The shower stall was dimly lit, which made the intense feeling of shame less suffocating. As a result, she grew a bit bolder.
She was ready.
So she chose the fifth option. She wanted him—
To have him look at her and her alone.
To have his eyes filled with nothing but her.
To make sure he never again found interest in any other passing scenery.
Perhaps even Shan Chong didn’t realize just how strong her possessiveness was. At that moment, in the cramped bathroom, it reached its peak. With her nose resting in the hollow of his neck, she was enveloped in his scent—familiar yet tinged with a hint of the unfamiliar.
The unfamiliarity came from the intense hormones he was emitting tonight, a force strong enough to make one’s heart skip a beat.
As he raised his hand to remove the last bit of fabric on her upper body, she leaned in closer, her soft fingertips gliding down from his shoulders.
Her fingers brushed over the scar on his lower back.
She hadn’t carefully touched it before, just glimpsed it once or twice. But tonight, in the darkness, she explored it with her fingers and discovered that the scar was slightly raised, uneven to the touch—a long knife wound.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, feeling ticklish from her touch. When he lowered his head to inquire, she seemed a bit impatient. She lifted her head, first kissing his chin, then searching for his lips—
Her tongue darted into his mouth; she was well-versed in theory, though a bit clumsy in practice.
He wrapped his arm around her waist, letting her stand on tiptoe to kiss him, patiently allowing her to nibble on his lower lip before asking her, “Does it still hurt?”
Surgery can never fully restore a person to their natural state. Most people who suffer fractures will experience some residual effects post-surgery, such as numbness, scar tissue, or recurrent pain in cold weather.
She asked cautiously, but in the next second, he lifted her, making her gasp in surprise. Her back pressed against the shower wall, her body folding as if she were sitting on his waist.
In the dim light, she saw his dark eyes gleam. He smiled at her and countered, “What do you think?”
That question carried a hint of danger. Wasn’t she just concerned about him? What dangerous thoughts had crossed his mind?
She decided not to ask further. One of her feet, which had been dangling in midair, suddenly hooked around his waist, her heel resting against the small of his back.
Then, getting bolder, her toes teasingly unfastened the belt at his waist…
Of course, he couldn’t see any of this.
But with his eyes closed, he could vividly imagine her every move.
One hand supporting her, he freed the other to give her playful leg a warning slap. She had been training so diligently recently that her flesh had lost some of its softness. The slap resounded crisply.
She pouted, clinging to his neck, rubbing her cheek against his ear. When he asked her what she wanted to do, she bit his earlobe and asked, “Aren’t you going to undress?”
Her question was sincere, almost as if she were challenging him.
He wasn’t sure why this was something to be competitive about.
Raising his hand, he turned on the shower. As the hot steam rose, the already cramped space grew even more suffocatingly close.
His deep black eyes fluttered closed, and his voice, husky and languid, murmured, “Whatever you say.”
As he spoke, he grabbed her hand and placed it on his waist.
“You do it.”
He was clear and concise. His meaning was obvious: if she wanted fairness, fine. He had just undressed her, so now it was her turn.
Wei Zhi didn’t stand at on ceremony. Even though all her courage was being used to fight for “fairness,” and all her strength was being spent trying to stop her fingers from trembling…
Wei Zhi was rich in theoretical knowledge.
Although she had never held a man’s hand before, she had crafted countless scenarios in her manga, where the male lead would be at her mercy, engaging in all sorts of playful exchanges until she finally got her way.
But theory didn’t always translate well into practice.
Upon reflection, their previous encounters had been rather peculiar. Despite the back-and-forth struggle between her and Shan Chong, it seemed that every time, it was either her being stripped bare or him in a disheveled state, while the other was always neatly dressed, as if ready to attend a banquet at a moment’s notice.
This was the first time they were completely honest with each other.
So she blushed, despite herself.
In the steamy shower, both of them were drenched, their clothes soaked through.
The water temperature had long surpassed that of the human body, yet in this situation, every touch felt like it would burn her.
After the last pieces of fabric fell pitifully to the shower floor…
At that moment, she was facing away from him.
Supporting herself with her hands, she closed her eyes and pressed her forehead against the shower glass, lost in thought.
Amidst the sound of running water, she could faintly hear the slow, deliberate sound of him squeezing shower gel—
Then he came closer again.
True to his word, he was helping her wash up.
The moment his large hand touched her, Wei Zhi felt as if her soul was about to leave her body. “I-I-I can do it myself—”
She tried to turn and stop him, but the man silently pressed her back into place, his strong leg propping her up between his chest and the shower wall.
Wei Zhi’s voice abruptly cut off.
