Chapter 52: Longing

Not a single word sank in.

Her mind was entirely filled with Pei Jiayin's face from just moments ago. Truly, stunning beauty could lead one astray...

[Hello.]

A WeChat message popped up.

Yu Youchu tapped into it and discovered it was from her blind-date match.

[Might you be Ms. Yu Youchu?]

Yet another identical question.

[It is me.]

Yu Youchu's fingers danced swiftly across the screen, briefly outlining her situation to Huo Fuzhu.

Fortunately, the person on the other end expressed understanding.

Before Yu Youchu could even breathe a sigh of relief, she suddenly realized that Pei Jiayin had not spoken a single word during the entire drive.

Could it be that because she was busy with her phone and ignored him, he was angry?

Yu Youchu probed tentatively, "Pei Jiayin?"

The person on the other end seemed to let out a light hum, finally appending a single sentence: "Focus on driving."

A cold tone, an indifferent phrasing. Yu Youchu obediently zipped her lips.

A tiny spike of anxiety and unease slowly began to rise.

From the moment they got out of the car until they stepped through the front door, neither Pei Jiayin nor Yu Youchu spoke another word.

Pei Jiayin simply drove mechanically, rushing along like an assembly line worker.

After stepping out of the vehicle, Yu Youchu secretly observed the person beside her, only to find his thin lips still tightly pressed together, his expression entirely blank.

"Pei Jiayin? You don't need to drive anymore, right?"

The unspoken subtext was that conversation was now permitted.

Yu Youchu twirled her fingers together.

"Uhm, I wasn't ignoring you on purpose just now. Don't be mad, okay?" She smoothed his feathers as if coaxing a little cat.

Pei Jiayin remained utterly silent, taking her hand and leading her toward the house.

Yu Youchu was completely baffled, forced to take quick, tiny steps to keep up with Pei Jiayin's pace.

Pei Jiayin used one hand to fish his keys out of his pocket to open the door, while his other hand held Yu Youchu's. Though the grip wasn't heavy, it carried a sense of inescapable certainty.

Yu Youchu trotted along in her short, hurried steps.

Oh right, with them rushing about busily all day, the number of interactions between her and Pei Jiayin had indeed been countable on one's fingers.

As Yu Youchu wondered where things had gone wrong, the moment they stepped inside the door, Pei Jiayin turned around to face her.

Yu Youchu felt her heart suddenly suspend high in the air.

Yet Pei Jiayin merely leaned in close to her and then pulled the door shut behind them.

Yu Youchu's heart plummeted heavily back down.

"Click." The moment the door closed, their field of vision plunged into utter darkness.

She groped around, wanting to turn on the light, but the man before her remained as still as a statue.

Even a stone would have understood the atmosphere by now.

Yu Youchu's hand, searching for the light switch, came to a halt.

Instead, another broad, warm palm lightly hovered over her waist, lingering distantly. The places where they accidentally brushed sent a tingling shiver shooting straight up to Yu Youchu's neck.

In the dark, she instinctively wanted to lift her head to search for Pei Jiayin's eyes.

The large palm that had been holding her hand now covered her eyes instead, obliterating every hazy outline in her field of vision and amplifying all her other senses tenfold.

Immediately following that, the previously faint scent of vetiver abruptly grew intense, mingling with a slightly bitter woody aroma as it closed in around her.

Yu Youchu was pressed against the door by Pei Jiayin. This posture instantly reminded her of the night Pei Jiayin had gotten drunk.

Amidst their mingling breaths, Yu Youchu completely forgot to ponder whether Pei Jiayin was angry.

With her back pressed against the door, she instinctively wanted to push Pei Jiayin away, but her hands froze the instant they touched his chest.

A blazing heat radiated through his thin layers of clothing.

A layer of sweat broke out across her palms, and the sticky sensation left her even more flustered.

She felt something rest atop her head—presumably Pei Jiayin leaning his forehead down, though he wasn't putting his full weight onto her.

The breath that had been washing over her face vanished instantly, leaving behind only a trace of damp warmth. The abruptly shortened distance caused Yu Youchu to slow her breathing.

Yu Youchu felt somewhat bewildered and helpless; this posture felt much more like he was simply holding her while resting.

Her voice was very small: "Pei Jiayin...?"

"Shh..."

Pei Jiayin widened the distance between them once more. The palm that had covered her eyes moved downward, and his rough thumb pressed against Yu Youchu's lower lip, repeatedly stroking the soft flesh.

Yu Youchu opened her eyes, locking gazes directly with Pei Jiayin.

Those glass-like eyes of his seemed to have had ink poured into them.

Then his eyes steadily drew closer.

Just as he was about to kiss her, Yu Youchu closed her eyes, her heartbeat fluttering erratically beyond her control.

"I've missed you so much."

She heard Pei Jiayin say that.

In an instant, Yu Youchu's mind went completely blank, as if fireworks had burst inside her head.

His lips did not land where she had imagined. Yu Youchu felt him pause slightly, as if exercising some form of restraint, followed by an unbroken series of kisses—traveling all the way from her brow bone to her eye socket, and from the tip of her nose to the corner of her lips.

"And you?" His voice grew raspy with every passing second.

"Did you miss me?"

He was like a patient hunter, laying out the most enticing bait to lure the most vigilant prey.

He had always known precisely where his advantages lay.

That thought completely occupied Yu Youchu's mind.

Yet she seemed to have no defense against Pei Jiayin.

Because she found herself starting to crave for that kiss to land elsewhere, having already walked willingly and uncontrollably into the trap.

"I missed you too," she heard herself say.

"Little liar."

Pei Jiayin easily locked his fingers around both of Yu Youchu's hands.

Then he went back to kissing her chin.

Yu Youchu was profoundly grateful that Pei Jiayin hadn't turned on the light.

Otherwise, he would have reeled in a boiled lobster.

He pulled back from her face: "Come on, say it again."

Here he went again.

Clearly purposely withholding the kiss, every single movement and expression of his from head to toe was clamoring and seducing her into kissing him instead.

Inconsistent in word and deed, saying one thing while meaning another.

Yu Youchu's thoughts gradually began to slow down. The bait he offered was simply too tempting, and a much simpler, more direct idea surfaced in her mind.

She wanted to kiss him.

The thought was far too simple, leaving no room for her to consider whether this was the exact outcome Pei Jiayin had deliberately guided her toward.

"I'm not saying it anymore." Yu Youchu deliberately kept her voice steady so that Pei Jiayin couldn't find a single flaw of emotional fluctuation.

She stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to Pei Jiayin's.

Pei Jiayin released Yu Youchu's hands with satisfaction, shifting his arms to wrap around her waist and back.

......

Yu Youchu lay in a daze upon her own bed.

Her bedroom door had already been properly closed by Pei Jiayin, plunging her vision back into darkness.

What just happened...?

Her brain was currently operating in a state of system crash.

Weren't she and her boyfriend right in the middle of a deeply passionate kiss? Why had Pei Jiayin carried her into the room, helped her wash up, and then straight-up left the room?

Leaving behind only a closed door, the lights turned off, and a casual "good night."

How was this different from the outcome she had anticipated?!

Yu Youchu pulled the blanket up over her head.

Had Pei Jiayin truly never been in a relationship before? Why was she the one completely wrapped around his finger?

Furthermore, Yu Youchu even thought to herself that even if Pei Jiayin had deliberately seduced her, all she could probably think about was:

*Better to die beneath the peony blossom, even as a ghost one remains romantic.*