Chapter Forty-Five: Loving You for Nine and a Half Weeks
When Jiang Chuan returned home, the living room was empty. He bent down to pick up Lin Yu's coat that had fallen to the floor and carefully placed the luggage against the wall in the entryway.
The scattered snack bags on the coffee table reminded him of the half-eaten bag of potato chips in her rented room. She seemed to have a strange ability to leave traces of her life wherever she went.
The sound of running water came from the bathroom next to the second bedroom. Jiang Chuan took off his coat, gently placed the cake in the center of the coffee table, and sank into the large leather sofa. The halo of light from the projector began to flow slowly the moment he pressed the play button.
In the steamy bathroom, Lin Yu felt the alcohol he had drunk at the dinner party burning fiercely through the blood vessels under his skin, like ignited gasoline.
The hot water did not dilute her drunkenness; instead, it made the heat even more unbearable, and she desperately needed a cool liquid to relieve the discomfort.
No one was home. She was only wearing a pair of pure white underwear, the thin straps hanging loosely on her shoulders, the neckline drooping low, revealing a shallow cleavage.
Her wet hair soaked through the fabric behind her. She casually tossed her half-dry hair and walked out of the bathroom barefoot.
In the living room, the movie dialogue suddenly started playing. Lin Yu ignored it, vaguely thinking that he had forgotten to press pause.
Hearing the noise, Jiang Chuan turned to look towards the kitchen. The warm light from the refrigerator flowed slowly over Lin Yu, outlining her curvaceous figure.
She turned to face Jiang Chuan, took out a chilled beer from the refrigerator, and as she pulled the tab with her finger, the foam sprayed out and splashed onto her flushed cheeks.
Lin Yu squinted and wiped her eyes haphazardly with her hand. She tilted her head back and hurriedly swallowed the beer in her hand. A few drops of beer spilled from the corner of her open mouth and slid down her neck into the hollow of her collarbone.
Lin Yu stood on one leg, holding onto the refrigerator door, unconsciously rubbing her calf with the back of her other foot. After downing half a can of beer, she let out a satisfying burp and her gaze involuntarily drifted toward the living room.
All of this happened so fast that Jiang Chuan didn't even have time to speak or get up before Lin Yu's drunken, hazy gaze lashed out like a whip, locking onto his heart.
Jiang Chuan's breath caught in his chest, and he was completely immobilized, as if nailed to the sofa. He could only condemn his own lewdness and filth while greedily tracing the outline of her voluptuous body with his eyes, his breath trembling almost imperceptibly.
The projector's dim light danced across his delicate profile, slicing his expression into fragments of light and shadow, his dark eyes brimming with a surging tide of desire. A fine, tingling pain shot through the back of his head, and a strange emotion began to creep down his spine.
Lin Yu was startled by the person sitting on the sofa. She clearly remembered that Jiang Chuan wouldn't be back until tomorrow. Alcohol blurred the boundary between reality and illusion.
She felt as if the figure before her was a hallucination born of her own desires, and stood there blankly, holding the beer bottle. The air felt like a solid, thick wall, trapping the two of them in a state of intense desire, separated by the thick darkness of the night, gazing at each other for a long time.
Jiang Chuan noticed Lin Yu's bare instep, rose from the sofa, and approached her step by step, each step feeling like stepping on Lin Yu's disordered nerves. She surrendered to the pounding of her own heart, her toes curling involuntarily, until the shadow completely enveloped her.
Jiang Chuan was right next to her, with only a small gap between them. Lin Yu dared not breathe too hard, worried that she might accidentally bump into his chest.
He stared at her intently for a moment, then suddenly lifted her up by her bare shoulders, letting her cold feet rest on his insteps. Their bodies instantly drew even closer.
Lin Yu cried out in surprise, instinctively leaning back, his back hitting the cold edge of the bar, but was stopped by Jiang Chuan's hand underneath. Lin Yu had to grab his forearm to maintain his balance, his fingers sinking into the taut muscles of his arm.
"Not wearing slippers again?" The low, husky voice rang in Lin Yu's ear, carrying a strong, unyielding tone unlike anything he'd ever used to.
"Tell me, how do you want me to punish you?"
He peeked slightly, keeping a distance that wasn't too close or too far. Lin Yu exuded a floral and fruity scent completely different from the one in Jiang Chuan's home; it was the smell of the shampoo she had left in the bathroom.
Jiang Chuan's nose almost touched her earlobe, his breath lingering in Lin Yu's hair, and the sound of his Adam's apple bobbing was particularly clear in the silent air.
Lin Yu's knees buckled as Jiang Chuan held her firmly, trapping her in the narrow space between the bar and his chest, with no way to escape. The intense scent of hormones made her swallow instinctively, and she stared at Jiang Chuan, slowly asking, "..."
Do you like it?
Jiang Chuan's nose brushed against Lin Yu's ear, his hot breath seeping into her ear canal. "I like it..."
His deliberately drawn-out tone was like a feather tickling the tip of Lin Yu's heart, transforming into a lurking beast as Lin Yu turned his head to dodge, waiting for its chance to strike in the darkness. His eyes were like two hooks, making the hairs on the back of Lin Yu's neck stand on end involuntarily.
Lin Yu listened as he slowly completed the second half of the sentence, then leaped forward with all his might, delivering the fatal blow. "...You carry my scent." The chilling aura of Bai Yesong mingled with the fragrance of flowers and fruits, creating a dangerously sweet atmosphere between the two.
Lin Yu's mouth was parched, and she instinctively raised a beer can to quench her thirst. Jiang Chuan, however, grabbed her wrist and, using the lipstick mark she had left, drank the rest of the beer in one gulp.