The worst thing about their height difference wasn’t that he had to bend down to kiss her… but that when he pressed against her, his firm thigh muscles brushed against her most delicate areas, places she usually didn’t even dare to touch.
Wei Zhi’s fingertips silently scratched at the fogged-up shower glass.
She wasn’t the only one who noticed this subtle contact. The hand he had placed on her waist paused, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he suddenly grew too cautious to move.
Both of them tensed at the unexpected touch.
Wei Zhi’s ears burned so hot she felt they might start dripping blood, but her embarrassment was nothing compared to his.
His breathing grew longer and heavier, and he didn’t dare move—not out of shame, but out of fear that he couldn’t control himself. His body seemed to have reached its limit, and any sudden move could lead to unpredictable consequences.
“Still teasing?” he asked, his gaze lowered.
At the same time, he lifted his leg slightly in a warning.
Pressed against her.
She gasped, her entire body tensing. She bit down on her molars, her words coming out in a trembling, almost tearful voice: “You’re such a rogue.”
Even now, she couldn’t help but whine.
She was fearless.
From the side, her lips, swollen and reddened from their earlier kisses, pouted slightly, whether out of displeasure or some other emotion. If he didn’t know better, he might have thought she was doing it on purpose—
Impatient with his slow pace.
Or perhaps she was dissatisfied with his gentle touch.
That he hadn’t yet torn her apart.
…
The man’s attentiveness was impeccable.
His rough hands not only scrubbed her clean but also thoughtfully applied some cleanser to her face. With one hand holding her chin, he rubbed her cheeks with surprising tenderness.
She felt like her skin was about to be scrubbed off, her nose tip turning bright red.
But he seemed quite pleased with his work. After finishing, he leaned in to kiss her nose, then bent down—despite her earlier doubts about his capability—and scooped her up.
He loved carrying her like this.
It was so convenient.
Back in the room, only a dim yellow lamp illuminated the space. The sun had still been up when they’d entered the bathroom, but now it had fully set.
Who knew how long they had been in the shower?
All Wei Zhi knew was that she now felt utterly disheveled. It was the longest bath she had ever taken, so long that her fingertips had pruned from the water.
He placed her on the bed, her wet hair soaking his pillow, but neither of them cared.
The moment her sore waist met the soft mattress, her whole body relaxed, and she could feel the tension easing from her muscles—
As he leaned over her, pressing one hand on her knee, she pulled a pillow over her face and mumbled, “I’m so tired. Can we continue another day?”
She couldn’t be blamed.
Blame it on his earlier explorations and her lack of self-control. She had already filled up on appetizers before the main course had even been served, and now she was utterly drained, her legs too weak to move.
So when the man exerted a bit of force, amidst her screams, she found herself lying defenseless in front of him—
She then heard him casually remark, “And you still want to haggle? You’ve been spoiled.”
Wei Zhi felt so wronged that she wanted to burst into tears, wondering when he had ever spoiled here—
On the snowy path.
In bed.
Nowhere.
Trembling, she buried herself under the blanket, which was suffused with his scent, suffocating her. The soft sheets pressed against her skin, red and tender from the hot water. Although she was flushed like overcooked seafood, lying on the black sheets made her pale complexion stand out starkly.
She lay on her side, too afraid to look, her ears straining to hear the sound of him opening one of the three boxes she had bought—
As she listened, a damned curiosity began to stir within her.
It was mainly because she had never seen what was inside those boxes.
So, she moved the pillow covering her face aside and watched him tear open the packaging. “Hey,” she said.
Shan Chong paused, lifting his eyelids to glance at her. “What is it?”
“Isn’t there supposed to be lubricant in these things?”
“…” Shan Chong replied, “Some do, some don’t.”
Wei Zhi’s focus was completely off, and she fumbled around the bed, grabbed another box, and examined it for a while. “Did I buy the wrong one? Huh?”
Then she noticed the man had fallen silent.
Puzzled, she looked over, meeting his dark eyes. After a long pause, he told her, in the most polite and civilized manner, that it didn’t matter because she wouldn’t need it anyway.
At first, Wei Zhi was confused about what he meant by that.
But about ten minutes later, she understood.
When he pressed down on her, the pain she had braced herself for was more maddening than she had imagined, but the ease with which he entered her was shocking—
She even felt something being squeezed out.
It was like… a cucumber suddenly being forcefully shoved into a jar already full of slime…
Damn.
Her vivid imagination made her never want to look at the slime her little niece played with again.
