The car fell silent for a moment.
Only the music from the speakers continued to flow slowly.
Shen Han shifted slightly. She raised her other hand, first pressing the volume button as if by accident to turn it up, then pausing the music.
Her hand still covered Su Mi’s, the cool temperature making small areas of contact with Su Mi’s warmth. The temperature difference wasn’t great, yet it suddenly felt like being scorched.
The car was lit only by a warm yellow light. Under the dim glow, as Shen Han gazed at Su Mi’s half-lowered eyes, which seemed brimming with tears, it was as if her own heart was being scorched too.
It seemed like it could only turn into a sigh in the end, but Shen Han held back the sigh and quietly watched Su Mi.
After a while.
“How come,” Shen Han paused, her voice very soft and slow, “you look like you’re about to cry.”
Perhaps it was a kind of disturbance, Shen Han thought.
Even if it was very gentle, very courteous, very respectful, it was still a disturbance. Because if the other person didn’t want it, offering more or better things would still be a disturbance.
Shen Han lowered her eyes slightly.
According to her usual politeness, at this moment, she should politely let go.
Say sorry, say goodnight, see her off the car. The flowers probably wouldn’t be taken either, and then everything would return to calm.
Shen Han’s mind swirled with thoughts of the correct course of action. The hand covering Su Mi’s trembled faintly but did not let go.
Instead, following her heart’s desire, she gently, inch by inch, slid her fingers into the gaps between Su Mi’s.
She gathered Su Mi’s hand into her own, their fingers interlocking.
The sensation of cool fingertips brushing over felt like it clung to the bone. Su Mi couldn’t help but get goosebumps on her arm.
She turned her head in a daze and glanced at Shen Han.
“What are you doing…” Su Mi’s voice trembled, lacking any confidence.
A thousand thoughts swirled in Shen Han’s mind. She hooked up the corner of her pale lips and said, “Didn’t you say I’m great?”
Su Mi: “…Huh?”
Shen Han said, “You can take it as you liking today…” Her voice trailed off meaningfully.
Su Mi: ?
She looked at Shen Han in bewilderment, not knowing what to say.
The back of the hand firmly held in hers became increasingly prominent. Su Mi panicked, thinking she should probably struggle free.
But soon she realized she had no chance.
In her vision, the beautiful woman tilted her head slightly and reached back to undo her updo.
Hair like an ink waterfall cascaded down, masking most of the gloom in her thoughts. A warm breath carrying a distinct cool fragrance fell on Su Mi’s face.
Shen Han turned sideways. The light and shadow from above fell unevenly on her face, her sharp and refined features suddenly drawing close. Eyelashes like crow feathers veiled the deep, cold pool surging in her eyes.
As if casually, she leaned in close, yet her gaze remained distant.
The hand she held tightened slowly, not letting the little dog she had captured escape.
Shen Han asked leisurely, “Where’s the ‘great’ part?”
Su Mi’s heartbeat nearly stopped.
She lifted her eyes in panic and subconsciously swallowed.
The sound of swallowing was overly obvious in the quiet car. The next moment, Su Mi saw Shen Han extend the tip of her tongue and slowly lick the inside of her upper lip, then softly hum, “Hm?”
It was almost like a hint.
Her heartbeat pounded—thump, thump, thump—intensifying.
On the hand that held hers, Shen Han’s thumb gently rubbed the knuckle of Su Mi’s pinky, as if deliberately pressing down on her trembling fingers, or like she was relishing the touch.
Shen Han watched her daze and smiled, continuing unhurriedly, “Is it this face that’s great?”
“The first time you went up to the third floor of Southern Garden, you stared at my face in a daze for a long time.” After saying that, Shen Han tossed out another possibility. “Or is it the Shen Family background? That I’m good to you? That today’s arrangements were great? You repeated it once—could it be that everything about me is great?”
Her voice was pitched low and lingering, like whispering to a lover against their face, deliberately creating an atmosphere that stirred the heart. Her breaths seemed to entwine as well.
No matter how Su Mi retreated, she couldn’t escape this entanglement.
Su Mi’s sinking heart was suddenly placed on a rack for slow roasting over a gentle fire, scorching like wildfire.
Even her thinking grew sluggish. Her scattered thoughts were stirred into chaos and vanished. Her heart drummed like a beat, and she only dared to barely avoid Shen Han’s gaze.
She mumbled haltingly, “What do you mean…”
How could anyone in the world respond to “you’re great” with “where’s the great part”…
But then, Shen Han wasn’t a normal person.
Su Mi glanced at the 56% Blackening Value and thought silently.
Shen Han smiled.
She played with Su Mi’s hand leisurely, stroking it inch by inch. The overstepping actions were paired with words that feigned innocence: “Not many people praise me like that. It makes me happy. I want to hear you praise me more.”
Her breath brushed Su Mi’s face. Shen Han lifted her eyelids and quietly watched the beautiful little dog’s flustered, fluttering eyes. A faint smile played in her eyes as she asked intimately, “Am I perfect in your heart?”
As if she hadn’t been hurt at all by Su Mi’s words and had truly taken them as something pleasing.
