Jiang Ruobai’s eyes widened, disbelief washing over him. “Pei Sichen, do you even realize what you are saying?!”
In that moment, Jiang Ruobai felt as though Pei Sichen had lost his mind.
Pei Sichen laughed, a wild and reckless sound, his dark, bottomless eyes filled with madness. He did not seem to think his words were absurd in the slightest.
“Of course, baby. I am perfectly clear-headed right now.”
Jiang Ruobai’s body tensed, instinctively pulling into a defensive posture. His eyelashes trembled, and he bit his lip so hard that a broken, desperate sound escaped him. “You are dreaming.”
Merely existing by Pei Sichen’s side had already drained him of all his strength. To fall in love with him? How could that be possible?!
This rejection did not ignite Pei Sichen’s rage. Instead, he looked intently into Jiang Ruobai’s eyes, stroked his messy hair, and commanded in an unwavering, absolute tone, “Baby, you will fall in love with me. It is the only way you will ever leave me.”
Jiang Ruobai’s face turned deathly pale, his weakened body sagging. He covered his face, letting his tears fall in pure despair. “Pei Sichen, why do you always have to force me like this? Why?”
Pei Sichen kissed the tears from the corners of his eyes, his fingers gently smoothing out his furrowed brow.
In the midst of the endless nightmare that was his life, Jiang Ruobai heard Pei Sichen’s voice. That voice was so soft and gentle, yet it chilled him to the bone.
“Jiang Ruobai, I will give you three months. Either fall in love with me, or make me fall in love with you. No matter the result, I will let you go. Otherwise, I will lock you away, and you will never have the chance to leave, not in this lifetime.”
“You are a madman.”
Pei Sichen smiled faintly. “Yes, I know.”
Despair, collapse, suffocation.
Dark emotions trapped Jiang Ruobai in the very embrace he longed to escape. He was wide awake, yet he wished he could just sink into an eternal sleep. He prayed more than anyone that everything he was experiencing was nothing but a nightmare.
After leaving the hospital, he spent an entire week deliberately avoiding Pei Sichen. Although he acted as obediently as ever, he did his best to avoid sharing the same space as Pei Sichen, except at night.
Naturally, Pei Sichen noticed, but he said nothing.
He knew Jiang Ruobai needed time to think, and he was certain that after thinking it through, Jiang Ruobai would reach the conclusion he desired. After all, he was a patient hunter.
Half a month of relative peace passed, and he finally got the result he wanted.
It was an unremarkable afternoon. The dusky twilight stained half the sky red, and warm colors climbed onto the lush green branches, making them look as if they had been dusted with warm gold. The moment he opened the door, he saw that man offering a slightly awkward smile.
“Mr. Pei, welcome home.”
Pei Sichen stood in the interplay of light and shadow, stunned and frozen in place, watching that frail figure walk firmly toward him before saying with a bright smile, “I was worried you would not come back since you were working overtime today, but thankfully, my luck held out.”
Avoiding those stunned eyes, Jiang Ruobai stepped forward, untying his apron with a smile, looking every bit the wife waiting for her husband to return home.
The result he expected had come faster than imagined, bringing both joy and shock.
“You.”
Before Pei Sichen could mask his surprise, Jiang Ruobai grabbed his hand and led him to the dining table.
“Mr. Pei, do you like today’s dishes?”
Pei Sichen looked at the table filled with his favorite foods, then at the person beside him, his expression slowly calming.
He let out a low laugh. Watching those clear eyes, he used a beautiful finger to hook the man’s chin, his expression full of pity. “Baby, you are truly thoughtful. But it is a pity; I can tell at a glance whether it is genuine or feigned. You cannot deceive me.”
“Therefore, I have no intention of deceiving you, Mr. Pei.”
For the first time, Jiang Ruobai met Pei Sichen’s scrutinizing gaze with complete, calm composure.
“Mr. Pei, have you ever been in love with anyone?”
“Baby, do you want to be the first?” Pei Sichen leaned down, his eyes filled with a madness as thick as ink.
On one hand, he felt that this attempt by Jiang Ruobai was a pipe dream; on the other, he could not help but fantasize about what he would be like if he were to fall in love.
Could he really love someone? For Pei Sichen, the answer was no. A monster who had never even felt love, how could he possibly love another?
But this choice of Jiang Ruobai’s undoubtedly made the game much more interesting.
