The moment those lips met, Lu Jingci's hand clenched tightly.

His fingers clenched and unclenched repeatedly, his knuckles trembling as he strained until they turned white and the veins stood out.

The light fell on Xu Wuning's skin, coating it with a thin layer of shimmering light. The fabric on her body was so little that he could clearly feel the softness beneath her collarbone.

Lu Jingci's breathing grew heavier and heavier, his chest heaving violently, and his hand slowly fell to the knot of the bath towel around her waist.

Just as Xu Wuning was about to pry open his lips and kiss him more deeply.

He suddenly stopped, took his hand off her towel, and grabbed her arm tightly.

He pulled her away from him, creating some distance between them.

The voice was so hoarse it almost didn't sound like his own: "Go back to your room and sleep."

Xu Wuning was stunned.

Another failure?

"I said," Lu Jingci released her wrist, turned his head away from her, and repeated, "Go back to your own room."

"Okay, I'll be going now."

Xu Wuning didn't want to push people too far on the first day, or she'd be kicked out of the villa. There was plenty of time; she had plenty of ways to deal with things later.

She glanced down at the bathrobe that had fallen to the floor during their earlier scuffle. "Um... the bathrobe's dirty. Do you have a new one? Of course, I wouldn't mind if you took it off and gave it to me..."

Before she could finish speaking, he had already grabbed a new bathrobe and tossed it into her arms.

The door slammed shut with a "bang".

Xu Wuning clicked her tongue and walked towards her room, muttering to herself, "He really is a blockhead."

"Could it really be that he's incapable in that area?"

She shook her head and stopped thinking about it.

What she didn't see was that after she left, Lu Jingci's breathing became heavier, and the deep darkness in his eyes was even deeper than the night outside the window.

A minute later, Lu Jingci pushed open the door and walked into the bathroom.

Water droplets splashed on the floor. He braced himself against the wall with one hand, letting the cold water slide down his chest and abdominal muscles, finally disappearing below his waist.

After turning off the switch, he reached for the bath towel on the horizontal bar.

Then the movement stopped in place—

Next to the bath towel, a lace bra was hanging there, looking incredibly eye-catching under the warm yellow light of the bathroom.

Lu Jingci's gaze was fixed there, his Adam's apple bobbing violently, then again.

"Xu, Wu, Ning".

He took a deep breath and squeezed out those three words, one word at a time, as he was about to turn the water flow back on.

"Did you call me?"

Just then, with a loud bang, the door was suddenly opened.

The steam in the bathroom hadn't dissipated yet. Under the light, Lu Jingci stood there, one hand still hanging in mid-air, the other hand unconsciously frozen at his side.

"Hey, Lu Jingci, why didn't you lock the door when you took a shower!"

Xu Wuning gasped and quickly covered her eyes with her hands.

However, the gaps between the fingers covering her eyes were wide open, revealing a pair of bright, sparkling eyes that darted down without any hesitation.

Lu Jingci's face darkened further, visibly sinking into a deep red that ran from his neck down to his ears.

He quickly grabbed the bath towel and wrapped it around his waist, his voice trembling through gritted teeth: "Get out!"

"Okay, okay, I'll go out, I'll go out, but..." Xu Wuning leaned back lazily, pointing a finger in his direction, "You have a pretty good figure, like this..."

A vein throbbed on Lu Jingci's forehead: "Are you leaving or not?"

"She's gone, she's really gone," she finally turned around, took two steps, then suddenly turned back, a slight smile playing on her lips. "Oh, right, I came to get my underwear. It's still hanging here. Could you help me...?"

"Xu Wuning!" The last sentence was almost shouted, "Do you believe I'll do this tonight...?"

Even this good-tempered saint had been angered. Xu Wuning couldn't help but burst into laughter twice, drowning out his voice.

Before he could finish speaking, she walked out gracefully, "Bye-bye, goodnight."

The door was closed again.

Lu Jingci stood there, water dripping from the stray hairs on his forehead, mingling with the fine sweat and sliding down his high, straight nose.

He looked down at the closed door, his eyes slightly red and shrouded in darkness.

He ripped off the towel around his waist and turned the water on again.

……

Late at night, in bed.

As with countless other times, Lu Jingci had this dream again. To be precise, it wasn't a dream, but something from five years ago.

under the tree.

Xu Wuning was wearing a school uniform, her high ponytail was blown by the wind, and her pretty face showed no trace of the childishness of her peers.

She looked down at the dazzling blue diamond in the box, her gaze extremely indifferent.

A boy in the same school uniform stood in front of her, his hand still in the gesture of handing her the box.

"Ningning, you said you like blue diamonds," his voice was soft and gentle, as if afraid of disturbing something, "I had someone buy this for me at an auction. Do you like it?"

Xu Wuning didn't even lift her eyelids, and asked impatiently in a cold voice, "Lu Jingci, what exactly do you want to say?"

His hand paused slightly, then he lowered his eyes, his eyelashes trembling.

"What I wanted to say was..." His voice lowered, his ears turning slightly red, with a youthful awkwardness, "I...I like you, Ningning."

"You were so nice to me a while ago, you even brought me milk tea, and you personally applied medicine to my wound. Do you...like me?"

The moment he uttered the words, he didn't even dare to look at her. His gaze fell on the second button of her school uniform, then hurriedly shifted away, looking at his toes.

The leaves on the tree rustled in the wind, and a few fell onto his shoulder.

Xu Wuning smiled, a condescending smile.

She reached out, but instead of taking the box, she forcefully slapped it from his palm and threw it to the ground.

He even patted his hands, complaining that they were dirty.

A blue diamond rolled out of the box, along with a letter, carrying the boy's heartfelt wishes, and fell into the soil and fallen leaves.

Lu Jingci's hand froze in mid-air, his trembling knuckles slowly curling up.

"Lu Jingci," Xu Wuning's voice was laced with malice, each word like shards of ice piercing the skin, "where did you get the idea that I would like you?"

She took a step forward, the hem of her school uniform skirt brushing against the back of his drooping hand.

"Who do you think you are? Ignoring your family background, what about you could possibly be attractive to me?"

"Let me tell you, you're nothing more than a dog I wanted to tease on a whim."

"Don't try to disgust me with your lowly 'likes,' I don't want it! Do you understand?"

Every word came crashing down without holding back; these words were so vicious they didn't seem to come from her mouth, yet they were.

Lu Jingci stood there, his lips moved, but in the end he said nothing.

His eyes were a little red, but he didn't cry. He just slowly pulled his stiff fingers back one by one.

The wind picked up a bit, ruffling their hair.

"Get out! Tomorrow's graduation ceremony, Lu Jingci, don't show your face in front of me again!"

After leaving a single sentence, Xu Wuning turned and left.

She put the earphones in her ears and walked briskly, as if nothing had happened.

Lu Jingci was the only one left under the tree.

The once bright and upright young man now slowly hunched over, slumped down, and squatted on the ground, carefully picking up the blue diamond from among the fallen leaves.

The diamond was dusty, and he carefully wiped it with his sleeve, his movements as gentle as if he were touching something precious.

Sunlight filtered through the leaves as he clutched the diamond in his palm, the sharp edges digging into his skin and causing increasing pain.

"Why, Ningning..."

He squatted there for a long time, tears falling one by one into the soil.

The sun in the sky was blocked by dark clouds at some point, turning the sky overcast and the light disappeared.

When he looked up again, his gentle demeanor had vanished, replaced by a deep, gloomy look in his eyes, completely shrouded in a sickly darkness.

If you can't have it, just lock it up...

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