Su Ran was incredibly brave.
She dared to argue with Zhang Wei in front of everyone, even without a valid reason.
She dared to use high-tech gadgets as weapons and evidence, even if it meant mutual destruction.
She even dared to offer herself up completely, just to express her feelings.
Su Ran was also incredibly timid.
She feared nothing except being hated by Lin Mo, being loathed by him, or being intentionally distanced and maliciously rejected. Such a situation had, in fact, already happened before.
The first two years of high school had been exactly like that. Although Lin Mo had not made it obvious, he was essentially like the other students, looking at her as if she were a freak.
Because of this, Lin Mo’s sudden change made her feel insecure.
She did not understand why, yet she desperately wanted to accept it.
She wanted to accept it, but she could not fully trust it.
The torment of it all was something only she knew. Even throughout this struggle, her thoughts remained occupied by Lin Mo.
Su Ran was not afraid of the pain. Even if Lin Mo was only lying to her or coaxing her, she hoped he would lie to her just a little bit longer. It would not matter even if he ultimately broke her.
She was already broken, anyway. As long as he did not mind her, he could do whatever he wanted with her.
However, she could not allow herself to implicate Lin Mo. The situation this morning had been very dangerous. If a classmate had seen the stamina-boosting meal she made, or if someone discovered that Lin Mo was playing these perverse games with a pervert like her… she did not dare imagine the kind of gossip Lin Mo would face.
‘Should I leave him?’ she wondered. ‘How could I ever bear to? If I stay, will I really end up hurting him?’
All morning, Su Ran’s mind had been a mess. Until this very moment, as she was held tightly by Lin Mo, the more at ease and greedy for him she felt, the more afraid she became.
“I’m sorry… I’m sick…”
Feeling the trembling in his arms and hearing her sobbing, Lin Mo’s heart wrenched. Had he known, he would have let her be. What was the point in questioning her?
‘It doesn’t matter why she ran or hid,’ he thought. ‘As long as I catch her, she will behave.’
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Don’t cry,” Lin Mo whispered.
Lin Mo tightened his embrace, coaxing her while silently cursing himself for being worse than a beast.
He did not know why Su Ran had changed so suddenly, but he knew she was incredibly obedient toward him.
She would not speak up if something was bothering her.
She did not dare resist if he acted stern.
And what about him? He was such a bastard that he had taken the opportunity to take advantage of her, making a mess of her while feeling proud of himself.
He had just promised to cherish her last night, yet the very next day, he had locked her in the piano room to have his way with her…
Catching sight of the white shirt and the water stains on the floor, Lin Mo’s face turned pale. He held the delicate body in his arms even tighter, but the tighter he held her, the more flustered he felt.
In truth, Su Ran was very beautiful. She was tall, shapely, healthy, and outstanding.
Yet Lin Mo suddenly realized how thin she was and how weak — like a piece of fragile porcelain.
“It’s okay, don’t be afraid. I won’t hate you, I won’t dislike you, and I won’t reject you just because you have psychological barriers. Su Ran, do you hear me?”
Lin Mo did not know how else to comfort her, so he simply held her close and whispered in her ear. “It’s not as serious as you think. Many people have psychological barriers; it can’t even be called a sickness.”
“Think about it. If you were truly sick, would the school still let you attend?”
“If you were truly sick, why are your grades better than everyone else’s?”
“Su Ran, you have to believe me. I don’t care about any of that.”
“Just like you dealt with Zhang Wei for me, I will do anything for you. If you want to overcome your psychological barriers, I’ll accompany you. Even if you can’t, it doesn’t matter. I like you.”
“I like the current you, the future you, and the you at any time. It has nothing to do with whether you have psychological barriers or not. In fact… if you didn’t have those barriers, if you hadn’t focused on and observed me, I might not have ever noticed you, right?”
“Did you forget what I said? We are just right. Everything is just right.”
Lin Mo’s throat began to feel dry from talking so much before Su Ran finally showed a reaction.
Her voice was hoarse as she asked, “What if… I never get better…”
Lin Mo interrupted her immediately. “Then I will stay with you forever. It’s actually better if you don’t get cured. You should pray that you never get better, because then I will stay by your side forever.”
Su Ran’s tears fell silently once more.
Although she suffered from an emotional cognitive disorder, it did not stop her from understanding sweet words.
“But — “
“No buts. I want you to believe me!”
“Okay.”
Su Ran finally let go of him and sat up from Lin Mo’s embrace.
Her makeup was ruined from crying, her eyes were red and swollen, and her face was a sickly pale.
The visible exhaustion and distress exposed her inner fragility in an instant. When she offered a smile through her tearful eyes, a profound sense of brokenness washed over him.
Along with it came her most fervent kiss.
Lin Mo was about to say something when Su Ran’s lips aggressively blocked his mouth.
A kiss born from such deep emotion was truly an extreme enjoyment for the visual, olfactory, and gustatory senses, as well as the spirit.
She kissed with intense force, and her hands began to move uncontrollably.
