“Three years ago, I’m so sorry.” The lingering crystalline dampness still tingled in Jiang Li’s palm as she gazed at Luo Yihuan, who hung her head in sorrow right in front of her.
The anger simmering in her heart—from being drugged unconscious and whisked away without a word—had been quietly doused by those tears.
Even if the World Consciousness was to blame, Jiang Li had seen for herself, after they reunited, just how terribly Luo Yihuan had fallen apart in the years since she’d vanished.
Her already fragile mental state had crumbled even further the morning after their night together.
The chain clinked metallically. Luo Yihuan kept her eyes lowered, watching as the links that had been slack on the floor slowly rose, inching toward her, drawing ever closer.
The woman who’d just tumbled to the ground in fright seemed poised now to offer comfort, swayed by Luo Yihuan’s tears.
A spark ignited in the depths of her watery eyes with each step forward, and the lips that should have drooped in grief tugged upward in the shadows.
That’s right, just like that. Have a little pity on me, Jiang Li.
You know I always fall for this kind of thing.
“You don’t need to change. Everything about you right now is perfect.” The chain’s incessant jingling was annoying, but it wasn’t heavy. Jiang Li approached Luo Yihuan easily, dragging it along.
Her warm palm and fingertips gently stroked the soft skin beneath. Luo Yihuan’s face obediently lifted as Jiang Li cupped it.
She was still crying.
Jiang Li slowly raised Luo Yihuan’s tear-streaked face with her palm, taking in every expression in the dim light of the room.
Once, Jiang Li had thought Luo Yihuan’s eyes resembled a pool of desire overflowing with spring water, always rippling whenever she looked her way.
Now, that pool was spilling over uncontrollably. It was beautiful, yes, but the water was nearly drained dry.
“I like you. To me, everything about you is perfect.”
Like? Everything? Smooth-talking liar.
“Then, do you only like me?”
Jiang Li met the glistening, faintly flickering gaze. When Luo Yihuan asked, she answered without hesitation. “I only like you.”
If she didn’t like Luo Yihuan, she wouldn’t have schemed to stay behind three years ago. If she didn’t like her, she’d have left this world long ago during the three years the World Consciousness kept them apart.
To Jiang Li, it was just a small world.
But she’d stayed—for Luo Yihuan.
See? Still such a deceiver. Those words, the glint in your eyes, even the way your hand caresses me—it’s all the same.
You’re saying you only like me, but I’m the only one? Then what about Li Zhu? Your other ‘only one’ these past three years?
Luo Yihuan fought to keep her tone flat, to hide how much it mattered, but a chilling edge crept in when she mentioned Li Zhu. She wanted that woman gone forever.
“Li Zhu is just a friend I made over these three years. Nothing more.”
Luo Yihuan pressed on. “Can friends be your date? Three years ago, you never offered to be my date.”
She was resentful, so Jiang Li eased it away.
“There was never an opportunity before. But tonight, I’m here not just as her date, but as vice president of H·L Group.”
Vice president? You’ve gone to work at H·L as vice president? For Li Zhu, you even quit being a psychologist? Three years ago, you never said you wanted a job like that. I got your affection first.
Her resentment deepened, so Jiang Li soothed it further.
“It’s true I had no such plans three years ago. Meeting Li Zhu was just a coincidence that led to it.”
She doesn’t even deny it?!
Luo Yihuan’s palm slammed onto Jiang Li’s thigh. Her chest burned as fresh flames roared to life while she listened, shock and fury swirling in her pitch-black eyes.
She doesn’t deny liking Li Zhu now?!
She’s really fallen for her?!
No! Absolutely not!
Jiang Li gasped softly. The fingers cupping her face curled inward. Luo Yihuan dug hard into the soft flesh of her inner thigh, nails nearly breaking skin.
Wincing in pain, Jiang Li lifted her gaze just as Luo Yihuan’s grim voice loomed close. The face that had wept so quietly seconds ago was unraveling.
“You actually… really like Li Zhu.”
The sharp twist on her thigh stole Jiang Li’s attention first, faster than the words. As she looked down, she missed the twisted, sickly expression warping Luo Yihuan’s features.
A shadowy glint filled her eyes. Unconsciously, Luo Yihuan gripped harder, watching Jiang Li’s bowed head. It only solidified her suspicions as she twisted more.
