Chapter 42 How did you know I'm afraid of the dark?
In the cramped space, the air seemed to have been sucked out, leaving only the intertwined breaths of the two people and their increasingly rapid heartbeats.
Huo Yanzhi lowered his eyes, his long eyelashes concealing all his emotions.
His Adam's apple bobbed very slowly.
Ruan Yao's heart was pounding. She could clearly hear her own heart pounding like a drum, and his steady breathing so close to hers.
She saw his hand, hidden at his side, with his knuckles curled up.
Is he wavering?
Just when Ruan Yao thought she was about to receive an answer—
"Smack!"
The incandescent light overhead flickered twice and then went out without warning.
The entire world was instantly plunged into complete darkness.
"ah!"
The sudden turn of events caused Ruan Yao to cry out in surprise. Her body reacted instinctively, and without thinking, she rushed toward the only source of heat nearby.
She crashed into Huo Yanzhi's arms, tightly hugging his lean waist with both hands, and burying her face in his chest, which carried a cool, refreshing scent.
All around was pure, unsettling darkness and silence.
The familiar woody scent enveloped her, and the man's chest was steady and powerful, giving her a great sense of security.
The next second, Ruan Yao came to her senses.
She was clinging to Huo Yanzhi like a koala.
What has she done!
The heat on my cheeks exploded instantly, even hotter than before.
She wanted to let go, but she couldn't bear to.
Most importantly, Huo Yanzhi did not push her away.
He just stood there stiffly, letting her cling to him.
Huo Yanzhi's body tensed up instantly, like a fully drawn bow.
The touch in his arms was soft and fragrant, and the girl's hair brushed against his chin, carrying a faint scent of shampoo.
In her past life, she had also briefly relied on him when she was afraid.
But each time, just as the flame in his heart was ignited, it quickly receded, as if he were some kind of monster that could burn people.
Then, she would look at him with that wary and distant gaze, making the chasm between them even clearer.
But this time, she didn't.
She didn't back away; instead, she hugged him even tighter.
Huo Yanzhi felt his heartbeat, which had been silent for a long time, begin to beat wildly and uncontrollably.
The heart inside the chest seemed to be trying to break free of its restraints and smash through the ribs.
Ruan Yao pressed her cheek against his chest and clearly felt the changes in his body.
His heartbeat, transmitted through the thin shirt, was astonishingly fast, even more erratic than her own.
Ruan Yao took a few seconds to react.
She remembered.
Huo Yanzhi was afraid of the dark.
In his previous life, Huo Yanzhi experienced a childhood abduction and was subjected to stress in a confined, dark environment.
How could she forget something so important!
In an instant, all the shyness and tenderness in Ruan Yao's heart turned into overwhelming heartache.
She tightened her arms, holding him even closer, her soft body trying to transmit her warmth and strength.
"Huo Yanzhi," her voice was soft and reassuring, clear in the darkness, "Don't be afraid."
She looked up, and although she couldn't see anything, she could imagine that he must be frowning at that moment.
"I'm here, right next to you."
She patted his stiff back gently, one pat at a time, as if soothing a large, frightened animal.
Huo Yanzhi could feel the gentle strength of the small hand on his back and hear her soft yet reassuring words pressed against his chest.
She was... trying to comfort him.
Huo Yanzhi's fingers, which were placed at his side, suddenly curled up as he tried his best to suppress the urge that was about to burst out of his body.
After a long while, he slowly raised his hand, not to hug her back, but to gently place it on her shoulder and push her away from his embrace slightly.
The two were a little distance apart, but their breaths still mingled.
In the darkness, Ruan Yao felt his face was facing her.
"How did you know?" Huo Yanzhi's voice was hoarse. "I'm afraid of the dark?"
Ruan Yao's mind went completely blank for a moment.
It's over.
How could she have blurted out what was on her mind!
She knew he was afraid of the dark because of his memories from his past life.
But she could never reveal this secret.
The darkness amplified all her senses; she could feel the man's scrutinizing silence, a silence like an invisible net that tightly enveloped her, suffocating her.
Her mind raced, desperately searching for an excuse.
"I...I guessed." Her voice was slightly unsteady, carrying a guilty conscience that she herself was unaware of.
Huo Yanzhi remained silent, and the silent pressure intensified.
This life's Ruan Yao is so different from her previous life. He had a guess in his heart, but it wasn't what he hoped for.
Ruan Yao forced herself to calm down and organized her thoughts.
"Just now, when you were in my arms, your body was very tense, and your heart was beating very fast, even faster than mine."
"So I'm guessing you... don't like dark environments."
She carefully replaced "fear" with "dislike" to make her guess sound more reasonable, more like a keen observation than a prescient leak.
After saying that, Ruan Yao herself felt her palms sweating.
Will he believe this explanation?
All around was silent, and time seemed to stretch out for a very, very long time.
She didn't know if he believed her or not.
This explanation sounds plausible, yet it's riddled with flaws.
Just when she was about to be driven mad by this silence—
With a "click".
The lock on the storage room door suddenly made a crisp sound.
Immediately afterwards, with a "whoosh," the incandescent light overhead suddenly turned on, and the dazzling light poured down, illuminating the entire space.
Ruan Yao subconsciously closed her eyes.
At the doorway, Qin Feng appeared with his ever-present elite face, holding a bunch of keys in his hand.
"Mr. Huo, Ms. Ruan, I'm sorry I'm late."
It's not too late, it's not too late.
Ruan Yao breathed a sigh of relief; the timing was perfect.
She felt the heat on her cheeks hadn't subsided before another layer of embarrassment crept in.
She quickly took two steps back from Huo Yanzhi, creating some distance between them. The little courage she had managed to muster instantly vanished.
Huo Yanzhi regained his usual composure, but the atmosphere around him was even more oppressive than before.
He didn't look at Ruan Yao again, nor did he ask her to continue answering the previous question about being "afraid of the dark." He simply gave Qin Feng a faint "hmm" and then stepped out of the storage room first.
It was as if the person whose heart was racing and whose body was tense just moments ago was not him at all.
Ruan Yao followed behind him, secretly relieved.
He didn't ask any further questions.
Does this count as... getting away with it?
Although he didn't directly answer her question about whether he liked her or not, his pounding heart in the darkness and his feigned composure and aloofness had already given her the answer.
This man wasn't indifferent to her.
Thinking of this, Ruan Yao couldn't help but secretly smile.
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