Chapter 25

There were no surprises at home.

He called Iris, but her phone was off; he called Derek, but no one answered. Just as he was about to try and contact Pandora again, he heard the sound of a lock turning. Zhuang Zhuoyuan rushed over, only to find his girlfriend being carried back by bodyguards, looking like a dejected little chick.

"What happened?" Following the scent of medicine, Zhuang Zhuoyuan spotted the bandage hidden in his sleeve. He instinctively wanted to touch it, but hesitated, afraid of hurting his girlfriend, and could only stare at her intently. Iris, however, refused to speak. So he turned his gaze to Derek, who also remained silent, simply pushing her into Zhuang Zhuoyuan's arms and automatically closing the door for them.

"Wait a minute!" Pressuring his girlfriend wouldn't work, but questioning her security officer was necessary. Zhuang Sheng, adopting the air of a police officer, demanded an explanation from Derek, but the top bodyguard simply sighed, "I was only responsible for bringing him back. Ask Miss Derek for details. I'm going to collect my punishment."

Only then did Iris, who had kept her mouth shut the whole time, finally speak her first words: "I will explain the situation to AK."

Whether he said it or not, it was all the same; AK only cared about the results, not the process. Because he loved Gloria so much, he naturally also doted on her niece. This time, his negligence almost caused her to fall off a cliff, and even though she only suffered minor scratches and cuts, Derek was still culpable and would be punished. He shrugged, feigning nonchalance: "Don't worry, that's our rule. At most, it'll be a warning letter, a pay cut, and a month of intensive training. It's fine."

“But,” Iris frowned deeply, “it’s clearly because the criminals are too cunning.”

Zhuang Zhuoyuan raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.

Derek sighed inwardly, "Whatever happens, as long as I bring you back, it's over for me. Inspector Zhuang, I'll leave the rest to you."

“OK, thank you.” Zhuang Sheng stopped trying to stop her, but Iris wanted to pull him back. Her heart jumped again the moment Derek left. Without a way to change the subject, Zhuang Zhuoyuan would inevitably focus all his attention on her. Iris frowned, looked up at him, and feigned a wronged expression, calling out first, “Zhuang Zhuoyuan…”

“Calling me husband won’t help anymore.” Zhuang Zhuoyuan rarely hardened his heart. After gesturing for Iris to sit on the sofa, he propped himself up with his arms and trapped her in a small space. “You’re not going anywhere tonight. You have to tell me clearly what happened.”

"Ouch, my hand hurts so much..." Iris tried to escape by pulling up her sleeve and acting cute, but Zhuang Zhuoyuan was not willing to take the bait. He only glanced at her before turning back to "interrogate" her: "We'll talk about that later. Now it's your time to answer. You must answer this time."

He looked down at her, his lips pressed tightly together, seemingly suppressing a bit of anger. Iris instantly became sensible, forgetting how much she usually wanted to see him angry. She automatically withdrew her teasing claws and only made one last offer: "I'm so tired today, so how about a simple answer?"

He yielded to the weaker opponent. As soon as Iris surrendered, Zhuang Zhuoyuan gave in even faster. His momentum was no longer as strong as before, but his expression still showed some awkwardness: "Listen first."

“Well, actually,” Iris said, glancing at her boyfriend, “after Lala and I identified the next victim, we tried to lure him out, and we did manage to draw the bad guy out. But the criminal was too cunning; he anticipated our plan and switched the victim. By the time Lala and I realized what was happening, he had already taken the victim to the mountain. We followed the trail and found him about to execute the victim. That's when Inspector Yi and Derek rushed up to rescue him. Anyway, the scene was quite chaotic. In the chaos, the victim tried to escape from the criminal and was stabbed. In the pain, he lost his bearings and fell towards me. I tried to dodge, but somehow, Inspector Yi and the others ended up in the direction I was trying to dodge, and then I was inexplicably taken hostage by the criminal. Then, when the madman realized he couldn't escape, he tried to pull me off a cliff. Luckily, Derek reacted quickly and grabbed me, so I only suffered minor scrapes and cuts.”

"Just 'that'?" Just listening to her statement, Zhuang Zhuoyuan felt his heart pounding like it had been on a rollercoaster, filled with anxiety. He lifted Iris's hand to examine it closely, and after confirming that she was alright, he muttered to her, "You, do you remember I told you that participating in the deduction is fine, but catching the criminals is left to the police? Do you know how worried I was when I couldn't get through on the phone earlier?"

