Chapter 1
Blood rushed to my head.
For a moment, I froze.
Qin Zheng…
He was back?
The mere sight of his name sent a chill washing down my back.
A sour, uneasy feeling welled in my chest. It was fear… fear rooted in the deepest part of my soul.
If Yan Jin was merely controlling—demanding updates wherever I went, forbidding me from having male friends, like a dog guarding its food—
then Qin Zheng was… a rabid dog.
No. At least dogs understood human speech.
He did not.
I could still remember gripping a sharp fruit knife and screaming myself hoarse that I wanted to break up.
His palm had closed straight over the blade.
Even now, the sound of metal sinking into flesh made my scalp prickle.
Blood streamed between his fingers, but he seemed unable to feel pain. Inch by inch, he gripped me with that bleeding hand.
His eyes were utterly calm.
So calm there was almost a trace of tenderness in them.
“Good girl. Don’t ever say those two words again.”
He pulled me into his arms.
His embrace was broad, but it held no warmth.
Instead, it sent a shudder deep into my bones.
More than once, I had wondered whether he was mentally ill.
And more than once, I had asked myself what on earth he saw in me.
Weren’t yanderes supposed to be obsessed with beauty?
I wasn’t particularly pretty. Apart from having a bigger chest, my figure was average, and I was a little chubby.
But Qin Zheng never minded.
His gaze was always full of infatuation. Whenever he held me, he squeezed so hard it was as though he wanted to grind me into his rib cage, breathing greedily against the side of my neck.
“You’re perfect like this. You fit just right in my arms.”
From anyone else, I would have dismissed that as hot air.
But Qin Zheng… I was afraid he might secretly bottle my farts.
I was still dazed, my head full of Qin Zheng’s neurotic, handsome face…
Across from me in the restaurant, Yan Jin set down his glass and asked gently, “Do you want to go anywhere else after we eat?”
His attentive gaze made it seem as if he genuinely wanted my opinion.
But I heard another voice inside his head.
[This is so annoying.]
[When will this finally end? I have a promotion match tonight.]
I paused, quietly put away my phone, and shook my head. “…I’m on my period and a little tired. Let’s just go home.”
Yan Jin curved his lips. “All right.”
The smile was flawless.
In the past, Yan Jin would have noticed something was wrong immediately and gripped my shoulders while he interrogated me.
He used to check my message list every day and analyze every conversation I had. Even sending a male colleague a simple “thank you” would earn me half a day of jealous sarcasm.
And today was the Qixi Festival, of all days.
In the past, Qin Zheng’s message would barely have arrived before Yan Jin intercepted it.
But now…
How long had it been?
He hadn’t checked my phone in ages.
[Holding hands is such a hassle.]
His thoughts pierced my ears again like a fine needle.
Yan Jin walked beside me, his face indifferent and faintly impatient.
[If I don’t hold her hand, she’ll get upset again. Even more trouble.]
The next second, Yan Jin took a deep breath and grabbed the hand hanging at my side as though completing an assigned task.
The instant our palms met, I remembered when we had first started dating.
Back then, Yan Jin had been clingy.
Whenever we walked around or went shopping, he had to put an arm around my shoulders or hold my hand. He wouldn’t even let me turn my head to look at handsome men—or beautiful women, for that matter—because he said he was afraid my taste would go astray.
Sensitive and starved for love, I had savored his domineering behavior like someone dying of thirst in a desert finally getting a sip of water laced with arsenic.
Later, whenever he stopped reaching for my hand while we shopped, I would get angry.
I had never imagined it had become a burden to him.
My phone chimed with a new message.
I lowered my eyes to look.
It was Qin Zheng again.
[You haven’t been a good girl while I was away.]