The two of them stepped into the couples-themed hotel, still damp and carrying a chill, while outside the rain continued to pour.

The storefront was narrow, but the interior was surprisingly clean and understated — looking far more respectable than expected. The walls were decorated with pink motifs and various banners printed with slogans. When they walked in, Ning Sui stayed close behind Xie Yichen, hardly daring to lift her head.

Perhaps her nervous, guilty expression was a little too obvious, because the front desk attendant set down a sign with a thud and announced: “We don’t accommodate minors here.”

Ning Sui: “……”

She felt her ears burning. She dug through her bag for what felt like an eternity before she located her ID card, and held it out with great haste.

Xie Yichen glanced at her, and his own throat worked with some difficulty: “Do you have a twin bed room?”

The attendant smiled pleasantly: “I’m sorry, we only have king bed rooms here.”

She paused, then slid a booklet across the counter — it looked like a menu, covered in an overwhelming array of illustrations: “You’re welcome to select a theme.”

“……”

Help — they even had to choose a theme?!

Ning Sui’s gaze swept involuntarily across the booklet, and she stiffened entirely.

Two hundred per room, every theme imaginable in every color — including some rather eccentric options: cave style, exotic style, classroom style……

The atmosphere at the counter fell into a silence so complete you could have heard a pin drop.

“……”

The rose pure-love theme was actually the most normal of the entire selection — and even so, when Ning Sui pushed open the door to the room, she was stopped in her tracks by the scene within.

Roses everywhere — the room was spacious, the wallpaper a soft pink, and at the center, dried flowers in varying shades had been arranged into a massive heart shape. Inside the heart stood a large circular bed, its surface covered in a scattering of vivid red petals.

The overhead lighting was dim and diffused. Along the walls, a row of scented candles flickered at the base, while a fresh bouquet of roses stood in a glass vase nearby, their shapes sketched against the shifting light and shadow — the whole atmosphere thick with suggestion.

Ning Sui hadn’t been expecting luxury from a place this affordable.

But the floors and the edges of the wooden wardrobe all looked freshly new, clean and spotless, without a speck of dust — this appeared to be a newly opened establishment. That allowed her to let out a small breath of relief.

Ning Sui was still in a daze when Xie Yichen, without a word, took out his phone and conducted a thorough check of the room, testing the signal from various positions.

A moment later, he switched off the lights. Ning Sui’s heart jumped: “What are you doing?”

Xie Yichen turned on his phone’s camera and held it up against every possible corner, every mirror, every pinhole-sized gap, his voice coming out a little muffled: “Checking for hidden cameras.”

Ning Sui had no experience with this and was startled: “Ah? Are there really any?”

“Looks like this one’s fine.” He was meticulous — he even scanned the ceiling from multiple angles before switching the lights back on. “Should be relatively safe.”

That large circular bed came swimming back into view immediately. Ning Sui curled her fingers: “……Alright.”

Xie Yichen covered all suspicious spots with available objects, then walked over and pushed the shopping bag into her hands: “You shower first.”

Then added: “Don’t use their towels or toiletries. Use the ones I just bought.”

His lashes were half-lowered, his voice deep and steady, his dark eyes appearing even darker. Ning Sui’s heart began to race, and she opened her mouth and murmured another small, quiet sound of agreement.

Her clothes were still damp and uncomfortable. She quickly grabbed the new nightgown and disposable undergarments from the bag and carried them to the bathroom.

She let the curtain down, stood in front of the mirror and took a quiet, steadying breath. When she went to close the door, she realized — there was no door.

“……”

She was already half-undressed. Ning Sui had no choice but to lean out, one hand covering her collarbone, and said softly: “Can you please not come over here for a bit?”

Xie Yichen had been sitting in a chair with his knees wide apart, lost in thought. At her words, he lifted his head quickly. His voice was a little hoarse: “Mm.”

That small head immediately retreated.

— After an experience like tonight’s.

Ning Sui felt her annual quota for doing wildly reckless things had been definitively exceeded.

The hot water came rushing down from overhead, quickly washing away the cold that had settled into her skin. Thinking about how Xie Yichen’s clothes were still wet, and layering that awareness on top of her nerves, Ning Sui showered even faster than usual — she was done in a matter of minutes.

