Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Half an hour later, the car entered the city center.

I told Shen Zhihan to drop me off at the intersection, so Chen Yu wouldn’t see.

“Even if he did, so what?”

Shen Zhihan casually saved the spot in his map navigation.

I didn’t want to deal with him. I reached to open the door, found it wouldn’t budge, and kicked it lightly with the tip of my shoe.

“What a piece of crap car.”

“Nice cars are all like that when you’ve never ridden in one.”

Shen Zhihan unbuckled his seatbelt and leaned over. I shifted back. He lowered his gaze, looked at me, then reached out and flicked the latch on the upper side panel.

He kept staring at me and moved his lips. “It’s open.”

I sized him up and down, shoved him away hard, and got out, striding off several steps.

When I turned back to look again, that car was already far away-almost out of sight.

So he could drive fast when he wanted.

Dusk settled in, and the lights came on one after another. After being run ragged all day, I trudged along the roadside, drained. Then I looked up-and stopped cold.

Chen Yu was right ahead.

“Why are you here?”

He wrapped an arm around my shoulder, his face perfectly normal. “Didn’t you say you were taking a taxi? I figured you’d get off around here.” His eyes stayed on me, a faint smile at the corner of his lips. “If an outside car drives any farther in, it’s not very convenient.”

I didn’t know whether he’d seen Shen Zhihan’s car, but since he didn’t say anything, I wasn’t going to bring it up.

I kept quiet.

Chen Yu pulled me in closer and lowered his head to smell my hair, like he was verifying something. “No alcohol. Perfume… and-gasoline?”

His nose really was absurd.

Fine. Next life, be a dog.

I pushed him away. “I told you I hit someone. Of course I’d smell like gasoline.”

“As long as you’re okay.” He took my hand.

I didn’t say a word. I yanked free. He caught my wrist and refused to let go, tightening his grip a fraction.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

I met his eyes. His pretending not to know made me so angry that I gradually stopped struggling.

“Then let’s just do this.”

Just keep walking like this, until the day my release finally comes.

When we got back, Chen Yu’s food was on the table, some of it already cold.

“I ate already.”

His hand paused on the cupboard door.

I’d been exhausted all day. I went to take a bath, leaning against the edge of the tub while scrolling on my phone.

Shen Zhihan’s feed was nothing but shared business news-mind-numbingly boring.

Halfway through, Chen Yu came in. He took the dirty laundry basket, about to wash it. I reflexively turned my back to him. Then the room fell into a silence so abrupt it felt wrong.

Two fingers pressed against the skin at the back of my neck, not too light, not too hard.

“How’d you get this?”

Chen Yu’s voice came from behind me, cold and dark.

The spot he was asking about was where Shen Zhihan had grabbed me earlier.

In that instant, even the bathwater seemed to turn cold.

“I bumped it by accident.” I didn’t turn around.

He took a deep breath. His thumb rubbed that spot briefly before he withdrew his hand and laid out a towel for me.

“Be more careful next time.”

He went to do the laundry.

I stared at the doorway and drifted off for a moment.

After I dried my hair and sat down at the side of the bed, I realized it had been made, with two pillows set out.

“I’m sleeping in here tonight,” Chen Yu said as he came in from the balcony, offering an explanation on his own. “I’m basically done with what I needed to do.”

I didn’t say anything. I lifted the blanket and lay down.

A moment later, the light went out.

In the darkness, the blanket beside me slowly rose, bringing in a breath of outdoor chill and that familiar scent.

His arm came around my waist, heavy.

“baby.” Chen Yu propped himself up and nuzzled down toward me. “Who did you eat with today?”

I kept my eyes closed and pretended to sleep.

Not long after, a hand slipped into my nightgown. I opened my eyes instantly and pinned his hand down.

Chen Yu stared straight at me.

“You’re faking sleep and ignoring me.”

I didn’t dodge his gaze. I shot it right back. “Who I eat with is my choice. You don’t need to call people one by one to check on me. Don’t you think that’s humiliating?”

As if I’d wronged him, he lowered his head slowly until his whole face disappeared into the dark, unreadable.

“Xu Ting, I didn’t call people one by one. I only called one of your coworkers to ask if you were at school. And one more-”

My heart shot straight up.

“I called Shen Zhihan.”

In the thick, suffocating darkness, Chen Yu’s voice sharpened like a blade, slicing every vague space clean open.

“So you heard what he said, didn’t you?”

His hand gripped my wrist through the thin fabric of my nightgown.

“Or… were you right beside him listening to the call? Why didn’t you say anything?” His voice dropped, hoarse. “Were you teaching him how to lie to me? He acted it out pretty well.”