Iris nodded like a chick pecking at rice, feigning innocence before hatching a plan. She pouted, hoping to get away with a few more kisses. But this time, her scheme failed. Zhuang Zhuoyuan had anticipated her move, subtly turning his head away. After glancing at her sideways, he pulled her aside and continued his lecture: "I think this incident is very serious. In your own words, I should have reported my injury to you immediately, and in detail, so you wouldn't worry, right? But looking at you just now, you clearly didn't want to tell me anything, did you? I think if I didn't have field training tomorrow, you wouldn't have come back tonight, would you?"

A barrage of "Is it or not?" left Iris speechless. Zhuang Zhuoyuan's words struck at the heart of the matter, making her realize that her avoidance was compounding her mistake. All her wishful thinking and shamelessness vanished instantly, and Iris felt utterly deflated, lowering her head in silence.

"Let me hug you first." Seeing her like this, Zhuang Zhuoyuan couldn't help but soften. He always knew his girlfriend was clear-headed; she was just naturally playful, and because she had been pampered since childhood and always had everything she wanted, she always took chances and frequently walked the line. They would occasionally cross the line, but there were clear constraints, and the dangers they faced were generally within a controllable range. But with someone as daring as Iris, Zhuang Zhuoyuan only worried that accidents like today's would happen frequently in the future.

"BB, I can't lose you."

His sudden, soft sigh felt like a heavy weight had been lifted from Iris's heart. Zhuang Zhuoyuan's words prompted her to empathize, and at the same time, made her realize the inequality in their relationship: "Zhuoyuan, I'm sorry, I was too willful and arrogant. Compared to you, I really am not a good girlfriend."

"Who makes comparisons like that?" Hearing her apology, Zhuang Zhuoyuan was certain that Iris had come to her senses. He believed that he could be somewhat at ease during the upcoming adventures, as Iris should at least be able to learn to protect herself. As long as she was safe, he would support her wherever she wanted to go.

Ah Yuan's embrace was warm, and his hands were warm too. Soothed by him, Iris gradually relaxed, and drowsiness slowly crept in. She almost fell asleep leaning on Zhuang Zhuoyuan's shoulder. But then, the thought of him leaving her for three days made Iris reluctant to close her eyes so soon. "Ah Yuan, Ah Yuan," she whined sweetly, "Have you eaten? I'll eat with you in a bit, okay? But you have to keep holding me like this."

Zhuang Zhuoyuan didn't answer whether it was good or bad, but only asked, "Anything else?"

Iris didn't need to look up to know that the corners of his mouth were curved, so she took advantage of the situation and put her legs on his thighs as well, and made her demands: "Also, my hand is injured, so you have to help me take a bath and change my clothes in a while, and then hold me and go to sleep."

Zhuang Zhuoyuan brushed a strand of her hair aside: "Anything else?"

She felt he deserved a kiss, so she immediately came up with a plausible reason: "I just said sorry to you, but you haven't said whether you forgive me or not. If you forgive me, you have to give me a kiss."

Immediately, Iris felt a warm, damp sensation on his forehead. A ticklish feeling welled up inside her; she felt it wasn't enough. She curled her index finger and traced circles on Zhuang Zhuoyuan's arm, making ripples spread through his heart. Or perhaps they were like tree rings, perfect marks etched on his heart, each signifying a heartfelt "I love you."

“Ah Yuan BB, I really love you.”

The next morning, Iris woke up to find BB gone. She vaguely remembered a good morning kiss and a goodbye kiss with him, so her mood wasn't too bad. She didn't linger in bed and went to wash up. Zhuang Zhuohua was on her way to work when she saw Iris come out. He gestured to the gift Zhuang Zhuoyuan had left for her on the coffee table. Iris excitedly ran over, opened the large box, and found a 3,000-dollar pure white jigsaw puzzle inside. The only thing that made it less dreary was a note card underneath, with a cartoon drawing of a little figure by Zhuang Zhuoyuan. It read: "I believe you can finish it in three days, BB pig, good luck!"

Iris felt that Zhuang Zhuoyuan was indirectly putting her in jail. Sure enough, when the officer said things like "I'll definitely make you talk," those words would eventually become evidence in court. She had no idea when he bought this damn thing, or perhaps she should never complain to him about having no activities during the holidays again. She'd rather go out and get a tan than sit idly facing this pure white hell. The fact that he could come up with such a wicked trick showed that Officer Zhuang had truly evolved in his battle of wits with her.

Seeing her future sister-in-law's expression shift from excitement to gloom, Zhuang Zhuohua stopped closing the door and waited to see what she would do next. Iris lifted her chin, which was being held in her hands, her brows still furrowed, and spoke weakly, "Sister, you go to work. Don't worry about me. I'm going back to my room to sleep. Remember, I'm just sleepwalking right now. I have no idea about this gift, and you didn't see me unwrap it, okay?"

Zhuang Zhuohua could only shake her head and smile.