Chapter 59

Her heart beat hotly against her chest.

Xu Xieyi did not dare to move.

Lin Sheng did not leave immediately. He was still holding her, his light breath brushing against her cheek as if he were resting or perhaps inhaling her scent.

It felt like a tender pacification after intimacy.

It was only when the sky began to grow pale and he felt the girl's tense body relax slightly that Lin Sheng finally loosened his arms from around her.

The mattress beside her shifted lightly, followed by the soft rustle of clothes being straightened, and then the sound of footsteps leaving.

The door was gently clicked shut.

Only then did Xu Xieyi dare to flutter her eyelashes and open her eyes. She slowly touched her hot, red lips with her fingertip.

She let out a soft whine, buried her face deeply into the quilt, and curled up into a tight ball on the bed.

Ah.

Her... first kiss...

Brother Lin.

She cupped her burning face with both hands, her entire body devoid of any strength. She did not dare to recall how Lin Sheng had pinned her hands down just a moment ago...

The way he had looked...

At her.

Was so wicked.

-

The early morning was shrouded in a layer of mist.

Once the alcohol had faded from his system and his spirits had improved, Lin Sheng changed into a set of dark gray cotton sportswear and went downstairs for a run. When he returned, the house was still quiet.

He glanced toward the bedroom, his dark eyes holding a hint of an unspoken smile: *She's shy to this extent.*

This sense of guilt...

After taking a shower, Lin Sheng brewed a cup of morning tea in the living room and reviewed some documents for a while. When it was past nine o'clock and Xu Xieyi still had not come out, he walked into the bedroom.

On the bed, a lump in the quilt was wrapped tightly, with only a strand of silky black hair spilling from the pillow. Following the direction of the hair upwards, he pinched the edge of the quilt and gently pulled it back.

"Feeling better?"

"Xieyi."

Outside the window and inside the room, everything was quiet. Lin Sheng's voice was low and slow. Unfortunately, Xu Xieyi did not clearly catch his mesmerizing tone.

She was lying on her side, wisps of hair at her temples dampened with sweat, and she tremblingly opened a slit of her eyes. Her expression looked rather off.

"Xieyi?"

The young girl did not respond. Lin Sheng frowned and pressed his hand to her forehead.

—It was burning hot.

Even Xu Xieyi herself had not expected that someone with her usual strong immunity would suddenly come down with a fever.

Everything seemed to be proving that...

She really had shared a deep, heavy kiss with a man...

-

When Xu Xieyi drifted back to consciousness, it was already afternoon.

Her fever was not severe, but she felt a bit weak all over.

Pushing aside the quilt, she sat up. Her gaze drifted from the minimalist black wardrobe to the bedside table. Resting there were an unopened pack of cigarettes, a pair of men's black diamond shirt cufflinks, and a pair of silver-rimmed glasses.

Her heart instantly skipped a beat. Slowly, she reached up to touch her soft lips...

Stealthily walking out to the living room, Xu Xieyi immediately spotted the man sitting on the gray sofa. Her breath hitched on the spot, a flood of memories rushed back, and her cheeks began to burn intensely.

Lin Sheng was frowning as he looked over a stack of project proposals.

Hesitating and not daring to approach, Xu Xieyi stood where she was, scrutinizing Lin Sheng.

His tall figure. A dark teal knitted cardigan over a white silk shirt, the skin at the back of his neck looking as fair as jade against his short black hair. As he read the documents, his dust-free eyelashes curved upward at the outer corners into a beautiful arc.

A silent man who carried a natural, unforced authority.

After watching for a long time, Xu Xieyi suddenly felt as though she didn't recognize Lin Sheng anymore. Her gaze fell upon the silver-gray watch on his wrist. The metallic texture felt businesslike and mature...

She pressed a finger to her lips, feeling somewhat bewildered.

"Awake?" Lin Sheng put down the documents in his hand.

Xu Xieyi snapped to attention and stiffened nervously on the spot: "B-Brother Lin..."

Lin Sheng, however, remained as calm as ever: "Mhm~"

His gaze swept over Xu Xieyi's fingers, which were lightly intertwined out of nervous shyness. The hair hanging past her shoulders retained the slight bend from a hair tie, and her full face still carried a touch of baby fat. He reined in his low pressure, his gaze holding a warmth unusual for him: "Come here."

"Hm?" Xu Xieyi blinked.

"Come here."

Lin Sheng gestured toward the coffee table with his chin, his tone brooking no refusal. "Take your medicine. You have a slight fever."

In front of Lin Sheng, Xu Xieyi had always been obedient. She walked over as told, sat down at a distance from Lin Sheng, and picked up the medicine box, clumsily reading the instructions.

Yet her brain refused to cooperate.

The words seemed unfamiliar, read over and over again without registering in her mind. Her mind was utterly distracted.

Her attention kept drifting toward the person beside her.

