Ever since the holiday ended, Zhong He had become increasingly clingy. He needed to see her every single day.

 

A candy box contained ten pieces of fruit-flavored sweets. Every weekend when Yao Jiayin stayed at Yayuan, Zhong He would feed her an entire box.

 

After eating so rich and indulgently, she would almost long for the light, bland meals of the five school days.

 

“Tomorrow night is my birthday banquet, baby… wifey… can you stay over tonight?”

 

When he noticed Jiayin’s gaze flick briefly downward, Zhong He leaned closer.

 

He opened his mouth and bit lightly at the mother-of-pearl button on the front of her blouse.

 

Through clenched teeth, he said, “Come home with me… I won’t do anything tonight, really! I just want to hold you while we sleep.”

 

Jiayin smiled and kissed the corner of his lips, gently refusing.

 

“No, Gege. You promised to let me enjoy my college life freely, to experience it fully…”

 

“I already spend every weekend with you. That’s two out of seven days living together, and we almost see each other every night during the other five~”

 

She was a little annoyed.

 

She liked Zhong He’s handsome face, his wealth, his attentiveness, his sweet talk.

 

But he hardly gave her any room to breathe.

 

For example, a few days ago—

 

She had arranged to have dinner with Senior Qi Xuan and told Zhong He she wouldn’t be meeting him that evening.

 

Ever since Qi Xuan realized she had accidentally played matchmaker, she would sigh every time they met, wondering how Jiayin had managed to win over the Second Young Master Zhong.

 

That night, the two girls sat by the window at a newly opened café-restaurant off campus called “Cross-Strait Coffee & Tea.”

 

They were chatting happily when suddenly a tall shadow loomed over them.

 

Zhong He strode up and sat down beside Jiayin.

 

The soft sofa dipped. The next second, his large hand wrapped around his girlfriend’s waist.

 

He turned to Qi Xuan and greeted her naturally, as if he had simply arrived late.

 

“Qi Xuan, long time no see. I’m late.”

 

“My birthday banquet is in a few days. Care to come?”

 

Jiayin stared at him in surprise, but he chatted on as if nothing were unusual.

 

“Oh right, Zhao Jiahao will definitely be there. You two have been broken up for quite a while this time, haven’t you? I haven’t seen him for over two months…”

 

Jiayin didn’t understand why Zhong He had come here to find her.

 

Didn’t he need to go home and spend time with his parents?

 

Didn’t he have racing, drinking, card games… to attend to?

 

She had never hidden her whereabouts from him, so when he asked where she was, she thought he was just concerned about two girls being out late and would come pick her up.

 

She hadn’t expected him to directly insert himself into her girls’ night.

 

She wasn’t exactly angry about it.

 

But it was supposed to be private gossip time, and having it interrupted left her slightly uncomfortable.

 

Afterward, she told herself not to make a big deal out of it.

 

It wasn’t a matter of principle. Couples needed to adjust to each other…

 

And then, the night before last—

 

They went to see a newly released American blockbuster.

 

Jiayin hugged a giant bucket of popcorn and was excitedly heading to line up when she discovered—

 

“What? A private screening? You can book out an entire theater?”

 

“Baby, on a weekday it’s cheap, just a few thousand. We don’t have to put up with noisy kids. Isn’t having a quiet space just for us nice?”

 

She wasn’t against it. For her boyfriend, that amount of money was nothing.

 

She wasn’t ungrateful, nor did she dislike comfort.

 

What bothered her was that he hadn’t told her in advance.

 

He could have simply asked, “How about we book the theater?”

 

Instead, he made the decision himself and assumed she would accept it.

 

She asked him, “If you don’t like crowds, why didn’t we book it the last few times we watched movies?”

 

Zhong He probably hadn’t thought about it himself. He replied:

 

“I didn’t think about it before. Now, the thought of so many people annoys me. I just want to be alone with you.”

 

His peach-blossom eyes lowered, settling on her face, carrying a silent, startling possessiveness.

 

“Someone else sitting next to you, so close… it makes me uncomfortable.”

 

Jiayin listened to his honest reasoning. She opened her mouth but didn’t argue.

 

After a moment, under his expectant gaze—like he was waiting for praise—she said awkwardly:

 

“I think it’s nice and quiet too.”

 

So that night, she randomly chose a seat and sat down with her huge bucket of popcorn.

 

She watched the movie seriously, while her boyfriend seriously fed her popcorn, watched her, held her hand, and occasionally stole a kiss.

 

—

 

Jiayin felt as though her time and energy were being slowly trimmed away.

 

She was like a sapling.

 

She had wanted to borrow the gardener’s fertilizer and watering to grow quickly and secretly become strong.

 

She was grateful to the gardener and wanted to grow into a towering tree as soon as possible.