She took out the hairdryer and started drying her hair, switching places with Xie Yichen to let him go in.

The rose petals scattered across the bed seemed to make their presence known with relentless persistence. Ning Sui swallowed quietly, then silently lifted the blanket and shook it, trying to brush them all down to the floor.

The bed was huge. She struggled with the task for quite a while before finally getting it done, then sat down to catch her breath.

Whether to call it bad timing or coincidence — Xia Fanghui chose this exact moment to send her a message: [Baby, are you back in the dormitory?]

Although Fang-fang had promised to give her personal space and stop checking her location without permission, and had agreed to let her turn off the step count visibility on their shared social platform, changing one’s nature was still no easy feat.

Xia Fanghui still had a short fuse, and old habits had a way of creeping back. She would often send a sudden message out of nowhere asking where she was, and sometimes only realized she’d overreacted after she’d already said her piece.

Explaining the current situation would be far too complicated. Ning Sui stared at the screen for a moment, then buried her head and typed: [Yes]

Xia Fanghui: [[Hug]]

Xia Fanghui: [Any plans for tomorrow? It’s the weekend.]

Suisui Sui: [Haven’t figured anything out yet]

Xia Fanghui: [Mm]

Xia Fanghui: [Get some rest, don’t stay up late]

Suisui Sui: [Okay okay]

She had just finished replying when she heard footsteps — it was Xie Yichen, walking out while toweling his hair.

He was wearing a thin, loose, plain white T-shirt — a new purchase from the store — all in a standard size, but it fit him unexpectedly well. As the last drops from his damp hair fell, the lean, symmetrical lines of his torso were faintly visible through the fabric, youthful and full of quiet, understated energy.

The room was already dim, and she hadn’t been able to find the switch to turn the lights up earlier. Ning Sui was curled up under the blanket and met his gaze across the room without any warning.

Xie Yichen’s footsteps paused. He hung the towel on the rack nearby, then walked over to the bed with his lashes lowered and leaned down to lift the blanket.

The hairdryer was still plugged in on the bedside table on her side. Ning Sui quietly twisted her fingers in the corner of the blanket and grasped for something to say: “Do you want to dry your hair?”

Their eyes met again without quite intending to.

Xie Yichen got onto the bed, first murmuring a low acknowledgment, then leaning over and touching the ends of her hair with his fingers.

“Yours still needs more drying — it’s not fully dry yet.”

Ning Sui moistened her lips: “It’ll air dry in a bit. That’s fine.”

Xie Yichen had already reached past her to take the dryer: “If you go to sleep with your roots still damp, you’ll wake up with a headache.”

He was going to help her dry her hair. Ning Sui obediently sat up and turned her back to him.

Her hair was long and beautiful — smooth and lustrous, a cascade of soft black.

She could feel Xie Yichen’s fingers moving through her hair, lifting it gently section by section in the flow of warm air. His touch was unhurried and gentle, though the motion occasionally tugged lightly at her roots.

Ning Sui found herself rather satisfied with his attentive service, and slowly relaxed, narrowing her eyes: “Xie Yichen.”

“Mm?” His voice was low and deep.

“Have you ever considered going into the hair salon business with me — you’d handle the technical side.”

Xie Yichen: “And you?”

Ning Sui, with great sincerity: “I count the money.”

“……”

Xie Yichen gave a low laugh and looked at her with a burning gaze: “That’s quite a thoughtful arrangement.”

Ning Sui feigned ignorance: “What?”

He raised a brow, recalling: “We open a life advice class together, I teach, you count the money. We open a hair salon, I blow dry hair, and you still count the money.”

Ning Sui gave a small, deliberate cough and said with complete innocence: “But I’m a math major.”

She paused, then slowly turned her face to the side: “So…… do you have any objections to this arrangement?”

That tone — utterly unbothered and carefree. Xie Yichen gave her a long look, then reached over and pinched her soft cheek, his voice low and magnetic, meaning sitting just below the surface: “Not at all.”

Ning Sui was a little ticklish from the warmth of his breath, couldn’t help a laugh, and leaned sideways to dodge.

Xie Yichen moved faster and caught her before she could escape. Ning Sui’s body had already been leaning, and she lost her balance with the motion — she fell backward with a soft thud, hair fanning out around her, the pale, smooth curve of her neck suddenly exposed.

