The night was quiet.
Zong Jinghao’s car stopped in front of the villa. He turned the engine off and went down the car.
He walked across the forecourt and opened the villa’s front door. There was a warm, yellow light still lit in the living room. The house was quiet, as if all living beings were asleep.
He took off his jacket and threw it onto the couch. He loosened his collar and walked towards the room where Lin Xichen was sleeping.
The light was still on in the room but Lin Ruixi was already asleep in Lin Xinyan’s arms on the bed.
Lin Ruixi’s eyes were red, as if she had cried. She hiccupped every once in a while even when she was already asleep.
When Zong Jinghao had not come back, she was sitting on the living room’s couch. She was unwilling to sleep; she wanted to wait for her dad to come home.
Lin Xinyan’s coaxing did not work on her.
When it was nearly midnight and her eyes could barely open, Lin Xinyan forcefully carried her into the room even when she did not want to sleep. She cried immediately and asked Lin Xinyan if her dad did not want her again.
Lin Xinyan kissed her cheeks and disagreed on her words.
Yet the girl did not believe in her words. Children who grew up in a single-parent family often felt a lack of security. It was the same for Lin Ruixi.
She curled herself in Lin Xinyan’s arms and kept saying that she was a fatherless child.
She cried, and Lin Xinyan cried along with her.
When she tired herself from crying, she had fallen asleep in Lin Xinyan’s arms.
Lin Xinyan did not let go of her and went to sleep.
Lin Xichen was sleeping in the innermost part. The bed was spacious, and it did not feel cramped even when three people were sleeping on it. Zong Jinghao walked to the side of the bed. He gently moved Lin Xinyan’s arm, which was on Lin Ruixi, to his neck. He placed his other arm on her waist and carried her up.
When Lin Xinyan felt someone moving her, she opened her eyes and saw Zong Jinghao. She sobered up instantly. “You…”
“Hush.”
He gave her a look.
Lin Xinyan swallowed the words that were about to leave her mouth and let him carry her out of the room.
He carried her upstairs.
“You drank?” Lin Xinyan asked.
He had a strong alcohol scent on him. There was also a hint of perfume.
“Yes.”
Lin Xinyan lowered her eyes. “With who?”
Zong Jinghao did not want to mention He Ruilin so he replied, “Someone unimportant.”
Lin Xinyan smiled but said nothing.
Zong Jinghao had realized her nonchalant smile, he asked, “What are you smiling about?”
Lin Xinyan said with a half-serious tone. “You’re a man with a wife, don’t mess around outside.”
Zong Jinghao laughed quietly and placed his forehead on hers. “If you don’t want me to mess around outside, you’ll have to make me feel full.”
As he said, he opened the door with his foot.
Lin Xinyan had never entered this room. The lighting in the room was unusually dim. Spots of shadow littered over each corner of the room. In comparison with the room downstairs, this room felt darker. Its colors were dark and grey, filling the room with suffocation and oppression.
Her body sunk into the soft, large bed when she placed on it. He leaned down and propped his arms on her sides.
He watched her from above.
Lin Xinyan turned away, uncomfortable, from his gaze.
Zong Jinghao straightened her head. He did not let her look away from him.
“Look at me.” He said with a commanding tone.
He held her hand and placed it on his chest. She could feel his skin underneath the shirt. His voice was low as he asked, “How are you going to repay me?”
“Repay you?” Lin Xinyan’s entire body stiffened. She did not dare to move an inch.
She was afraid that he would do something senseless.
He relaxed his arms and he fell onto her. Their bodies were touching each other closely. He buried his head in her neck, and he greedily breathed in her hair, neck, earlobe—
He let out a hot breath. It was ticklish and numbing as it entangled her.
She tensed.
He seemed to be holding back. “For you, I’ve used my beauty as a strategy. Should you not repay me?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Lin Xinyan pretended to be calm, but her hands on the blanket were clenched. The once-smooth blanket was now wrinkled.
He bit on her earlobe and sucked. Lin Xinyan tried to push him away. “You’re drunk.”
“I’m not. I know what I’m doing.” His words were clear, and he emphasized on the word “I”.
His tongue was circling her earlobe. “I’ll let you raise your children here, and you’ll fulfill me. How about that?”
Lin Xinyan’s heart skipped a beat, and she shivered.
Lin Ruixi seemed to like him a lot. She had not spent much time with him, but she was clingy onto him.
She had never seen her daughter as upset as just now. Neither had she heard her daughter ever say what she said earlier that she was a “fatherless child”. It stabbed her heart to hear it.
The tears streamed down from the corner of her eyes and disappeared into her hair.
Her voice was rough as she said, “You can’t go back on your words.”
“Of course.”
He sensed that Lin Xinyan had agreed with him. His fingers nimbly pulled her clothes away.
Lin Xinyan shivered.
Zong Jinghao held her and leaned her against his chest. He said quietly, “Don’t worry.”
And his words tore Lin Xinyan’s inner terror out from her and exposed it in the air.
She started trembling uncontrollably.
Her tears soaked his shirt. Zong Jinghao lowered his head to look at her tearful face, and his gaze seemed to darken. “I’m not a predator who’s looking to eat you. Why are you crying?”
Lin Xinyan sniffed and said, “I’m not.”
Zong Jinghao did not say anything in return for a moment.
His shirt was soaked and she still insisted that she was not crying.
Zong Jinghao wiped the tears on her face and said gently, “If you don’t want it, I won’t—”
Before he could finish his words, he was kissed.
Lin Xinyan had initiated the kiss.
This was the first time.
Zong Jinghao was stunned.
He stared at the woman kissing him with wide eyes.
His heart swelled with happiness.
Soon, Zong Jinghao came back to his senses, held onto her head, and returned the kiss passionately.
The air seemed to heat up every second.
Just as Zong Jinghao was about to take the next step, there was a knock on the door.
His motions faltered and he looked at her.
Her face instantly reddened and it heated up as if it was on fire.
Knock knock.
The knocking came again.
Who could it be at this house?
Zong Jinghao frowned. He was upset at being interrupted. After all, it was difficult for Lin Xinyan to go with his flow.
He was a normal man; he had desires for women.
To disrupt him at this moment…
Knock knock.
Lin Xinyan pushed him. “It might be Ruixi—”
“Don’t move.” Although he was unwilling to get up, he still had to deal with the knockings. He stood up and pulled the blanket to cover Lin Xinyan, then went to open the door.
Lin Ruixi was standing by the door and her eyes were red. When she looked up and saw that it was Zong Jinghao, her tears instantly spilled out. She said in an upset tone, “Dad.”
She sobbed quietly. “I thought you didn’t want me anymore.”
Zong Jinghao crouched down to look her in the eyes. “I still want you.”
Lin Ruixi pounced into his arms and hugged his neck tightly.
He could feel her tears on his skin, moist and sticky.
Zong Jinghao looked up at the ceiling silently. “Did you take after your mommy, you little crybaby.”
Lin Xinyan was curled in the blanket as she quietly listened to the commotion by the door.
Lin Xinyan smiled when she heard Zong Jinghao patiently coaxing Lin Ruixi.
It was a bitter smile.
It was worth it if he was willing to let her daughter feel some warmth in life.
