...
Time slipped away quietly in the stillness.
As the sunlight outside the window gradually turned orange-red and the sun was about to set, Liu Erlong finally woke up from her deep sleep.
The moment she regained consciousness, something suddenly occurred to her, and a surge of intense panic welled up inside her.
After all, she clearly remembered falling asleep with her back completely exposed and utterly defenseless!
A man and a woman alone in a room, plus Xuan Hao's notorious womanizing ways... Could this bastard have taken advantage of her while she was asleep?!
Liu Erlong suddenly opened his eyes and instinctively gripped the silk quilt covering him.
However, the horrific scene she had anticipated did not unfold. When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Xuan Hao, who had somehow moved closer to the bedside and was now smiling at her with one hand on his cheek.
Liu Erlong checked herself and found that, apart from the blanket that had been covering her, the torn silk nightgown was still tightly covering her front, indicating that Xuan Hao had obviously not done anything out of line.
Her eyes immediately became somewhat evasive, and for some reason, besides feeling fortunate, a faint sense of loss flashed through her mind that she herself did not even realize.
"Awake?" Xuan Hao looked at her relieved yet somewhat flustered appearance and asked softly, "How do you feel?
Do you feel completely relaxed, as if all the fatigue accumulated over the past few decades has vanished into thin air?"
Liu Erlong turned her head away somewhat awkwardly, avoiding his aggressive gaze, and muttered stubbornly, "It's...it's alright."
"Just okay?"
Xuan Hao raised an eyebrow and sighed, feigning dissatisfaction: "I went to great lengths to provide you with such a high-end, exquisite, and unique massage service.
After you've enjoyed it, don't you have any thoughts?
Like... giving me some kind of benefit as compensation?"
Liu Erlong felt a little guilty from his self-righteous demand, but she still stubbornly retorted, "This...wasn't it you who dragged me and forced me to do it? I didn't beg you to do it!"
"Wow, from what you're saying..." Xuan Hao's eyes widened.
"Is the dignified Dean Liu Erlong of Blue Tyrant Academy planning to turn his back on us and just take it all for free?"
"What nonsense are you spouting!" Liu Erlong glared at him angrily.
"Then tell me, what benefits do you want?
As long as I can provide them..."
"I have no shortage of mundane things."
Xuan Hao's joking expression vanished, his gaze turning serious as he looked directly into Liu Erlong's eyes:
"I don't really want anything substantial.
I just want to take this opportunity to ask you seriously... do you really hate me that much?"
Liu Erlong was stunned. His lips moved, but he couldn't say anything.
"I know I do have a lot of flaws." Xuan Hao chuckled self-deprecatingly. "I'm a womanizer, a lecher, and I'm ruthless.
These reputations are well-known in Tian Dou City.
You're someone who can't tolerate any flaws, so it's understandable that you dislike and reject me because of these shortcomings."
"However…" Xuan Hao's tone shifted, "Although I'm a scoundrel, my intuition is usually pretty accurate.
I can sense that you're not as resistant to me as you seem on the surface.
In fact… you do like me a little bit. Otherwise, I wouldn't have dared to be so shameless today."
"I asked you these questions today to confirm whether I'm just being delusional."
"Erlong, give me a straight answer. If all of this is just wishful thinking on my part, then I promise that I will never come looking for you again, so as not to bother you."
"After all, once things are brought up and people start thinking about them, it's impossible to even remain ordinary friends.
If we can't be honest with each other, and can only hide from each other every day, that feeling of being torn apart is too painful for both of us."
These extremely frank words, which almost forced her to make a statement, struck Liu Erlong's heart like a heavy hammer.
Her eyes began to dart around violently, and her hands gripped the corner of the blanket tightly.
"I...I don't hate you." Liu Erlong's voice was so soft it was almost inaudible. "It's just...it's just..."
"What is it?" Xuan Hao leaned closer, his warm breath almost hitting her face. "Is it that you do have a little bit of a crush on her, but you're just too shy to admit it? Or... is there some other concern?"
Liu Erlong's heart pounded wildly again, like a drumbeat.
She looked at Xuan Hao, who was so close to her, with his young, handsome, and energetic face.
But her mind was filled with images of her own aging face, the rumors and gossip she might face in the future, and the despair of being abandoned again.
Flander's outrageous and absurd arguments from last night were utterly ineffective in bolstering her already shattered rationality, and could not possibly fuel her reckless disregard for reason.
She truly no longer possesses the courage she once had to defy the entire world for love.
She was afraid. She was afraid that all of this was just a fleeting illusion, and that when she woke up she would be shattered to pieces.
As she thought about it, an extremely strong sense of grievance and helplessness welled up in her heart, and Liu Erlong's eyes instantly reddened, with tears quickly condensing in them.
Seeing such a vulnerable expression on that usually stubborn face, Xuan Hao sighed softly in his heart.
He did not press the matter further.
He slid onto the bed and, through the blankets, stretched out his arms to gently yet firmly embrace the woman who was still trembling slightly.
"Okay, that's enough, I understand."
Xuan Hao gently rested his chin on her hair, his hand softly patting her back, his voice deep and powerful:
"Don't be nervous, don't be sad. I'll hold the sky up even if it falls.
Whatever you're afraid of, whatever you're worried about... leave it to me. I'll solve any troubles or problems you may have."
Enveloped by that warm and calm aura, Liu Erlong could no longer suppress the emotions surging in her heart.
Instinctively, she stretched out her arms and hugged Xuan Hao's waist tightly, burying her face deeply in his chest.
She said nothing, only letting her warm tears gradually wet his clothes.
She knew all too well what she was afraid of.
It wasn't just the cruel age gap of nearly thirty years that separated the two of them, but also her absurd and heavy past.
If Yu Xiaogang hadn't reappeared, she might have been able to borrow a little bit of reckless courage from this domineering gentleness and try to reach out and touch a completely new life.
But now, that man has come at just the most inopportune time, appearing right in front of her.
Liu Erlong truly didn't know what to do. She clung to that broken relationship, waiting bitterly for Yu Xiaogang for half her life. During those decades when she was in the most pain, most desperate, and most longing for him to return like a man and take responsibility, he remained silent, like a complete coward.
And now, just when she had finally mustered up a little courage to look forward and try to step out of the mire, this guy inexplicably popped up again.
She felt an unprecedented anger, furious at the absurdity of fate and the man's extreme selfishness, yet she sadly discovered that she could do nothing but feel frustrated.
What suffocated her even more was a deep sense of guilt and self-doubt.
She held onto her unwavering belief for so long, only to suddenly fall for someone else and change her mind. Wouldn't this make... all her twenty years of arduous waiting and perseverance seem like a meaningless joke?
She didn't want to completely deny the youth and sincerity she had given, which was proof that she had truly lived; but she was also very clear in her heart that the relationship between her and Yu Xiaogang had long been stagnant and could not continue.
This contradictory feeling of being torn apart by the past and the present was suffocating her.
At this moment, Liu Erlong, nestled in Xuan Hao's arms, had only one cowardly thought in her mind.
She wanted to hide, she wanted to escape.
Just like Yu Xiaogang, who fled in panic without a word when faced with worldly criticism at his wedding, he wanted to escape all of this from afar.
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