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

He Nanxian felt as if he had been hit on the back of the head.

The numbness started from the top of my head and climbed down my neck, finally reaching my fingertips; all ten fingers were numb.

She said those words in a relaxed tone, yet they were more devastating than any heart-wrenching cry.

"Mianmian, say it again."

Si Yimian looked up at him, her clear pupils reflecting his disheveled image.

I said, "Thank you."

"If you hadn't pushed me to Dr. He, I would never have known that such fine chaff existed in the world."

Fine chaff.

She used this word to describe her brother.

"Mianmian".

I'm giving you two choices.

He stared into her eyes, his eyes red and burning, but his voice remained steady.

"First, you break up with him, the engagement continues, I'll delete the video, and I'll keep this to myself."

"I will marry you, and I will use the remaining sixty years to make up for the previous eight years, little by little."

He Nanxian ran his other hand through her hair, forcing her to look up.

"Secondly, if you continue to harass him, I will not let you go."

"I can wait, I can endure, but you can't unilaterally walk out of the game."

"As long as this marriage agreement remains in effect, you will be my marriage partner, He Nanxian's partner."

"You can't change your identity no matter whose bed you sleep in at night."

"I didn't touch you, but that label on you was put on by me."

"Even if you do it with him a hundred times, when you open your eyes the next day, everyone in Beijing's social circle will still say that he is He Nanxian's man."

He paused, then spoke the last sentence very slowly.

Si Yimian stared at him, then suddenly let out a sneer.

"He Nanxian, do you know what your biggest problem is?"

He Nanxian didn't speak, but his fingers tightened around her hair.

"You're always making choices, but you never write the answers yourself."

"I've decided to break off the engagement, and you have no choice in the matter."

She paused as she spoke.

"And have you ever thought about this?"

"This marriage was originally arranged for me and your brother; it was sealed when we were born."

"Later, something went wrong, and that's how it was changed to you."

"You're just a temporary replacement, filling in for eight years, and you've really taken over someone else's workstation as your own?"

"Isn't fate a strange thing? After going around in circles, it's still the same thing in the end."

"He Sichen and I are probably a match made in heaven."

Her words shattered the last vestige of reason in He Nanxian's eyes, leaving only obsession.

He suddenly leaned forward, placed his hands back on the sofa armrests, and pushed her further in.

"A match made in heaven?"

His voice was squeezed out from deep in his throat, damp with jealousy.

Do you know what kind of person he is?

"He's never even said he liked you, right?"

With each question he asked, he tightened his grip on her wrist.

"He knows he can't give you a future!"

He Nanxian's voice slammed into her face, carrying the hysterical collapse of someone cornered against a wall.

"He admitted it himself, you heard it on the phone last night. He said he wouldn't get married, yet he still went and messed with you!"

"If you're with him, you'll be his secret lover for life."

"He didn't even lie to you!"

Looking at his out-of-control face, Si Yimian finally spoke.

"So what?"

He Nanxian was stunned.

"I know he doesn't want to get married."

"I know he can't give me a future."

She gently turned her wrist, which he was holding, and adjusted her posture.

"I touched every single card you played on the phone last night beforehand."

He Nanxian's pupils suddenly contracted.

"Then why..."

"Because I don't want a future."

She interrupted him, each word cutting into the gaps in his logic.

"I only want the present."

"The current He Sichen is more worthy of my time than ever before."

"What he gave me is more valuable than your title or status."

He Nanxian loosened his grip on her wrist for a moment.

He was so speechless that he couldn't utter a single word.

He looked at the person in front of him without flinching, his neck held high.

The girl in his memory didn't match up at all.

"So you're telling me now that I'm the one who should leave?"

Do you realize that saying those words is like stabbing me in the heart?

Just as Si Yimian was about to speak, her phone vibrated in her pocket.

She looked down, took it out of her coat pocket, and saw that the screen was lit up, displaying the caller ID as He Sichen.

Si Yimian prepared to slide her thumb up to the answer button.

He Nanxian stepped forward and grabbed her wrist.

Fingers clenched together, palm burning hot.

Don't answer.

His breath hit her earlobe, rapid yet restrained.

"Mianmian, don't answer."

He repeated it again.

This time it wasn't an order, it was a plea.

She felt his fingers tighten, as if he were clutching the last straw, and if he let go, she would drown.

Si Yimian turned her head and looked at him coldly.

"Let go."

He didn't loosen his grip.

He reached out with his other hand and snatched the phone directly from her palm.

The screen was still vibrating, and the three characters "He Sichen" flashed in the dim light.

He Nanxian stared at the name, then pressed answer button and turned on speakerphone.

"Brother, she's staying with me tonight."

On the other end of the phone, He Sichen's breathing faltered for a moment.

"Guess how many minutes it will take me to get to your door?"

Si Yimian raised her hand to snatch it back: "Give it back to me."

He Nanxian tossed his phone above his head.

She missed her target and fell deep into the sofa.

He pressed down, his palm completely covering half of her mouth.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Si Yimian pried his hand off her mouth, opened her teeth, and bit down hard on his tiger's mouth.

He Nanxian groaned, but instead of letting go, he tightened his grip even more.

He used his thumb to pinch her jawbone, forcing her to tilt her face up.

He hung up the phone and threw it away.

The black phone crashed onto the carpet in the corner, its screen shattered into a spiderweb pattern.

"Hmm!"

Si Yimian's protest was swallowed back down her throat, turning into a series of muffled sobs.

She raised her knee to strike his lower abdomen, but it was pinned down by his thigh, rendering her unable to move.

His wrists were twisted behind his back, and he was pressed deep into the sofa.

The cushion sank in, swallowing half of her body.

Do you know what I want to do right now?

He Nanxian looked down at her, the red in his eyes burning to the edges of his pupils, like two clusters of smoldering flames doused with gasoline.

Si Yimian's mouth was covered, so she couldn't speak and could only glare at him.

I want to lock you here.

He leaned down, his nose touching hers, their breaths mingling.

"I'll keep you locked up until you figure it out."

"Or, keep me locked up until I give up."

Then, he leaned down and pressed his lips to the side of her neck.

But his gaze fell on her neck first.

That dark red mark, with its purplish edges, was as arrogant as a seal.

The seal of He Sichen.

His movements froze in mid-air.

He pressed down hard with his fingertip, so hard that she shrank her neck.

"He kissed her?"

As if possessed, He Nanxian moved his palm away.

Si Yimian took a deep breath.

"Otherwise what?"

"I pinched myself? My neck didn't do anything to me."

"This place has already been stamped, the property rights are unclear, I suggest you don't touch it."

He Nanxian's pupils suddenly contracted.

The next second, he lowered his head and bit her neck.

Teeth pierced the skin, as if to re-carve their totem on this territory already marked by He Sichen.

"Hiss... Ah!"

Si Yimian arched her back in pain, her fingers gripping the sofa cushion tightly.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

A sharp buzzing sound pierced through the living room, one after another.

He Nanxian did not loosen his grip.

Instead, he took advantage of the sound to press his jaw even deeper.

Si Yimian felt her skin being pierced.

Warm liquid seeped out.