A Steam-Shrouded Defense

On the first night in their new home, the faint scent of the solid wood floors still lingered in the air, along with the warmth that belonged only to the two of them, not yet fully faded.

Lu Yan stood at the bathroom door, holding a soft white bath towel.

The bathroom was so spacious that it left him a little dazed.

Compared to the shower stall in his old rental, where he could touch the walls just by reaching out, this place was practically a small bathhouse.

"I'll take a shower and calm down first," Lu Yan murmured to himself.

He took a deep breath, trying to steady his wildly pounding heart.

The exhaustion from moving seemed to have been replaced by happiness at that moment.

Lu Yan turned on the tap, and the hot water pouring from the showerhead instantly filled the air with steam.

Standing beneath the showerhead, he felt warm water run down his back.

He closed his eyes, his mind filled with everything that had happened over the past few days.

He wasn't a block of wood. As an artist, he was more sensitive to lines than anyone.

Aemeath in that white shirt, her subtle teasing in the mall fitting room, and the sight of her waving to him beneath the setting sun just now-every scene challenged the limits he had held as a man for years.

"Am I being too passive?" Lu Yan laughed self-mockingly, then wiped the water from his face.

He cared too much about Aemeath, so he was constantly on edge, afraid that being too explicit would scare her away, afraid that the possessiveness nearly overflowing from his eyes would put pressure on her.

"What Aemeath wants is a warm home. I need to act a little more mature," Lu Yan desperately repeated to himself as he rubbed body wash over his skin.

Inside the bathroom, he built a defense called restraint, trying to use it to prove that he could give Aemeath a responsible future.

But in the next second, that defense suffered a fatal blow.

Outside the bathroom door, Aemeath was pressed against the frosted glass.

Aemeath's long pink hair hung somewhat messily over her shoulders, and her eyes were full of greed.

This little courtyard home was the nest she had personally chosen for A-Yan.

For Aemeath, it was very simple: a place where she could keep A-Yan enclosed, where no one could disturb them, and where he could only look at her, think of her, and depend on her.

She listened to the faint sound of water coming from inside, which made even her a little restless.

A-Yan had become so tempting now.

He was being shy, holding himself back, struggling to uphold that hypocritical title.

But Aemeath didn't want any of that.

She hadn't crossed the gulf between dimensions to watch Lu Yan be a courteous roommate.

She wanted to touch him, wanted every inch of their skin to bear each other's marks.

In her mind, taking care of A-Yan, serving A-Yan, and possessing A-Yan were all things she ought to do.

"A-Yan~" Aemeath rested her fingers lightly on the door handle.

Her voice had a moist quality, as though she had just finished bathing, and was sweet enough to draw into threads. "Do you need help? You probably can't reach your back, can you?"

The sounds from inside the bathroom abruptly turned chaotic for a moment.

Lu Yan's eyes flew open, and he nearly got body wash in them.

He stared in alarm at the blurry figure behind the frosted glass and instinctively shrank toward the corner.

"N-no need! I can reach my back! Really!"

Lu Yan's voice sounded a little muffled in the bathroom, carrying unmistakable panic.

His face was so red it looked ready to bleed, and even the roots of his ears felt like they were burning.

"But isn't it normal for family to scrub each other's backs?" Aemeath chuckled outside the door. Her voice was soft, but it reached Lu Yan's ears with perfect clarity.

"Ahem, we can't do that yet!" Lu Yan grew so flustered that he began to ramble. "It's almost ten. Go rest in bed first. I'll be done in a minute!"

"Are you sure you don't want me to?"

Aemeath's tone became a little aggrieved, her particular air of vulnerability instantly reaching its peak. "A-Yan, do you think that because I have a body now, I don't need that closeness and dependence anymore?"

"Or is it that after moving into our new home, you don't want me so close to you anymore?"

Hearing that, Lu Yan felt his heart wrench.

He couldn't bear hearing Aemeath speak in such an aggrieved tone. Even though he knew she was doing it on purpose, his heart still ached for her.

"It's not that I don't want to, it's just..." Lu Yan turned off the shower, and the bathroom instantly fell silent except for the sound of breathing.

"I just need a little time."

"This is our new home. I want a perfect start."

There was a moment of silence outside the door.

Aemeath didn't simply break in. Though her feelings were intense, she enjoyed the pleasure of forcing him to make a choice, little by little, even more.

There was plenty of time anyway.

"All right, then," Aemeath said softly, her footsteps seemingly growing more distant. "Hurry up, A-Yan."

"I'll be waiting for you in bed. I put that new pillow on the side where you sleep, A-Yan."

Only when the sound of footsteps had completely faded across the living room's wooden floor did Lu Yan lean against the tiled wall, as though all his strength had been drained away.

Aemeath returned to the large bed in the master bedroom, holding the old pillow that carried Lu Yan's scent tightly in her arms.

A faint, confident smile rested on her lips.

"A-Yan, you can't escape."

Aemeath closed her eyes and buried her face deep in the pillow.

"This nest has already been built."

"From now on, every minute, every second, every breath you take will be stamped with my name."

Lu Yan stayed in the bathroom for a long time, until a faint pink flush spread over his skin. Only then did he dawdle over changing into clean pajamas.

He pushed open the bathroom door, and the cool air in the living room cleared his head considerably, but the thought of the person in the master bedroom made his steps grow heavy again.

The moment Lu Yan opened the master bedroom door, his breath caught.

Aemeath was reclining against the headboard in a pale pink silk camisole nightgown. Its slender straps had slipped down beside her rounded, fragrant shoulders, and the broad expanse of fair, delicate skin beneath the warm orange light dazzled him.

The heart-shaped Tacit Mark on her chest and the mole beside her shoulder in particular made her all the more captivating.

Her waterfall of long hair hung loosely, a few strands falling into the snowy, soft abyss between her breasts, while her golden starry eyes were full of languor.

"A-Yan~ you're so slow~" Aemeath patted the new pillow beside her, a tender smile on her lips.

Lu Yan stood in the doorway, unsure where to look.

This was no perfect start. It was clearly the endpoint where his defenses would utterly collapse.

In this little courtyard home, Aemeath's every move silently declared: tonight, no one was getting away.