Kill Me

The door lock clicked.

Nan Xingyu came in.

The living room lights were off, and only a few flickers of candlelight glowed from the dining room.

A faint fragrance drifted through the air.

Xi Jin sat in a chair beside the dining table, staring straight at her, his expression less than pleasant.

Nan Xingyu swallowed nervously.

She wondered to herself why she was so unlucky.

She hardly ever sneaked out to have fun.

Yet he always caught her.

She gave an awkward smile. "Y-you said you'd be back tomorrow, didn't you?"

"Did you have fun?"

Candlelight flickered across his face, leaving his expression unreadable.

But the oppressive air around him made Nan Xingyu breathe a little more quietly.

"It... it was okay."

She answered honestly, "I went to a quiet bar with my roommates, and we had grilled skewers..."

At that, a scoff rose from Xi Jin's chest.

A moment later, the cold trace of a smile faded, and he spoke again:

"Anything else you want to tell me?"

Nan Xingyu immediately said, "I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for?"

"I shouldn't have lied and said I was at home. I actually went out with my roommates for Christmas Eve."

"That's all?"

"Huh?"

Nan Xingyu looked up, stunned.

What else was there?

Her gaze happened to fall on the table, and she noticed several sheets of paper that looked like her application forms.

Her heart sank.

"I..."

Nan Xingyu opened her mouth, but with his gaze fixed on her, even her voice trembled. "How did you see that?"

"How did I see it?"

Xi Jin gave a low chuckle and picked up the application form. "You forgot to turn off your computer, and just like that, you accidentally put your plan to leave me right in front of me."

He stood up and approached her step by step.

A sense of oppression surged toward her like a tide.

Nan Xingyu instinctively backed away. "I didn't..."

She wanted to explain, but found that every excuse sounded so feeble.

"You didn't?"

Xi Jin stopped in front of her and raised a hand to grip her chin, forcing her to look at him.

"Do you know how bad you are at lying?"

Since it had come to this, Nan Xingyu couldn't be bothered to pretend anymore. "Yes, I'm transferring schools. That's my own choice."

Xi Jin sneered. "When you were doing this, did you ever consider whether I'd agree? Or were you planning to run off without a word?"

Nan Xingyu hated his domineering ways and retorted defiantly:

"Why do I need your permission? I'm free to go wherever I want."

"As my girlfriend, shouldn't you get my permission before you plan to leave my city?"

"What girlfriend?"

Nan Xingyu tried to pull free, but he held her even tighter. She said mockingly:

"Look at our relationship now. What do you take me for? Your pet?"

"Pet?"

Xi Jin's fingers abruptly tightened.

"If I treated you like a pet, would I have caught the last flight back through the snow to spend Christmas Eve with you?"

His voice suddenly turned hoarse, and a hint of vulnerability she had never seen before appeared in his eyes:

"Nan Xingyu, I thought things had been going well between us lately. I've been learning not to pressure you, learning to give you space, but what about you? You've been planning how to leave me behind my back?"

"That's not space."

Nan Xingyu's tears fell onto the back of his hand, their heat making his fingertips tremble.

"What you call space is just letting me live under your control. I've had enough of living like this. I want a life of my own. Can't I?"

"In your life,"

Xi Jin's eyes darkened, "can't there be room for me?"

He reached out and wrapped an arm around her waist, locking her tightly in his embrace.

"Why can't there be room for me? Why?! Why do you still have to run?!"

"Let go of me!"

Nan Xingyu pushed him with all her strength, but couldn't break free no matter what she did. Her tears flowed harder and harder.

"Xi Jin, you've never cared about how I feel. All you care about is whether you can keep me tied to your side."

"Do you think I want to be like this?"

There was a barely perceptible tremor in Xi Jin's breathing.

"You think I've bound you in the name of love, but do you know..."

His voice grew lower and lower, making him seem like a completely different person from the domineering Xi Jin she knew:

"My heart... can't control itself because of you."

"..."

Nan Xingyu's heart suddenly softened.

But then she remembered the days she had spent under his control, and the future she had secretly planned for herself.

She couldn't let herself fall back in.

"Xi Jin, we're not right for each other. Please let me go."

Those words were like a sharp knife.

They stabbed deep into Xi Jin's heart.

He released her from his embrace, and his gaze turned cold. The vulnerability he had shown just moments ago vanished without a trace.

All that remained was a manic obsession.

"Fine."

He picked up the knife and fork from the table and shoved them into her hand, then stepped closer, pressing his chest against the blade.

"Kill me, and I'll let you go."

"Don't worry. You won't go to jail for killing me. I'll find the best team of lawyers to defend you. I'll have only attempted to rape you, and you'll have acted in self-defense."

"..."

Nan Xingyu was terrified by his wild actions. The knife he was gripping in her hand was already pressed against a vital spot.

Just a little pressure would be enough to pierce his heart.

"..."

Nan Xingyu was petrified, with nowhere left to retreat.

"Xiaoyu, kill me."

A strange smile glinted in Xi Jin's eyes. "Why aren't you doing it? Can't bear to? Don't you want to run away?"