The two of them were face to face, barely inches apart, and both involuntarily held their breath.

Only then did the suggestive quality of the light truly register.

Ning Sui was wearing a pale lavender cotton sleep dress, length to the knee — understated in color, but still gentle enough in its drape to trace the lines of her figure.

Xie Yichen was propped on one arm above her, dark strands falling at his temple, the collar of his shirt hanging casually open.

The sound of the hairdryer had stopped at some point. The air was very quiet. Ning Sui looked up at those sharp, heavy-lidded eyes pressing down toward her, and felt something quietly gathering in the space between them — the pulse in her chest growing clearer with each beat.

“You……”

She didn’t get out even one word before he gathered her in, kissing her swiftly and urgently.

Xie Yichen still carried the fragrance of his shower — a clean, faint citrus scent that wrapped itself around Ning Sui entirely. He pressed his lips against hers and drew in, his long fingers finding her hand and pushing it up over her head to hold.

Ning Sui let out a muffled sound — she only managed that one sound before she was once again wrapped up and kissed from every direction.

Outside the rain was still falling, though it had softened greatly, shifting into exactly the kind of sound Ning Sui loved best — like some instrument being struck in a steady, unhurried rhythm.

The glass window was misted over from the difference in temperature on either side. Through the film of rainwater, the neon lights outside became something like reflections in a mirror, blurring into hazy, shifting patterns of light.

Inside was a world apart.

It was still cold outside, the air clean and open. Yet Ning Sui felt feverishly warm, as if she might be pulled under and drowned in those bright, dark, unrestrained eyes.

She realized she had never told him — she actually loved his embrace very much.

Loved that closeness, heart pressing to heart.

When she was held in Xie Yichen’s arms, Ning Sui felt deeply, safely at ease.

“Xie Yichen.”

“Mm.”

He kissed without any particular strategy — her cheeks, her ears, her nose, each one catching her off guard, none she could anticipate or deflect. She had no choice but to loop her arms around his neck.

Her toes seemed to brush something. Ning Sui took a moment to register it, then realized — it was a few remaining petals on the bed.

The two of them held each other close, exchanging soft, endless kisses, until Xie Yichen silently pushed himself up on his arms.

Ning Sui’s dress had come loose at the hem, and she was still adrift in a warm, blurry haze. She asked instinctively: “What’s wrong?”

Xie Yichen took a breath, head dropped into the hollow of her neck, keeping himself restrained.

“Let me hold on for a moment.”

Ning Sui’s heartbeat was still racing, suspended in a high, unresolved tension. Being brought to a sudden halt like this: “……Why stop? Why not continue?”

Xie Yichen looked up, eyes black and deep. He turned and pressed a kiss to the soft curve of her cheek, and said nothing.

His body temperature was warm too, unmistakably present against her. She couldn’t make sense of it. She only heard the sounds of their two breathing patterns threading together in the air. Ning Sui had spent enough time in Hu Ke’er’s company to have some vague picture of what might come next. She was nervous, a little uncertain — but more than either of those things, she wanted to be close to him.

Ning Sui looked at him with reddened ears, as though hesitating for a moment, then asked quietly: “Don’t you want to……”

“……”

There was no clear way to describe how she looked at that moment — her long dark hair spread all around her, making her skin look even paler by contrast. Those beautiful eyes held a faint, trembling light in the dimness, like the flame of a candle swaying.

Xie Yichen could hear his own heartbeat hammering without needing to touch anything. His breath had gone heavy in a way he couldn’t pretend otherwise, and he looked at her without any attempt to conceal it.

He opened his mouth, steadied himself for a few seconds, and spoke in a voice carrying an unpolished roughness: “This place…… isn’t quite right. I don’t want it to feel careless, and I don’t want you to look back on this later with any feeling that wasn’t good.”

“……No matter what comes after.”

Those heavy, dark eyes held unmistakable desire — clearly moved, clearly feeling it — but beneath that was something deeper and more controlled, a patient, weighted restraint. Ning Sui’s chest lurched hard. Xie Yichen seemed about to roll off the bed. But her hands moved before her mind could catch up — her arms wrapped around his waist and held him there.

“I won’t.”

She met his gaze. Ning Sui’s lashes gave the faintest tremor, and she said quietly but clearly: “I don’t think this place is bad at all.”

