Tomson Riviera, 28th floor.
Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows was Donghai City’s most expensive night view, but Bai Xialin couldn’t care less.
She curled up cross-legged on the sofa, phone resting on her knees, screen lit up.
It showed last night’s WeChat chat history.
[Baiye Duxing]: Sorry, Xiao Lin, I love Gao Hongyi.
[Baiye Duxing]: That’s exactly why I don’t plan to do anything to betray her.
[Baiye Duxing]: I think it’s better for me to be direct with you—there’s no possibility between us.
[Baiye Duxing]: You’re a wonderful girl. Being with you, I feel completely at ease. That’s why I want to say that Xiao Lin will definitely meet a better guy in the future.
[Baiye Duxing]: And I’m not someone worth your serious feelings.
[Baiye Duxing]: Best wishes.
[Baiye Duxing]: Don’t message me anymore either. Hongyi can log into my WeChat and QQ anytime.
[Baiye Duxing]: I’m really sorry…
That was all of last night’s chat history.
At the time, Bai Xialin sat on the sofa, staring at the surveillance screen, watching Gu Yebai’s fingers pause and delete, revise and delete on the keyboard, as if he’d used every ounce of strength to squeeze out those words.
He was in pain.
Rejecting her was also a kind of harm to Gu Yebai.
But this was the gentlest rejection possible.
He knew that coveting a girl’s beauty, dragging things out indecisively—though it seemed gentle—was actually the cruelest and greediest choice.
“Little Gu Gu, acting like this…”
“It only makes me like you even more, you know?”
“Ah heh…”
“Even though you’re collared, monitored 24/7, forced to change your passwords, forced to report your whereabouts…”
“The more that happens, the more I want to snatch you away…”
Bai Xialin placed the phone against her chest and murmured softly.
Suddenly she laughed, shoulders trembling slightly, violet pupils gleaming with cold light.
“Tomorrow’s the interview.”
“When we’re alone together, what kind of expression will you use to talk to me?”
“Will you be awkward? Guilty? Or will you instinctively avoid my gaze?”
“When I become your first woman, what kind of mindset will you use to face me?”
She grabbed a slice of salami pizza from the coffee table, took a bite, and the cheese pulled into long strands, slowly clinging to her lips.
Her black-stocking-clad legs rubbed against the sofa like a cat sharpening its claws.
“Back in Linchuan County, you were so gentle to ugly individuals.”
“In Donghai City, you’re also so gentle to beautiful individuals…”
“Gentleness is your true nature.”
“I really like gentleness. I like it too much.”
“The kind of person who deliberately slows down when driving through puddles in the rain, who closes doors softly, who picks up used tissues and throws them in the trash, who cares about others’ feelings, who eases others’ awkwardness…”
“The kind who, when feverish, goes to the kitchen to cook a bowl of plain congee—that’s you…”
“Even though you’re in so much pain, you still consume yourself to fulfill that girl, who’s slowly devouring your soul…”
“Being with me would actually be more relaxing, you fool.”
“Give your gentleness to me. What others see as worthless, to me is priceless…”
Last night, Gu Yebai and Gao Hongyi watched Your Name. and Suzume together.
Bai Xialin watched along through the surveillance feed.
She really liked those kinds of movies.
But for a lonely alien girl like Bai Xialin, this kind of movie was more like a slow poison.
She wanted to be loved too.
She wanted to walk arm in arm with Gu Yebai under a sky streaked with shooting stars.
She believed that if it were her, she would never make Gu Yebai feel suffocated.
She could give him more freedom.
“The decisive move is tomorrow…”
Before that, one last preparation was needed.
“Anyway, I’ll leave the rest to you, Min Jun.”
Bai Xialin turned her head to look at the person standing beside her.
If you ignored the power cord plugged in behind him, you might really think he was a living human.
But he wasn’t.
He was a young Korean man around 22 to 25 years old, about 1.8 meters tall, lean and tall with broad shoulders and a narrow waist.
He wore a black oversized hoodie, the brim pulled very low, a mask on his face, leaving only a pair of narrow eyes and sharp brow bones visible.