"..."

Nan Xingyu bit her lip and shook her head, tears falling nonstop.

Feeling him guide her hand to press harder, she screamed in fright and used all her strength to pull the blade away from him.

"No, I won't. Let go..."

"Xiaoyu, you love me in your heart, don't you?"

Xi Jin's eyes were wild and obsessive, like an invisible net closing around her. "You're just playing a game with me. You want to see if I can catch you."

He looked at her tearful, terrified face and smiled chillingly:

"My baby, no matter where you hide, I can catch you."

Xi Jin's fingertips brushed gently across her face.

"Baby, either stay by my side, or... we go to hell together."

The hand holding the knife trembled uncontrollably. "You're crazy... crazy!"

His kiss suddenly came down.

Desperate.

Fierce.

The knife fell from Nan Xingyu's hand and hit the floor with a piercing clatter.

She instinctively struggled and pushed against him, but he held her firmly in his arms, making it hard even to breathe.

Only when she was nearly suffocating did Xi Jin release her, brushing his thumb across her lips.

"Xiaoyu, you're mine. You always will be."

Tears fell from Nan Xingyu's eyes. She was too weak to struggle.

The candlelight flickered gently.

Enclosed in his arms, she sat on his lap with her eyes lowered, eating the steak he fed her, bite by bite.

The candlelight flickered gently, illuminating his tender profile.

But beneath that tenderness was a control she couldn't escape.

Xi Jin picked up a napkin from the table and gently wiped the corner of her mouth.

"Baby, Merry Christmas Eve."

Xi Jin withdrew the transfer application.

Nan Xingyu was miserable for several days.

Xi Jin was considerate enough not to bother her again while she was in a bad mood.

Then, one day, Xi Jin accompanied his father to a dinner party.

He ran into Jiang Yuexi.

She greeted him politely.

Xi Jin gave her a cursory response.

He was just about to leave.

Song Shuchen walked over carrying a paper bag. "Your roommate's clothes."

Xi Jin happened to glance at it.

The Officer Judy badge showing on the white down jacket was one he and Nan Xingyu had bought while traveling abroad last year.

It was entirely handmade.

One of a kind.

The initials of both their names were even on the back of the badge.

His gaze paused, then traveled upward to the handsome man's face.

Jiang Yuexi took the bag. "Uncle, with such a good opportunity, why don't you give it to her yourself?"

Xi Jin suddenly cut in. "Whose clothes?"

"..."

Jiang Yuexi was slightly taken aback. She hadn't expected him to still be there, much less take an interest in a piece of clothing.

It felt as though he was making conversation for the sake of it.

"My roommate's."

Xi Jin raised his eyes to her. "Who?"

Under his stare, Jiang Yuexi answered instinctively, "Nan Xingyu."

That evening.

The jacket made its way back to Guanlan Shengshi.

"Throw it away."

Xi Jin ordered.

Nan Xingyu had just taken it out of the paper bag and was about to hang it up.

Thinking she had misheard, she turned to look at him.

"What?"

"I said throw it away."

Nan Xingyu glanced at the freshly washed jacket and raised her eyes.

"There's nothing wrong with it. Why should I throw it away?"

"Are you close to Song Shuchen?"

Nan Xingyu immediately understood what had set him off again.

Her face went cold. "Xi Jin, I've only met him once."

She picked up the jacket. "Last time, Lin Piaopiao drank too much and threw up on my clothes. He just helped find someone to wash them while he was at it."

She flung the jacket onto the floor.

"If this bothers you too, then throw it away."

As she spoke, she deliberately stepped over the garment.

She left.

Xi Jin followed and grabbed her wrist. "Nan Xingyu, what's with that attitude?"

"What attitude do you want me to have?"

Nan Xingyu turned around, tears already welling in her eyes.

"You withdrew my transfer application, made me report my whereabouts to you every day, and now you even want to control what clothes I wear. What exactly do you want?"

Xi Jin saw that her eyes had already turned slightly red.

If this went on, she would definitely cry.

"Nan Xingyu, you'd better not lie to me again."

With that, Xi Jin released her hand and slammed the door behind him as he left.

Nan Xingyu stopped caring altogether.

Whatever happened, happened.

A few days later.

Nan Xingyu returned to the dorm after class.

Jiang Yuexi couldn't find her phone, so she borrowed Nan Xingyu's to call it.

After placing the call, she saw the screen flicker.

She thought the phone was broken.

"Xingyu, there seems to be something wrong with your phone."

After finding her own phone, Jiang Yuexi gave it back to her.

Nan Xingyu took it. "I think so too. The screen flickers sometimes."

Jiang Yuexi asked, "When does it usually happen?"

Nan Xingyu casually scrolled through her phone. "When I make calls, and sometimes when I send messages too."

Jiang Yuexi paused, suddenly thinking of something:

"Your phone couldn't have been..."

Nan Xingyu stared at her, seeing her hesitate. "What?"

Jiang Yuexi glanced at the phone and grew cautious. She picked up a pen and paper from the desk and wrote a few words:

[Could it be tapped?]