Su Jiuyi was catching up on sleep in her room, and in a daze, she felt like she heard Shi Aoju’s voice. Thinking it was a dream, she didn’t pay it much mind and flipped over to continue sleeping.

As she slept, something felt off; Shi Aoju’s voice was vividly clear, and she also heard Su Zhenxiong and Zhao Shuya talking from time to time.

Dreaming about Shi Aoju was understandable since you dream of what you think about during the day. But Su Zhenxiong and Zhao Shuya — she wished she could erase them from her life. How could she dream of them?

Suddenly, Su Jiuyi was wide awake. She threw off the covers and sat up, listening carefully again, and realized the sound was coming from outside. She quickly got out of bed.

Opening the door and softly stepping outside, she leaned on the stair railing to look down at the hall below. Sure enough, Shi Aoju was reclining lazily on the sofa in the center of the hall.

Su Zhenxiong and Zhao Shuya sat opposite him, chatting about something happy, and their faces were nearly split from grinning.

Su Jiuyi pursed her lips, silently mocking the couple in her heart: Smiling tigers, indeed; putting on one act in front of people and another behind them.

She hid behind a pillar and took out her phone to text Shi Aoju.

——Why are you here?

Shi Aoju rarely keeps his phone on ringtone because he’s always busy and constantly receiving calls, likely finding it annoying, so he keeps it on vibrate.

Su Jiuyi knew this habit of his, so once the message was successfully sent, she peeked out from behind the pillar to observe Shi Aoju’s reaction, smiling as she saw him reach into his trouser pocket to take out his phone.

It seemed he’d seen the message, Shi Aoju scanned the area, prompting Su Jiuyi to quickly hide herself, successfully avoiding discovery by Shi Aoju.

Not seeing Su Jiuyi, Shi Aoju replied with a message.

——Where are you?

Su Jiuyi glanced at him again, confirming he hadn’t noticed her before replying to his message.

——In your heart.

After sending this message, Su Jiuyi sneakily watched his response, expecting no change in Shi Aoju’s expression, as few people ever manage to affect his mood. Even she rarely succeeded in amusing him, only occasionally by chance.

To her surprise, upon reading her message, Shi Aoju’s lips slowly curled upwards, his formerly cold facial features softened, radiating a gentle aura under the lights.

This aura warmed hearts, enchanted souls, and made Su Jiuyi feel as if she was drunk, drunk on his gentle embrace.

She realized she truly couldn’t escape this vortex; perhaps she’d be trapped in it for life, forced to move forward continuously, unable to make an early exit.

She never imagined losing to a man one day, losing her self, her heart, losing everything, losing so completely.

Watching Shi Aoju laughing at his phone, Su Zhenxiong and Zhao Shuya were puzzled, unable to comprehend why this unapproachable man would show such a gentle side.

In Su Zhenxiong’s memory, even though Shi Aoju had smiled at him, his smile bore no warmth whatsoever, instead leaving a chilling sensation.