Lin Yu quietly looked up, watching his bobbing Adam's apple and bluish chin. A hazy mist filled his vision as his mind and body were completely controlled by the alcohol and his domineering aura.
Jiang Chuan's lips, moistened by alcohol, became full and supple. He calmly lowered his head to meet Lin Yu's gaze, and after a long while asked, "Who was the person who brought you back?"
Lin Yu's brain was clouded by alcohol, and she struggled to think slowly. But her hazy eyes made Jiang Chuan lose patience. He held the back of Lin Yu's head, his thumb rubbing the protruding bone at the back of her neck, and then his hand suddenly tightened, forcing her to look up and meet his gaze.
"Not going to say anything?"
The moonlight shimmered in Lin Yu's eyes, her almond-shaped eyes absorbing the silvery-white essence outside the window, making her appear exceptionally eerie. Jiang Chuan felt as if he were bewitched by a fairy, as if he were forced to the edge of a cliff, about to fall into the abyss with her.
"Just a regular colleague!" she mumbled, but Jiang Chuan cut her off the next second.
"Your definition of 'ordinary' is far too broad!" Jiang Chuan stared at Lin Yu, his thumb repeatedly rubbing the corner of her crimson lips, his expression unchanged, showing neither joy nor anger.
As the film behind her reached its climax, the cheerful music saved Lin Yu, and she seized the opportunity to break free of her restraints and run barefoot toward the living room.
Lin Yu ran barefoot across the cold floor tiles back to the sofa, grabbed the nightgown draped over the backrest and put it on, wrapping it around her alcohol-soaked, red body. She curled up on the sofa like a lazy, satisfied cat.
Jiang Chuan leaned against the bar counter in the open kitchen, his fingertips still warm from the nape of her neck, a slightly tipsy feeling. He gazed at her mesmerized profile, chuckled softly, sighed, and turned to fetch her slippers from the bedroom, gently placing them back at her feet.
He knelt down on one knee beside her, and Lin Yu's calves subconsciously curled up, but her eyes remained fixed on the screen.
The movie reached Lin Yu's favorite part: Elizabeth, wearing only a white shirt, sat on the floor leaning against the refrigerator door with her eyes closed, anticipating John's attempts to tantalize her taste buds with various foods.
The strawberry tip brushed against Elizabeth's slightly parted lips, and the bright red juice seeped onto her pure white shirt.
"Are you cold?" Jiang Chuan shook out the blanket, and Lin Yu's shoulders trembled. As the cashmere fabric wrapped around her shoulders, the projector was showing a scene where honey slid down her collarbone and into Elizabeth's collar.
John's fingers traced Elizabeth's trembling skin, sometimes gentle, sometimes dangerous. Lin Yu watched as the two finally embraced passionately on the kitchen floor tiles, a barely audible swallow escaping his throat, his nails unconsciously digging into Jiang Chuan's wrist, which was wrapped in a blanket.
The hazelnut cake sat alone in the center of the coffee table, its sweet aroma lingering in the air.
During the brief pause between the climactic scenes, Lin Yu finally looked away from the screen for a moment. He noticed the long-neglected cake on the coffee table, a beautiful cross pattern tied with a red velvet ribbon on the cake box.
She gasped in surprise and reached out to grab it, but the blanket slipped off her shoulders. "Where did this come from?" she asked Jiang Chuan, her eyes reflecting the changing lights of the projector.
Jiang Chuan looked into her misty eyes, curved his lips into a smile, and deliberately dragged out his words. "I found it in the trash can downstairs."
Lin Yucai didn't believe her. Holding the cake box, she looked up and asked, "Can I eat it?" Her eyes blinked, and her voice was filled with childlike innocence and excitement.
Jiang Chuan looked at the twinkling light in Lin Yu's eyes, leaned closer, and supported himself on the sofa. The leather fabric made a soft rustling sound.
"You can eat me if you say you like me!" He teased her by deliberately lowering his voice, his long fingers entwining her hair that was scattered on the sofa.
The intoxication made Lin Yu's thoughts straightforward. She nodded vigorously like a child wanting a new toy, her hair brushing against Jiang Chuan's hand. "I like you!" she said decisively.
Jiang Chuan's breath hitched; he hadn't expected the drunk Lin Yu to be so obedient. He casually sat on the armrest of the sofa, subtly drawing a circle around Lin Yu.
"What do you like about me?" The voice held a secret expectation.
Lin Yu frowned slightly, her pearly teeth unconsciously biting her lower lip, as if pondering some age-old problem. The alcohol made her thoughts as sluggish as cotton soaked in water.
She resented Jiang Chuan for making things difficult for her while she was drunk over a small piece of cake, and she wanted to throw the question back at him like a hot potato. "So what do you like about me?" Her voice was soft and languid, a symptom of her intoxication.
Jiang Chuan's fingertips gently brushed past her ear, tucking the stray strands of hair behind her ear, his voice low and warm.
"You are special to me!" He tried to summarize his complicated feelings simply and clearly, as if afraid of disturbing her intoxication, and worried that she would not understand his feelings.
Lin Yu wrinkled his nose, dissatisfied with Jiang Chuan's answer, and tilted his head to protest softly, "Everyone is special!"
Jiang Chuan suddenly leaned forward, his slender fingers hooking the end of the red velvet ribbon and gently tugging. "But in my world." The moment the ribbon slipped, his voice fell like a feather onto Lin Yu's heart, stirring a subtle shiver.
"Only you are irreplaceable."
The cake was freed from the box and held in Lin Yu's hands. The pale yellow cream shimmered softly under the light, and a few candied nuts were sprinkled on top.
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