 

But while watering and fertilizing her, the gardener kept pruning her branches.

 

Even an extra centimeter growing at an angle he didn’t like would be cut off.

 

He would keep trimming his beloved sapling until it finally grew into the shape he preferred.

 

Tonight, when Zhong He again suggested she not return to the dorm and instead go back to Yayuan with him—

 

Even after she clearly refused, he said:

 

“If you think it’s too far, I’ll buy you an apartment across from your school.”

 

He hadn’t driven her back yet, clearly still trying to persuade her.

 

Under the warm glow of the streetlights, the man who couldn’t bear to part from her even for a moment lifted her hand and kissed it.

 

“After class, you won’t have to go to a crowded, smelly cafeteria. The housekeeper will prepare healthy meals…”

 

“If you want to spend time with your roommates, you can go back two days a week…”

 

Jiayin took a deep breath and bit her lip hard, using the pain to steady herself.

 

Once a couple crosses the boundary of intimacy, many behaviors begin to lose their sense of limits.

 

She remembered a passage from an emotional advice magazine:

 

“Once a man and woman have an ambiguous relationship and naturally become physically intimate—even if they’ve only been together for a month—once there has been intimacy, even just once, it becomes very hard to walk away.”

 

She didn’t know about others, but she wasn’t someone who found it hard to walk away.

 

Fundamentally, it was because there were too many things she liked and wanted.

 

She liked Zhong He.

 

But compared to the person himself, she seemed to like his money more—what he could bring her in terms of social mobility.

 

So some things did require compromise, she thought.

 

At least she couldn’t argue with him now.

 

She couldn’t throw a tantrum just because he liked her a lot.

 

She couldn’t…

 

Couldn’t what?

 

The one thing she absolutely couldn’t do was lose her sense of self.

 

Jiayin withdrew her hand, her eyes reddening as she looked at him.

 

“You promised me. A’He, I still have at least two more years living in the dorm. Are you going back on your word now?”

 

Zhong He was silent for a long time. Seeing her avoid his closeness, a vein throbbed at his temple.

 

Xiaoyin didn’t love him as deeply as he loved her.

 

She loved studying, seizing every opportunity to learn.

 

She wasn’t interested in luxury brands, only in new experiences.

 

Her computer course had just ended; she planned to get her driver’s license this summer, and next year she wanted to enroll in fashion design training…

 

Xiaoyin always had so many things to do.

 

Her attention was always captured by one new thing after another.

 

His silence made her discomfort grow.

 

She was almost crying—was he unwilling even to make a temporary compromise?

 

The atmosphere grew tense and oppressive.

 

Finally, Zhong He grabbed her wrist and pressed it against his chest.

 

“Last month, when I asked you and you didn’t want to, I understood. Maybe you didn’t feel secure.”

 

“But now we’re officially together. We’re getting engaged in the second half of the year. Yet you still don’t want to live with me. Your roommates are more important than I am.”

 

“Xiaoyin, why can’t you love me a little more?”

 

“You’re my girlfriend. You already have the title. What else do you want? Just tell me.”

 

He looked at her seriously. “Money? A house? Whatever you say, I can give it to you.”

 

“What would make you feel secure? What would make you fully trust me and treat me as the most important person?”

 

For a moment, Jiayin wanted to slap him.

 

Did he even know what he was saying?

 

Suddenly, a message she had deleted flashed through her mind:

 

“…A’He isn’t suitable for you. Brother knows him better than you do. You’ll get hurt.”

 

Her chest ached with bitterness, unease, confusion.

 

Had she made the wrong move choosing Zhong He?

 

No. It couldn’t be wrong.

 

Don’t panic. Calm down. Solving the problem is what matters.

 

—

 

When Zhong He saw her pale face, he remembered returning to the family estate the night before and chatting with his older brother.

 

His brother had casually asked, “You came from Yayuan again?”

 

After he nodded, his brother asked curiously:

 

“That place is a bit far. You have to wake up half an hour earlier to take Jiayin to school. Why not rent something near her campus?”

 

When Zhong He said Xiaoyin didn’t want to live together, his brother glanced at him and replied in the same calm tone as always:

 

“Well, she’s just a teenage girl… probably not settled yet.”

 

“You’re twenty-four. Your girlfriend is beautiful and outstanding. It’s normal she doesn’t want to live with you so soon.”

 

His brother raised his glass to clink with his, his handsome, slightly tipsy face carrying an aloof confidence.

 

“Is this small matter really troubling you? Don’t forget—you never lack money. That alone is enough to make Jiayin unable to leave you.”

 

“You think I don’t understand you? Hah—buying a million-dollar car without hesitation… aren’t you just feeding a girl’s greed?”

 

“You can pull in the net now, A’He.”