Chapter Sixty-Two Against the Will of Women
Lin Yu leaned against the refrigerator door, unconsciously swallowing, the pain from her wound causing her to furrow her brow slightly.
But what unsettled her even more was the sudden, ambiguous atmosphere; she had to say something to break the strange silence.
"Why are you looking at me like that!" Lin Yu's voice tightened involuntarily.
"What do you think?" Jiang Chuan leaned down to look her in the eye, his gaze like a sharp, tempered blade, sweeping over her face inch by inch, finally settling on her swollen left cheek.
His voice rang out clearly in the quiet room, carrying a chilling air of unwavering certainty. "Don't you have anything to say to me?"
Lin Yu blinked with difficulty, his consciousness becoming somewhat blurred amidst the intermittent dull pain.
Behind her was a cold refrigerator, and in front of her was a scalding hot chest so close to her. Pain washed over her reason in waves.
"Say...say what?"
Jiang Chuan carefully adjusted the angle of the ice pack to ensure it completely covered the swollen area, patiently reminding the patient.
"Today is the tenth!" His voice was soft, yet like a pebble thrown into a still lake.
With the continued application of the ice pack, the sharp pain finally subsided somewhat. She turned her stiff neck slightly and realized that her back was soaked with sweat, sticking stickily to her skin.
The situation was completely different from what she had expected; Jiang Chuan's ease made her seem particularly passive. She closed her eyes, plotting how to retaliate, her eyelashes trembling uneasily in the shadows created by the lamplight.
The two remained locked in a stalemate, silence spreading silently in the air. A rattling sound came from the ice cube tray, and before Lin Yu could react, a sudden chill unexpectedly pressed against the back of her neck.
"Ah! Hiss!" Lin Yu exclaimed in surprise.
The low temperature of the ice pierced through her chaotic consciousness, causing her to leap forward like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
She instinctively wanted to escape this torture-like stimulation, but the moment she jumped up, Jiang Chuan's iron-like arms pulled her back to her original position.
Lin Yu lost her balance, and his arm became her only support. As her back left the refrigerator, the treacherous ice cube immediately slid in through her open collar.
The cool touch slid down her delicate spine, and just as it was about to reach her waist, it was firmly intercepted by Jiang Chuan's warm palm through her clothes.
His palm pressed against the most sensitive spot on her lower back, and through the thin fabric, the ice gradually melted between their touching body temperatures.
The icy water slid down the grooves of her spine into her lower back, sending a brief shiver through her tailbone.
"What are you doing?" She was about to protest when she heard a soft laugh from beside her.
Jiang Chuan's breath brushed against the stray hairs behind her ear. "Don't move, the ice cube is going to fall." His voice held a mischievous glee.
All the pain and fatigue were dispelled by this sudden shock, leaving only an explosive chill and fright. Lin Yu reflexively pressed down on Jiang Chuan's chest, his other hand gripping Jiang Chuan's wrist that was holding the ice cube tightly.
His wrist was warm and strong, and Lin Yu could feel the steady pulse beating under his skin, a stark contrast to her frantic heartbeat.
Jiang Chuan maintained his aggressive posture, the emotions surging in his eyes burning even more intensely because of Lin Yu's reaction.
His gaze fell heavily on her face, carrying a burning heat, like ice and fire burning within her at the same time.
"Jiangchuan!"
Lin Yu was filled with shock and anger, and pounded his chest hard. His voice was distorted by pain and fright, and had a distinct nasal tone.
"You are acting against the will of women!"
Jiang Chuan's tightly pursed lips curled into a very faint smile, as if he had heard some interesting fallacy. He suddenly released his hand from the ice cube, letting it fall into his palm.
He leaned closer, his warm breath mingling with the scent of white pine, its cool touch brushing against Lin Yu's forehead. "You're right."
He was so close, so close that Lin Yu could count his thick, distinct eyelashes, so close that she could see her own panicked self reflected in his dark pupils.
Her heart skipped a beat, and for some reason, she felt a faint sense of loss at the thought that he might back down.
Jiang Chuan seemed to see through her struggle, and suddenly grabbed Lin Yu's hand, making her hold the ice pack herself. "As a lawyer, you really shouldn't make this kind of mistake."
He straightened up and took a half step back, distancing himself from Lin Yu, as if he were seriously considering the matter.
Lin Yu watched as he slowly unwound his watch, and under her confused gaze, he took her left hand and placed the watch in her palm. "From now on, you have one minute."
Jiang Chuan's gaze was piercing as he announced his rules, word by word, with unparalleled clarity: "When time runs out, if you don't push me away, it will be considered your consent."
After saying that, he slowly opened his palm, looked down at her, and between their breaths, put the crystal-clear ice into his mouth.
With his sudden action, Lin Yu's heart involuntarily tightened.
She stared intently at the ice that had been pressed against her skin, now melting between his lips and teeth, pressed against his tongue, creating an ambiguous curve on her cheek.
"Forty seconds left."
His voice was icy cold as he leisurely stroked Lin Yu's face, which had suddenly become flushed, as if this countdown was nothing more than a cat-and-mouse game he played with ease.
Lin Yu's heart pounded wildly in his chest, making his eardrums buzz. For a moment, he didn't know how to react.
Just like that? On Valentine's Day night, after having a tooth pulled and her face swollen like a pig's head, shivering from the torment of ice? The absurdity and the suffocating feeling of being relentlessly pressured almost overwhelmed her.
But at this moment, Jiang Chuan handed the choice entirely to her, as if she were the one who could control this relationship forever.
