"The medicine is so bitter"

Xun Yuan's words were like a switch, completely shattering the charged, lingering atmosphere between them.

Who had lost their composure first?

It was hard to say.

Perhaps they had both done so at once.

Zuo Tingyue wrapped the woman in his arms tightly in the roomy bathrobe. Xun Yuan's face was completely covered, leaving only her luminous white feet and calves exposed. Under the hallway lights, the droplets still clinging to them caught the light.

The bodyguards stationed by the door swiftly lowered their heads when they saw their boss carrying someone over, not daring to steal another glance.

The first time was in bed.

There were not so many variations in the exchanges between a grown man and woman, only unbridled abandon and the utmost entanglement.

The curtains hung deep, light and shadows flickering.

The man's bare back was covered in sweat and red marks, brimming with wildness. The woman's fair skin had flushed a tipsy red, rosy against white, her sweat-dampened hair spread across the brocade quilt like a painting splashed in ink.

*

When Xun Yuan opened her eyes, the room was pitch-black. She fumbled for the bedside lamp and turned it on.

As the light came on, she blinked to adjust to its brightness, then looked up. There was no trace of him in the room anymore.

Xun Yuan felt around for her phone to check the time. Two in the morning, the dead of night.

Thinking about the timing, she pressed a hand to her forehead. Her very first time, and she had already indulged in that sort of thing in broad daylight. Really, it was too much.

Her throat was dry and sore when she woke. It was all his fault.

She wanted some water. As she rose, her body paused, her delicate brows knitting slightly, before she got out of bed as though nothing were wrong.

She did not need to look to know what her body was like: mottled with blue and purple, not a patch of unmarked skin, looking thoroughly bullied.

The slip dress and bathrobe lay in a tangled mess on the floor, intertwined in an indescribably intimate scene.

Thinking back, it had been quite wild-dry kindling meeting a raging flame, impossible to rein in once it began.

He had been so vigorous, without the slightest restraint, as though he had gone without for ages.

After looking around, Xun Yuan discovered she had nothing to wear. She picked through what was available, wrapped herself in a fresh bathrobe, and tied the belt around her waist.

She pushed the door open and went out. The sound of the door drew their gazes.

Xun Yuan froze. This truly was unexpected.

Zuo Tingyue, Jiang Yulin, and Special Assistant Lin were all in the suite's living room, with several computers glowing on the table.

"Fuck."

Jiang Yulin swore.

At this hour, with Xun Yuan appearing in Zuo Tingyue's room in a bathrobe, he could fill ten thousand words imagining what the two of them had done.

Zuo Tingyue, however, remained calm. He looked at Jiang Yulin and Special Assistant Lin, his voice flat. "You two, leave us."

Jiang Yulin still wanted to speak. "Tingyue, you..."

"Leave."

His voice did not change, but his tone brooked no refusal. Jiang Yulin had no choice, nor did he dare go against his wishes, so he turned and left.

The suite door opened and closed again, leaving only the two of them.

Xun Yuan looked at Zuo Tingyue. Neither shy nor embarrassed, she walked quite openly to one side and poured herself a glass of water.

"The room's too soundproof. I didn't know you were out here."

Her voice was slightly hoarse when she spoke. The implication was that she had not deliberately come out to be seen.

Zuo Tingyue understood, but paid it no mind. He did not care at all whether she had done it deliberately. It was unimportant.

He had slept with her; undeniably, she had attracted him. Whether her looks had bewitched him or her personality had tempted him, he had wanted to do it, so he had. But anything deeper had yet to develop.

Zuo Tingyue lifted his eyelids to look at her, his gaze mild. "Hungry?"

Xun Yuan held her glass and sipped the water. It was raining in Harbor City, and with so little on, she felt a little cold.

"Yes."

Xun Yuan told the truth. She had not eaten yesterday's meal, and had done something that consumed an extreme amount of physical energy besides. She was starving.

