The engagement was with the younger brother, but I've fallen for the older brother.

Si Yimian instantly woke up, sprang up from the sofa, her hair was messy from sleeping, and the neckline of her pajamas was askew, revealing a section of her collarbone.

She held the sachet of mugwort and spun around in place.

"Should I hide for a bit?"

"What are you hiding from?"

He Sichen straightened his shirt, which she had crumpled.

Si Yimian: "Should I go open the door?"

"Your brother saw me dressed like this in your house, he knows perfectly well what happened!"

He Sichen pointed to the bedroom.

"Go in."

Holding the sachet of mugwort, Si Yimian tiptoed towards the bedroom.

She ran a couple of steps and then turned back, grabbed her phone from the coffee table, and then ran to the entryway to retrieve her high heels.

She looked up at him.

"Dr. He, please make your expression more natural when you open the door."

He raised his hand, pressed his thumb against her brow, and gently rubbed it.

"Go in."

She stuffed her shoes into her bosom and darted into the bedroom like a rabbit.

She ran to the door, poked her head out, and pointed her index finger at He Sichen.

"Get rid of them within three minutes."

She closed the door just a crack and pressed her ear against the door to eavesdrop.

At the entrance, He Sichen opened the door.

He Nanxian stood at the door with his hand still raised, but when he saw his brother's indifferent face, he lowered his hand.

"elder brother."

"Um."

"Is Mianmian here with you? I knocked on her door, but no one answered."

He Sichen stood in the doorway, his shoulder line filling the gap tightly.

"Not here."

He Nanxian glanced over He Sichen's shoulder and into the room.

The entryway light was on, the living room was dimly lit, the projection screen hadn't been taken down yet, and the sound of cartoon audio could be faintly heard.

"I couldn't get through to her phone, and no one answered at home, so I thought she was with you."

"Not here."

He Sichen repeated it, his tone flat.

In the bedroom, Si Yimian pressed her ear against the door panel.

She picked up her phone and looked at it.

Seven missed calls, all from He Nanxian.

The last WeChat message was sent in the early hours of the morning: "[Mianmian, let me know when you get home.]"

She didn't reply.

I already made things clear last night. Replying now would just be giving them a way out.

Si Yimian never drags her feet when she does things.

Not deleting her from her friends list was her last act of decency.

That's all.

She put her phone away and listened intently.

"She left with you last night, where did you take her?"

"It's been sent home."

"Then why isn't she home?"

He Sichen remained silent for a moment.

"She doesn't need to report to me where she goes."

"You can call Huo Siyue and ask."

He Nanxian didn't respond to that.

Of course he asked.

Huo Siyue was laughing like a madwoman on the phone, saying that Mianmian was with her, but the background noise was so quiet that you could only hear her own echo.

He came to He Sichen's place to find Si Yimian because he couldn't get through on the phone and no one answered at home.

He subconsciously felt that she would be with He Sichen.

He himself couldn't explain where this intuition came from.

"Last night she said she wanted to cancel the engagement, and I thought she was just being stubborn."

He Nanxian suddenly changed the subject.

"But thinking about it today, I think she might be serious."

He paused, then looked up at He Sichen.

"Brother, what do you think?"

He Sichen's expression remained unchanged, but the fingers of the hand on the door frame twitched and slipped into his pocket.

"So you came here looking for someone because you want her to take back what she said?"

He Nanxian was stumped by the question.

He raised his eyes and met He Sichen's gaze.

I'd like to hear your opinion.

He Sichen looked at him.

This younger brother has been like this since he was little; whenever he encounters something he can't figure out, he comes to him for help.

When we were kids, it was math problems; when we grow up, it's relationship problems.

He always gives an answer, and this time was no exception.

"If she wants to cancel, you can't stop her."

He Nanxian frowned.

Why?

"Because she's no longer the little girl you remember who needed your protection."

He Sichen's voice was flat.

You should have seen clearly what happened last night.

He Nanxian fell silent.

What happened last night was indeed beyond his comprehension.

In his heart, Si Yimian was always that little girl who needed to be protected and would hide in a corner and silently feel wronged.

But she handled everything by herself last night.

Qin Enyu's public execution, Si Ningyou's complete collapse, and even Song Yuehua's changing of heart towards her.

She no longer needed him to stand in front of her.

In fact, she never really needed him.

He only appeared a few times when she was most helpless, yet she remembered him for many years.

And all these years, he has been squandering that little bit of gratitude.

"Brother, have I done a lot of things wrong?"

He Sichen offered neither comfort nor judgment.

"Are you asking this now to try and fix things, or just to make yourself feel better?"

He Nanxian was stunned.

"If you're trying to salvage the situation and come to me to find out what she's thinking, that's the problem in itself."

"If you just want to make yourself feel better, then do nothing, because your guilt has no value to her."

He Nanxian did not refute.

It's not surprising that he was reprimanded by his older brother.

But while today's words were ostensibly an education, he could vaguely sense what was beneath the surface.

Like looking at the underwater currents through a thin layer of ice.

The outline is visible, but the flow direction is unclear.

He Nanxian took a deep breath, wanting to say something, when his gaze suddenly fixed on He Sichen's neck.

Two fingers below the earlobe, the shirt collar wasn't fully tucked in, revealing a small patch of dark red.

Teeth marks, or sucking marks.

The edges are slightly purple, and the time is no more than 24 hours.

He Nanxian's pupils contracted slightly.

Given the location and shape, it couldn't possibly be gua sha (scraping therapy), nor could it be a mosquito.

What kind of mosquito can leave such regular teeth marks?

Just then, the ending theme song of an animated film drifted faintly from the living room.

He recognized the voice; it was from the movie "Up".

He Nanxian snapped out of his thoughts and looked at He Sichen again.

Over the years, He Sichen has never even had a girlfriend. No one can enter his life or break his routine.

A person who has streamlined their social life to the extreme found an unexplained mark on their neck while watching cartoons alone at home on a Sunday morning.

The girl next door wasn't home.

These fragments of information were automatically rearranged and combined in He Nanxian's mind, producing an unpleasant image.

But he didn't ask.

He had never been able to get He Sichen to open his mouth since he was a child.

Asking is pointless.

His answers are usually flawless, leaving you with no room for criticism.

He will use a wall of logic to block your questions, leaving you speechless in terms of reason and even more emotionally frustrated.

What He Nanxian feared most was not his answer.

The answer he gave was exactly the kind of answer I least wanted to hear.

He Nanxian looked away and put his right hand into his pocket.

"Brother, I'm planning to buy a house in Guanlan."

He suddenly spoke, his tone returning to its usual relaxed manner.

"The apartment upstairs is for sale. I looked at the layout, and it's nice."

"I'm worried about Mianmian staying here."

"Living across the hall is not feasible, but living in the same building should be fine, right?"

He Sichen's expression remained unchanged, but his knuckles tightened slightly.

"what ever."

He Nanxian nodded, turned to leave, but then stopped.

"Brother, whether Mianmian is with you or not, please tell her."

"I won't break off the engagement; tell her not to avoid me."