Chapter 2: Don't Make Me Hate You
Fang Zhixu had always said that Zhao Baitong was not suited for wrongdoing, nor was she any good at lying—her emotions, for better or worse, were written plainly across her face.
Her anxious expression could never fool anyone, least of all Fang Zhixu.
He shot her a glance. “Let’s talk inside.”
Zhao Baitong, mindful of the impropriety of letting a man into her home alone at night, blocked the doorway. “It’s not convenient. If you have something to say, say it here.”
Fang Zhixu let out a cold snort, a hint of roguishness flickering in his brow. “Not convenient? What, are you hiding someone in there?”
He was tall, carrying both the generous bearing of a man from the north and the fair, shrewd elegance of a southern gentleman—a refined and noble air about him.
With his long, slender fingers, he entered the passcode. Accompanied by a female voice—“Welcome home, master”—the door unlocked.
Fang Zhixu brushed aside the beaded curtain. The room’s furnishings were unchanged, as was the sweet, light fragrance lingering in the air.
He sat on her narrow sofa, produced a check from his wallet, and slid it across. “You were with me for three years, after all. Take care of yourself from now on.”
Outside, rain began to pour, hammering against the windowpane. Zhao Baitong’s heart was a tangle of emotions. “I wasn’t with you for the money.”
“I know.”
Fang Zhixu hesitated for a moment. “Then take it as a token of my gratitude. Thank you for agreeing to see Meng Tang tomorrow.”
No matter what reason Fang Zhixu gave, Zhao Baitong felt as if he were using money to humiliate her, or perhaps to buy her compliance—to make her behave obediently in front of Meng Tang and the Fang family.
Hadn’t she always been obedient? Obedient to the point of recklessness, obedient until she lost herself entirely!
A cold wind swept in, laced with raindrops. Zhao Baitong went to close the balcony window.
Sensing her shift in mood, Fang Zhixu followed.
With her back to him, her slender figure looked especially frail in the moonlight. “I won’t come between you and her. You can rest easy.”
Fang Zhixu’s dark eyes lowered, his thick lashes concealing the flash of complicated emotion within. “What right do you have to come between us?”
A sharp pain tore through Zhao Baitong’s heart. Indeed, what right did she have? She was as insignificant as an ant—how could she ever disrupt the grand union of the Fang and Meng families?
The balcony was narrow. When she tried to pass him, Fang Zhixu didn’t move aside, and she collided with his steely, unyielding frame. The jolt sent a pain through her shoulder sharp enough to take her breath away.
But the deeper pain was still the humiliation Fang Zhixu dealt her.
“Zhao Baitong, do you know what you’re supposed to say when you meet Meng Tang tomorrow?” He stood just behind her, his eyes piercing.
“Zhao Baitong, do you hate Meng Tang?”
“Should you hate her?”
Zhao Baitong had no answer. Ever since Meng Tang returned, Fang Zhixu had changed—becoming cold, seizing every opportunity to torment her.
She dropped her gaze and stayed silent.
He squared his shoulders. “You shouldn’t hate her. Even if she hadn’t come back, things between us would have faded anyway.”
Zhao Baitong clenched her hands so tightly her nails bit into her flesh, but she couldn’t feel the pain.
So this was all that was left between them: “Things would have faded anyway.”
Her vision blurred, her heart fracturing, until a warm hand closed around her wrist.
She didn’t know what he intended, only that her body moved stiffly as he pulled her into his arms.
“If Meng Tang asks you if we ever slept together, what will you say?”
Her lashes quivered. “What do you want me to say?”
He pressed her, relentless. “What do you want to say?”
We never did…
A voice inside her threatened to tear her apart.
His shirt was pressed against her chest, leaving no space between them.
Now that he was so close, she caught the faint scent of alcohol on his breath.
He had been drinking—of course, on a night as festive as his engagement, how could he not? He’d had his fill, then driven here and run into her at the Lesbian Bar?
Zhao Baitong no longer wanted to wonder if he had come looking for her or if it was a mere coincidence—it no longer mattered.
He held her tightly.
The scent of him enveloped her, that familiar cool, woody fragrance.
His forehead touched hers, their breaths mingling. If she moved even the slightest bit, his lips would meet hers.
“Can you let me go?” Zhao Baitong’s face burned.
“No,” he replied, in his usual imperious tone.
Her thoughts were a tangled mess—she had no idea what Fang Zhixu truly wanted.
“What…what more do you want?”
“I want you. Will you give yourself to me?” His voice was husky, seductive, tinged with temptation.
Her heart lurched as if on a roller coaster. “You’ve had too much to drink. It’s your engagement night—you should be with your fiancée, not me.”
He tipped her chin up, forcing her to meet his gaze. His eyes lingered on her soft lips. “I am drunk. But I can’t leave. Isn’t alcohol the best aphrodisiac?”
Fang Zhixu was always adept at seduction. She remembered their second time—it had been in his car, parked in a secluded corner outside the Fang family gates. The cramped space hadn’t stopped him; he seemed unstoppable, like a master who knew all her weaknesses and made her surrender.
Just like now. He took her sensitive earlobe between his lips, his hand sliding under her shirt to unfasten her buttons. Her undergarments slipped from her smooth shoulder, barely hanging on. His breathing grew heavier as he pressed her down on the sofa.
Zhao Baitong’s heart resisted, but with a lover so familiar, the body’s responses were difficult to command.
But the sting of humiliation still rang in her ears—he’d already wounded her heart; she would not let him shame her body as well.
“Zhixu, please stop…”
He bit gently at her delicate neck, his rough breathing stoking her senses, his hands growing more insistent.
“…Fang Zhixu, don’t make me hate you!”
As Zhao Baitong cried his name, a sharp slap rang out, landing squarely on the back of Fang Zhixu’s neck.