Lin Yu's breathing trembled slightly with the ticking of the clock and the sound of ice shattering in Jiang Chuan's mouth. "My face is still swollen... how about we reschedule?"
“Banban…” His fingertips traced Lin Yu’s reddened earlobe, gently kneading the round pearl on his earlobe.
"The perfect moment you want never exists. Or perhaps you're just afraid, afraid of starting an uncertain relationship."
Lin Yu felt half of his body go numb from what he did, his knees buckled, and he slid down the refrigerator door, only to be grabbed by the waist and lifted up.
"Thirty seconds!" He glanced down at the watch face between them and kindly reminded them.
The melted ice water soaked through the towel, sticking clinging to her burning cheeks like a cold anchor. Cold, an omnipresent cold, seeping into her bones from her skin.
Jiang Chuan's aura and body temperature, however, were like a silent volcano, radiating an undeniable heat even from a short distance away.
Consciousness began to waver under this extreme sensory impact, becoming as blurry as a television screen with an unstable signal.
Just as Lin Yu was staring at the cruel second hand on the clock face, watching it pass the forty-fifth second, Jiang Chuan suddenly moved, but not backward; instead, he leaned closer and approached.
He tilted his head slightly, and his warm lips unexpectedly pressed against Lin Yu's neck, which was taut with coldness and tension. In that instant, the burning touch made Lin Yu tremble all over.
Then, like a vampire savoring a young girl's blood, he bit down on the bulging vein on her neck. Lin Yu clearly felt the damp, cold touch, with a hint of icy sharpness.
His burning lips and tongue, carrying shards of unmelted ice, rubbed against her veins with a chilling force, slowly tracing her skin.
An intense sensation exploded in her chest, transforming into tingling currents that surged through her major arteries and into her limbs and bones.
The swelling and pain in my cheeks, the burning in my palms, the piercing cold of the ice, the burning sensation on my lips—all the chaotic senses were instantly overwhelmed by this even more turbulent emotion.
In the tug-of-war between ice and fire, and under Jiang Chuan's almost opportunistic interrogation, Lin Yu was completely torn apart. All her sensory signals exploded in chaos, like a fierce battle without gunpowder raging within her body.
Jiang Chuan lifted her head from Lin Yu's neck, and her eyes met his gaze, which was so close to hers, as if a fierce vortex was churning within them.
All the pain, all the hesitation, all the roundabout attempts became blurred in this chaos, leaving only one incredibly clear thought, born from the extreme cold and scalding heat, breaking through the soil.
The ultimate experience of ice and fire reached its peak at this moment.
"Time's up!"
The pointer skipped to the last position, and Jiang Chuan's voice, like the deep, resonant notes of a cello, was devastating, with a strange hoarseness.
At the same time, his arm, which was loosely supporting Lin Yu's waist, suddenly tightened, pulling her into his embrace.
Lin Yu panicked and instinctively braced herself against his shoulder. "Jiang Chuan, you..."
The towel on their faces slid off onto the tiles at their feet, and ice cubes rolled out from it, hitting the insteps of the two people.
Losing his balance, his upper body uncontrollably fell into a solid, warm chest.
She pressed her cheek against Jiang Chuan's chest, feeling his equally rapid and intense heartbeat through his thin clothes. It turned out that she, too, was filled with a nervous and secret anticipation for this moment.
"It's useless, so-so."
Every syllable Jiang Chuan uttered struck Lin Yu's eardrums with undeniable certainty.
"You know you'll be with me sooner or later."
Lin Yu finally suffered a complete defeat and was utterly routed within Jiang Chuan's meticulously crafted sensory cage.
Her fingers unconsciously gripped the front of his shirt, as if it were the only piece of driftwood. Warm tears suddenly welled up, a mixture of unwarranted grievances and a sense of relief that everything had finally settled.
Jiang Chuan's hand ran through Lin Yu's hair, supporting her trembling nape. A very soft sigh came from above her head, as if a heavy burden had finally been lifted, and his hot breath brushed against her hair.
Happy Valentine's Day, girlfriend!
"I'm not happy at all." Lin Yu buried her face in Jiang Chuan's chest and complained aggrievedly. "My head hurts, my face hurts, and my heart hurts too. You are such a heartless person."
Jiang Chuan's laughter rang out above Lin Yu's head. "I bought you a gift, are you giving me a chance to make amends?"
Lin Yu looked up at him, her face still streaked with tears. "What gift?"
Jiang Chuan cupped Lin Yu's cool fingertips in his burning palm. "It's in my coat pocket. Go see if you like it!"
Lin Yu was gently nudged and turned to walk towards the entrance. In the side pocket of Jiang Chuan's coat, she felt a leather box. Taking it out and opening it, she found a simple, square-shaped wristwatch.
She took the watch out of the box, gently popped open the clasp, and slipped it onto her wrist.
The steel bracelet cascaded down naturally like mercury, perfectly conforming to her slender wrist. A deep blue sapphire was set at the top of the crown, just like Jiang Chuan's deep pupils when he gazed at her.
She raised her hand, brought the watch face close to her ear to listen, looked up at Jiang Chuan who was leaning against the refrigerator door with his arms crossed, and exclaimed with delight.
"it's beautiful!"
Upon hearing this, Jiang Chuan walked over, took her wrist, and looked down at it. "It suits you very well!"
His fingertips traced the old scars on Lin Yu's face, hidden by the watch strap. He looked up at her, tightened his grip, and pressed her palm against his heart.
"From now on, my time will be in your hands."
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