80: Chapter 80 Exploration

"I can't."

His voice was low and deep.

Su Xiaoxi bit her lower lip and didn't insist any further.

Her hands gripped the bedsheets beneath her, knuckles turning white, her entire body taut like a fully drawn bow.

He braced himself above her but was in no hurry to move.

His gaze slowly moved down from her tightly furrowed brow.

It swept past her slightly trembling eyelashes, her lower lip bitten pale, and her chest heaving violently from tension.

He reached out, his thumb pressing against her lips to rescue the lower lip she was biting.

"Don't bite."

Su Xiaoxi released her teeth, her lips parting slightly as her warm breath puffed against his thumb.

His thumb slid down from her lips, following her chin and neck all the way down.

When his thumb passed her collarbone, he felt her body tremble slightly.

He leaned down and kissed her.

This kiss was different from the one before.

It was deeper, heavier, carrying an unquestionable force.

She was kissed into a daze, able only to passively endure as fragmented, soft whimpers escaped her throat.

His hand slid in from her waist, his palm pressing against her bare skin.

Her waist was very slender, so thin that his hand could almost cover her entire side.

His lips slid away from the corner of her mouth, following her jawline down, gently taking her earlobe into his mouth as he passed.

Her whole body jolted violently, an oppressed, tearful groan escaping her throat.

His lips continued downward.

The buttons of her shirt were undone one by one.

With every button undone, more skin was exposed to the air and to his burning gaze.

She instinctively wanted to raise her hands to cover herself, but he caught her wrists and pinned them above her head, holding them with one hand.

"Don't block it."

His voice was low and husky, like wood being sanded.

Her eyelashes fluttered, and tears slid from the corners of her eyes.

He lowered his head and slowly wiped the tears away.

She slowly relaxed beneath him, her stiff body softening bit by bit, like snow melting in the spring sun.

Her hands slid down from above her head and landed on his back, her fingertips lightly tracing his shoulder blades, feeling the sensation of his back muscles tightening slightly under her touch.

The night was still long.

Outside the curtains, the city lights went out one by one, leaving only a few scattered beacon lights flickering in the darkness on the distant river.

Only the sound of their intertwined breathing and the occasional suppressed soft moan escaping their lips remained in the room.

She never knew her body could be this sensitive.

Every touch of his carried an electric current, traveling from her fingertips to her toes, from her skin to her marrow.

She trembled, curled up, and stretched out, like a flower blown open by the wind, blooming petal by petal.

When the pain came, she bit the back of her hand, tears silently sliding into her hair.

He pulled her hand away, interlacing their fingers and pinning them to both sides of the pillow.

Palm to palm, fingers fitting into the gaps between fingers, perfectly aligned.

"Tell me if it hurts."

She shook her head, looking at him with teary eyes, her lips twitching a few times as she let out a breathy sound.

"...It doesn't hurt."

It was a lie.

But that pain was mixed with something she couldn't name, making her tell this lie willingly.

The night outside was deep.

On the distant river, the whistle of the last freighter dissipated in the wind, and the entire city sank into its quietest moment of the day.

The sounds in the room finally returned to peace.

Only the sound of their intertwined breathing remained, slow and steady, rising and falling like the tide.

...

Jiang Chen was woken up by the dazzling sunlight.

The curtains weren't closed tightly, and a golden beam of light squeezed through the gap, landing right on his eyes.

He frowned, raised a hand to block the light, and rolled over.

A headache.

It felt as if someone had driven two nails into his temples; every heartbeat brought a dull throb.

His mouth felt bitter, and his throat was as dry as if it had been rubbed with sandpaper.

He lay there with his eyes closed for a while, and only after the pain eased slightly did he slowly open his eyes.

What met his eyes was an unfamiliar ceiling.

Crystal chandeliers, plaster moldings...

This wasn't his room.

Memories began to flood back bit by bit.

Liujintai.

Lin Hao.

Alcohol.

And then there was a girl.

He sat up abruptly.

The movement was too sudden, causing the headache to intensify instantly. He let out a muffled groan and pressed his hand to his temple, his vision going black for several seconds before he recovered.

Then he saw it.

Someone was lying in the spot next to him.

She was lying on her side beside him, the blanket having slid below her shoulders, revealing fair skin and scattered red marks.

On her collarbone, her shoulders, her shoulder blades—they were everywhere.

Her hair was scattered across the pillow, covering half her face. Her breathing was steady and long; she was clearly still in a deep sleep.

Her lips were slightly parted, and there was a shallow wound on her lower lip that had formed a thin scab.

The morning light fell on her face, revealing the dried tear stains at the corners of her eyes.

He looked down at the bedsheets.

On the white sheets, near the center, there was a red stain.

It wasn't large, but it was eye-catching enough.

Like a flower blooming in the snow, the edges had dried into a dark brown, while the center was still a fresh, startling red.

He turned to look at her.

She was still sleeping, very deeply, her breathing light and the corners of her mouth slightly upturned as if she were having a wonderful dream.

Her fingers were gripping the corner of the blanket in the exact same posture as last night, as if she didn't dare relax even in her sleep.

He sat on the edge of the bed, looking at that red patch, silent for a long time.

He took a deep breath, lifted the blanket, and got out of bed.

Stepping onto the carpet barefoot, he walked silently into the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and splashed several handfuls of cold water onto his face.

He woke up quite a bit instantly.

After wiping his face and walking out of the bathroom, she happened to move on the bed, her eyelashes fluttering a few times before she slowly opened her eyes.

Her gaze was unfocused at first, as if she wasn't sure where she was.

Then she saw him standing by the bed, and memories flooded back in an instant.

Her face turned red at a visible speed, burning from her cheeks to the tips of her ears, and spreading from her ears to her neck.

She sat up abruptly, the blanket sliding down to reveal more marks on her skin.

She flusteredly pulled the blanket up to wrap herself, keeping her head down and not daring to look at him.

"Morning."

His voice was so raspy it didn't sound like his own.

He sat down on the chair by the bed.

"Morning."

The air between the two of them seemed to have frozen.

She huddled in the blanket, staring at her fingers. There were crescent-shaped marks on her fingertips from where she had pinched herself in nervousness last night; some had already scabbed over.

Her fingers were trembling slightly.

The room was very quiet, with only the faint sound of traffic outside.

He leaned against the back of the chair, silent for a while as the thought in his mind became clearer and clearer.

"Su Xiaoxi," he spoke.

She looked up, her eyes red, but she wasn't crying.

Her lips were pursed, and the wound on her lower lip seeped a little blood again due to the movement.