—Jiang Chuyi blinked. “Huh?”

Zong Ye’s fevered, dizzy kisses trailed to the corner of her eye. He let out a short laugh. “Are you sure… you’re not gonna stop me?”

“I’ve waited so long for the kind of you that I’ll never forget…”“If I’m covered in scars, I still wouldn’t have the heart to tell you—until the very end…”

There was a dazed look on Jiang Chuyi’s face. Everything felt like it had gone off the rails. But it was just a kiss, wasn’t it? What was there to be afraid of? Why would anyone need to call in sick over that?

That hazy thought flickered through her head.

The room darkened further. He ran his fingers along the shell of her ear, down her cheek, finally resting on her lips.

“You look pristine, untouched.”

“But inside, I’m drowning in pain…”

“If you don’t leave now…” Zong Ye said, kneeling on the rug, his hand cradling the back of her head, “then I won’t be able to stop.”

“I’m not leaving,” Jiang Chuyi answered simply.

The English song reached its climax. A woman’s raspy voice wailed through the speakers, fierce and desperate—“He looks up grinning like a devil.”

—He smiled, like the devil descending.

Zong Ye closed the distance.

Jiang Chuyi’s vision went black for a moment. Her body tensed as his overwhelming kisses crashed down, silencing all her soft whimpers.

The flashing neon lights outside swirled chaotically in her eyes. He lifted her up and pressed her against the wall—against the glass. Behind her was the cold, unforgiving exterior of the building. In front of her, he pressed close, leaving no room to breathe. Jiang Chuyi had nowhere to run.

It felt like they had melted into the soft rug beneath them.

Her wrists were held firmly in his hands, her legs pried open, her lips forced apart by his frenzied tongue. Her head tilted back, her breath stolen, her senses overwhelmed by him.

Jiang Chuyi didn’t understand this kind of kiss. She’d always been a proper person, and this was so far from the gentle affection she had imagined. Her tongue was numb. At first, she tried to push him away, but slowly she realized—there was no one else in this world right now. Just the two of them, tangled in sweat, saliva, and tears—lost in a kiss so mad and all-consuming it felt like it might shatter her.

She wanted to pause the game.

“Zong Ye… Zong Ye…”

She called his name in panic, her legs trembling so hard her voice shook too.

Zong Ye’s hands didn’t stop. He murmured distractedly in response, as he gently kissed away the tears that had spilled from her eyes from the lack of air.

His maddening kiss didn’t ease at her pleas. He picked her up again. Over and over, he whispered, “Chuyi… I’m sorry.”

When she cried, saying it hurt, he switched from biting to licking.When she went quiet, unable to make a sound, he switched again—licks turning back into bites, swallowing her resistance whole.

Jiang Chuyi’s vision blurred with tears. She tried to grab his hair, but even her fingers were drawn into his mouth. Breathing felt impossible. Her strength faded. The world spun, warped and weightless.

Zong Ye had clearly lost control—like a corrupted line of code spiraling beyond repair.

She finally understood the price of biting into that poisoned apple.

Everywhere he touched throbbed and burned, as if scalded with boiling oil. Even her blood felt like it was boiling.

On that night, spiraling past the point of no return, Jiang Chuyi thought—again and again—that she should’ve walked away.

She drifted for what felt like forever, lost in a timeless haze, as if this night had no end. The neon lights outside the window finally blinked out. Dawn broke softly across the sky.

The innocent little bunny blanket was now a crumpled mess. Jiang Chuyi was back in Zong Ye’s lap, his arms around her again. He was still speaking, but she could no longer make out the words.

Someone lifted her chin—her cheeks were tear-streaked, lashes heavy with moisture. Her gaze had nowhere else to fall but on him.

He rested his face against her shoulder, wrapping an arm around her waist, and murmured gently, “Chuyi, say it. Tell me you like me.”

“Zong Ye…” Her voice quivered.

“Say you like me.”

Her mind was blank. With a soft sob caught in her throat, she whispered, “I like you.”

The world quieted. It felt like only their voices existed.

She had become his—utterly and completely.

“Say you only like me.”

“Only… like you.”

“Who am I?”“Zong Ye.”

“And?”“Only like Zong Ye.”

“Yiyi, I only like you too.” He tilted his head, smiling, and kissed her again. “I like you so much

—