The rides at the amusement park were nothing to Su Man — child’s play.

She’d trained rigorously: skydiving, free-climbing, top marks across the board. These amusement park rides with their near-perfect safety measures were naturally even less of a challenge.

Fear? That word simply wasn’t in her vocabulary.

Lu Yuwen, on the other hand, had never been to a place like this before.

He’d told Su Man that because of his poor health growing up, he’d been looked down on by his father, and because of that, he’d never gotten to visit an amusement park. Su Man’s sympathy had immediately overflowed, and she’d wanted to make sure he had a good time here.

As they buckled into the roller coaster, Su Man fastened her own safety harness with practiced ease, then personally reached over to check Lu Yuwen’s locking mechanism. “Don’t worry,” she said lightly, “you’re not going to fall out. If you’re nervous, just hold my hand — it’s fine.”

Lu Yuwen smiled. “Then I won’t be shy about it.”

He opened his hand and gently took hold of Su Man’s, fingers interlaced, palm pressed to palm.

Su Man froze slightly. She hadn’t expected this particular kind of grip.

It felt…… just a little too intimate. Even though she was flustered, she’d been the one to suggest it herself, so she didn’t pull away.

The attendants went down the row checking on each guest, and once everyone was confirmed ready, the ride began——

All at once, screams erupted on all sides!

Su Man managed to hold herself back at first, but eventually joined in. Just as she’d said — it was an incredibly cathartic experience. Soaring through the air, twisting and diving, screaming freely at the top of her lungs, as though every negative emotion could be hurled outward and gone!

She let out a string of wild yells, and when the ride finally ended and she climbed off with the other guests, her cheeks were flushed pink and there were faint, glistening beads of sweat on the tip of her nose.

Lu Yuwen handed her a tissue.

Su Man wiped the sweat from her face, eyes bright as she looked at Lu Yuwen, grinning widely. The scolding from Li Li was already well and truly forgotten. “Was that intense? Your heart must have been pounding — your blood gets moving so fast. I worked up a sweat……”

Lu Yuwen still looked composed and refined, and smiled as he nodded. “Yes, very intense.”

“I watched you — you didn’t make a single sound!” Su Man teased. “Want me to take you to try something even more intense?”

Lu Yuwen smiled again, a trace of helplessness in it. He reached over, took her hand, and pressed it against his own chest, saying warmly, “It really was very intense. Don’t believe me? Feel my heartbeat — is it going fast?”

Su Man went still.

She felt a layer of fine-textured shirt fabric beneath her hand.

Through that thin layer of cloth, she felt the warmth of his chest.

And then — a steady, pounding heartbeat.

Drumming against her palm with a rhythm that had lost all control. Forceful. Insistent.

They stood in the middle of the flowing crowd. The noise, the music — all of it suddenly receded to somewhere distant. Su Man felt his heartbeat beneath her hand, and was overtaken by the strange, dizzying sensation of holding his entire heart in her grasp.

She stood there, dazed, and for a long moment couldn’t find her way back.

Lu Yuwen watched her with a smile, and asked again, “Is it fast?”

Su Man looked up at him. Two seconds passed. Then, as if she’d suddenly become aware of something, she snatched her hand back like lightning, and murmured with a red face, “It’s…… it’s fine.”

“Is it,” Lu Yuwen said, glancing at her with a smile as they walked side by side, “I thought it was quite fast. And after you touched it — it got even faster.”

Just then, a group of young people nearby burst into a round of cheering. His voice was swallowed up in the clamor of the crowd, blurring at the edges.

Su Man wasn’t sure she’d heard him right. She kept her head down and walked faster, the flush on her face spreading steadily all the way to the tips of her ears…… and without realizing it, her feet had already quickened to a hurried pace.