##Author’s Note.
The secret is a poison, and Lin Sheng is drinking it drop by drop.
While Habiba stands firm, demanding the truth and protecting the bond of their family, Lin sheng is buckling under the weight of his own silence.
Looms ahead, a day where masks will be burned away and the cowardice of the night will be replaced by a terrifying, undeniable confrontation.
The fire Habiba warned of is about to ignite and no one is prepared for what will be left in the ashes.”
## CHAPTER 10: THE WEIGHT OF SILENCE:
The bedroom door clicked shut, muffling the sound of Lin Sheng’s footsteps.
The apartment was suddenly, suffocatingly quiet.
Habiba remained frozen on the sofa, her heart hammering against her ribs, a chaotic rhythm of confusion, shock, and a defensive, rising rage.
“What the hell just happened?” she whispered to the empty room, her voice shaking.
She pressed her palms against her face, trying to erase the ghost of his lips against hers.
It couldn’t be love.
He was her friend, her family, and she had no space in her soul for love.
Her heart was a fortress she had no intention of opening.
This was a glitch, a mistake fueled by something dark and hidden.
A moment later, Zhou Han stepped out.
Habiba didn’t give him a second to breathe.
She stood up, her confusion sharpening into a cold, hard edge of suspicion.
“Han, what is going on with him?” she demanded, her eyes piercing his.
“That wasn’t Sheng. I know him. And I know you’re hiding it. From the moment we were at that ghost house, I knew something was wrong. When he caught me there, I looked him straight in the eyes, and I saw something I have never seen before.” New chapters come out on g.com first.
“It was raw, it was hidden, it looked like agony. His eyes were screaming a secret I haven’t been able to figure out yet. And then, he just ran. And now? This? Kissing me like that? That isn’t him”!
“Biba, you know how much I care about you,” Zhou Han started, his voice placating.
“I don’t want to hear that!” she snapped, her voice trembling with fire.
“You think you’re protecting me? Fine. But don’t you think I care for you guys too? I love you both like my own blood! If you are protecting me, why won’t you let me protect you? What are we even here for, Han, if we aren’t standing by each other?”
Habiba took a step closer, her voice dropping, vibrating with the ghost of her past.
“You have seen me in my happy moments, Han. We joke, we laugh, we play games. But you have never, ever seen me in my anger state. There is no one on this earth who can calm me down… Once that fire is lit, I despise lies. In my past, someone tore my life apart with lies, and I have never fully recovered from that scar.”
“If you are lying to me, if you are hiding something that is breaking our foundation, this friendship is over. I mean it!”
Zhou Han let out a long, heavy sigh, his expression softening.
“Biba, if there is something I’m not telling you, it’s because I’m protecting you. I love you too much to ever be the cause of your pain. And Sheng? He is the last person in the world who would ever hurt you. He would let his own world burn before letting a single ember touch you. He is silent only to shield you.”
Habiba paced, her frustration boiling over.
“Stop blaming the alcohol! Alcohol is just an excuse for cowards who want to do something but lack the guts to do it sober. If they do something, they remember everything; they just pretend they don’t!”
Zhou Han laughed, a nervous, jagged sound.
“Biba, what’s going on? Where did that come from? Is it because of the way Sheng acted?”
She shook her head firmly.
“No, it’s not that. I’m not the type of person who would think he’s doing this because he is in love with me. I know who we are. But truth be told, I don’t even know why I am saying these things; it just all came out!”
“But think about it, Han! He already has someone else in his heart. If that person saw him kissing me like that, they would reject him without getting the chance to confess! Thank God it was me!”
Zhou Han asked, “Why thank God it was you?”
“Because—at least I know it’s not romantic. If it were another woman, he would be ruining his chances with the person he actually loves. Something is definitely wrong somewhere, and we have to help him, Han!”
“It’s heartbreaking seeing him like that,” Han finally whispered, out of concern, his head hanging low.
Behind the bedroom door, Lin Sheng was pressed against the wood, listening to every word.
Habiba’s voice, her anger, her protective love, it hit him like a physical blow.
When he heard her say she wasn’t in that place called love right now, a sharp, suffocating agony erupted in his chest.
He gasped for air, his lungs burning, struggling to breathe as the pain crushed the very core of his heart.
*Am I a coward?* he thought, the question echoing in the dark.
*Am I being pretentious?
Am I just hiding?*
He forced himself to stay upright, his resolve hardening like steel despite the ache.
“Biba… If you think I’m a coward, then tomorrow, I’ll prove it. I’ll show you exactly who I am.”
##Authors Note.
The silence in the room isn’t just heavy, it’s suffocating, a volatile chemistry that has been simmering for far too long.
Biba is trying to be the anchor, the voice of reason, but Lin is a man drowning in a tide of his own making, his secrets cutting deeper than any blade.
You’ve witnessed the frustration, the desperate pleas, and the way their boundaries have worn paper-thin.
But even the strongest dam eventually breaks under this much pressure.
What happens when the person you trust most in the world starts looking at you not with the eyes of a brother or a friend, but with a hunger that defies logic?
In the next chapter, the masks finally slip.
The lines between “family” and “forbidden” are about to dissolve into a haze of raw, electric desire.
It’s no longer about what they should do, it’s about what they can’t help but do.
Get ready.
The air is running thin, and the tension is about to explode.
You won’t want to look away, but you might not be able to breathe through what happens next.
where the truth comes out, and the first touch changes everything.