“……”

The room was very quiet. The two of them were wrapped in each other’s breath, hot and tangled, nearly indistinguishable.

Xie Yichen’s throat worked involuntarily, hard and uncontrolled. Before he could speak, she added in a small, earnest voice: “As long as I’m with you, it will all be a good feeling.”

“……”

Whatever came after those words was swallowed entirely by a kiss that broke like a wave.

One of Ning Sui’s hands was interlaced with his. Xie Yichen cupped her face, kissing her with utter absorption — her eyes, her nose, her cheeks, her ears, her lips — as though he could never tire of it, no matter how long it went on.

Wholly fervent. Ning Sui felt she was about to drown, suffocate. Her arms pressed instinctively against his chest: “Mmm……”

Xie Yichen laughed — lazy and low. “Breathe, idiot.”

He always had to remind her.

Ning Sui summoned what remained of her strength and glared at him.

Then tried to push him away twice. Couldn’t move him at all. The man was like a wall of iron.

And he was still laughing!

The two of them were almost playing, and yet those dark, bright eyes tangled with hers, full of warmth and directness — the most unguarded kind of affection, nothing held back.

After a moment, as though only just remembering something, Xie Yichen’s throat moved. His expression shifted into faint chagrin.

He dropped his lashes and said, a little ruefully: “Don’t have one.”

“……”

The small bag sitting on the bedside table was the same one Ning Sui had brought to the ski trip. It was only just now that she remembered — tucked inside was the item Hu Ke’er had given her in anticipation, paired with the one Ning Sui herself had, with a certain foresight, chosen to keep.

Flushed pink, Ning Sui quietly retrieved the box and pressed it into Xie Yichen’s hands without a word.

He stared at it, eyes going very dark: “Where did this come from?”

Ning Sui told the truth: “Hu Ke’er gave it to me……”

“……”

The origin of it was, admittedly, a bit unusual. But given the circumstances, there was no time to think about that now. Xie Yichen was kneeling beside her on the bed, ears red, the tendons in his forearms visibly raised.

Ning Sui watched him unwrapping it — he had absolutely no experience, and it showed. He frowned in concentration and wrestled with it for what felt like a very long time.

As for the item itself — Ning Sui took one glance, panicked, and looked away, pulling the blanket up over her face to hide like the most cowardly thing on earth.

She had assumed it would only take a moment. But time passed, and still nothing had been resolved, and she nearly fell asleep waiting. She poked her head out from under the blanket, eyes wide at the scattered packaging strewn across the sheets, and asked in a weak, puzzled voice: “Are you…… doing alright with that?”

Xie Yichen had his head lowered in concentration. At her words, those sharp black eyes lifted and cut toward her — damp strands pressed against his temples from a faint sheen of sweat — the expression landing somewhere between inexperienced and dangerously attractive. Either way, his voice came out alarmingly hoarse.

“Mm?”

He leaned over and pinned both her shoulders, a pull at the corner of his mouth, the heat of his breath nearly enough to drown her: “We can try and find out.”

……

Naturally, Ning Sui came to know the answer to her question before long.

And promptly regretted having asked it.

The air outside was still damp, a soft dampness rising and falling — but somewhere else, there was a far more intimate kind of warmth. Xie Yichen’s deep, handsome features seemed to be carved into her field of vision, and Ning Sui felt as though a storm had risen within her.

But she was truly exhausted beyond anything, her head lolling to the side, wanting only to sleep.

Somewhere in the haze, she felt an arm reach over and pull her close, the way it always did — holding her tightly, carefully, and with great care.

Xie Yichen’s arms were warm and comfortable — like a shelter against all the cold outside. Ning Sui pressed her cheek affectionately against his chest and drifted off to sleep almost immediately.

—

The next day she slept until midday.

Bright sunlight lay across the window ledge. Ning Sui blinked awake slowly and shifted — only then did she notice that the back of her head had been cradled in his broad palm the whole time.

Her body felt soft and languid all over — not from not having slept enough, just a simple, physical looseness that didn’t want to move.

Before she was fully awake, there was movement beside her. Then a handsome face came very close, pressing a firm kiss to her lips, and from within the pleasant sound of a low laugh came the faint roughness of a morning voice.

“Good morning, sweetheart.”