Sikong Sui’s mentality exploded.
Not just an ordinary explosion, but a series of consecutive explosions.
It felt like countless fireworks were simultaneously bursting in her mind, crackling and popping.
It left her dizzy and disoriented.
It made her want to scream at the sky.
It made her want to grab Fu Yuan by the collar and ask him, “What exactly do you want from me?”
She hadn’t even stepped through the door…
She took a deep breath, forcing herself to smile and maintain politeness.
She had to pretend nothing had happened.
She was Sikong Sui, a transmigrator, someone who had seen the world. She couldn’t be defeated by a mere ten points of favorability.
But her heart was bleeding.
Sikong Nian stood up from the dining table, put down his chopsticks, and walked toward her.
He stopped in front of her, lowered his head to look at her, his gaze slowly sweeping over her face. Then he reached out, his broad palm pressing against her cheek.
“What diet? You’ve gotten thinner lately.”
Sikong Nian’s voice carried a tenderness that could soften anyone’s heart. “You must not have been eating properly.”
His thumb slid from her cheekbone to her chin, gently lifting it to make her look up at him.
There was something in his eyes she couldn’t decipher—something dark and profound, as if he were gazing at a treasure he might lose at any moment.
“Come on, let’s eat together.”
Sikong Sui looked at Sikong Nian’s impossibly gentle face, then glanced at Fu Yuan sitting at the dining table.
Fu Yuan was watching them.
There was an indescribable expression in his slightly upturned eyes.
Sikong Sui’s scalp tingled.
She couldn’t stay here any longer.
If she stayed, Fu Yuan’s favorability might drop from negative to an even greater negative.
“I…”
“My wound suddenly hurts.”
“I need to go back and let Dr. Pei take a look,” she said, taking a step back, moving out of Sikong Nian’s reach.
She retreated to a safe distance where her face wouldn’t be touched.
“Brother, you two eat, I’m leaving, bye-bye!”
She turned around and bolted.
Legs, oh legs!
Trained for a thousand days, used for a single moment!
Don’t you dare fail me now!
Her sneakers tapped rhythmically on the stone path, tap-tap-tap-tap-tap.
The wind whistled past her ears, blowing her hair back.
From Fu Yuan’s dormitory to the Sikong family villa, it normally took ten minutes to walk.
She managed to run it in two minutes.
When she pushed the door open, she bent over, hands on her knees, panting heavily.
Sweat trickled down her temples, her heart pounding so hard it felt like it might leap out of her chest.
The villa was quiet, with only a warm yellow glow from the direction of the bathroom illuminating a small patch of the floor.
Sikong Sui looked up and saw the bathroom door slightly ajar, steam drifting out from the crack.
Vodka.
Pei Sichen was taking a shower.
…Showering at noon?
Was this guy a clean freak?
Alarm bells rang loudly in Sikong Sui’s mind.
She wanted to turn and run, but her legs refused to obey.
The two-minute sprint had drained her strength. Now, her thighs were trembling, her calves felt weak, and her knees were shaking.
She felt like a melting jelly, ready to collapse to the floor at any moment.
She could only inch forward cautiously, pressing herself against the wall as she passed the bathroom door, trying to slip back to her room unnoticed.
The door opened.
The moment Pei Sichen stepped out of the bathroom, the air in the entire hallway changed.
Steam billowed out behind him like a thin mist.
His hair was wet, deep black strands clinging to his forehead and cheeks, water droplets trickling down from the tips of his hair one by one.
A beauty emerging from the bath.
Only these four words played on repeat in Sikong Sui’s mind.
She stood in the middle of the hallway, their eyes locking directly.
She looked like a rabbit cornered by a leopard, frozen in place.
Wolves ahead, tigers behind.
She really should have checked the almanac before leaving home today.
She took a deep breath, lowered her head, and tried to slip past Pei Sichen.
Step by step, she moved forward cautiously, as if navigating through a minefield.
Afraid that any misstep might trigger the person before her.
Just as her hand touched the doorknob to her room, an arm wrapped around her waist.
Pei Sichen’s arm.
A firm, powerful arm that held her waist tightly, lifting her off the ground.
The moment her feet left the floor, the world tilted, and then she was carried into the bathroom.
The door closed behind her.
……
The steam in the bathroom hadn’t fully dissipated yet.
