The bag contained a change of clothes.
What?!
No way…
Her face flushed bright red in an instant.
What did Sister Tan just say? Shen Jin asked her to bring these over?
So… Shen Jin bought these?
How did he know her size?
Did he measure her with his eyes?
Were doctors’ eyes made of rulers?
She buried her face in the pillow, mortified!
After recovering her composure, she grabbed the change of clothes and headed to the bathroom.
In another room on the third floor.
Shen Jin sat leaning back in a chair, staring intently at a Bluetooth speaker on the desk.
The sound of rushing water came through the speaker.
Then, he closed his eyes, listening with satisfaction.
His right hand gently swirled the red wine in his glass, his face openly showing an expression of indulgence.
Fifteen minutes later, the sound of water stopped.
He slowly opened his eyes and walked lightly to the cabinet in the back, grabbing another bottle of wine.
He poured half a glass and swallowed it with relish.
There was no sign at all that he had an injury on his foot.
At 12:10 AM.
The surroundings were quiet. Shen Jin left his room, walked all the way down the corridor, and finally stopped at the door of the guest room at the very end.
He slowly crouched down.
The flicker of a lighter flashed briefly as he lit an incense stick.
Then he slid the burning incense under the gap beneath the door.
Three minutes later.
He pulled the incense out and knocked lightly on the door twice. “A-He.”
No one answered him.
A smile curled at the corner of his lips as he reached out and tried the door handle.
It wouldn’t turn.
Good. She’d even locked it.
Shen Jin returned to his own room and extinguished the incense in his hand.
Then he opened the desk drawer and pulled out a set of keys.
He went back to Su Xiahe’s door, inserted the key into the lock, and turned it gently.
Click.
The door opened.
Shen Jin pushed the door open, walked in slowly, and then locked it behind him.
The room was pitch black, filled with the faint, clean fragrance of pinewood.
“A-He.”
“A-He.”
Shen Jin called out in a low voice.
Still no answer.
How could she possibly answer?
The incense he’d lit at the door earlier was something he’d just developed himself.
This was the first time he’d used it, so he couldn’t yet gauge its effects.
That was why he’d tested her name a few times.
Now it seemed the effect was excellent.
Shen Jin turned on the light and walked slowly to Su Xiahe’s bedside. He pulled over a chair and sat down beside the bed.
The curtains weren’t drawn, and moonlight filtered through the shadows of the trees outside, scattering dappled patterns across the wooden floor.
The girl in the bed slept soundly, and Shen Jin’s gaze locked onto her face with unblinking intensity.
Excitement gleamed in his eyes, like a wild beast poised to strike during a hunt—one second away from tearing its prey apart.
The girl’s brows were slightly sparse, but their shape was exquisite.
Her long, curled lashes rested gently against her lower eyelids, and her light pink lips had clear, full contours, lying quietly on that fair, gentle face.
Like a masterpiece painted by a master artist with a soft brush, radiating an alluring fragrance in the still of the night.
At first glance, she seemed wrapped in a hazy veil of Jiangnan mist and rain.
Su Xiahe wasn’t the type of bewitching, seductive beauty—if anything, that word suited Shen Jin far better.
Shen Jin had seen plenty of stunning beauties, but he’d never deigned to spare them a single glance.
Su Xiahe’s face, though not alluring, was extraordinarily endearing, effortlessly stirring the destructive urge within him.
In that moment, he finally realized that women could be this interesting.
Interesting enough to make his body lose control.
He both loved and hated that feeling.
“A-He.”
Shen Jin rose, propping his left hand on the bed, and slowly leaned down.
His body blocked half the light, casting Su Xiahe’s face into shadow.
He reached out and gently traced the back of his hand across her fair, warm cheek, following the line of her brow, moving along.
Past her lashes, to the tip of her nose, to her lips, finally stopping at her neck.
His hand was cold, and the girl’s curled lashes trembled slightly twice.
He smiled. “A-He, you like Big Brother touching you like this too, right?”
The girl in the bed didn’t answer, her body rising and falling gently with each breath.
He was satisfied. “You’re not answering, so Big Brother will take your silence as consent.”
“From now on, how about Big Brother comes every night?”
He answered his own question. “A-He isn’t answering again, so Big Brother knows what A-He is thinking.”
“Mhm, Big Brother promises you—he’ll come every night from now on.”
The shadow by the bed shifted gently. His hand rested on the blanket, and with a light tug, it slid to the floor.
The girl lay there quietly in a sapphire-blue nightgown.
Shen Jin pushed up the gold-rimmed glasses on his nose, gazing at the person beneath him with deep affection.
“Very pretty. Big Brother has good taste, doesn’t he?”
The girl didn’t answer.
He asked her, “How about wearing the black one tomorrow? Big Brother prefers black.”
The girl had already sunk into a deep, unconscious sleep.
“A-He.”
“A-He.”
“A-He.”
He called her name over and over, and with each call, the restless heat inside him grew heavier by a degree.
He pressed his fingertip against the corner of her lips, tracing it gently.
Then, he took her hand and brought the back of it to the tip of his nose, inhaling softly.
The girl’s hand carried a faint scent of body wash.
So fragrant.
He closed his eyes and savored the moment in quiet stillness.
Afterward, he lowered himself, drawing closer to her.
His lips finally met hers, nibbling gently at first.
Then, gradually, he increased the pressure.
As their lips and tongues intertwined, he felt his soul tremble slightly.
The little monster he had desperately suppressed quietly poked its head out again.
Fuck.
He cursed inwardly.
This damn feeling was tormentingly maddening.
He forced that cursed sensation down, bracing his hands on the bed as he slowly rose.
A faint mist of moisture glazed his beautiful eyes, the corners tinged red from intense restraint, and a fine sheen of sweat beaded on his forehead, trickling down through the damp strands of his hair to drip onto her face.
“A-He.”
He called her name softly, his voice laced with longing desire.
He gently wiped the sweat from her cheek, brushed the black hair that covered her brows behind her ear, and pressed a deep kiss to the center of her forehead.
He did nothing more intimate than that, merely straightening the hem of her skirt slightly and picking up the blanket from the floor to cover her with it.
Walking to the door, he switched off the light.
Back in his own room, Shen Jin lifted the wine glass from the table and slowly swallowed the liquor within.
With his eyes closed, the memory of moments ago surged through his mind, a faint smile lingering at the corners of his lips—seductive and alluring.
So, kissing her felt far more exquisite than he had ever imagined.
When he opened his eyes, his gaze fell upon the screen in his hand.
He admired, with leisurely pleasure, the girl’s breathtakingly beautiful sleeping face, one after another.
Fuck!
That damn feeling still hadn’t dissipated.
He sat in the chair, raised his right hand, and studied it carefully for a few seconds.
Then, bracing himself, he went into the bathroom.