then said, “The day we started dating, you said someone had seen you naked, so we had to get together. I asked someone else afterward, and apparently that can’t even happen!”
“You just… picked on me because I grew up in an orphanage.” Jiang Wangsheng pouted. Tears ran down her cheeks, and even the delicate tip of her nose had turned pink. Whenever she got worked up, her chin and the rest of her skin flushed faintly pink too. Her moist red lips glistened with tears. She had no idea that right now she looked just like she did when he’d had his way with her in bed.
Xie Lan’s deep, dark eyes were unfathomable. His Adam’s apple bobbed, and Jiang Wangsheng, still gripping his neck, froze for a moment before slowly letting go.
“Baby, that’s not how it is. Every family is different. Mine is just like that—very conservative.”
The hand on her waist began to move slowly. His long, slender fingers slipped beneath her clothes, and the instant they touched her smooth skin, his breathing deepened.
Jiang Wangsheng didn’t notice what he was doing. Every time he held her, he did things like this.
She thought it was perfectly normal.
She sniffed and tried to compose herself. His expression remained calm; even after she’d been talking about breaking up for so long, he didn’t seem about to lose control.
Jiang Wangsheng made up her mind, but the hand clutching his shirt still gave away her nervousness and panic.
“I-I still want to break up…” Her voice was soft and so sweet it could melt you.
How could the words coming out of her mouth keep stabbing him in the heart?
Jiang Wangsheng slowly lowered her head and stopped looking at him.
She didn’t dare look. She was also afraid Xie Lan might hit her.
Because he really was frightening.
“Why?”
Jiang Wangsheng glanced up. She didn’t catch the cracks beginning to show in his composure; she only felt that the hand gripping her waist had tightened.
She furrowed her brow slightly and actually considered the question seriously.
“I… I’m uncomfortable, so I want to break up…” Her voice grew quieter with every word, but Xie Lan caught the important part.
“What are you uncomfortable with?”
Xie Lan lowered his head, his gaze unreadable. “Does that make you uncomfortable? That kind of thing?”
He gently brushed his nose against her cheek, like a little animal trying to coax her, his tone careful. But Jiang Wangsheng suddenly realized what he meant.
“No… not that kind of thing…” Her words suddenly stumbled, and she buried her face against his shoulder and neck.
Xie Lan’s eyes darkened. He leaned close to her ear, his voice a little hoarse.
“Then, Baby, are you comfortable?”
“With that kind of thing?”
Jiang Wangsheng lowered her head to think. Xie Lan watched her profile. Her skin was so white and soft, as though she’d been steeped in milk, it made him want to bite her.
“Baby… you don’t hate it, do you?”
Seeing how long she was taking to answer, he leaned close to her ear and murmured, his voice low and clingy.
The pink at Jiang Wangsheng’s ear spread to her cheeks. She looked up and saw Xie Lan wearing a half-smile. The expression on his face made her blush more and more, so she slapped him. It wasn’t hard, but it made him turn his head slightly, his smile growing more wicked. He rather liked it.
Xie Lan laced his fingers through hers and coaxed her as if asking for affection. “Baby, tell me.”
“So, are you comfortable or not?”
Jiang Wangsheng had completely lost track of what they’d been talking about. She pressed her lips together and buried her face against his shoulder and neck, the tips of her ears burning red. For a long while, she said nothing.
Xie Lan let out a low laugh.
“Looks like Baby’s comfortable too.”
Jiang Wangsheng didn’t even want to lift her head. Xie Lan loved asking about things like this—and doing them, too.
She gathered herself, about to continue what she’d been saying, when she realized he’d somehow undone her shoulder strap. His kisses fell on her.
“W-What are you doing?” The woman lifted her head and looked at him, confused.
“Doing something to make my Baby feel good.” Then she wouldn’t say things that made him feel bad.
Jiang Wangsheng was pushed down. He was about to bend over her, his gaze alarmingly heated.
“No… I want to break up. If we do, we can’t do this kind of thing anymore.”
Jiang Wangsheng was still clearheaded. She might not be in a little while.
Her eyes were red, and most of her clothes had been pulled down. His hand gripped the backs of her snow-white knees. Jiang Wangsheng kicked her legs, but she couldn’t match his strength.
“We’re in a relationship by mutual choice. I want to break up now. You’re not allowed to treat me like this anymore.”
Jiang Wangsheng had never taken the lead when it came to sex. He always guided her. Even when she enjoyed it, she was usually more tired than anything else, while Xie Lan loved it.
She’d looked it up online. In a situation like this, it meant her boyfriend’s sex drive was too high and she couldn’t satisfy him; they were sexually incompatible. So there was nothing wrong with her wanting to break up.
“We… we’re not compatible in bed. I want to break up.”
Jiang Wangsheng seemed to have finally found her reason. Her eyes brightened a little.
That was a valid reason to break up. Xie Lan couldn’t argue with it.
The man listened quietly until she finished, taking in every expression on her face.
He knew her too well. She really did want to break up—but it was also true that someone had put the idea in her head.
His Shengsheng wouldn’t dare bring up a breakup otherwise.
Even her excuse was so clumsy. She was only trying to find a good reason to end things between them. How could Xie Lan possibly agree to break up?
He would never agree to it, even if he died.
“Baby, have you seen anyone lately?”
Jiang Wangsheng froze. That brief moment of dazed silence told him that there was definitely someone around her who wanted to wreck their relationship.
Heh.
“Baby, besides your roommate and Zhuang Mengmeng, have you made any new friends?”
Jiang Wangsheng didn’t know what to say for a moment. Lin Yun had taken several months off before because of family matters, and Xie Lan didn’t know her.
The truth was, she’d met Mengmeng and Lin Yun at the same time.
Jiang Wangsheng shook her head, her gaze shifting aside.
Lin Yun had been her friend for a long time. It wasn’t exactly a lie.
Xie Lan’s cool fingertips rested against her cheek. “Tell me, what’s the first rule between a couple?”
The woman looked up, her bright eyes trembling slightly.
“Not… not lying.”
“That’s right. No lying. Is there something you’re hiding from me, Baby?”
Jiang Wangsheng lowered her eyes, a trace of panic on her face. Was she lying?
But Lin Yun wasn’t a new friend.
“Then let me ask another way…”
“Was sending that breakup text Shengsheng’s own idea?”
A flicker of unease crossed the woman’s eyes. She bit her lip, seemingly trying to figure out how to answer.
Couples shouldn’t lie to each other…
But they were about to stop being a couple.
Jiang Wangsheng looked up and told him, “Yes. It was my idea.”
Xie Lan could read her expressions and emotions perfectly.
She was lying.
Because of someone else, she had actually lied to him.
The muscles in the man’s face twitched faintly. He didn’t even know how he was supposed to extinguish the low-burning fire inside him. Someone had been driving a wedge between them, and she’d believed it—so now she wanted to break up with him.
Jiang Wangsheng noticed something was wrong. His face had gone terrifyingly dark.
“Let’s just end things amicably… I…”
Before she could finish, she was startled by the sudden change in his expression.
The faintly twisted, cold look on Xie Lan’s face made his handsome features seem more sinister. His eyes, black and bottomless as a pool, seemed ready to draw her in whole. He slowly opened his mouth, each word edged with ice.
“Break up?”
“Not a chance.”