He carried the girl in his arms to the sofa.
Bending down, he placed her burning, soft body onto the wide velvet couch.
The suit wrapped around her slipped slightly, revealing Xu Jingran’s flushed face, tear-blurred eyes, and lips that were swollen and glistening from being kissed.
She looked up at him, her gaze unfocused, filled with pure, urgent longing.
Her slender pale fingers unconsciously gripped the front of his shirt before he could withdraw.
Her voice tangled around him.
“Hot… it’s so uncomfortable… help me…”
Her voice was hoarse and broken, like a crying little bird.
Jiang Lijin braced himself against the back of the sofa, looking down at her from above.
No matter how Xu Jingran pleaded, she found no relief.
Finally, she grew angry.
She pushed off the suit covering her and grabbed his shirt tightly, yanking him forward.
Buttons popped off.
Jiang Lijin’s body was inevitably pulled into the soft vortex with her.
Xu Jingran ground her teeth in frustration. “You’re bullying me! Help me!”
Jiang Lijin half-knelt before the sofa, listening to her kitten-like sobs.
At last, he moved forward on his knees. His left hand, still wrapped in a leather glove, closed around her right ankle. The cold touch made Xu Jingran shrink slightly.
His other gloved hand—
Xu Jingran began to cry. “Cold…”
She felt miserable.
“So delicate,” Jiang Lijin muttered, his tone restrained.
He slowly removed the leather glove. His long fingers brushed against her burning cheek.
Xu Jingran stared at him with wet eyes, looking pitiful and sweet.
Jiang Lijin studied her expression, doing his best to satisfy her.
“You think the gloves are cold. Without the gloves you think it’s hot. I’ve never met a woman as hard to please as you.”
He clicked his tongue, his throat dry.
He could no longer maintain his arrogant expression.
Xu Jingran cried fiercely, her pale, soft body sinking deep into the black velvet sofa.
Her white dress looked pure and beautiful, while her face was vividly red, tears streaming endlessly.
Her eyes were red from crying.
And the skin exposed to the air— glowed white, so white it was dazzling.
Like a soft pearl hidden inside a shell.
She was that little pearl.
Jiang Lijin set aside all his pride and dignity. Half-kneeling, he lowered his head and pressed his lips to that little pearl.
As if afraid she might break in his hands, or melt in his mouth.
No matter what he did, it seemed impossible to satisfy this little tyrant.
Amid Xu Jingran’s continuous protests,
Jiang Lijin reached up and removed his mask.
Not only the mask—he removed the gloves as well.
Layer by layer, he stripped away the symbols of his identity.
First, the brooch that represented his noble status.
Then the leather gloves that wrapped his arrogance and pride.
Finally, the mask that concealed his darker thoughts and secrets.
All of it— in front of Xu Jingran, he cast everything aside.
She was the fire of his desire, the untouchable presence that made both his body and soul tremble.
His instincts were drawn only to her.
He had been seduced by Xu Jingran.
Willingly, he knelt before her like a subject before his queen.
Crouched before the sofa, just to make her stop crying.
His lips, his hands, everything he had— in that moment— belonged to Xu Jingran.
Xu Jingran collapsed onto the sofa in exhaustion, the corners of her eyes red, her whole body curled into a small ball.
Her weak gaze drifted toward the man half-kneeling beside the sofa.
That face looked so familiar.
It was…
Her thoughts were hazy.
Jiang Lijin cupped her face and kissed her lips again and again, a faint laugh in his voice.
“Xu Jingran, who am I?”
Hearing his voice, Xu Jingran, who had been about to close her eyes, looked at the breathtakingly handsome face before her with unfocused eyes.
She rubbed her eyes and murmured a name.
“…Jiang Si?”
The two words were soft and light, carrying a faint dependence and the hoarseness left from crying.
Jiang Lijin’s fingers, which had been playing with her dark hair, suddenly froze.
The hand holding her cheeks tightened abruptly, almost crushing her delicate jaw.
“What did you say?”
He forced the words out through clenched teeth, disbelief sharp in his tone.
Xu Jingran shrank back in fear, instinctively intimidated by the man in front of her. But the heat in her body surged back again.
She repeated pitifully, “Jiang Si… I feel so uncomfortable…”
“Don’t… stop…”
“Jiang Si?”
Jiang Lijin rose slowly from his half-kneeling position, repeating his younger brother’s name in a low voice.
A laugh escaped him.
There was no warmth in it.
“Well done, Xu Jingran. You’re the first woman who has ever dared to treat me like this. How impressive.”
He had just set aside his pride and dignity, kneeling before her.
And yet the man she saw, the name she called— was another man.
His own brother.
Rage and sharp jealousy gnawed wildly at his reason.
He stared at the woman who looked confused and wronged, not understanding why he was angry, and slowly bent down again.
His nose nearly touched hers. Their burning breaths intertwined.
“Yes.”
He spoke, his voice frighteningly hoarse.
“I am Jiang Si. Who else could I be?”
He accepted that absurd identity.
His arrogance would not allow him to admit that he had been mistaken for his brother.
He could not accept it.
Nor would he allow Xu Jingran to treat it like a joke.
Xu Jingran seemed frightened by his gaze. Confusion flickered in her eyes before she hooked her fingers around his.
“Please… please…”
The hand gripping her ankle suddenly tightened, pinning her pale calf firmly against the velvet sofa.
“You want me to help you? Fine. I’ll help you.”
He no longer cared about her feelings, nor did he test her reactions.
His movements grew forceful, almost rough.
He wanted to erase that damned name from her mind completely.
Xu Jingran began to hurt and kept shrinking backward.
“Where are you running?”
Jiang Lijin caught her wrist and pressed it above her head, looking down at her tear-blurred, panicked face.
“Xu Jingran, look carefully. The person in front of you is me. The only one who can satisfy you… is me.”