A faint coughing sound came from the bathroom, the voice weak and feeble, tinged with a sense of frailty. As the sound traveled through the door before him, the man standing outside straightened his back, his jet-black eyes hinting at a trace of dark desire. "Cough, cough... cough, cough..." A sharp scream pierced the air, and before Bao Shaojin could think, he tightened his grip on the door handle, bursting the bathroom door open. With a stern expression, he strode inside. Misty fog permeated the air, and through the haze, he glimpsed a delicate, porcelain-white body. The young girl had been rinsing in the bathroom for quite some time, feeling the warmth of the water wash over her, she felt much more comfortable, even the dull ache in her head had lessened. However, she was still thirsty; she cupped some water in her hands, intending to rinse her mouth, but choked as soon as she held the water in. She coughed a few times before it eased a bit. As she was about to lift her hand to turn off the shower, she slipped. She flailed her hands against the wall to steady herself. Before she could catch her breath, it seemed she heard the sound of a door opening, coming from behind her. The hot water continued to spray down on her, coloring her cheeks a soft pink. An Yin thought she must have heard wrong. Even as she convinced herself, her breath caught. She felt a chilling presence creeping up from behind, and gripping the wall, she gingerly turned around. In her disoriented state, as she turned, she met a pair of dark, fathomless eyes. The man’s tall silhouette stood two meters away, dressed in a sleek suit, likely not having had time to change his shoes, wearing polished black leather shoes. In the mist, his expression remained inscrutable. In that indistinct moment, their eyes met. The moment she saw the man, An Yin’s mind turned fuzzy, standing there foolishly, her bright eyes blinking several times, while water dripped from her dark hair. In that moment, she looked as fresh as a lotus emerging from water, breathtakingly lovely. Bao Shaojin’s expression darkened, and the hands resting by his side were tightly clenched into fists. Only heaven knew what kind of torment he was experiencing at that moment. The instant the water dripped down, his pant legs soaked in the moisture too. "How long have you been washing?" Bao Shaojin’s voice was frighteningly hoarse. The dazed and bewildered An Yin, upon hearing the man’s voice, gradually came to her senses. In front of her, indeed, stood a man. Moreover, it was Bao Shaojin. What did he just say? An Yin’s mind was buzzing, coupled with the sound of the shower above, she hadn’t heard what the man just said at all. She tilted her head up, her glistening eyes wetly gazed at him, until his face’s outline fully materialized before her. "You... you... why, why are you... here," An Yin with a somewhat sobbing tone, stammered and complained. Immediately following, she stepped back a few paces wanting to hide, completely ignoring the fact she was barefoot at the moment, and being in such a hurry, just as her foot slipped and she was about to fall to the side, the man swiftly reached out, until his hand touched the soft side of her waist, his body tensed, and an indescribable emotion surged within him. Quickly, he turned off the shower, picked up a robe from nearby, and deftly draped it over the young girl. Once he finished all this, as he lowered his eyes, he noticed the young girl’s hair was still wet, his Adam’s apple bobbed, as he thought of saying something, but found the words stuck in his throat, unable to come out. His hand rested on the young girl’s delicate shoulder, clearly feeling her trembling. And she was shaking quite severely. Bao Shaojin saw her standing immobilized, swallowed hard, and croaked, "Want to dry your hair?" His voice was deep and resonant, echoing in the tight space. For a long while, he didn’t get a response from the young girl. Bao Shaojin raised his hand, gently pinched the young girl’s chin, lifting it. When their eyes met, the young girl pouted, a hint of redness at the corner of her eyes, and tears seemed to pool in her eyes, as if she were about to cry at any moment. An Yin did not know, that she looked so alluring in her distress, in the eyes of a physically healthy, vigorous man. In a moment she wasn’t aware of, Bao Shaojin took a sharp intake of breath, his painstaking self-restraint almost on the verge of collapse. Ignoring the young girl’s sobbing and tender appearance, he domineeringly scooped her up, carrying her in his arms as he strode towards the door. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝⚑𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖⚑𝕟𝕖𝕥 His breathing grew more and more labored. Until he laid her down on the bedroom bed, he didn’t have time to look at her expression, already striding quickly towards the bathroom, his steps never so urgent, and his retreating figure filled with a near pathological obsession. The sound of the door closing was rough, the ear-piercing noise snapping An Yin from her frightful daze. When the man held her, An Yin shivered, snuggling close to the man’s sturdy chest, her ears picking up his strong heartbeat. As he walked towards the bed with her, she held her breath, her mind a blank state; her extreme fear rendered her powerless to push him away. Her timidity left her legs weak from the moment the man appeared. Until he placed her on the bed and left... Thought the man was going to... Take advantage of her. An Yin lay sprawled on the bed, her face flushed with embarrassment. Soon, she slowly sat up, curling into a ball, retreating towards the headboard, her panicked, terrified eyes timidly glancing towards the bathroom. With that thought in mind, An Yin wiped the tears from the corner of her eye, the scene just then had been too sudden for her, and she was still recovering from the shock. She sat there blankly, quietly sniffing, tears falling from her eyes one by one, until she finally lost control, crying harder. Covering her mouth, curled up in a ball, her tender, timid face tinged slightly pink, possibly from having soaked in the hot water too long earlier. As she cried in sorrow, a low growl came from the direction of the bathroom, startling An Yin enough to abruptly stop her crying, hoping she had heard wrong. She sat there attentively, tilting her ear to listen. Until a deep voice emerged from the bathroom again, An Yin, flustered, grabbed the blanket on the bed, hurriedly pulling it up to cover herself, peeking out timidly with just her small head visible.