Host! I told you to do a task! I didn't tell you to bbb.

After dinner, she slowly went upstairs, and Liu Chengyan quietly followed behind her into the room.

Liu Yunshu didn't turn around. She walked straight to the bedside and sat down, her back straight, yet revealing a fragile fragility that seemed about to collapse.

Liu Chengyan turned around, gently closed the door, and slowly walked closer, stopping in front of her.

"Still angry?" His voice was low, with a rare hint of bitterness.

"Ayan, where's the medicine?"

Moonlight seeped through the gaps in the curtains, streaming down her pale face.

Those almond-shaped eyes, which used to be brimming with moisture, were now as empty as dusty glass, without even a ripple.

Liu Chengyan felt as if an invisible hand was squeezing his heart, causing him to gasp for breath.

His Adam's apple bobbed, his voice terribly dry: "What medicine?"

"Birth control pills." Liu Yunshu finally raised her eyes and looked at him. "I don't want to get pregnant."

"Fool, are you angry about this?"

He bent down and squatted in front of her, his gaze level with hers.

His eyes were filled with complex emotions: tenderness, obsession, and intense love.

"Don't worry," he said in a deep, hoarse voice. "I had my tubal ligation done a long time ago."

Seeing that she finally showed emotion, even shock, Liu Chengyan's taut nerves relaxed slightly.

Liu Yunshu's words just now made him panic, as if he were about to lose something important.

He reached out and gently stroked her pale cheek with his fingertips; the touch was so cold that it made him frown.

"Why would I let you take such a risk?"

His voice was low and husky, with a hint of gentleness.

"Yun Shu, of course I understand that the child can completely bind you to my side."

"But I'm more afraid that after the child is born... I'm afraid those risks will hurt you in the slightest."

Liu Yunshu stared at him blankly, she never expected that Liu Chengyan would go to such lengths for her.

This man, so obsessive to the core, even calculated this kind of escape route clearly.

"Yun Shu,"

Liu Chengyan noticed a subtle tremor in her eyes, as if she had been encouraged.

"You know what? I was attracted to you from the very first glance."

Liu Chengyan gently stroked her chin with his thumb, the calluses on his fingertips brushing against her delicate skin.

"I knew you had a boyfriend, but I still firmly believed that I would be your final destination. But I never expected..."

At this point, his voice trembled with emotion.

"Yun Shu, tell me, what should I do? I love you, I can't let go..."

He buried his face in her slender palms, his warm breath soothing her cold skin, accompanied by a suppressed tremor.

She looked at his head buried in her palm, at the bulging veins on his forehead—it was the look of him enduring to the extreme.

This man was always high above and in control of everything.

At this moment, she resembled a helpless child, pleading for her mercy in such a humble manner.

"I know you hate me, resent me, think I'm terrifying, that I'm crazy... I know all this better than anyone. But I..."

"Stop talking!"

A suppressed whimper suddenly escaped Liu Yunshu's throat, like the final lament of a wounded animal.

The tears I had been holding back finally burst forth, surging from my eyes.

Large drops fell onto the light gray plush carpet, quickly spreading into a small, dark, heartbroken stain.

"Please...stop talking..."

She was terrified of Liu Chengyan.

I fear his vulnerability beneath all his armor, and the obsessive love surging in his eyes.

I'm even more afraid that I'll gradually sink into this gentle trap.

As Liu Chengyan listened to her suppressed, broken cries, his heart felt as if it were being repeatedly ground and pounded by the dullest of objects, the pain making his vision blur.

He was well aware of how despicable his methods were.

Using threats, control, and everything she cared about as leverage, they almost cruelly plundered and imprisoned her by their side.

But he had no other choice.

The mere thought of her leaving and returning to Jiang Chi's side filled him with an overwhelming sense of dread.

He knelt before her, pressing his face against her knees, his voice hoarse and barely audible:

"I won't say anything more, I won't say anything at all. Yunshu, please don't scare me like you did before, okay? Seeing you like that..."

He looked up and placed her hand on his chest. "It hurts so much here, I'm panicked, I'm so scared..."

Her tears fell even harder, the warm liquid splashing onto the back of his hand, scalding him and making him shudder.

"Don't cry, it's my fault. You can hit me, you can yell at me, it's all fine."

Liu Yunshu's hand hovered in mid-air, her fingertips trembling violently, yet she couldn't bring herself to fall even an inch.

She looked at the bloodshot eyes in his eyes, and at the collar of his shirt, which was usually perfectly pressed, now completely wrinkled.

The hatred and grievances that had been forcibly suppressed were mostly destroyed in this wretched vulnerability.

"...I want to sleep." She finally found her voice, dry and tired, with a heavy sob in it. "You can go now."

He looked up, his eyes still bloodshot, his gaze fixed on her tear-stained face.

I'll watch you sleep.

