The murky night sky seemed to have draped a dark veil over the bright moon.
Drip, drip.
At some point, rain had begun to fall outside the window. Swept along by the spring breeze, it pattered against the glass, tapping out notes without any rhythm.
Through the haze of his consciousness, he seemed to see a tall, straight-backed figure standing in the doorway.
In the dim light, the man's deep, dark eyes stared steadily at him, a hidden tide surging across the distance between them.
The sounds around him gradually faded, leaving only a ringing in his ears.
In the dead silence, the man took a step.
Under Fang Lele's dazed, bewildered gaze, Ji Fengyao walked toward the bed, each step falling in time with his heartbeat.
"What are you doing?"
The calm, steady voice abruptly broke the stillness of the night.
The desires that had been growing wildly across parched earth seemed to have finally welcomed their savior, bursting through the soil in an instant.
Fang Lele stopped biting his lip. His eyes trembled, and he let out a sob full of hurt and longing.
The rustling rain outside the window seemed to whisper that time had not stopped.
After a long while, the man bent down and reached out, lifting a corner of the covers under Fang Lele's helpless, uneasy gaze.
Fang Lele's eyes quivered.
Yet the instigator seemed like a spectator with no part in any of it. Ji Fengyao's calm gaze swept over him, inch by inch.
As though he intended to brand him as his own from head to toe.
It was so glaring, and so impossible to accept.
So the moment Fang Lele woke up, he fled without looking back.
When Fang Lele woke at the villa in Capital City, he was the