Water flooded into her lungs, and Zhu Fan coughed so hard she felt like her internal organs were about to come out.
Her head was splitting with pain—
She wasn’t dead? She was actually still alive?
The heat radiating from her body and the memories forcibly crammed into her brain made her scrunch up her features in discomfort.
Her five senses gradually sharpened.
Zhu Fan wanted to wipe the water blurring her eyes, but just as she lifted her right hand, her body slipped downward again.
Water submerged her mouth and nose, and she swallowed another mouthful of cold water.
By the time she finally managed to steady herself, the memories that had been mostly digested in her mind told her—she had transmigrated into a book.
She had transmigrated into a high-sugar romance novel about a wealthy family’s true and false daughter, complete with a domineering CEO lead.
The good news: she was the genuine, authentic true daughter.
The not-so-good news: she was the cannon-fodder older sister of the beloved true daughter who returned to be doted on, and also the male lead’s childhood friend and loyal follower. She was the background character and contrast piece meant to highlight the younger sister, the female lead.
The false daughter was her sister Zhu Ci, whom she had lived with for nineteen years.
Before Zhu Fan could even catch her breath, the 100-day death countdown deep in her consciousness made her lose it completely.
She had died young in her previous life, and even after transmigrating into a book, she was still destined to die young?
She couldn’t see how comical her current situation looked—flailing around in a bathtub.
Her eyes stung painfully from the water, and she blindly tried to grab onto something.
The next second, her hand touched a piece of icy-cold fabric—
Sensing that the “support point” she had finally managed to grab was about to slip away, she mustered all her strength and clutched it desperately, her fingertips turning white from the effort.
In the silent bathroom, Zhu Fan’s panting was amplified several times over. The slender, fair arm exposed to the air was strikingly visible.
Fang Qizhou lowered his gaze, sweeping his eyes once more over the woman’s disheveled face, then moving to her pale, straight neck.
Several faint red finger marks on the woman’s neck marred the fair, delicate, soft-looking skin.
She regretted it again?
He raised an eyebrow slightly, staring at Zhu Fan’s pale fingertips that were desperately clutching at his shirttail with a mix of malice and disgust.
Those fingers of hers seemed even easier to break than her neck.
The warmth of just having gripped the woman’s neck still lingered in his palm.
Fang Qizhou’s patience had been completely exhausted, but the moment Zhu Fan opened her wet lashes, a flicker of interest returned.
He curled his lips in amusement, yet his voice was as cold as heavy winter snow: “Miss Zhu, you were thrown into a bathtub, not the ocean.”
Zhu Fan’s scalp tingled at the sound of that cold, lazy voice.
The burning sensation gnawing at her heart like a hundred ants was joined by goosebumps from that cold, mocking tone, and the fear emanating from this body’s soul felt foreign to her.
Her water-blurred eyes finally managed to focus on the scene before her.
The man’s features and her current predicament left Zhu Fan stunned for a few seconds.
Seeing that the man’s white shirt had been pulled open at the collar from her desperate tugging, his sexy, abstinent-looking collarbone blatantly exposed to the air…
Zhu Fan’s breath hitched for a few beats, and she couldn’t help but let her gaze drift toward the deep red lipstick mark on his collarbone.
All the man’s coldness vanished with that lipstick mark, revealing nothing but languid indulgence and charm. The half-curled corner of his lips softened the sharpness of his entire demeanor. Yet the black pupils beneath the bright light were even darker than the night outside the window.
Fang Qizhou clicked his tongue. “Seen enough?”
The burning heat in her body overpowered the fear in her mind.
Zhu Fan’s eyes had already grown hazy, and she murmured, “You’re really handsome.”
The man’s brows suddenly turned cold and fierce. She only saw his lips move, saying something, but none of it registered in her brain. At this moment, she had only one thought—to relieve this scorching, agonizing heat immediately—
Zhu Fan used all her strength to pull the man closer to her.
The buttons on the man’s white shirt popped off and fell to the ground with a soft sound.
Zhu Fan stared at the enlarged face before her for three seconds, then let her gaze drift down to the man’s Adam’s apple—
And further down—
She swallowed, neither restrained nor polite.
This face, and this body—sleeping with him for one night wouldn’t be a loss.
Zhu Fan tilted her head up, her long hair half-stuck to her cheeks and falling across her neck, her eyes revealing a plea and longing she herself didn’t recognize: “I’m hot…”
Fang Qizhou let out a light scoff, his black pupils deep and still, devoid of any warmth of the living.
Zhu Fan gazed dazedly at those cold, damp, beautiful eyes before her, stubbornly clutching the man’s clothes, staring straight into the depths of his eyes where no smile reached.