She tugged at Lin Mo’s clothes, her palms wandering over his abdomen, waist, back, neck, and the back of his head.
Su Ran had the hands of a pianist — fair and slender, with a cool touch yet a soft, delicate texture. Lin Mo felt a faint electric current running through him, leaving him tingling and numb.
Crucially, this was her first time taking the initiative, as if she had unlocked a new mode of behavior.
She was fervent yet slightly inexperienced, violent yet still cautious, not daring to break the final line on her own. Eventually, she took on a pitiful appearance, her eyes filled with pleading.
Su Ran sat on Lin Mo’s lap, facing him. She gripped his clothes and gazed at him. She said nothing, yet her eyes said everything.
Lin Mo felt his blood boil, his heart racing and his mind in a state of chaos. Despite his helplessness, he also found himself thoroughly enjoying it.
“Don’t look at me like that,” he said. “Don’t you want to go to class this afternoon?”
“I don’t.”
“… Still, we can’t do this in the piano room, right?”
Lin Mo was genuinely feeling a bit nervous. Since he had been the one to start this, it felt wrong to suddenly hit the brakes.
Moreover, Su Ran looked quite a mess right now. It was not that she had become ugly after crying, but rather that her hair was disheveled and her makeup was ruined. Her usual elegance and refinement had been shattered into a chaotic state, giving off a feeling of sinking into depravity.
Su Ran was about to say something when a buzzing vibration suddenly came from the piano.
It was her phone.
Lin Mo picked it up for her and frowned immediately upon seeing the screen.
Su Ran had not intended to pay it any mind, but seeing his expression, she asked, “What’s wrong?”
“It’s Master Zhou.”
Lin Mo handed her the phone.
Zhou Muyuan had sent a text: ‘Tomorrow at 6:00 PM, extra class in the piano room. Increase the speed of the Revolutionary Etude to 120 per minute.’
There was an additional line at the end: ‘Lin Mo, do not come.’
Over the past two weeks, Lin Mo had accompanied Su Ran to every class, protecting her well.
Zhou Muyuan could no longer touch Su Ran, and there had been no other abnormalities, so he had not expected the man to suddenly strike in this manner. It felt like an ominous signal.
“Did he say anything to you? Why won’t he let me go?”
Lin Mo set the phone back on the piano and picked up Su Ran’s clothes to help her get dressed.
Su Ran assumed he was angry and suppressed her desire for intimacy. “I don’t know. He rarely contacts me usually.”
Fearing that Lin Mo might misunderstand, she quickly added, “If he won’t let you go, I don’t want to go either.”
Lin Mo wanted to tell her not to go, but the words stayed in his throat.
He dressed her as if he were tending to a doll, buttoning her up with slow, steady movements.
“Are you angry?”
Su Ran’s voice was soft and gentle, her eyes searching his for an answer.
Lin Mo looked at her nervous expression and suddenly asked, “Are you afraid of him?”
Su Ran did not understand why he was asking, but she thought about it seriously before slowly shaking her head. “I used to be a little afraid, but I’m not anymore.”
As she spoke, she gazed at Lin Mo with eyes full of affection.
It was as if she were saying that as long as he was there, she had nothing to fear.
Lin Mo naturally understood her thoughts and reached out to smooth her hair. “Why were you afraid before?”
“He…”
Su Ran did not really want to talk about Zhou Muyuan.
However, since Lin Mo was asking, she forced herself to answer despite her reluctance. “He has a good relationship with my mother, and she always listens to him. The way he looks at me makes me feel uncomfortable, and… he always says strange things to me.”
“What kind of things?” Lin Mo asked softly.
Su Ran spoke with a hint of disgust. “For example… ‘You are my masterpiece,’ ‘I will polish you into the most perfect pianist,’ and ‘No one understands you except for me.’ Things like that.”
“Did you ever tell your mother?”
“I did, but she didn’t care.”
‘The piano is a bridge that connects souls.’
Lin Mo recalled this phrase that Zhou Muyuan had once said.
There was no doubt that truly great music could strike the soul. It was not strange for those who dedicated themselves to music and art to have such pursuits or obsessions.
However, as a pianist, his focus should have remained on the piano and the music itself.
When Zhou Muyuan began to view Su Ran as his own masterpiece, his focus had clearly deviated.
‘He’s sick,’ Lin Mo concluded silently, having already made up his mind.
“I’ll go with you tomorrow. If he has an issue with it, we’ll just stop taking his classes. I’ll find you an even better teacher.”
Su Ran did not care about finding another teacher.
What mattered most was that Lin Mo did not seem to be angry with her, which allowed the tension in her heart to finally fade.
Following that was a feeling of being pampered and protected, washing over her heart like a tide. It transformed into a sense of pure happiness, causing her to nod without a second thought.
“Okay. I’ll only listen to you.”
As she spoke, she reached out to wrap her arms around Lin Mo’s neck, her eyes filled only with him and her absolute reliance on him.