His voice was terribly hoarse, carrying an unyielding stubbornness.

But he softened his tone, afraid of upsetting her again.

"I'll just sit on the edge of the bed, without touching you."

Liu Yunshu closed her eyes and said nothing more, which was considered tacit consent.

He remained kneeling by the bed, his back ramrod straight, his gaze tracing her contours inch by inch.

The room was so quiet you could hear each other's heartbeats.

After an unknown amount of time, Liu Yunshu's breathing gradually became steady, as if she had fallen into a deep sleep.

Only then did Liu Chengyan dare to reach out his hand, his fingertips lightly brushing against the back of her exposed hand, which still felt icy cold.

He leaned down, his forehead resting on the back of her hand, his warm breath lingering on her skin, accompanied by a suppressed sigh.

"Yun Shu," his voice was as soft as a dream, "don't leave me, okay?"

He knew she couldn't hear him, but he kept repeating it, as if he were hypnotizing himself.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

After that night, Liu Chengyan never forced her again, but Liu Yunshu's condition worsened.

She would still stay in her studio, but she would no longer paint, often sitting there for most of the day.

She ate very little at mealtimes, and her cheeks quickly became thinner.

Her once rounded jawline became sharp, and her almond-shaped eyes appeared even larger and emptier, like dusty glass beads.

Mr. and Mrs. Liu saw this and were very worried.

"What's wrong with Niannian lately?"

Shen Wan put down the soup spoon in her hand, her brows furrowed, and her tone was full of anxiety.

"He eats less and less each day, barely speaks a word, and locks himself in his studio every day. Could this child be developing some kind of mental illness from all this stagnation?"

Mr. Liu put down his newspaper, sighed, and his eyes revealed unconcealed worry.

"Is it because you're still adjusting from your new situation? Or...did you have a falling out with that Jiang kid?"

"Should we call Jiang Chi over and ask him?" Shen Wan tentatively suggested.

Liu Chengyan tightened his grip on the soup spoon, his knuckles turning white. He wanted to refuse, but Yun Shu's condition made him uneasy.

"...Dad, Mom, you eat first."

He put down his spoon, pushed back his chair, and stood up, his voice a little strained.

"I'll go up to the art studio to see her."

When Liu Chengyan entered the studio, he couldn't find Liu Yunshu anywhere.

"Yun Shu?" he called out, his voice sounding somewhat abrupt in the empty studio.

No one responded.

An ominous premonition welled up in his heart, and he scanned every corner with anxious eyes.

nothing.

Until the night wind blew in through the wide-open window, raising the heavy velvet curtains high.

Liu Yunshu was sitting quietly on the windowsill of the open window with her back to the room, her legs dangling in the cold night outside.

"Yun Shu!!!" A horrified scream burst from her throat.

Hearing the almost distorted shouts behind him, the figure on the windowsill turned around extremely slowly, with a sleepwalking sluggishness.

The moonlight illuminated half of her profile.

Her face was expressionless, a complete and chilling blank.

She looked at Ryu Seung-yeon, her gaze falling on his face, which was contorted with extreme panic.

She tilted her head slightly and asked softly in an almost innocent, questioning tone:

"Who are you? Why... are you trembling? Are you scared?"

Liu Chengyan's blood froze instantly, and the hairs on his body stood on end.

"Yun Shu...it's me, Ayan."

His voice trembled out of tune, and he even breathed very softly.

"Come down, it's dangerous there."

"Danger? Where is it dangerous?"

Her toes wobbled unconsciously, and the night wind lifted a corner of her skirt, revealing her slender, pale ankles.

That slight sway made Liu Chengyan's heart stop for a moment, and cold sweat trickled down his spine, soaking the back of his shirt.

"...It's cool here."

She seemed to be talking to herself, and her toes wobbled slightly again.

"The wind is strong...it feels so free..."

Her gaze returned to Liu Chengyan's face, as if she had finally recognized something, and she murmured.

"Ayan? Liu Chengyan?"

Immediately afterwards, a crack appeared in the blank expression on her face, replaced by a genuine, bewildered confusion.

She looked down at her dangling feet, then at the height outside the window, her voice filled with confusion:

"How...how did I end up sitting here?"

As soon as Jiang Chi received Shen Wan's call, he rushed to the Liu residence like a madman.

He had just rushed through the gate of the Liu residence when he looked up and saw a scene that made his blood run cold and his liver and gallbladder rupture.

His beloved girl was sitting all alone on the open windowsill of the second-floor art studio.

The night wind howled, whipping up her thin skirt and long hair, making her figure look so fragile that she seemed about to be blown away and fall at any moment!

"Yun Shu!!! Don't move!!!"

The extreme fear completely changed Jiang Chi's voice; it was a heart-wrenching, desperate scream.

He didn't care about anything else and ran wildly towards the main building.