Fang Qizhou’s patience ran out completely. “Soaking in water turns you into an octopus? Quite impressive.”
Losing all interest, he raised his hand and grabbed Zhu Fan’s wrist with disgust, but the moment he pulled it away, the woman clung to him again.
Fang Qizhou’s brow furrowed briefly as he thought of the tricks Zhu Fan had used to get into this hotel room, her desperate determination to keep him there, and then her last-minute defense of her chastity, crying in the bathtub and begging him to leave.
“Tsk.”
Zhu Fan’s wrist was pulled away again, this time with enough force to nearly crush her bones.
She cried out in pain.
But even so, she didn’t let go.
The woman’s gaze was direct, and the arousal in her eyes made Fang Qizhou sense something was off.
He sneered. “You’ll swallow any kind of filth, won’t you.”
Zhu Fan lifted her eyes, casting a hazy smile at the man.
A droplet of water slid down her cheek to her jaw.
She seized the opportunity to wrap her arms around the man’s arm, pressing herself against him.
Fang Qizhou stood half-bent beside the bathtub, making no further move. Yet the mockery and teasing in his eyes were like tangible gazes, nearly piercing straight through Zhu Fan. In the dead silence of the room, his unblinking stare sent a chill crawling up her spine.
She bit her lower lip, her glistening eyes filled with helplessness.
In the bathtub, her pearl-white slip dress was already soaked through, her figure clearly outlined under the bright light. The strap barely clinging to her shoulder slipped down, revealing expanse after expanse of white skin and a faint hint of cherry pink.
His gaze tormented her endlessly.
Delicious food was right before her eyes, yet she wasn’t allowed to eat it—what was the point of that?
Fine then. If that was how it was, she’d take the forceful approach.
Mind followed desire—
Zhu Fan wrapped both arms around the man’s waist, clinging to him with all her strength.
“So this is what eight-pack abs feel like when you touch them…”
The veins on Fang Qizhou’s neck stood out. His fingertips threaded through Zhu Fan’s hair—
The moment his fingers clenched around the woman’s long locks, he suddenly changed his mind.
“You’re really good to my brother.”
The man’s hoarse, amused voice landed in her ears.
Zhu Fan felt a brief sting on her scalp. She looked at him with grievance. “Be gentler…”
Seeing that the man no longer resisted, she softly draped her arms around his neck.
His cooler-than-average body temperature made her squint her eyes in comfort and let out a satisfied sigh.
“I can be even better to you.”
The words slipped out without a second thought.
Zhu Fan’s neck was suddenly seized.
The man’s dangerous action and gaze didn’t frighten her in the least. The suffocation only deepened the flush already spreading across her cheeks.
Tears of reflex streamed down her face.
Zhu Fan stared at the man, not at all intimidated by the choking grip around her neck. The longing in her eyes was blunt and reckless.
The woman’s beautiful eyes were red-rimmed, and even with her neck held, she still tried to burrow into his embrace.
The back of his hand grew warm.
Fang Qizhou’s long lashes lowered as he looked at the tear that had fallen onto his hand and already bloomed into a wet stain.
The next second, the large palm gripping Zhu Fan’s neck released her.
She sensed the shift in him.
The danger had passed.
She wanted pleasure, not this hellish burn and agony.
Her lips boldly pressed against the man’s Adam’s apple.
His hand caught her chin—
Zhu Fan was annoyed at being interrupted. She parted her lips and bit down on his finger.
Her teeth ached from the effort.
Her patience with the delicious food had run out.
Zhu Fan blinked her eyes open, and like a cat, stuck out her tongue to give the delicious food a light lick.
The man’s cold, arrogant features carried a deadly allure.
Zhu Fan pressed on, throwing herself fully into the role of a cat.
She nuzzled against him again and again, kissing him over and over.
Fang Qizhou’s throat bobbed, his gaze darkening.
He scooped Zhu Fan out of the bathtub and carried her by the waist toward the massive floor-to-ceiling window.
Her body lost its support, and Zhu Fan instinctively looped her arms around the man’s neck.
Then he lowered his head, his lips brushing against her ear as he murmured, “One night with me isn’t enough to make me let him go.”
Zhu Fan no longer had the wits to process his words or the glittering nightscape beyond the window.
Her soaked satin slip dress was peeled off and tossed aside carelessly by the man.
The next second, his white shirt and black trousers fell over the dress.
“Hold on to the glass yourself.”
The man’s commanding voice reached her ears. From Zhu Fan’s angle, she could see the full view of the hotel outside and the two figures reflected in the floor-to-ceiling glass.
At first, it was a trembling of the soul and pain. But later, Zhu Fan felt as though her very soul had become featherlight.