The air was humid and sticky, the scent of vodka so intense it was suffocating.
Sikong Sui’s back pressed against the cold tiled wall, with Pei Sichen standing before her.
One of his hands braced against the wall above her head, the other still gripping her waist.
He had her trapped in a narrow, inescapable space.
She hadn’t eaten lunch yet.
The scent of vodka was so overpowering it felt as if someone had splashed an entire bottle of liquor into the air.
Just breathing made her stomach burn.
Her stomach began to cramp, sharp pains coming in waves, so intense she wanted to cough.
But her throat felt as if it were being choked, unable to make a sound.
“Your Highness, do you intend to provoke them one by one?”
He lowered his head, his lips close to her ear, his breath scalding hot, carrying the scent of vodka, searing the most sensitive skin of her earlobe.
Sikong Sui’s body trembled uncontrollably.
From the tips of her ears to the tips of her toes.
“Today it’s Gu Shiyan, who’s next?”
He lifted his head slightly, looking into her eyes, her reflection mirrored in his deep, unfathomable black pupils.
“Fu Yuan?”
“Pei… Doctor Pei,”
Her voice finally forced its way out of her throat, hoarse and broken, “My wound can’t get wet…”
Pei Sichen’s gaze shifted from her eyes to her left shoulder.
The white bandage stood out starkly under the warm yellow light of the bathroom.
The edges were slightly damp from the steam, but overall, it remained dry.
His gaze lingered there for a moment before returning to her face.
He reached out, his slender fingers pinching her chin.
His fingertips were cold.
His thumb pressed against her chin, applying slight pressure to lift her face, forcing her to meet his eyes.
His gaze fell on her lips.
Moistened by the steam, her lips took on a natural cherry-pink hue, glossy, soft, and slightly parted.
Pei Sichen’s eyes darkened.
He looked into her eyes—those bright, glistening, deer-like eyes filled with tears.
She was trembling.
Of course, he was an SSS-Rank Top Alpha, cornering her in the bathroom, wearing nothing but a towel.
The intensity of his vodka pheromones was overwhelming even to himself.
She should be afraid.
But she didn’t try to escape.
She just looked at him, her lips trembling slightly, tears welling up in her eyes, but not a single one fell.
That stubborn, unyielding look—clearly terrified yet still lifting her head to meet his gaze—was like a small knife, piercing precisely into a place in his chest he thought had long gone numb.
Pei Sichen’s thumb moved away from her lips, sliding slowly down along her jawline.
“If the wound can’t get wet, why did you run so fast?”
Sikong Sui’s eyelashes trembled.
“I’m all sweaty…”
Pei Sichen’s voice remained flat, but his fingertip lightly tapped her collarbone, like a silent warning. “Aren’t you going to shower?”
Sikong Sui opened her mouth, wanting to say, “I won’t shower.”
But the words circled in her throat before she swallowed them back.
Because she suddenly realized something—his towel was about to fall off.
Not just about to fall off, but already slipping downward…
The white towel had originally been wrapped around his waist, but the movement of carrying her into the bathroom had been too forceful, loosening its edge.
Now, it was sliding down at a slow pace.
His Adonis belt was already exposed, extending from his waist down to his groin.
The lines were smooth and powerful.
Sikong Sui’s face flushed crimson.
She abruptly closed her eyes, turning her head to the side, her voice as small as a mosquito’s hum. “Pei Sichen, your towel…”
Pei Sichen glanced down, then unhurriedly reached out to press the edge of the towel, pulling it back up slightly.
Pei Sichen: “Scared?”
Sikong Sui’s mind buzzed, exploding into chaos.
Her entire body curled up like a boiled lobster, trapped in the narrow space between him and the wall.
She wished she could roll herself into a ball and hide in the corner.
She remembered the surgery, lying on the operating table covered in blood.
It was he who had cut open her skin, stitched her wounds, and pulled her back from the brink of death.
Her body—he had seen it all, touched it all, even knew it like the back of his hand.
Pei Sichen watched her expression, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.
He released her chin, moved his hand away from her collarbone, and took half a step back, giving her a little space to breathe.
The steam in the bathroom had mostly dissipated, and the air was no longer so humid and sticky, but the scent of vodka still lingered.
“Will you undress yourself, or should I help you?” Pei Sichen asked.