After the breakup, I was taken in by a group of trendy young women.

Chen Man's lips moved, as if she wanted to say a few more words in her defense.

Her mouth was agape like a fish being pulled out of the water; her lips opened and closed several times, but each time she was stopped by Lin Ye's gaze.

She lowered her eyes, her eyelashes casting two small fan-shaped shadows behind her glasses, the silver chain of her frameless glasses swaying gently with her slightly trembling breaths.

That's enough.

Lin Ye interrupted her, his voice not loud, but every word seemed to be ground out from between his teeth.

"I don't want to hear you defend that stupid employee. I'm furious right now."

Chen Man subconsciously took half a step back.

The heel of the mid-heeled leather shoe tapped against the marble edging of the display stand base, making a very faint, crisp sound.

She looked up and glanced at him quickly—his brows were furrowed, his jawline was taut, and the cigarette between his fingers, which he hadn't lit, was slightly deformed.

He was relaxed, playful, and nonchalant when he confronted that clueless teller, but now the way he looked at her had changed.

It wasn't anger, but something else that made her heart race even faster—a patient and determined focus that only a hunter has when he's staring at the hind legs of his prey.

Her breathing quickened unconsciously by half a beat.

The professional composure he displayed when he helped his colleague out of a tight spot was still there, but something beneath that composure was being peeled away layer by layer by his gaze.

"Sir, I—"

When she spoke, her voice was at least two octaves lower than when she had greeted him earlier.

The eight girls in front of her were all staring at her.

The blond-haired man lay on the display stand, his hands supporting his chin, his deep brown eyes filled with anticipation for a good show.

The tattooed man leaned against the display stand, tapping the table lightly with the temple of his sunglasses, his tongue flashing briefly between his lips.

Hua Tui sat cross-legged on the sofa in the experience area, the side slit of her floral dress sliding down to reveal the rose tattoo on her leg.

The green-haired and pink-haired girls huddled together, covering each other's mouths to prevent themselves from laughing out loud.

Shen Qing stood quietly to the right rear of the forest, the scent of white tea shampoo barely perceptible.

Shen Na stood next to Shen Qing, the hem of her trench coat swaying slightly.

Wang Xiaoying leaned against the farthest display stand, her arms crossed over her chest. Her clean, bare face wore an extremely complex expression, a mixture of wanting to speak up for Chen Man and finding the scene somewhat amusing.

"So many people are here."

Chen Man finally managed to squeeze out a complete sentence, her voice as soft as a mosquito's wing, the last syllable trembling.

"Sir, this is the sales area, there are security cameras—would you like to check your phone first? Let me introduce you to this limited edition—"

The decision is yours.

Lin Ye interrupted her and took a step forward.

The distance between the two people has shrunk from a polite social distance to a distance where Chen Man can smell the faint scent of soap on him.

He looked down at her, the corners of his mouth slowly curving into a smile that sent chills down Chen Man's spine.

"If you bring out your best model now, I'll let what happened earlier slide. If you don't—"

He didn't finish his sentence, but that unspoken threat made Chen Man's heart race more than any complete sentence.

Chen Man's fingers clenched the hem of her white shirt, her knuckles turning slightly white.

Her gaze swept over Lin Ye's shoulder to the surveillance camera in the corner—the red indicator light was flashing at a constant frequency—then she took a deep breath and made a decision.

"Sir, this way."

She turned and walked deeper into the shop, her mid-heeled leather shoes making a crisp, even sound on the marble floor.

Passing through the white fire door at the end of the exhibition area marked "Employee Only," the corridor lights changed from bright incandescent bulbs to softer, dimmer warm yellow downlights.

At the end of the corridor is a gray iron door marked "Temporary Storage of Valuable Goods".

Chen Man pulled a bunch of keys out of her pocket. Her hand trembled slightly, and the keys rattled twice before she found the right one.

The crisp click of the lock cylinder opening was particularly clear in the quiet corridor.

She pushed open the door and went inside, with Lin Ye following behind.

This is a small warehouse with metal shelves on three walls, neatly stacked with unopened mobile phone boxes, original chargers and accessory boxes.

Several rolls of bubble wrap and empty cardboard boxes were piled up in the corner, and the air was filled with the faint smell of insulating varnish that is unique to new electronic products when they leave the factory.

There was only one fluorescent light tube on the ceiling, and the lampshade was covered with a thin layer of dust, making the light much dimmer than outside.

Chen Man turned around in front of the shelf, her back almost touching the edge of the shelf.

Her low ponytail brushed against a stack of boxes on the bottom shelf, making a soft rustling sound.

She looked up at Lin Ye, her eyes behind her frameless glasses shining brightly in the dim light, with a thin layer of moisture in them.