*Sigh, how many pills am I supposed to take anyway? For children, for adults...*

She was seventeen.

She probably counted as an adult, right...

As Xu Xieyi pondered, she keenly caught the sound of a soft chuckle. The medicine box was gently taken from her hand.

"I-I can do it myself, Brother Lin..."

"Let me."

Xu Xieyi looked over just in time to see the man rolling up his sleeves, revealing a sturdy, well-toned arm wrapped with slightly bulging veins.

Her eyes burning, she lowered her gaze.

Lin Sheng skillfully popped a few pills into his palm and picked up the glass of water on the table.

Hastily, Xu Xieyi reached out with both hands to take it awkwardly: "Thank you, Brother Lin."

"Slow down, don't choke."

"Okay~"

Xu Xieyi swallowed the pills in small gulps, biting her lip and enduring it silently when she felt choked, not daring to make a sound. Her face was flushed bright red, clearly flustered and shy from simply being near him. Lin Sheng lowered his eyelashes with a trace of helplessness.

So innocent.

He had only kissed her.

What about in the future...

Lin Sheng smiled faintly and stopped his train of thought. "You must be hungry. I'll take you out to eat something."

Xu Xieyi's chest felt stiff from the pills. "Okay."

"What would you like to eat?"

"Anything..."

Lin Sheng raised an eyelid. "Where is that?"

"Huh?" Xu Xieyi didn't understand.

"The restaurant called 'Anything' that you mentioned, where is it?"

"..."

Xu Xieyi blinked, looking at Lin Sheng for two whole seconds: "I meant, eating anything is fine."

She paused to add, "There is no such restaurant."

This serious look of hers coaxed a low chuckle from Lin Sheng.

Clueless as to why he was laughing and still trying to figure it out, Xu Xieyi saw Lin Sheng cast a sidelong glance at her.

That kind of look was unlike anything he had ever given her before...

She dazedly tried to decipher him, completely at a loss, while her face grew hotter and hotter under his gaze, making her wish she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

"Really, *anything* to eat?"

Before she could answer, her waist was wrapped by an arm and she was pulled into his embrace, the back of her neck resting against his sturdy forearm. She let out a startled gasp, her hands shrinking back against her chest.

From her inverted field of vision, she saw Lin Sheng looking down at her—the upturned corners of his eyes brimming with a smile.

"Then, would you like to eat me?"

--

In the dim garage, the headlights of the Porsche suddenly flashed on, illuminating tiny specks of dust dancing within the beams.

Xu Xieyi sat in the passenger seat, still too shy to lift her face.

The sound of Lin Sheng closing his door and fastening his seatbelt made her heart flutter wildly. Just now in the living room...

Lin Sheng had never interacted with her in that tone of voice before.

It felt a bit unfamiliar.

Xu Xieyi was burning all over, though not because of her fever.

In truth, ever since dawn, she had been trapped in a sense of unreality.

She remembered what Yang Bingbing had said that day.

*—One day, you'll meet a man you dream about constantly. The moment he touches you, your whole body will tingle, and if he kisses you, you'll want to die right there in his arms. It's super wonderful... and so thrilling...*

Pulling her scarf down slightly, Xu Xieyi silently touched her lips, a hesitant smile blooming across her face.

The joy deep within her heart was about to shatter her reason.....

Lin Sheng was driving.

Xu Xieyi secretly glanced at his profile.

"Brother Lin..."

Keeping his eyes on the road ahead, Lin Sheng replied, "Mhm."

"I..."

When no continuation followed for a long time, he turned his head slightly: "What is it?"

Xu Xieyi slowly raised her head, her moist eyes filled with a shy, bright spirit as she looked up at him. With a soft, gentle voice, she pronounced every single word with utmost clarity: "My first kiss... is gone."

Chapter 60

Lin Sheng's eyes, fixed on the road ahead, suddenly stirred.

The car was immediately pulled over to the roadside.

Xu Xieyi kept her hands neatly placed on her lap, tightly gripping her sleeves. Under Lin Sheng's gaze, she lowered her head.

With his hand still resting on the steering wheel, Lin Sheng's eyes grew deeper and deeper.

With a decade of experience between them, he was long past being an ignorant youth... But at this moment, time felt as though it had been pulled back to the past; he should have been encountering this girl in some quiet corner of a campus...

Lin Sheng leaned over, pulling Xu Xieyi into his embrace with a single arm, his Adam's apple rolling gently against her cheek.

"Mhm, it's gone."

There was still a half-hour drive to the pedestrian street.

Clenching her hands beneath her sleeves, she thought of the arm Lin Sheng had just used to hold her—slender, firm, and full of strength.

Xu Xieyi had never imagined that one day she would be embraced by such a mature man...

For a moment, she felt in a daze, sweetness blooming in her heart.

"Brother Lin. Will you take me to eat KFC, please..."