Liking Li Zhu, my ass.
Still stinging from the pain, Jiang Li suddenly found herself accused. She hissed softly, combing through Luo Yihuan’s words, finally grasping her twisted train of thought.
It was so ridiculous she almost laughed.
The ache in her leg faded a little.
“What kind of thug logic is that, Luo Yihuan?”
“Are you digging your own trap just to wallow in misery, or do you actually want me to say I prefer Li Zhu to you, you lunatic…? Fine, I’ll play along—I—mmph…”
Her words cut off as furious lips crashed against hers, silencing her.
No, you can’t say that… You can’t…
You can only like me. Only me.
Don’t leave me. Don’t stop liking me. Don’t hate me…
Panic and rage from deep inside poured into the kiss. Luo Yihuan’s lashes trembled wildly. Her hand slid inch by inch up Jiang Li’s thigh beneath the red dress’s hem. She needed reassurance.
Jiang Li, don’t abandon me. You can’t abandon me.
The sudden press of lips startled Jiang Li, a heat that dazed her for an instant. Then Luo Yihuan’s restless little tongue slipped in, rampaging through her mouth, desperately seeking comfort.
Wet smacking sounds filled the room amid their endless tangling, the air thick with intimacy. Luo Yihuan’s eyes darkened further. She noticed the soft tongue she was sucking on trying to evade. Jiang Li’s lips parted slightly, as if to speak.
Luo Yihuan couldn’t bear to hear it. She only thought—she doesn’t even want to kiss me anymore.
She devoured with desperate intensity, the crack in her heart widening into a lightless abyss, so deep a pebble would vanish without echo.
But now, the one who’d once stood by the edge wouldn’t even toss a stone to test the depths.
No. I won’t accept this.
The more she dwelled, the deeper the kiss. Jiang Li’s hand, once on Luo Yihuan’s cheek, slid to her shoulder in resistance. She pushed. She tried to break free.
“Luo Yi… you…”
The chain rattled through the room with Jiang Li’s movements.
No.
Luo Yihuan’s hand slipped eagerly under the loosened dress, reaching silky skin at last. Her tongue traced those perfect lips over and over.
Jiang Li’s lipstick had been smeared clean in the car on the way back. Now Luo Yihuan reapplied it on that heated mouth.
Their kiss burned fierce and profound. Skin nearly touched skin, Jiang Li’s chain clinking up and down. It grazed Luo Yihuan’s straight collarbone.
Through the fabric at first, an insignificant itch like feathers brushing by. Then the irritation bloomed into pain, red welts rising shallow and deep.
The ache on her shoulder sharpened, skin nearly raw, but Luo Yihuan ignored it. She leaned closer to Jiang Li, her arm probing farther. Her collarbone thudded against the chain— a heavy clank.
Jiang Li noticed and yanked her own hand back into the air. Metal clashed sharply. Her wrist trembled with the motion, taut like a strung wire at its limit.
She sucked and tugged relentlessly, ensnaring the thin lower lip. Bright red layered artificially atop it. In the air, that little bead quivered visibly, ringed by teeth marks.
Luo Yihuan nibbled and bit. Dark lights flickered in her eyes as she watched the flush bloom brighter on Jiang Li’s cheeks from lack of air, tears welling at the corners of her eyes.
It seemed the next second she’d faint from the kiss alone.
Luo Yihuan craved it, but the night was long—too long to call this mere appetizer.
She sucked hard one last time on the lip beneath her tongue, then released it with great reluctance.
Not fully, though. Only a little. Hot breath fanned Jiang Li’s cheek. Her gaze was a black mire, clinging sticky upon contact.
Struggle all you want; you’d only sink deeper.
That patch of skin already burned. The huffed breath scalded it near peeling. Jiang Li’s hand on Luo Yihuan’s shoulder pushed weakly.
It barely budged.
Can’t push? Then don’t.
A silvery thread trailed slowly from Jiang Li’s lips. She flicked her tongue, licking it away. In the low light, she caught the bob of Luo Yihuan’s throat, tendons straining.
Lingering fury at Luo Yihuan’s absurd logic still simmered. Jiang Li teased deliberately. “What, stopped asking? Compared to Li Zhu’s kissing skills, are yours better?”
“Hiss! Luo Yihuan!”
