Chapter 5
Chapter 5
We were the only two left in the room.
Zhou Yanzhi leaned over, reached out, and yanked me from the floor into his arms.
I slammed against his chest, and before I could react, I was pinned against the wall.
The cold marble pressed against my back as his restless hand moved to the buttons on my chest. The bathroom light was dim and suggestive.
A draft of cold air seeped into my body through my unbuttoned collar. The icy wall continuously leached the warmth from my back, and a sense of dread and chill slowly crept over my entire body.
Physiological tears, driven by the instinct of fear, surged from my eyes.
The face inches away from mine was both familiar and strange.
Except now, there was a small scar under his eye.
It was him.
And yet, it wasn’t.
Panic-stricken and helpless, I could only whisper the name that used to be so familiar to me.
“Brother Yanzhi…”
The hand unbuttoning my clothes paused for a second. The man before me raised his hand to press against my lips, rubbing them suggestively. His phoenix eyes slanted upward.
“Such a sweet voice, but you’ve got the wrong man.”
“Call me Brother Yan.”
His words were like a blade slicing through reality and illusion. I snapped awake and shoved him with all my might, resisting desperately. In the struggle, my hand accidentally tore open the buttons of his shirt.
Massive scars sprawled across his exposed skin, a cluster of hypertrophic tissue blooming like a flower just below his heart.
A flower that bloomed by draining the life out of him.
I froze. My hand brushed against his arm, and my fingertips felt tiny, uneven needle marks.
It was as if I had been burned; I jerked my hand back.
It wasn’t him.
“You’re not him.”
“You’re not him.”
“I don’t know you.”
“Get away!”
Tears fell instantly.
“Recognize me now?”
The man’s voice was lazy. He wiped a tear from my face with his finger, a bright smile playing on his lips.
He leaned down, his hot breath grazing my neck and shoulder. His hand slid from my hem to my waist, and the cold air it brought made me shiver.
“Too late.”
The bathroom door was kicked open again. A man with a murderous expression retracted his foot, and the hand on my waist stopped just in time.
“Li Yan, why the hell are you so damn horny?!”
“Mr. Song is looking for you. None of you were anywhere to be found.”
“Will it kill you to stop for a second?”
I heard the hostility in the newcomer’s tone, and my body instinctively shrank back.
The man took a step closer, but after seeing my face clearly, he suddenly broke into a grin. His expression changed instantly into a teasing one.
“It’s not Xiao Jing?”
“I thought you said you weren’t interested in young girls?”
Zhou Yanzhi let go of me without giving me another glance. He buttoned his shirt and turned to joke with the newcomer. “Meat delivered to the door-might as well eat it.”
The man cursed another vulgarity, and Zhou Yanzhi laughed as he replied.
As the two were leaving, Zhou Yanzhi suddenly turned around, pulled out a stack of cash, and threw it at me.
The bright red bills scattered in mid-air, drifting down to cover the floor.
It felt like a slight.
It felt like mockery.
The bathroom door slammed shut.
I collapsed onto the floor. Dirty puddles soaked into my once-clean clothes, but I ignored it.
In the moment I was broken, hope felt like a tree snapped in half, blood gushing from the break.
It was violent.
And cruel.
I knelt on the floor, trembling and pathetic, as I reached out to pick up the bills lying in the puddles.
One after another.
I muttered to myself.
He isn’t Zhou Yanzhi.
He isn’t Zhou Yanzhi.
As if trying to convince myself.
In the end, the bills fell back to the ground.
Scattered in a pile.
I finally broke down.
He isn’t Zhou Yanzhi.
My Zhou Yanzhi went missing a year ago.
And he might,
Never come back.