Chapter 478: The titration of feelings
The room was still dark when Jia’s eyes fluttered open. She didn’t know how long she slept. She didn’t know what time it was either, but it didn’t matter. Staring at Mingshen’s chest straight ahead, which rose and fell with even breaths, she slipped into a spiral of questions.
What just happened last night...?
Was I always this bold?
Or have I been a virgin too long?
The part she really couldn’t believe was that Mingshen had actually stopped after one round, most likely to take it easy on her. Yet she was the one who provoked him for more. And she had learned her lesson the hard way.
Provoking the devil was never a good idea. It was pretty evident with how her back, in this moment, soared with a dull pain.
Her gaze traveled from his chest onto his devilishly gorgeous face. A true beguiling beauty that would make even the purest of a woman to sin. Jia thought she had more self-control than this, but she was proved wrong.
Damn it, am I really me or someone else took over my body?
Eventually, she forced her spiraling thoughts to calm down and for now, decided to watch his sleeping face. Quite a handsome sleeping profile it was. She wasn’t aware that a man looked handsome even asleep. His ruffled up black hair hovered over his brows. His lashes were as still as the calm before the storm. A tiny slit parted his lips at the center as he breathed.
Have I completely lost it tonight? Why am I...drooling like some thirsty woman? It’s not my first time seeing him!
She paused.
It’s definitely the first time I am sleeping with him...
Like a cop that she was, the investigative mode in her mind turned on as if it was a flip switch. From the very first moment they met with sparks of enmity up until now where they slept in each other’s arms - Jia tried to figure out where exactly was the point that their relationship changed its due course to this degree.
Probably...when he left London’s conference and came back to meet me? When I was at my lowest?
Or when I had broken my ankle and he helped me get back home?
Or even before when he was messing up with my cases? No, no, that couldn’t be it. Wouldn’t it mean I was in love with him all along-
She froze at her own words and remained still like a statue.
Lo...Love...D-Do I...love Mingshen?
Her own thoughts sent her into a spiral yet again.
Hold, hold, hold!!! This is the devil we are talking about! We have always been at each other’s throats...like literally!
I mean, we are just fr...friends, right?
Somehow, that sounded even more worse to Jia. What kind of friends slept with each other without feelings involved? She knew the term. She also knew what happened last night wasn’t fooling around.
We are definitely not that...
’Jia, become my daughter-in-law!’
Jia swallowed a gulp. For a strange reason, Yang Bingqing’s zesty voice echoed in her mind as if she could hear some bells chiming in the distance.
Not those kinds of bells!
Th-That’s too far ahead to think about! Ugh, I cannot figure this out..!
"Go to sleep, Jia."
She stiffened.
Mingshen’s low, husky but stern voice murmured in the cramped space between them. She finally dared to lift her gaze up but found his eyes still closed.
"We both need our beauty sleep. I am really looking forward to our shower sex in a few hours."
"..."
Did you have to remind me of that? Also, how do you know I am awake with your eyes closed!
"Your thoughts are too loud."
...Can thoughts be really loud?
"Yes. Go to sleep now."
"..."
All of a sudden, she felt a light tug at her waist that pushed her even closer against his bare chest. At this point, it was as if she could feel his heartbeats crystal clear through their chests pressed so inseparably like that.
"You don’t have to figure everything out in one night. Neither are you going anywhere nor I. We have plenty of time."
Well, he is not wrong...
She mumbled to herself. "I cannot rest till I get my answers..."
"The journey to reach them is equally interesting at times," a faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
"In titration, the process itself is as compelling as the moment of color change."
"...Did you just compare this to chemistry?"
Mingshen hummed, eyes still closed. "It’s the closest accurate analogy."
She stared at him, half incredulous, half amused. "Only you would turn this into a lab experiment."
"And only you would overthink the results before the reaction is complete."
Her brow twitched hard. A quiet huff escaped her as she shifted slightly, only to get reminded of last night.
"This is...complicated," she murmured inaudibly, almost to herself.
"It’s only complicated because you are thinking too hard about it."
Jia frowned. "I am not-"
"You are," he cut in, "You are speedrunning ahead to conclusions already."
She had nothing to retort. Her thoughts had already jumped from last night to feelings to love to the future...to everything all at once.
It was exhausting.
"I don’t like this uncertainty," she cleared her throat.
"Yeah, I know," For the first time, his hand moved, fingers brushing lightly along her back in a slow rhythm. A gesture far from teasing or provoking.
"You have spent your whole life investigating with logic and rationale. But this doesn’t work like that."
"I never thought that the devil doctor cooped up in his lab, always busy with his lethal medical experiments would say something so...abstract."
His faint smile grew a tad bit wider and he dipped his head to kiss her lips. "What do you know? That’s my Spicy’s charm~"
She raised a brow.
"So can we please go back to sleep now? I am fantasizing about our shower sex and I would rather you not disturb my pleasant dream with your loud thoughts again."
"..."
