Your Highness, your wife doesn't want you anymore!

Click, click...

The soft clicking of the doorknob turning could be heard repeatedly from outside.

Unable to sleep, Nan Zhi sat up in bed and looked towards the door in the dark room.

What happened? Was the door not closed properly?

The clicking sound rang out again. She reached out and turned on the soft, warm light from the bedside lamp, a sense of doubt rising in her heart.

Who's outside?

Is it Kings?

Didn't he say he wasn't coming back to stay today?

Was he turning the doorknob?

Nan Zhi slipped on her slippers, reached out and opened the door. She immediately saw Jin Si Nian sitting on the corridor floor, his long legs taking up most of the walkway.

He reeked of alcohol, his bangs falling messily across his forehead. His eyes, which had been dull and lifeless just moments before, suddenly lit up the moment he saw her, though he still grumbled, "Why aren't you asleep yet? It's so late! Doesn't our baby need to sleep?"

Nan Zhi stared at him blankly, then asked softly, "Didn't you say you weren't coming back today?"

Kings gave a soft hum and awkwardly retorted, "I didn't go back. I didn't hold you while you slept, and I didn't go into the room."

Nan Zhi then realized that his refusal to return meant he refused to step into the room.

She stood in front of him and said truthfully, "You kept... turning the doorknob over and over again, making a constant noise, and I couldn't sleep at all."

Jin Si Nian shrank back into the corner, stubbornly denying, "I didn't open the door..."

Actually, he returned from the club a little after nine o'clock, but he hesitated to go inside. He just squatted outside the door, turning the handle repeatedly, waiting for her to open the door and call him.

I want to see if she's asleep; if she's not, I'll get up and check on her whenever I hear a sound...

Although it might mean hitting him.

Nan Zhi squatted down slightly, bringing her nose close to smell the strong odor of alcohol: "You've been drinking?"

He shook his head quickly: "I didn't drink it."

"Why does he smell so strongly of alcohol?"

Jin Si Nian looked up at her, his eyes brimming with grievance and bitterness, his voice low and deep: "Didn't you take the initiative to let me go out drinking?"

"You won't send a single message, won't urge me to come home even once. I said I wouldn't be back tonight, and you really intend to lock me out?"

Towards the end of his sentence, his tone was filled with barely concealed grievance.

Nan Zhi was caught off guard by his words and hurriedly explained, "No, no, I didn't mean you couldn't come in."

This is his home; he can come in whenever he wants.

"I...I'll go downstairs...and make you some hangover soup."

As she got up to leave, Jin Si Nian grabbed her wrist. He stood up and pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly from behind.

The man buried his face in the crook of her neck, his voice muffled, filled with suppressed anxiety: "There's something I absolutely must ask you."

"I've wanted to ask this for a long time, but I've been holding it in."

"I know you may not have figured it out yet, or you may not even know your own feelings."

"I've thought about this for a long time, and I planned to wait patiently for you to accept me, for us to get our marriage certificate, and for you to stay for the sake of the child."

"But I still feel uneasy. I just want a yes today." He tightened his arms around her, his warm breath brushing against her neck. He asked softly, his voice filled with a cautious longing, "Zhizhi, how do you really feel about me?"

Do you even like me, even just a little bit?

"I..." Nan Zhi froze in his arms, her mind a mess, unsure how to answer.

She knew that Jin Nian liked her, but she didn't know how she felt about Jin Nian.

Previously, the two had a relationship of sugar daddy and dependent. She was always vigilant and never dared to develop feelings for the sugar daddy or have any romantic feelings for him.

But now that her status is different, what about her heart?

Things seem to have changed...

"What do you mean, 'you'... "

Jin Si Nian's arm around her trembled slightly, his voice choked with sobs, his eyes reddening with anxiety: "Say something!"

The emotions churning in his chest reached their peak. He paused, then spoke each word with utmost care, revealing all his deepest obsessions: "Nan Zhi, I don't care whether you like me or not, anyway..."

He paused for a moment: "Anyway, I really, really like you, I love you so much."

He poured out his heart and soul, waiting for a response.

Nan Zhi twisted the hem of her nightgown between her fingers, flustered and at a loss: "I...I need to think about it."

"Still need to think about it?" Jin Si Nian's heart felt like it was being squeezed tightly, his tone both sour and aggrieved, "You've been thinking about this for three years and still haven't figured it out, do you even like me at all?"

"You have someone in your heart, don't you?"

The name uncontrollably flashed through his mind; jealousy clouded his judgment, and he blurted out, "Is it Pei Jingzhi?"

Nan Zhi turned around to face him, but Jin Si Nian quickly turned his head away to avoid her gaze. In the shadows where no one could see, his tears fell rapidly.

"Why...why do you keep bringing him up?" Nan Zhi stammered softly, completely puzzled. "You always bring up...Brother Jingzhi."

Jin Si Nian sniffed hard, his nose stinging, and poured out all the bitterness in his heart: "Of course I brought him up. Why did he find out you were pregnant before me? Why do you always protect him?"

"Why did you meet him first? Why wasn't I your childhood sweetheart?"

His knuckles were clenched so tightly they turned white, and he frankly revealed his inner obsession and jealousy: "I hate that he's jealous too, I'm jealous from the bottom of my heart."

He had never been so jealous of anyone in his entire life!

Never...

After hearing his heartfelt words, Nan Zhi stood there stunned for a long time, only whispering, "You...you're drunk."

Ignoring her words, Jin Nian suddenly wrapped his long arm around her waist, grabbed the back of her neck with his other hand, and leaned down to kiss her fiercely.

Nan Zhi suddenly opened her eyes wide and pushed against his chest with both hands, but she couldn't budge him at all.

He skillfully pried open her teeth, his kiss lingering and tender, pouring all his pent-up longing and jealousy into it.

After what seemed like an eternity, he pulled back slightly, his forehead pressed tightly against hers, their breaths mingling: "Zhizhi, do you hate me?"

Nan Zhi's lips went numb from the kiss, and she gently shook her head, her voice soft: "No, I don't hate it."

"Since you don't dislike her, has a little bit of liking for her grown in your heart?" His gaze was intense, not wanting to miss a single expression from her.

Nan Zhi looked up at him, hesitated for a moment, and nodded slightly: "Yes... I think so."

Jin Si Nian's eyes lit up instantly, and he couldn't help but smile, his voice full of excitement: "I knew it, Zhi Zhi has feelings for me~"

Nan Zhi suddenly came to her senses, her cheeks burning hot. She raised her hand to wipe her lips angrily, pushed him away, turned around, and strode into the bedroom: "You...you weren't drunk at all, you were just lying to me."

Jin Si Nian quickly followed her inside, hastily explaining, "Zhi Zhi, I didn't drink!"