Her chest heaved faster than before, and the top button of her white shirt opened and closed gently with the rhythm of her breathing.

"There are no cameras here," she said.

Her real meaning was—there are no surveillance cameras here, you don't need to yell at me anymore, can we talk properly now?

She felt that this statement was a sign of weakness, a way of giving the customer a way out, letting the angry customer know that she had given in and that they could now calmly discuss the phone issue.

But Lin Ye's expression changed after hearing those words.

It wasn't the kind of change where anger is quelled, but something else entirely—like hearing the sound of a switch being flipped.

He put the cigarette he had been holding for a long time on the shelf.

"Stop talking nonsense. I'm really angry right now."

Lin Ye took a step forward.

Chen Man's back was pressed against the metal beam of the shelf, and the coolness seeped into her shoulder blades through the thin fabric of her white shirt.

"Just now in the showroom, when your colleague was looking down on people, you were the store manager and you weren't there, so I don't blame you. But the first thing you did after coming out was apologize for him, the second was make excuses for him, and the third was tell me not to hold it against him—from beginning to end, you didn't think it was a big deal that he asked the customer 'Can you afford it?' Do you think I'm being unreasonable?"

Chen Man opened her mouth to argue, but she found that she couldn't refute a single word.

Because she did apologize on his behalf, she did try to find excuses for him, and she genuinely felt in her heart—although her colleague's words were harsh, this customer didn't seem like someone who could afford the store's best and most expensive products. Her silence itself was the answer.

"Does an apology help?"

Lin Ye looked down at her, the two of them less than half a fist's distance apart. His breath brushed against her forehead, his voice deep and resolute.

"You think I'm angry because of your colleague? No, I'm angry because of you. You clearly know he's wrong, but you still take the blame for him. Can you handle that?"

Chen Man heard the sound of her heart pounding against her chest—thump, thump, thump, as fast as a drumbeat.

She had lived for twenty years and had never been spoken to by any man in such a tone or at such a distance.

A thin layer of fog covered the lenses of her rimless glasses; it was the moisture from her rapid breathing.

She wanted to say, "Sir, you've misunderstood," she wanted to say, "That's not what I meant," she wanted to say, "I apologize on his behalf because I genuinely feel he was wrong," but all her words stuck in her throat.

Because she discovered something she herself found hard to believe—she didn't want him to stop.

Lin Ye saw her eyelashes trembling rapidly behind her glasses, saw her knuckles turning white as she gripped the hem of her shirt, and saw the extremely thin silver necklace on her collarbone quivering slightly with her heartbeat.

He reached out and pressed his hand on her shoulder, his palm against the seam of her white shirt, his fingertips sinking slightly into the warm skin beneath the fabric.

She did not resist, nor did she even think about it.

The warehouse was extremely quiet.

The only sounds were the faint hum of the fluorescent lights and the intermittent breathing of two people.

Her lips were slightly parted, the lip balm long gone, revealing the slightly engorged lips beneath, which she had bitten herself.

Her breathing was rapid and erratic, the collar of her white shirt opening and closing slightly with the rise and fall of her chest, and her collarbone chain gleamed faintly under the fluorescent light.

"Sir—I—"

Her voice was hoarse and weak, with the last syllable rising, then turning into a questioning tone that she herself didn't even realize she was hearing.

Lin Ye looked down at her.

He removed his hand from her shoulder and placed it behind her head.

My fingers touched the hair tie on her low ponytail—plain, undecorated, and tightly tied.

He hooked the edge of the hair tie with his fingertips and gently pulled it down.

The hair tie slipped down and landed in his palm. Chen Man's long, straight black hair was loose and draped over her shoulders, with a few strands falling from her ears and brushing against her cheeks and collarbone. The scent of shampoo wafted from her hair—not some expensive brand, just the cheapest kind on the supermarket shelf, but it smelled clean and fresh.

Tie your hair up.

He said.

Just four words.

The voice wasn't loud, and the tone was flat, but Chen Man trembled slightly after hearing those four words.

She raised her hands behind her head, her fingers running through her loose hair to gather the strands into a bundle.

Her fingers were still trembling, and the first time she couldn't hold them together, a few strands of hair slipped out from between her fingers.

She tried again, and this time she managed to get it together.

She took the plain-colored hair tie from Lin Ye's palm, wrapped it around twice and tied it tightly, retying it into a low ponytail. Her movements were swift and focused, as if she were performing an extremely important ritual.

After tying her hair up, she put her hands back on her knees and looked up at him.

The eyes behind the frameless glasses no longer held the panic and embarrassment of before, but rather a deeper, more profound, and reckless submission.

Her lips moved slightly, and she said in an extremely faint voice, barely audible to the two of them, "I'm ready—if you're angry, you can use me to calm down—"