13. May I squeeze it once more?
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As someone who had come from a staunchly materialist world, Ruan Li could not help shrieking when a monster suddenly lunged into view. Her delicate fingers clamped hard around Zheye’s hand.
Fortunately, he exercised year-round. Otherwise, the sudden force exerted by the little female would have genuinely hurt.
“If you’re afraid, you can hide in my arms.” The man whispered beside Ruan Li’s ear in the gentlest voice of his life, the words carrying the ambiguous murmur of a lover.
Ruan Li turned and looked at Zheye in the darkness.
The immersive film told a story set on a dilapidated desolate planet.
The barren, empty world stretched beneath them. A silver moon, round as a disk, hung low in the sky, its light reflecting in Zheye’s sharply defined features and veiling them in a hazy softness.
The way he glanced down at her suddenly reminded her of walking hand in hand with her ex-husband at night.
Facing the Zheye before her, Ruan Li abruptly felt guilty. She shifted her gaze away and pretended to lose herself in the movie.
“So this is what a desolate planet looks like…”
As she spoke, the little female started forward, secretly trying to slip her hand from the man’s grasp.
The tighter his warm, damp palm closed around hers, the more guilty she felt.
If Zheye had not held her hand throughout the film without once letting go, Ruan Li would probably have shaken him off long ago.
Zheye even began to wonder whether those guides on the Star Network titled “The Most Effective Guide to Pursuing a Female” were all lies.
How could it be that after an entire movie, the little female had not only failed to hide in his arms, asking for kisses and embraces, but had actually wanted to pull her hand away?
“Is the movie over?”
The man fell silent for a moment, even wondering whether he had performed poorly somehow.
“Yes. It’s over.”
“Then should we go home now?”
“The commotion caused by His Highness should have been dealt with by now. If you want to go home, we can leave.”
Once they boarded the aircraft, Zheye released her hand to operate the controls.
Ruan Li sat on the sofa and opened the Star Network.
The search frenzy surrounding His Highness Weize had long since died down. All she could find online now were entertainment rumors and gossip.
The two of them returned home in an atmosphere that was strangely awkward.
“Did I frighten you at the theater?” The man had spent the entire journey frowning and reflecting on everything he had done that day before finally voicing the suspicion in his heart.
“Hm? No, you didn’t frighten me.”
Zheye lowered his eyes to look at her. “Then why did you grow so distant from me after the movie?”
Ruan Li looked up in astonishment. She had never imagined that the change in her attitude would trouble him so deeply all the way home.
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Thinking of her own rotten behavior, Ruan Li felt a little guilty toward him.
“No. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
The problem was hers. At certain similar angles, she was always connecting two people who had nothing to do with each other.
That was unfair to everyone.
“Did what happened today upset you?” His ash-gray eyes watched her intently, seeking an answer.
Ruan Li answered evasively, “Yes, I suppose it did.”
“We spent the whole day out, and I’m exhausted,” she said, smoothly changing the subject as she pushed open the front door.
Once inside, Ruan Li turned and saw Zheye standing at the entrance with a furrowed brow. His entire body was on alert, and the air around him seemed to radiate a chilling menace.
“What is it?” Ruan Li asked, bewildered.
“There’s a strong smell of blood inside.” Zheye explained as he stepped forward and pulled the little female behind him. “Be careful. There may be danger.”
Beastmen possessed keen senses of smell. Following the scent of blood, he finally stopped at the end of the second-floor corridor.
There was only one room there.
Bai He’s room.
Zheye raised a finger to his lips, signaling Ruan Li to remain silent and alert. At the same time, he had already drawn a firearm from his spatial core, ready for action.
“How did your whereabouts get discovered?”
A faint, furious voice drifted from inside the room.
The house’s soundproofing was perfectly fine. The only explanation was that the person inside was so agitated that their voice carried with extraordinary force.
Ruan Li could not make out the next few indistinct sounds clearly.
Yet she had the vague feeling that the voice of that furious shout resembled the first voice she had heard upon arriving in this world—perhaps eighty or ninety percent alike in tone.
The sounds inside abruptly ceased.
Zheye’s gaze sharpened. He wrapped one arm around Ruan Li’s waist and, in a few swift strides, brought her to the door of her room. He pressed her against the wall, lowered his head, and leaned close to the side of her neck, their posture resembling swans with intertwined necks.
“Don’t move.”
His warm breath and deep voice brushed against her neck. Ruan Li felt her body give an involuntary shudder.
The man seized both her hands and pinned them against the wall. His forceful, invasive presence made her instinctively turn her head, trying to escape the danger, but he gripped her waist and left her unable to move even an inch.
“He’s coming out.”
The words had barely fallen when the door to Bai He’s room opened with a click.
A silver-haired man with pale eyes cautiously leaned half his body through the doorway, his expression indifferent yet faintly guarded.
When he saw Zheye and Ruan Li, the furrows between his brows smoothed. His voice was mild.
“You’re back early.”
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Zheye raised his head and smiled at the other man.
“She was being difficult, so I had no choice but to take her home and coax her.”
Ruan Li’s entire body stiffened. She had the distinct feeling that when the man lifted his head just now, something soft had brushed across her cheek.
Bai He’s gaze lingered for a moment on the bashful female and the male beastman overflowing with hormones. He seemed to spend a second judging whether Zheye’s words were true. Remaining noncommittal, he merely nodded.
“As long as you’re happy.”
When she heard Bai He heading downstairs, Zheye released her from the suggestive position that invited endless speculation. He looked at the female whose face had grown so hot she seemed ready to steam.
“Looks like I owe you another apology.”
“Still, some things are better discussed inside.”
Blushing furiously, Ruan Li nodded in a daze.
This time, Zheye did not raise his hand with his usual slowness. Instead, he gently pinched the soft flesh of her cheek.
As expected, it was even more delicate than he had imagined.
Seeing the little female stare at him wide-eyed in astonishment, Zheye curved his lips.
“When I saw your cheeks while we were eating, I thought they would feel wonderful if I pinched them.”
His fingertip rubbed slowly over her cheek, as though savoring the sensation from a moment ago.
He gave a soft laugh. “Yes. They really do.”
Ruan Li’s pupils contracted. She had never expected anyone to maintain such a solemn expression while saying something so close to flirtation.
“The more I look at you, the cuter you become. May I pinch you again?”
His voice was deep, yet perfectly courteous.
Ruan Li shook her head frantically. “N-No, you may not.”
She turned her face away and spun around, unwilling to look at this shameless man who kept pushing his luck.
“Let’s go.”
“Mm.”
Seeing that Ruan Li was about to return to her own bedroom, Zheye reached out and drew her back. His palm merely closed around her shoulder, bringing her to within a few inches of him before releasing her.
“Your door still hasn’t been repaired. Shall we talk in my room?”
Ruan Li looked up and met his ash-gray eyes, then hurriedly looked away. She completely forgot the objection she had originally intended to make.
“Oh. All right.”
The big gray wolf had successfully lured his female master back to his room.
After the door closed, Ruan Li was suddenly pressed lightly against the back of it with one hand.