The sensation was too intense, coupled with the pain, she couldn’t help but arch her back, trying to lift the blanket to see—
Caught off guard by her sudden movement, Shan Chong’s temple throbbed with visible veins. He reached out, and for the first time, somewhat roughly, pushed her back down, gritting his teeth as he said, “Stop moving!”
Wei Zhi felt wronged. “I just want to see if I’m bleeding.”
She was terrified of discovering that the slime was red, staining the sheets, which might make her faint.
After all, she had always been a quiet sleeper, and ever since her period began at thirteen or fourteen, she had never experienced the dramatic scenes other girls did, waking up to a blood-soaked bed…
Now, faced with such a situation, she was genuinely a little scared.
Shan Chong lowered his head, staring at her for a while. Eventually, perhaps unable to resist her persistence, he reached under the blanket—
Then, to Wei Zhi’s scream, he pulled his hand back out.
He showed it to her.
Wei Zhi: “…”
Oh.
There wasn’t any blood.
Probably to punish her for creating unnecessary drama at any time, he didn’t let her utter another word. Clinging to his broad shoulders, she was like a boat in a storm, swaying violently.
In a person’s life, it’s not easy to meet someone whose soul resonates with yours—
But in the adult world, a physical match is also pretty important.
To be able to rub her face against a man’s in the second half of their first time, silently urging him to keep going, was something Wei Zhi always thought she’d only ever see in fiction…
But now, as he held her in his arms, chest to chest.
Their breaths mingled, and under the warm blanket, every slight movement he made resonated in the quiet room, their heartbeats echoing in tandem, reckless and wild.
Dopamine surged.
From her toes to her head, the bliss and satisfaction were more intoxicating than any physical sensation, leaving her dizzy and disoriented.
…
She thought she could die happy in bed right now.
By the end, only one simple thought remained in Wei Zhi’s mind.
Lying limp under the blanket, she listened with her eyes closed as the man got out of bed, went to the bathroom, washed a towel, and then returned to bed.
When he lifted the blanket, she groaned and tried to block him with her hand. The man slapped her hand away, though she still tried to resist, until she heard him say, “It seems like you might have torn something.”
She was so terrified that she nearly lost her soul, moving her hand aside and trying to sit up to check, but her strength failed her. Just as she managed to prop herself up, she collapsed back down with a “thud.”
A warm, damp towel was pressed against her as he cleaned her up, accompanied by his mocking laughter.
It took Wei Zhi three seconds to realize she’d been tricked. She lifted her leg to kick him, but the man let her kick his shoulder, unfazed. Seizing her ankle, he brought it to his lips, kissing the side of her ankle.
He rubbed his thumb against the skin there. “It does seem like you’ve got a bit of chafing here.”
Probably from wearing snow boots.
The skates were stiff.
She had worn new snow boots to skate. New boots always felt like torture the first few times.
After cleaning her up, he lifted her and placed her on the other side of the bed, leaving the messy sheets where they were, not bothering to change them. He then went to the bathroom to freshen up before returning to squeeze in beside her under the blanket.
…
It was late at night.
Now dressed in her nightgown again, the young woman lay with the man on the small single bed, her forehead pressed against his chest. Her body was exhausted, but her mind was unusually alert.
At some point, large snowflakes began to fall outside.
Her fingertips slipped under his shirt, gently brushing the scar on his back as she listened to the sound of snow landing on the windowsill.
He wrapped his arm around her shoulder. Judging by his breathing, he wasn’t asleep either. After a long while, she heard his voice above her. “Sometimes I feel…”
Wei Zhi lifted her head.
“A little regret.”
Sensing her curious gaze, he paused, as if sighing or talking to himself, “I keep telling myself that maybe everything is arranged by fate. What you gain, what you lose, don’t always cry and complain… but sometimes, I still feel a bit of regret.”
“Hmm?”
“If I had met you at my best, maybe I could have been more confident.”
Her fingers, tracing the scar on his back, paused. She pressed down on the skin there, her eyes stinging with unshed tears, though she hid the emotion well. She chuckled softly, teasing him, “What’s going on? Did a roll in the hay make my boyfriend lose his confidence?”
Shan Chong chuckled too.
“No,” he lowered his head and kissed her forehead, “just realizing the heavy responsibility I have.”
She hugged him tightly, whispering in a voice almost like a dream, reassuring him that it didn’t matter.
He was wonderful.
How could he not be confident?
Dai Duo had once said that when he first came to her, he was walking out of darkness. She hadn’t noticed it then.
What he said was true, but it didn’t matter. From the first day she met him, he had been radiant. If he couldn’t shine for others anymore, there was no reason to regret it.
Her sun had never set.
When night fell, it transformed into scattered stars, the Milky Way, illuminating everyone’s gentle dreams.