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

The meeting place for He Nanxian was his own home.

Guanlan No. 1, 2801.

When Si Yimian rang the doorbell, He Nanxian came to open the door.

He had two dark circles under his eyes, and stubble stretched from his chin to his Adam's apple, giving him an air of exhaustion from not having slept all night.

"Brother Nanxian."

Si Yimian looked up and greeted them.

He turned and walked into the house.

"Come in, and close the door behind you."

Si Yimian closed the door behind her with a click.

The main light in the living room wasn't on; only a floor lamp was lit, casting a dim, yellowish glow that made the air feel stuffy.

As soon as Si Yimian entered, she smelled a whiff of smoke mixed with lingering alcohol, like a sealed room with a window open but not yet fully ventilated.

He Nanxian took a bottle of whiskey from the liquor cabinet, poured half a glass into each of the two glasses without asking her opinion.

"Want some drinks?"

"I won't drink it."

Si Yimian stood in the center of the living room and did not answer.

He Nanxian smiled, but the corners of his mouth felt sore from the effort.

"Okay, then you go ahead and I'm listening."

He tilted his head back and downed both glasses of wine.

Si Yimian sat down opposite him and looked up at him.

Without any pleasantries, he started with a straight shot.

"Now that we know everything, let's get down to business and break off the engagement."

He Nanxian's eyelid twitched.

He looked at the person in front of him, sat upright, spoke calmly, and made his decision in a consultative tone.

"You've come to inform me."

He Nanxian leaned back on the sofa, rested his arm on the armrest, let his fingers hang down, and circled the mouth of the wine bottle with his fingertips.

"I'm here to talk."

Si Yimian corrected him.

"Don't get angry yet, let me finish what I have to say before you get angry."

She paused, organizing her thoughts and giving the other side some time to process what she had to say.

"I did sleep with Dr. He."

She didn't flinch when she said that.

"It happened more than once, including last night. Do you want more details?"

The vein in He Nanxian's hand, which was gripping the wine glass, throbbed, and he forced out a voice through clenched teeth.

"you……"

"Regarding this engagement, whether it was back then or now, I've been playing house with you, and now I'm done playing."

He Nanxian tightened his grip on the wine glass.

"You break off the engagement, and then you're going to be with my brother?"

"Then I went on to live my own life."

Si Yimian corrected him again.

"He Nanxian, our marriage agreement was originally just a contract."

"Now one party wants to terminate the contract, and the other party is dragging their feet. Besides making each other miserable, what's the point?"

He Nanxian slammed the wine glass and bottle onto the wooden table with a loud bang.

His eyes suddenly reddened.

"income?"

He Nanxian walked around the wooden table, took two steps to stand in front of her, bent down, and placed his hands on the back of the sofa on either side of her, enclosing her in a narrow space.

He looked down at her, and the space between their breaths was reduced to the width of a hand.

The scents of whiskey and tobacco settled in first, mixed with the lingering smell of shower gel on his body.

"He Nanxian, you're too close."

She turned her head away, avoiding the smell of alcohol that he was spraying on her face.

He Nanxian: "..."

He froze for a moment, then his eyes burned even redder.

He raised his hand, grabbed her chin, and turned her face back.

The force couldn't be controlled.

His fingertips pressed against her jawbone, and through the thin layer of skin, the joints dug into her bones, causing her pain.

Si Yimian frowned slightly, her nostrils flared, but she kept her lips pursed and remained silent.

When He Nanxian saw her in pain, his fingers instinctively loosened for a moment, then tightened again.

"When did it start?"

"When did you stop liking me?"

Si Yimian looked up, her pupils reflecting his disheveled face.

You don't need to know the exact time.

Si Yimian spoke coldly, as if she were talking about something that had little to do with her.

"All you need to know is that I've been waiting for you for a long time before that."

She paused, a mocking smile playing on her lips.

"It's been so long that I've realized I'm better off without you."

These words, spoken by her, were even more cutting than the ones I heard from the guest room of the old house that day.

"Eight years of affection, just gone like that?"

This time, Si Yimian did not avoid his gaze.

"Liking something is a consumable, not a family heirloom."

"You've diluted it with water for eight years, and you expect it to maintain its original concentration?"

"It's like a lamp that wasn't turned off by someone; it went out by itself when the oil ran out."

"You should ask yourself when you realized I no longer liked you."

"This is the point in time when you truly begin to lose me."

He Nanxian's fingers, which were gripping her chin, froze for a moment, and his Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

It's like something is stuck there, you can't swallow it or spit it out.

He loosened his grip, his thumb moving from her chin to her cheekbone, his fingertip brushing against the skin under her eyes.

"Mianmian, I regret it."

His voice was hoarse when he said that.

Si Yimian raised her hand and grasped the wrist that he was pinching her face with, her gesture indicating rejection.

"Regret is your problem."

"My goal is to move forward."

The last glimmer of light in He Nanxian's eyes flickered for a moment, then reignited, burning even more fiercely.

"Go forward? In which direction?"

He reached up with his other hand, cupping her face in both hands.

"He Sichen's direction?"

Si Yimian's pupils contracted slightly upon hearing the name.

He Nanxian caught it.

"Why do you react when you hear his name?"

A self-deprecating smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Are you with He Sichen to get revenge on me?"

"Watching you two together is more painful than death for me. Is this your plan?"

"no."

She spoke quickly, without the slightest hesitation.

"If I wanted to get revenge on you, I have plenty of ways to do it. Why would I risk my own life?"

"I'm taking revenge on you because I see you as a target, but not me, Brother Nanxian. You're really not on my radar anymore."

"I am genuinely interested in He Sichen; every aspect of him perfectly matches my aesthetic."

"It's not because you treated me badly that I slept with just any man; it's simply because he's an interesting person."

He Nanxian clenched his teeth.

"What's so good about him? Cold, mean, and with a sharp tongue, he hasn't been in a relationship for thirty years. What are you getting out of being with him?"

Si Yimian suddenly smiled.

"See, you can't even see what's good about him, so there's no point in me explaining it to you, is there?"

"He's good-looking, has beautiful hands, is smart, keeps his word, and is efficient."

"It's not hard to understand why someone is interested in him, is it?"

He Nanxian's temples throbbed from the blockage.

"But he's my brother!"

"Yes, I know."

Si Yimian raised her eyes and nodded seriously.

"so what?"

so what.

He Nanxian was stumped by these three words.

Yeah, so what?

What happened to her brother? Why can't her brother be with her?

That doesn't make sense.

But he just couldn't accept it.

"In fact, I should thank you."

"The best thing you ever did in your life was to push me onto your brother."