Chapter 18. On the Bed, Only One Position

“What do you mean, ‘nothing’? If it was just a simple deskmate friendship, why would you hug each other?” Lin Xingzi didn’t believe him.

Even though many years had passed, recalling it still felt like a thorn stuck in her throat.

“She’s not doing well, her life is difficult—you can sympathize with her, but you cannot do so using the identity written in Lin Xingzi’s spouse column. I won’t allow it.”

“I know your parents are neighbors, and you’ve known each other since childhood. You can’t just abandon her, but I can’t tolerate even a speck of sand in my eye. So... Jiang Yan, I’m giving you a choice. Think it over carefully and give me your answer tomorrow morning...”

As her toes touched the cold floor, the man’s warm body pressed close from behind, his arm tightening around her waist. “Jiangjiang.”

His voice was low and a little hoarse. The name, only used by family, lingered between his teeth, vaguely intertwined, enough to throw her into disarray.

“Don’t call me that...”

“Listen to me, my relationship with her isn’t what you think,” Jiang Yan tightened his arms. “That day... something bad happened, and she couldn’t bear it.”

“...What happened?”

“My brother, Jiang Yi, died in an accident at the pier. His body was found, and the police contacted our homeroom teacher. I wasn’t in class at the time. Qiuchi found out from the teacher before I did.”

A blood relative, her closest family, died violently in the prime of his life. He recounted it calmly, as if telling someone else’s story. Lin Xingzi was speechless, a sharp, piercing pain welling up in her heart.

Jiang Yan had a brother who died in an accident years ago; she had only found out about it later.

“It’s okay, it’s in the past,” Jiang Yan collected himself, his thumb brushing the corner of her eye, his gaze gently smiling. “The way you were looking at me just now, I thought you were going to cry. Hearing me talk about my family’s misfortune seems to upset you even more than misunderstanding me having lingering ties with another woman.”

Lin Xingzi buried her face in his embrace, muffled. “If you’re lying to me... I won’t forgive you.”

She deliberately avoided the heavy topic, and Jiang Yan naturally followed suit. “Hungry? Want a late-night snack?”

“I’m on a diet.”

“Exercise is the healthiest way to lose weight.”

“But I’ve been too busy recently, and I’m not in the mood.”

He nodded. “Then let’s try a different kind of exercise.”

Lin Xingzi: ????

Two minutes later, she was carried into the bathroom. Her feet touched the floor, the man’s hands supported her waist, and his kisses descended. She passively tilted her head back, retreating awkwardly.

Her back hit the wall, which felt cool.

The man’s body pressed close immediately afterward. Lin Xingzi’s emotions were overflowing and needed an outlet. Infected by the deepening passion of the man’s kisses, she instinctively raised her hands and clasped them around his shoulders.

Their lips intertwined, inseparable. Sticky, watery sounds mingled with warming breaths, like a flame igniting intense desire.

Her shoulder and neck lines were beautiful. When she tilted her head, her collarbones became more pronounced. Jiang Yan’s hand found the zipper of her dress on her side, and he kissed down her neck, his lips biting a thin black strap. The other strap was gently lifted by him, and the entire dress hung loosely around her elbows.

Lin Xingzi cooperatively lowered her arms, and the dress pooled at her feet. The man’s hand covered her soft, ample left breast but suddenly stopped.

Jiang Yan pulled back slightly, staring at her chest, his eyes filled with intense desire.

Lin Xingzi was not wearing the type of bra he was accustomed to seeing, but thin silicone nipple pasties. While wearing the dress, there was no visible difference, but the touch was different, and the visual effect was completely unlike a regular bra.

“Why are you wearing these?”

“They look better this way,” Lin Xingzi was sensitive to heat, and her summer clothes were mostly camisole styles.

It took Jiang Yan a while to figure out how those tiny pieces adhered. He cupped one side with his hand. Though he was doing something erotic, he was as serious and focused as if he were gathering evidence.

As he peeled off the pasties, his fingers brushed against her nipples. The pleasant, stimulating sensation, somewhere between itch and pain, made Lin Xingzi thrust her chest towards his face, a long, soft moan escaping her lips.

Her slender, pale fingers tightly clutched his clothing. Her recently trimmed nails weren’t perfectly smooth, and a slight stinging pain came from her grip on his waist. Jiang Yan gazed at her flushed, shimmering face, recalling her arrogant and alluring demeanor when she lectured that man at the bar.

When the onlookers were all staring at her, and she stood in front of him, chin slightly raised, demanding that the other person apologize to him, he had already become shamefully aroused.

Lin Xingzi, unwilling to be completely bare and watched by him, blushed and pulled the man’s head down while rising on her tiptoes to kiss him. Her hands also began to tear at his clothes.

As she was being kissed into a daze, Lin Xingzi vaguely thought, how could a man who only knows one position in bed be such a good kisser, so sensual and full of desire?

Jiang Yan lightly bit and sucked on her chin, then, with restraint, pressed his forehead against hers, kissed her once, and then lifted the leg that had been chafed by her high heel, resting it on a chair.

Lin Xingzi leaned weakly against the wall, her wet eyes revealing confusion.

“I’m going to wash your hair,” Jiang Yan’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he adjusted the showerhead, shifting his gaze. “The blister hasn’t burst, but it will itch a lot if it gets hot water.”

“Close your eyes.”

Warm water sprayed from above her head. Lin Xingzi instinctively closed her eyes. Jiang Yan squeezed out shampoo onto her head, his fingers running through her long black hair, working up a lather.

Lin Xingzi kept one foot on the stool, thus her legs were open towards him.

The gentle sound of water filled her ears. The scent of shower gel replaced the shampoo. After his hands caressed every inch of her skin, he took the showerhead and held it to rinse off the foam. She forgot to open her eyes until... the stream of water sprayed directly onto her private area between her legs.

“Ah...” The blissful sensation, blurring her mind, made her cry out. Her legs went weak, and she collapsed onto the floor.