Zuo Tingyue caught the little aggrieved expression on her face and glanced at her with the hint of a smile.

"Get dressed. Let's go eat."

Xun Yuan took a sip of hot water. "I don't have anything to wear."

Zuo Tingyue gestured with his eyes. Xun Yuan spotted a shopping bag beside the sofa and understood.

She walked over. As she passed, her gaze inadvertently caught the stock figures scrolling across the laptop screen.

The market value was frighteningly high.

After just one glance, she withdrew her gaze without looking further, picked up the bag, and returned to the bedroom to change, observing the boundaries perfectly.

*

Late at night in Harbor City, a fine drizzle fell, scattering endlessly, as though the rain would never stop.

Zuo Tingyue drove while Xun Yuan sat in the passenger seat. She watched the pedestrians and vehicles on the street, taking them in like flowers viewed from horseback, without the slightest attention.

"Can I open the window?"

She asked, her cool voice carrying a sandy rasp. It was not unpleasant; it lent her an extra measure of sexiness, the kind from bed.

"Go ahead."

Zuo Tingyue answered offhandedly.

Xun Yuan lowered the window and propped her chin on one hand. Cool strands of rain fell lightly on her face, clearing her head at once. She liked rainy days, but not days of torrential rain.

Fresh, damp air streamed in, its cool lightness briefly dispersing the thousand-year sandalwood scent lingering around Zuo Tingyue. That fragrance was too rich, too pleasant, all too easy to go to one's head.

As the black Bentley passed a twenty-four-hour pharmacy, something flashed through Xun Yuan's mind.

"Stop the car."

She spoke urgently.

Zuo Tingyue switched on the hazard lights and pulled over, his expression growing a shade more distant as he looked at Xun Yuan.

"I'm going to buy some medicine."

As soon as the words left her mouth, Xun Yuan opened the door and got out. The rain was light, so she did not take an umbrella. Afraid of keeping Zuo Tingyue waiting, she jogged over.

Zuo Tingyue watched her enter the pharmacy, tapped a cigarette out of the pack, lit it, and lowered his window halfway.

Xun Yuan soon returned, carrying a box of medicine and a bottle of mineral water.

After reading the instructions, she tossed a pill into her mouth, unscrewed the mineral water, and took a sip to swallow it. Then she tucked the medicine back inside and casually set the box aside.

Zuo Tingyue slowly exhaled a mouthful of smoke, looking somewhat disheveled and untamed. He turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the words on the box-

Mifepristone tablets.

Something seemed to stir in his eyes, but it was too faint, or perhaps he hid his emotions too deeply. Either way, he remained impossible to read.

His gaze settled on Xun Yuan's face. She looked at him at that moment too, then suddenly smiled.

It was a sweet, coquettish smile that softened her cool demeanor.

"The medicine is so bitter."

Her lips parted, her words sounding like a complaint, like a grievance. A hint of girlish charm suddenly emerged, as though her indestructible exterior had cracked to reveal the softness within.

It was more like she was tempting and bewitching him: look, she was cool and steady, calm and self-possessed, and only in front of you did she show this sweet, girlish side.

Being one of a kind could move the heart at any time.

Zuo Tingyue's thin lips curved into a smile, one that seemed more playful than anything.

"Then why take it if it's bitter?"

Xun Yuan pouted. "Do I have a choice?"

He had clearly tacitly agreed to it too. Why did she have to take it? Wasn't it because he could not wait? Yet now he was questioning her.

Zuo Tingyue did not answer. His fingers shifted slightly, stubbing out the half-smoked cigarette.

He stretched out his long arms and scooped Xun Yuan up from the passenger seat, holding her over the center console, then tilted his head and seized the breath within her mouth.

The streetlights glowed a hazy yellow through the misty rain.

His neat, short, textured hair cast faint shadows, his sharp, flowing contours concealed in the darkness as his powerfully muscled arms enclosed her tightly within his territory.