Li Caiyi felt exhausted. She barely did anything except be pushed around by Meng Renshu, but her whole body felt like a lead.
She wanted nothing more than to take a warm shower and sleep.
The sky had already turned dark when she arrived at her apartment. She walked out of the elevator and saw Dai Zhiqiang standing with his back leaning on the wall.
"Zhi!" Li Caiyi was surprised. She hurriedly approached him with a big smile on her face. "What are you doing here? No, since when are you here?"
"I had just arrived myself. What about you? Where did you go until this late at night?"
Li Caiyi's mouth stiffened a bit. Was it just her, or did he sound pretty cold just now? Something seemed off about him.
"Oh, I was out to meet someone," she awkwardly answered as conflicted feelings arose within her. Talking about Meng Renshu probably would make him misunderstand, but it felt weird to hide it as if she had done something wrong behind his back.
"You met with someone? With Senior Meng? Or the older man in those pictures again?"
Li Caiyi looked up at him in disbelief. When she saw his dark face, she realized everything wasn't just her imagination. Dai Zhiqiang was indeed angry. He suspected her.
"Tell me with your own mouth. Where and with whom did you go?
Li Caiyi clutched the strap of her bag, trying hard to keep her calm. There was no way she could say she went out with Meng Renshu. It would aggravate the situation.
She opened her mouth to explain, but all words in her mind were lost when her gaze met with his wounded and stormy eyes.
"I...I was out with Brother Renshu up until a few minutes ago. There was something important I needed to talk to him about, so I asked him to meet me at a cafe. Then, something happened, and we couldn't stay there anymore, so we took the bus to a beach where we could talk while relaxing... And then, we...."
Before Li Caiyi knew it, she had blurted everything out of her mouth. It was a strange feeling. She didn't do anything wrong, so why did she have to explain herself like this?
However, she didn't want to see that look on his face, so she continued anyway. She felt like she had to do something, anything. She couldn't stop her mouth.
"Enough."
One word for him was all it took for her to stop. His voice was chilling, even more so than the night wind. It seeps slowly into her bone.
Li Caiyi carefully glanced at him, and Dai Zhiqiang had an inexplicable emotion on his face. "Zhi, did something happen to you?"
Li Caiyi reached out her hand to touch her, but he slapped her hand away. They were both shocked by his action.
"Sorry, I didn't mean--" Dai Zhiqiang grabbed her hand and frantically tried to explain, but in the end, he slowly put her hand down with a painful expression on his face. "Forget it. You should go inside."
Then, he walked past her, cutting their conversation short. Li Caiyi couldn't accept it and held him back by tugging on his blazer.
"Wait! Zhi, please talk to me! If you feel dissatisfied with something, I want us to talk about it. Don't be like this. Please don't push me away."
Dai Zhiqiang remained motionless and mute. He was clearly standing before her, yet he felt so far. Li Caiyi could almost see the cliff between them.
"This is just a misunderstanding. I have told you often that I need Brother Renshu's help for something."
"Then why did you never come to me?"
"Huh?"
Dai Zhiqiang suddenly spun around and pushed her to the wall. Li Caiyi's eyes widened in surprise, and her mind went blank.
He stood so close to her that she could smell his mint scent. With his hands gripping her by the shoulder, he successfully trapped her and rendered her immobile.
"When you were in trouble, you never considered confiding it to me. I always had to hear it from another person or after it was too late. Do you know how that makes me feel? I tried to respect your wish and boundary, but I can't just stand seeing you in the arms of another guy."
Li Caiyi was speechless. Not only because of his sudden burst of emotion but also because he looked like he was on the verge of crying. She had never seen him looking like this, even when he encountered his mother in the hospital.
His grip on her tightened, almost making her flinch in pain, but she managed to hold back the urge.
"Zhi, calm down." Li Caiyi forced herself to utter those words.
"I tried to. I have been trying to do that all this time! I wanted to understand you and support you. If that's what you want, then I don't care what happened to me. But if you were about to fall into another guy's hand because of that, I'd rather be more forceful to you!"
Li Caiyi couldn't believe this, but she was scared. Out of all the people, she should have known best how kind he was, but the Dai Zhiqiang in front of her looked nothing to the person she remembered. He was like...that frightening person who didn't hesitate to torture a girl. The one she saw in the park the other day.
Li Caiyi's whole body trembled. Her throat felt dry, and she could say nothing.
"You kept saying that you don't have any feelings toward that person, but I can see your eyes falter from time to time. I can feel you and him sharing a world I didn't know, which made me very anxious. Sure enough, I can't be as magnanimous as you. I'm a greedy person who wants everything about you."
"Ah!"
A yelp of surprise escaped her mouth when he suddenly dipped down and bit her on the neck. It was just above the wound on her neck, which made it more sensitive.
Like a wounded animal, he dug his teeth into her flesh, carving his mark on her. Li Caiyi's heart pounded loudly in her chest, and she felt hot over her body.
"Mmh... Ngh..." Li Caiyi involuntarily let out a moan when he used his tongue to lick on her skin. A shiver ran down her spine, feeling that familiar warm and wet sensation.
As the temperature between them rose, Li Caiyi suddenly remembered that they were still in the hallway, very open for anyone to see! Her remaining rationality told her to stop this madness, so she started pushing him back.
"Stop it, Zhi! Not here!"
But he turned a deaf ear to her plea and began to feel her instead. His hands were as active as his mouth in terms of exploring her body, and Li Caiyi felt like she could combust right there and then from mortification.
As much as she liked it, this was not the right time and place!
"Zhi, I beg you. Stop! Stop, I said!"
Dai Zhiqiang still showed no sign of moving away from her. His eyes glinted under the hallway light, looking like he was in a trance. Her voice didn't reach him at all, and she was no match to his strength.
Right when she was about to give in, she faintly heard the sound of footsteps approaching him. Dai Zhiqiang, with his beast-like reflex, barely avoided a kick that came out of nowhere and moved away while dragging her with him.
"You bastard, why don't you let her go?"
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