“Why…”

Luo Qingchuan felt an overwhelming impulse, like even his soul was shackled by Su Yingxue.

“My kitty left me on its own, and only came back because it had nothing to eat… I loved it so much, but to it, what was I really…”

Hearing Su Yingxue’s words, Luo Qingchuan’s mind went blank. He held the girl in his arms tightly, full of tender sorrow.

After a short while—

Su Yingxue gently bit her lip and lifted Luo Qingchuan’s shoulder. Her breathing grew more ragged, her gaze dreamy.

She was smiling, her elegant face soft and alluring. “Was it exciting? You gave in right away.”

Luo Qingchuan, instead, gently brushed Su Yingxue’s sweat-dampened black hair with his hand.

“Did the kitty come back?” he asked, lying beside her.

“It did. It really felt like a dream. It had been gone for a whole month, but it still remembered where home was…”

Half lying on Luo Qingchuan’s chest, Su Yingxue said softly, “I stroked its neck, fed it, bathed it… Luo Qingchuan, I couldn’t do it.”

Su Yingxue chuckled, “Because… because I realized it was just too cute after all!”

Her eyes shimmered with moisture, like morning stars—hazy, radiant, and breathtakingly beautiful.

“I was just happy, Luo Qingchuan. That moment, I was simply happy. I forgot everything else.”

Luo Qingchuan suddenly felt like crying. His fingers ran gently through her hair, softly caressing her head. His heart ached with deep affection for her.

Su Yingxue wiped her tears but smiled sweetly. “Kitty’s gotten chubby again. If you want to pet it, I can take you sometime. It’s super well-behaved.”

Luo Qingchuan pulled the blanket up over her, wrapped his arm around her smooth shoulder, and looked into her face. He leaned in close, so close her face turned red, her lashes quivering.

“You’re amazing,” Luo Qingchuan said gently.

“This is a secret I never dared to tell anyone…” she murmured, closing her eyes shyly. “Will you hate me?”

“Everyone has a dark side, bad thoughts,” Luo Qingchuan said with a calm smile. “I don’t think it’s strange or bad. On the contrary, I think your heart is gentler than most people’s.”

He remembered clearly—he too once thought about using Chen Yanyu to kill Zuo Tian. He’d had that thought.

Su Yingxue buried her face in Luo Qingchuan’s chest and began to choke up. “Saying something so awful… I’m sorry.”

“No more texting mid-way next time,” Luo Qingchuan joked. “I’ll take proper care of you.”

Su Yingxue let out a surprised laugh through her tears. “Don’t say stuff like that… it’s embarrassing…”

“Then, let’s continue.” Luo Qingchuan wasn’t about to stop now, and he figured Su Yingxue probably felt the same.

Besides, she deserved a proper make-up session.

“Eh? Wait… still sensitive…”

As Su Yingxue gasped in protest, Luo Qingchuan began again.

The bed creaked gently. The girl’s eyes brimmed with spring-like emotion, her dazed gaze full of warmth.

It wasn’t until deep into the night that they finally settled down, and neither of them knew when exactly they drifted off.

……
At dawn—

Luo Qingchuan heard the soft pitter-patter of rain.

He opened his eyes, put on his pajamas, and stepped out of the bedroom. There, sitting by the floor-to-ceiling window, was the black-haired girl, watching the rain.

Su Yingxue had woken up early. She was dressed neatly in her school uniform, fresh and clean, hugging her knees as she quietly looked up at the gray sky. She watched the rain fall over the flowers and grass in the courtyard.

Tiny splashes danced in the small pond.

Luo Qingchuan picked up a jacket and walked over, draping it over Su Yingxue’s shoulders.

“You’re up?” Su Yingxue tugged the jacket closer, cheeks slightly red. “I’m not cold.”

“I was afraid you might be,” Luo Qingchuan said, sitting cross-legged beside her.

Su Yingxue smiled gently and curled up in his lap like a kitten, her dark, bright eyes gazing up at his soft face.

“I’ve thought about a lot of scary things… but I only ever acted on one.”

“Oh?” Luo Qingchuan was curious. He gently held her hand and smiled. “You can tell me anything.”

Su Yingxue’s lips parted slightly.

Her expression was incredibly tender, as if basking in warm sunlight.

“Sometimes, when I looked down from high places, I would think about jumping. I felt so tired of living… but I never did it, because I knew that was an abyss with no return.”

Still smiling, she continued, “So then I thought… if I ever ran into a bad person who wanted to hurt me…”

Luo Qingchuan froze.

The raindrops pattered softly on everything around them, a gentle, ambiguous hum.

“If it ever happened—if I met such a person—if that bad guy tried to stab me, leave me to die cold and alone on the ground, I wouldn’t scream. I wouldn’t fight back. I’d just close my eyes and quietly fall asleep in the dark.”

Su Yingxue’s voice was clearer than the rain, sweet and sorrowful like a lark, heartbreaking to hear.

“I met a bad guy.”

In her eyes was the reflection of Luo Qingchuan’s face.

“Mr bad guy was very gentle.”

The girl suddenly sat up, straddling him. A faint fragrance wrapped around Luo Qingchuan’s heart.

“So, I thought I’d try being a bad girl,” Su Yingxue whispered in his ear with a soft laugh. “I bullied the bad guy.”

Luo Qingchuan suddenly understood everything.

She had been standing on the edge all along. Luo Qingchuan hadn’t pushed her—she had wanted to fall on her own.

“But I’m lucky. Because the bad guy really, truly loved me.”

Luo Qingchuan couldn’t help but laugh. “Because I wanted to be a good man.”

Su Yingxue gently tousled his bedhead with soft, affectionate hands. Her touch was full of love.

“And that’s why—I didn’t fall into the darkness or the abyss, Luo Qingchuan. I fell into the sunlight. I think… I came back to life.”

She gracefully stood up and walked to the window, her figure delicate and enchanting. She looked up at the sky.

The rain kept falling.

Luo Qingchuan looked at her. “Do you like rainy days?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Right, I remember you said you hate noise,” Luo Qingchuan said with a smile. “Shall we go back inside?”

Su Yingxue shook her head. “But I like rainy days now.”

“Oh?” Luo Qingchuan looked a little puzzled. “Why?”

He watched as the girl walked up to him and held his hand.

Her hand was soft and slender.

A beam of light fell on Su Yingxue’s face.

At some point—

The rain had stopped.

Ink-like clouds floated apart across the sky.

Golden rays poured down through the post-rain sky, lighting up the city in breathtaking streaks of Tyndall light. The long night and the cold wind and rain had all passed.

That light outlined their silhouettes in shimmering gold.

And Luo Qingchuan saw it—that most beautiful smile bloom on Su Yingxue’s peerlessly lovely face.

She was so beautiful.

So beautiful it stole his breath. All he could do was stare.

“Because… sitting here with you and watching the rain—I think it’s really romantic,” Su Yingxue said with a smile. “So from now on, I’ll love every rainy day.”
……