In the dark backseat of the car, a small hand suddenly grabbed the restless fingers.
“You… can’t touch there.”
“Then how about here?”
She was touching the most sensitive part of my waist and abdomen. I felt like a mimosa trembling under a torrential downpour, my body flinching instinctively as I shrank back.
“A… another place… try somewhere else…”
My voice was soft and trembling, like a girl teetering on the edge. There was a strange, unreadable emotion in Su Liumeng’s eyes.
But… wasn’t the waist and abdomen basically the same area?
Wouldn’t the result be more or less the same?
I tried to comfort myself with that thought.
The air conditioning blew cool summer air steadily, but it couldn’t stop the rising temperature within me.
It was my first time feeling this kind of restlessness—unable to sit still, burning from the inside out.
In the dark, all my senses felt amplified a hundredfold. My attention had narrowed down to that single hand, gently kneading, moving with a delicate and patient rhythm. The touch was soft, yet every motion felt like a pen etching words onto the pages of my body, rippling through the lake of my heart with every stir.
“I—I don’t want… I don’t want to do this anymore.”
I suddenly caught her hand.
My voice trembled, almost as if I were about to cry, and that fragile sound made Su Liumeng freeze. The rhythm she had been following shattered completely.
She instinctively raised her head—and met a pair of glistening, wet eyes in the darkness. Like a frightened little deer caught in the woods, my gaze darted away the moment our eyes met.
*****
Back at the villa.
The moment I got home, I went straight into the bathroom to shower.
The cool water streamed down my body. It wasn’t warm, but not cold either—just the right temperature to help lower the heat lingering on my skin.
Thirty minutes later.
I walked silently to the dressing area.
My face was flushed red. I didn’t dare look at the clothes I’d just taken off. I turned my head and stuffed most of them into the washing machine, then opened the faucet and slowly soaked my undergarments.
As the clear tap water fully drenched and submerged the fabric, I finally looked up with a small, dazed expression.
Thump—
“Xiaoyan, want something for a late-night snack?”
A knock came from the door.
My body instinctively jolted, and just as the blush on my face had started to subside, a new wave of redness threatened to rise again.
“No—no need.” I didn’t even hear the tremor in my own voice.
Outside the door, Su Liumeng’s gaze shifted slightly.
Why did it feel like Xiaoyan had been acting strangely ever since that massage?
Xiaoyan always got hungry after school.
And who was the one constantly raiding the fridge in the middle of the night, only to be caught by her more times than she could count?
After a brief moment of thought, Su Liumeng decided to prepare a full spread of midnight snacks.
“How about just a little something?”
“Xiaoyan, you didn’t even notice—you’ve lost weight today.”
On the bed, I heard those words and my eyelids twitched hard—twice.
How could I have gotten thinner in just one day? What am I, a balloon? Just skip a single meal and I deflate?
Su Liumeng really knew how to lie with a straight face.
I touched my stomach. To be fair, I did feel pretty empty.
Sighing softly, I lightly pinched the hem of my dress and timidly pushed open the bedroom door.
*****
At the dining table, I kept my head down, focused solely on eating, not daring to lift my gaze toward Su Liumeng. It felt like if she so much as said my name, I’d remember something… unbearable.
“Have a piece of tofu. It’ll give you some protein.”
She extended her arm toward me. My heart skipped two beats, only to see that she had simply added a golden piece of tofu to my bowl. A strange, faint disappointment bloomed in my chest.
“Thanks.”
I bit my lip lightly, eyes unfocused as I stared at the food.
So uncertain. So torn.
Is this just… my personality?
Or have I been waiting for something all along?
I picked up my chopsticks and placed the tofu in my mouth. Neither of us said a word after that. I finished the bowl of rice quickly, with a head full of thoughts and no interest in conversation. I tossed out a single sentence before heading straight back to my room.
“I’m going to sleep first. You do the dishes tonight—I’ll take over tomorrow.”
*****
In front of the bookshelf, I tilted my head up to stare at the rows of books.
It was just a cabinet meant to hold books.
After a few seconds of silence, I began pulling the books down one by one, throwing them straight into the trash without a second thought.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Books landed heavily in the bin. The dull thuds should’ve been loud enough for Su Liumeng to hear, but she didn’t react at all.
She, too, seemed unusually quiet tonight.
Rumble rumble rumble—
The northern weather was always unpredictable.
Summer was the peak season for thunderstorms. I had already felt the stuffy heat on the way home. I didn’t expect it to last less than two hours before this sudden, curtain-like downpour began.
Whooshhh.
Rain as thick as beans pelted the glass relentlessly.
The windows fogged over in an instant.
I stood by the bookshelf—just one step away from the window. The sudden drop in temperature brought with it a damp chill that crawled from my feet up to my arms.
The shift was sharp and tangible.
I glanced down at the goosebumps spreading across my arms.
Instinctively, I took a few long steps away from the window.
Ding dong.
A red alert for heavy rainfall popped up on my phone.
I opened the weather app—only twenty-three degrees now. If I slept in a nightdress tonight, it’d definitely feel a bit cold.
The living room was dead silent.