“…” Su Mi choked, her face heating up. She looked away and muttered, “Anyone who sees you would flatter you a few times.”
“How could it be the same?” Shen Han’s tone was flat, as if the flattery from powerful nobles meant nothing to her. What she cared about was only Su Mi before her—perhaps that was indeed the truth. She lowered her eyes slightly, showing a trace of the same dejection Su Mi had just displayed, and said, “This is my first time asking someone out, so I care a lot about how you feel.”
Su Mi: “…”
This person was just short of saying “first date” outright.
She was at a loss for words when Shen Han leaned in closer, far beyond social distance, almost bumping foreheads.
With this forward lean, her slightly long hair draped over her shoulder and fell onto their intertwined hands.
Su Mi’s palm was leisurely caressed by Shen Han, while the back of her hand was gently brushed by the ends of the hair, the itchy sensation in her palm nearly transmitting straight to her heart, tangling it into a mess.
Stroking section by section over Su Mi’s finger bones, Shen Han coaxed like temptation, “If you think I’m great, can I ask you out again next time?”
Strands of hair hung by her face, carrying a pleasant cool fragrance, as if to envelop Su Mi entirely. Her gaze tightly captured her too.
Su Mi met her eyes for just a glance before looking away.
Her heartbeat thumped loudly in her chest, asserting its strong presence, as if warning her not to continue, or the next second she’d be devoured.
Su Mi paused, her voice a mosquito hum: “You, you don’t do this.”
She really couldn’t handle it at all.
Su Mi tried hard to lean her head back and repeated, “Don’t do this.”
She almost felt like she was about to burn up.
Shen Han let out a soft chuckle from her nose, her eyes curving. She said, “Then how should I do it?”
She paused, then continued, “How should I do it so I can ask you out again later?”
Su Mi: “…”
She couldn’t resist at all.
Resigned, she closed her eyes briefly, pressed her tongue against the roof of her mouth, took a breath, and said softly, “First… don’t get so close.”
With that, Su Mi reached out. Her right hand passed through the space between them and covered the lower half of Shen Han’s face, repeating her old trick to push her back.
Almost without any force, just the motion alone, and Shen Han was pushed back a bit. The scent enveloping her dispersed, no longer carrying that oppressive pressure.
Su Mi let out a breath of relief.
However, halfway through exhaling, the palm covering Shen Han’s face suddenly felt a light rubbing and a wet sensation. The itch transmitted straight to her heart almost instantly, making her whole body tremble.
Su Mi: ??!
She widened her eyes in a daze, staring incredulously at Shen Han, whose eyes held clear amusement.
Su Mi pulled her hand away and saw Shen Han still with her mouth half-open, tongue tip extended, licking her lower lip right in front of her.
“You haven’t answered me yet.” Shen Han said leisurely.
Su Mi: “…”
This time, her face was thoroughly flushed red.
She looked down at her own palm, then at Shen Han, her face beet red, steam practically rising from her head.
Though they had been intimate before—extremely intimate even.
But this was the first time, out in the open, both fully sober and able to see each other…
Why?!
Couldn’t Shen Han maintain some dignity as the antagonist?
Su Mi’s mind short-circuited completely. Dizzy and confused, she accused, “You again…”
She paused, forcing out the three words with difficulty: “playing rogue.”
Shen Han raised a brow and pointed out, “You don’t mind.”
Su Mi: “…”
Shen Han confidently curved her lips and asked, “If it were someone else doing this to you, what would you do? Li Zhao? Xu Nanqiao? Ren Yue?”
Su Mi actually followed her train of thought for a moment.
Uh… Just thinking about it gave her goosebumps.
No, but with Shen Han, it was goosebumps too, and her whole body went numb—just that kind of, that kind of…
Before she could figure it out, suddenly, the car window was lightly knocked twice.
Su Mi whipped her head around like a startled cat.
Then she saw Wen Zisu standing unmistakably outside the car.
Wen Zisu wore simple loungewear and seemed somewhat puzzled as he looked inside the car.
Su Mi: “…”
Wait, how long had Wen Zisu been standing there?
Su Mi was dumbfounded.
She glanced out the car window, then tremulously turned back to Shen Han.
Suddenly, she felt the shame of being caught in a romance by her parents.
Shen Han was also a bit stunned. She touched her nose and tapped lightly on the Light Screen inside the car.
The vehicle’s settings showed it was in strong privacy mode. Shen Han explained, “Uncle probably just arrived, but in privacy mode, he can’t see or hear inside the car.”
Su Mi: “…”
Shen Han’s explanation only made it more embarrassing, as if she had really been doing something outrageous with Shen Han in the car at her doorstep, behind her parents’ backs.
Fortunately, Shen Han was the calmer one between them. She smiled helplessly, reached out, and turned up the car’s cold air mode.
Stronger cold air blew over, the comfortable chill quickly dissipating the heat from Su Mi’s face.
Shen Han said, “You sit tight. I’ll go down, deliver the gift inside, and explain everything to Uncle.”
Su Mi subconsciously gripped Shen Han’s hand tightly, stammering, “H-how are you going to explain?”
