Hush money

Xavier averted his eyes, no longer quite daring to look at Xiao Yan.

"Why are you blushing?" Xiao Yan raised a hand and poked his cheek. "You're just having a crisis of trust and an existential crisis, right?"

As she said it, Xiao Yan herself understood.

Indignant, she reached up and gave his cheek a pinch, neither hard nor gentle. "Can't you take a good look at me with your eyes, and really feel me with your heart?"

"No, I... I just thought..." Xavier could barely get his words out.

"If anyone should be scared, shouldn't it be me? What if I do everything I can and still can't win your heart, just like now?" As Xiao Yan said this, her spirits sank.

She sighed, sat up straight, and withdrew her hand. "I don't understand how you can know I'll be upset and still say such heartless things to hurt me. I've thought it over and over, and the only explanation is that you don't like me."

A pang pierced Xavier's heart as he saw Xiao Yan's hands resting on her legs, clenched into little fists.

Then he saw Xiao Yan suddenly laugh and say self-mockingly, "Do you want to see me admit total defeat? Well, you've done it, Xavier. I lost. I hate how cold you are to me. I can't stand it."

Xiao Yan's sudden confession left Xavier flustered and out of control, his face burning for a long while.

Only gradually did he compose himself and wait for the heat in his face to fade.

Thinking it over carefully, Xiao Yan's words had struck at the heart of the matter. She understood the deeper reason behind his sulking this time better than he did himself.

Did he really mind all Xiao Yan's premeditation and carefully laid plans?

That wasn't actually the crux of it.

What he feared was Xiao Yan carrying out her steps to win him over without any emotion involved.

If both of them were factored into her calculations, then it was a high-stakes gamble with herself as the wager.

If she lost, she would be the first to suffer, left utterly battered.

What she offered up first was herself. She wasn't detached, nor was she standing on the sidelines.

If she entered the game with herself, and with her heart, too...

Then her feelings for him probably weren't any less than her feelings for Zayne.

All Xavier's worries seemed to resolve themselves.

So this was what he truly cared about. Even he had only realized it after the fact.

She understood him.

Far better than he had imagined.

And that understanding couldn't have come from research.

After all, Xavier had never been romantically involved with anyone.

Naturally, Xiao Yan had no way of obtaining any information about that.

"You..." Xavier still didn't quite understand. "You really are so strange."

"Yes, I'm strange! I'm a baffling, scheming woman you have to guard against, someone you have to raise your spines against and stab full of bloody holes!"

Xiao Yan really didn't know what else to say. "If you hate me, I'll take it, but I won't let you go!"

Xavier was even more confused. "What?" He hadn't said he was going anywhere.

"Don't even think about running. You can't escape the palm of my hand!" Xiao Yan spread her right hand toward him. "An angsty romance is still romance, and hurting each other is still love. Bring it on. I'm not scared of you!"

And she says she isn't scared.

Five days without contact, and a few cold words from him had made her bristle. All bluster, no backbone.

Impotent rage.

Using grand declarations.

To hide her hurt.

Xavier's heart softened completely. He reached over and laced his fingers through Xiao Yan's outstretched hand.

Xiao Yan shook their hands. "What are you doing?!"

"The back seat is so long, yet you had to squeeze up against me, and now you're asking what I'm doing?" Xavier moved closer. "Didn't you tell me to look with my eyes and feel with my heart?"

"You don't need to hold on to me like this to feel with your heart." Xiao Yan shifted to the side. "Go away."

She didn't dare struggle too hard.

Because Xavier was holding her with his left hand.

His left upper arm was still injured.

"Your eyes keep darting around. Where exactly are you trying to look?" Xavier noticed Xiao Yan's evasive gaze. "Is there something on my left arm you're not allowed to see?"

Xiao Yan paused. "I've practiced swordsmanship with you! I recognize your stance and sword moves!" That wasn't a lie, either.

"Oh." Xavier understood.

So that was how she had seen through the mask and recognized Lightseeker?

"Then I can't practice swordsmanship with anyone else anymore. It'll give me away." His smile grew gentle. "But what should I do when my hands itch to pick up a sword? I need an evenly matched practice partner, and as it happens, there's one right in front of me."

"Oh, stop it." Xiao Yan was annoyed. "I'm never practicing swordsmanship with you again, in case your identity accidentally gets exposed one day and you come back to interrogate me. 'Oh no, you must have leaked my secret, you wicked woman!'"

Her imitation dripped with sarcasm.

Xavier cleared his throat. "Then it looks like I'll have to pay some hush money."

"Ha, do I look like I'm short on money?" Xiao Yan pointed at her car. "This little ride of mine is expensive, isn't it?"

Then she looked down at herself. "This designer loungewear costs two hundred... mm..."

Xavier suddenly leaned in and kissed Xiao Yan on the lips, catching her completely off guard!

The moment she felt that warm softness, Xiao Yan instinctively opened her mouth and bit down!

"Ah!" Xavier recoiled in pain, a small tooth mark breaking the skin of his lip. "You... you really could bring yourself to bite me?"

"I'd like to swallow you alive!" Xiao Yan licked the blood from the corner of her mouth, feeling a little pained for him again. "That's what you get for kissing me out of nowhere. You startled me!"

Although she had bitten him, the way Xiao Yan was blushing now was truly adorable.

He saw it, and he felt it.

She was real, and she was very easily moved by him.

So he really had been too sensitive. He really had misunderstood her sincerity.

Apologetic, Xavier slowly leaned closer again. "Then this time, there's nothing sudden about it. I'm telling you slowly that I'm going to kiss you again. You..."

Their lips touched.

Xiao Yan frowned, but she really didn't want to hurt him with another bite, or reject the affection he had initiated again.

Neither of them parted their lips. There was only the gentle touch of their lips and the slightest rubbing.

Rather than a kiss, it was more like feeling each other's warmth, soothing their hearts, both somewhat wounded after five days of hurting each other.

Like two little animals, they simply drew close, their breaths mingling as they shared what was in their hearts.

"You won't be startled again." Still pressed close to Xiao Yan, Xavier coaxed softly, "Partner, if I apologize to you now, will you accept it?"

"No!"

The moment she spoke, he licked her lips.

Wet and warm.

"I'm sorry," Xavier said clingily. "I know I was wrong. Please forgive me."

Xiao Yan said, "...You're cheat..."

He licked her again!

"Xavier!" Her ears burned as she shoved hard at his shoulders. "Have you no shame!"

Forced to pull away, Xavier tilted his head and smiled.

But Xiao Yan saw that Xavier's face had flushed again, much more deeply than before, almost abnormally so.

She cupped his face. It was burning!

Then she felt his neck.

"That tickles..." Xavier murmured, lowering his head toward Xiao Yan's shoulder. "I don't know if it's because we've cleared up the misunderstanding and I can finally relax, but why am I suddenly... so sleepy..."

"We haven't cleared up the misunderstanding! But never mind that for now. You have a fever, don't you?!" Both angry and anxious, Xiao Yan lowered the car window and ordered, "You, go tell the SWAT team... tell them I'm sick and need Xavier to look after me, so he's taking me home first."

"You're sick, miss?" The bodyguard was badly frightened.

"Stop asking questions and do what I told you!" Xiao Yan snapped.

The bodyguard hurried toward the police office building.

"You, get in and drive. We're going home," Xiao Yan ordered again.

The other bodyguard quickly got into the car.

On the way, Xiao Yan helped Xavier lie down with his head in her lap.

She stroked Xavier's hair tenderly. "Our family doctor knows how to be discreet, but if you're still worried..."

"Dr... Zayne. I... trust him," Xavier murmured.