In this entire wide, empty villa, not a single sound could be heard.
It felt like, with the arrival of this downpour, my heart had suddenly plummeted to rock bottom without any warning.
As if, in this whole world, the only thing left was the sound of rain pounding against everything.
I’ll admit it—
I missed Su Liumeng a little.
There were still so many things I hadn’t said to her. All of it had piled up in my chest, making my emotions spiral out of control.
I didn’t want to keep mentally spiraling anymore. I just wanted to find someone—someone I could talk to.
Gripping the hem of my dress tightly, I instinctively called out Su Liumeng’s name.
But my soft, girlish voice was instantly drowned out by the roaring rain.
The wind still howled wildly, battering against the window beside me.
My heart sank like a stone—just like a kitten abandoned by its owner, suddenly overwhelmed by panic.
Through the constant rattling noise of the storm, my helpless voice sounded again:
“Su Liumeng…”
Not a single light was on in the living room.
The lamps had long been turned off, and the darkness was swallowing up every emotion I had.
Still no answer.
My body stumbled backward uncontrollably, falling back two steps.
The chandelier above me seemed to sway slightly, its dim yellow light flickering faintly.
Panic and helplessness rose in me like a tide, draining every bit of color from my face.
I leaned back against the bookshelf behind me—almost as if the only thing anchoring me to reality now was the solid presence pressing into my back.
Su Liumeng—
Where did she go?
“Baby.”
The windows weren’t sealed tightly.
The rain outside was too intense—water was beginning to seep in through the cracks, spraying inside.
Cold droplets hit the wooden floor, some even splashing onto my bare arms.
I instinctively hugged myself, my pitch-black eyes filled with confusion and fear.
“Baby.”
My voice, already hoarse, was once again cruelly swallowed by the thunder.
A trace of sadness crept across my face.
This was… the kind of despair that breaks your heart.
The rims of my eyes were already red.
It looked like I could cry at any second.
The sea of consciousness was empty—there would be no reply.
Just like my heart at this moment.
Suddenly, I remembered—Sizhizhuo had told me earlier tonight that she would be entering a period of deep sleep.
Drip—
Another droplet of rain splattered on the floor, cold and sharp as it shattered against my calf.
I helplessly took two steps back.
In the dimly lit bedroom, it felt as though only the rise and fall of the girl’s breathing remained.
I quickly stepped forward, circling around the shallow puddle and making my way onto my princess bed, which was several meters wide.
A thin blanket was tightly clutched to my chest.
Rainstorms that ravage the earth and sky can sometimes bring a strange sense of comfort—but they are also the easiest to make one feel terribly alone.
As if the entire world had been emptied, and I was the only one left behind. A suffocating helplessness, like I had been abandoned by everyone.
My trembling lashes fluttered downward, and my eyes came to rest on my still-damp toes.
Pale and delicate, like polished jade, my small feet were still clinging to an unpleasant dampness.
Instinctively, I curled them back—and slipped them beneath the blanket too.
It felt like only by doing that, could I keep the fear at bay.
8:35 PM. Outside, it was already pitch black.
I couldn’t help but lift my head, staring at the swaying tree shadows outside the window.
But the moaning wind howled again, startling me like an electric shock—I shrank back instinctively.
I couldn’t make out what was happening outside.
Everything in the storm looked like it had gone mad, clawing and twisting in the gusts like devils baring their fangs.
I’m not afraid of the rain.
And I shouldn’t be afraid of the dark either.
But each time no one answered me, the little kernel of fear inside grew louder and louder—until it became deafening.
The next second, I suddenly yanked the blanket over my head.
Inside the dark cocoon, the last bit of remaining warmth made me curl into a tight ball without hesitation.
It felt like only this could give me even a sliver of safety.
“Su Liumeng, where did you go…”
I pulled out my phone from under the pillow and sent her a sticker.
My reserved personality—
It made it impossible for me to voice my fears directly.
I… I just wanted her to respond right away.
But—
The empty message screen, devoid of replies, made the light in my eyes begin to shatter into fragments.
She—
Had she already fallen asleep?
My pale pink fingertips gradually turned white as I clenched my small fists tighter.
I admit, I was being weak.
At that moment, I actually felt just the tiniest urge to cry.
I bit my lip hard, and kept rubbing my cheeks with my arms, trying to stop myself from seeming so pathetic.
It was unbearably hot inside the blanket.
Soon, I found it difficult to breathe normally.
The fear swelling in my chest gave me the illusion that I might faint at any second.
…
The girl slowly lifted the blanket, revealing only her delicate, doll-like face.
Her large, watery eyes sparkled under the light.
Droplets of tears were pooling in her eyes, threatening to fall.
A moment later—
She suddenly climbed down from the bed, her flawless little feet landing directly on the floor.
The perfectly clean, spotless floor formed a sharp contrast with that tempting snow-white skin.
She lowered her head slightly, making it hard to see what kind of expression she wore.
She didn’t hesitate for long. Hugging her favorite floral-patterned quilt, she quietly left the sanctuary of her girlish bedroom.
The living room beyond was swallowed in a darkness deep enough to consume everything, making her hesitant steps falter slightly…