When Jiang Ruobai painstakingly used every means available, only to find he had to tragically accept the predetermined ending, those feelings of resentment, unwillingness, fear, and despair were the best nourishment for the beast within Pei Sichen.
However, Jiang Ruobai was unaware of Pei Sichen’s inner thoughts.
That week, he had struggled with much internal conflict. He had even tried to seek help from the police, ignoring how powerful the Pei family was in Hai City; he was so desperate to leave that he no longer cared about the consequences.
But a sudden phone call changed his mind.
On the other end of the line, Su Jiachen still maintained his playboy persona. The noisy background made it easy to imagine him surrounded by women.
Upon learning of Jiang Ruobai’s intentions, he ruthlessly mocked his ignorance and naivety.
Su Jiachen sent him a photo of his wife. The clarity of that image made his palms sweat.
“Su Jiachen, what exactly are you trying to do?!” His repressed anger threatened to pour out, wishing he could burn the person on the other end to ash.
“Jiang Ruobai, be smart. You are only safe when you stay by Pei Sichen’s side, and your family is only safe then. You know better than anyone that if Pei Sichen finds out about her existence, the two of you might end up reunited in the underworld.”
“You two are both madmen!”
Su Jiachen chuckled. “Do not compare me to Pei Sichen; I am much more normal than him. But Jiang Ruobai, do you not want to know how interesting it would be to have such a madman fall in love with you?”
Jiang Ruobai gritted his teeth, his hand balled into a fist, wishing he could crush the phone. “I do not have a fetish for falling in love with madmen!”
“Is that so? I advise you not to jump to conclusions so quickly. In the future, who can really say what will happen?”
Jiang Ruobai said nothing, merely sneered.
“Do you not want your wife to get better quickly?” Su Jiachen dropped another bomb.
Jiang Ruobai pressed the phone closer, his anxiety mixed with doubt and hope. “You have a way?”
Su Jiachen said confidently, “With the power of the Su family, finding a suitable kidney donor for your wife is not a difficult task.”
Jiang Ruobai gripped the phone urgently. “What do you want? What is your condition?!”
Su Jiachen was silent for a long moment, then a frivolous laugh echoed. In his eyes, there was the same madness and anticipation seen in Pei Sichen’s.
“Do everything in your power to make Pei Sichen fall in love with you. I believe in you; you will succeed.”
Looking at Pei Sichen before him, Jiang Ruobai hid the resentment and hatred in his eyes and asked with a smile, “So, Mr. Pei, do you like me a little more now?”
Pei Sichen did not speak. His body was more honest than any words.
He kissed Jiang Ruobai fiercely, their lips and teeth clashing in a dominant, forceful embrace that allowed no escape, not stopping until the other was nearly fainting from lack of oxygen.
Jiang Ruobai went limp in Pei Sichen’s arms, gasping for air. His vacant pupils were unfocused; for a moment, he could not even collect his thoughts. If it were not for the fact that Pei Sichen was holding him, he would have collapsed onto the floor in embarrassment.
“What a madman,” Jiang Ruobai thought to himself.
Pei Sichen looked as if he were not finished, but mindful of the doctor’s warning, he carried him to the dining table instead.
“Eat,” Pei Sichen said.
Jiang Ruobai nodded, eating while making sure to serve Pei Sichen more food.
The meal started off harmoniously enough; Jiang Ruobai was attentive, and Pei Sichen appeared gentlemanly.
But as the meal progressed, Pei Sichen began to get restless. Jiang Ruobai ignored him at first, but Pei Sichen only escalated his behavior. The meal quickly lost its original tone.
Before Jiang Ruobai could react, the two of them ended up in bed.
Warm palms slid along his taut lower abdomen, moving step by step to the most sensitive area.
Jiang Ruobai closed his eyes, his trembling eyelashes fluttering like a butterfly in a storm.
No matter how many times it happened, it always seemed to be filled with pain and humiliation.
“Baby, open your eyes.”
Pei Sichen’s scorching breath against his ear made him shudder.
He gripped Pei Sichen’s arms in fear and squeezed his eyes shut, yet the pain he expected did not come.
Instead, an unexpected kiss fell upon him. Pei Sichen slowly kissed his forehead, the tip of his nose, and his lips.
A difficult moan escaped his lips, sounding neither like pain nor pure pleasure.
The moon that night was startlingly bright. Silver moonlight poured through the glass window, casting the overlapping shadows of the two figures on the bed, blurred yet clear.
Entangled desire overwhelmed reason. It was a color so deep it made one lose themselves.