His skin was an unhealthy pale, cold white.
Black, slightly wavy shoulder-length hair scattered over his shoulders, messy bangs covering half his eyes.
His aura leaned toward a messy street style.
An android—Min Jun.
He lowered his head slightly, voice low and rough, with a faint Korean cadence.
“Do we really have to do this?”
His gaze flicked toward the pile of props on the coffee table.
A bundle of coarse hemp rope, a neatly folded towel, a completely lightproof blindfold, several rolls of tape, and some scattered tools scattered about.
All these items seemed to serve the career of “kidnapping.”
“Yes, my mind is made up.”
“Lastly, please confirm your role setting one more time.”
The android Min Jun’s voice was low and rough, still carrying that slightly programmatic Korean cadence.
“I am your extreme private fan who followed you from Seoul.”
“I love you to the point of insanity.”
“Seeing you drinking coffee, laughing, and getting too close to that man named Gu Yebai made me so jealous I wanted to destroy everything.”
“So I kidnapped you both.”
“Locked you in a sealed room.”
“Holding to the principle of ‘if I can’t have you, I’ll ruin you.’”
Bai Xialin’s eyes curved, and she picked up the cue quickly.
“And then?”
“What will you demand from us?”
She paused deliberately, drawing an ambiguous circle in the air with her fingertip.
“You will demand that you two take the forbidden step.”
“I will go mad.”
The android Min Jun said.
“I will deliver a monologue that fits my character.”
The android Min Jun’s expression changed, and like a hysterical villain in a K-drama, he began to shout.
“It’s all because of you—my life has completely stopped. Just seeing you, I can’t move forward. Every single day, I think only of you, listen only to your voice, stay trapped in memories—it’s utterly pathetic, like a rat in a sewer! So I have to destroy you, let another man defile you completely!”
“Then you won’t shine anymore.”
“Only then can I live again.”
“Only then can my tomorrow become bright again.”
Hearing the android Min Jun deliver his monologue according to the setting, Bai Xialin nodded in satisfaction.
“And if we don’t obey?”
“I’ll slowly drain the oxygen… or shrink the room smaller and smaller… or raise the temperature until you have to take off your clothes to cool down… or lower it until you have to huddle together for warmth…”
“In short, I’ll be the worst, craziest, most inhuman villain.”
“But I must not harm either of you in the slightest. The sole purpose is to create an external high-pressure environment to force you into lovemaking.”
“Setting fully loaded!”
The android Min Jun’s eyes glowed blue.
A moment of silence.
“Can I ask a question, Master?”
“Go ahead~”
“Do you really think… doing this will make him fall for you?”
Bai Xialin’s smile suddenly faded.
“No.”
She answered softly, honestly.
“At least… not immediately.”
“If that’s the case, then why…”
“The reason is simple.”
“Because I want to become his only woman, and I hope he becomes my only man. Even if I can’t be his one and only, at least I want to be the first woman who once possessed him.”
“Is there a problem with that?”
“No…”
The android Min Jun shook his head.
“I don’t need him to love me right now.”
“As long as he can never forget me.”
“As long as every time he sees the collar Gao Hongyi put on him, every time he’s watched by the surveillance, every time he’s forced to change his password—my face flashes through his mind—”
“The face of the girl who once said to him, ‘Come with me, I won’t make you feel this miserable.’”
“That’s enough.”
She stepped back, her smile turning syrupy sweet again.
“Alright, have you memorized all the lines and actions?”
“Already fully recorded.”
“Including tone, speech rate, emphasis, micro-expressions in the eyes, and body language.”
“Good.”
“Wait until after I attend the principal’s interview with him, then you make your move.”
“As you command, Master.”
She looked toward the surveillance feed.
Gu Yebai was putting on the custom suit that had just been delivered.
Gao Hongyi knelt before him, fastening the buttons one by one.
“Gao Hongyi…”
“I’m going to become his woman before you do.”
“You should be grateful.”
“Because this time at least it’s just a small kidnapping. If it ever comes to a day when he wants to leave Earth…”
“Even if you cry your throat hoarse, you’ll never be able to see him again.”