Dog Thing! The chain rattled violently through the room, shaking nonstop. Jiang Li braced one hand on Luo Yihuan’s shoulder and smacked her cheek with the other, trying to pry her off.
She wouldn’t let go. Her bite intensified. Jiang Li hissed in pain, feeling like this Mad Dog would draw blood.
Luo Yihuan pinned Jiang Li down, hands clutching her shoulders, chomping the lean flesh of her cheek with full force—gritting, biting, gnawing.
Treating the soft cheek like bone, she tormented it viciously.
Kissing skills. Kissing skills. You’ve kissed Li Zhu!
Not even leaving a scrap that’s mine.
Shadows and glints danced in her eyes, veins threading red, her face a mask of mad malice. Rage surged to her brain. No thought, no desire for it.
Luo Yihuan only wanted to sink her fury into that cheek.
Mad Dog.
“Let go!”
She held fast, biting harder amid Jiang Li’s struggles. Excitement gleamed deeper in her eyes. Stray hairs swept back and forth, tickling unbearably.
The chain kept grazing Jiang Li’s exposed skin, but she didn’t dare move. Any twitch yanked the flesh in Luo Yihuan’s teeth excruciatingly.
No shoving her off. No yelling her loose. Brazenly escalating, her tongue even darted out to lick.
Jiang Li surrendered.
“My first kiss was yours! No one else in three years! Stop biting! Please!”
Her shout finally loosened the vise on her cheek. Jiang Li pulled her face free, hissing for breath. The pain throbbed where the Mad Dog had gnawed it raw.
Dog Thing!
Watching Luo Yihuan prop herself on her leg and lean in again, Jiang Li panicked. The chain clinked as her palm cupped that face entirely, utterly exasperated.
“Luo Yihuan, can you trust me even a little?”
Those pitch-black eyes glared with eerie menace. Recalling her own actions, Jiang Li shut her mouth and rephrased.
“Can you have a little more confidence in yourself? You’re beautiful, wealthy, young and accomplished. You’re always so good to me—how could I not like you?”
Luo Yihuan murmured darkly. “Yeah, I’m so great. And yet you abandoned me for someone else just as beautiful, rich, young, and accomplished.”
From start to now, Luo Yihuan’s mind fixated irrationally on a romance between Jiang Li and Li Zhu.
Jiang Li took a deep breath. “If I wanted someone else, I’d have had a dozen in three years!”
From Luo Yihuan’s unflinching face, Jiang Li saw she’d already accepted it—resigned to that version of her.
Jiang Li in her fantasies: promiscuous playgirl, philandering and sampling everything for three years. Everything but her. Leaving her alone, forgotten.
Jiang Li fell silent.
“I’ll only get wet for you. Only want to be with you. Even when I touch myself, it’s only you I think of.”
“The only one I’ve kissed is you. The only one in bed is you. The only one I’ve loved, love now, and will love—is you.”
Jiang Li cupped Luo Yihuan’s face, pressing forehead to forehead, staring straight into her eyes without a flicker of doubt or delay.
Light glowed beside them. Luo Yihuan watched her swear her uniqueness, radiant as ever. Softly affirming it, over and over.
She was her exclusive treasure, always, always.
The look in her eyes matched three years ago perfectly—as did Luo Yihuan’s thundering heart, pounding beneath that gaze.
In that instant, heart racing to burst, tears brimmed in Luo Yihuan’s eyes. She knew the truth.
A thousand restarts, a thousand lies from Jiang Li, and she’d still drown willingly in those amber-clear eyes.
But right then, Luo Yihuan dragged damp traces heavily across Jiang Li’s thigh.
She settled fully into Jiang Li’s lap, back straight despite it. Lowering her gaze to Jiang Li’s upturned face, she flashed a wicked smirk.
“So… three years apart, abandoning this Mad Dog, vanishing without a trace…”
“This time, your turn to be the desperate pleaser and get me soaked, hmm?”
“Baby, you can already feel how wet it is.”
Soft lips hovered by Jiang Li’s, a whisper away from touching.
Luo Yihuan brushed her ear, a tempting chuckle like a devil’s murmur, stirring the butterflies poised to take flight along her spine.
“Make me come good and hard, and then we’ll play with that little gift you left me.”
“This is your reward, Jiang Li.”