They were seated in the couch, in her dimly lit apartment. The atmosphere was gloomy.

"Are you feeling better now?" Chen Linyun asked.

"Mhmm.." She said, without moving a muscle.

Then she escaped his embrace.

"Chen Linyun." She stared at his eyes. 'Can I trust you?' She said in her mind, but could not say with her mouth.

She gazed towards the floor. Her brother trusted the girl without questions. Was she doing the same mistake? Will it end up the same?

'No, Chen Linyun is different.' She pursed her lips. Her brows were furrowed with anxiety.

"Chen Linyun… I want to… put my trust on you… but…" She said, in almost a whisper. She trailed off, not even being able to finish.

Chen Linyun understood her context. He grabbed both her hands, and enveloped those within his grasp.

"Xue Jinxu… I will never betray you or deceive you… You can put your trust on me. You can trust me. Don't let this incident affect whatever we share alright?"

He gently pinched her chin to direct her gaze on him. She followed. Their gazes locked.

"I'm one of your people."

"You can count on me."

"I will never betray you, my love."

All this while they were on a staring contest. Chen Linyun was trying to win her trust back, if it wavered even for a bit. He wanted to make her at ease around him.

"Don't let this incident affect your perception of life and the world. Not all people are deceitful. Don't close yourself in. There are still good people in the world. If you close yourself in towards all people regardless, you will only limit yourself, hinder yourself. Don't put the punishment on yourself."

His eyes flickered with so much gentleness, worry and anguish for her. Her eyes were discerning whether what she had heard was the truth or not.

Chen Linyun's hand squeezed her hand in his grasp while his other hand that was on her chin, he used to caress her tear-stained face. Her face was pale, her eyes without spark. The dim yellow light from the lamp beside them added sepia effect to the spectacle. It was as if they were shooting a movie.

Chen Linyun, caught up by the setting, inched his face forward, bit by bit. He simply wanted to find her cherry lips with his, to simply kiss her. Their gazes never left each other's eyes. It was like he was taming her, making her comfortable with him.

His heart was wild. It was going berserk. He could not stop himself. Instead of him controlling his heart, it appeared that his heart had gained its reign on him.

At this point there was only Xue Jinxu in his eyes and nothing else. At this point in his mind all he ever wanted to do was to conquer her thin seductive lips.

Closer and closer he got, while the lady was frozen in place. She was completely drawn on him, unmoving, not reacting at all. Her tear-stained face had held its place.

Three inches.

Two inches.

An inch.

Just a little over a centimeter. That was how close their faces were.

The lady's eyelashes flickered. She withdrew her gaze.

She turned her head abruptly towards the left. She was staring at the floor, expressionless.

Chen Linyun clenched his fist. 'What does her movement mean?'

But more than anything, he thought, 'Did I go overboard?'

He got panic-stricken. He worried that he had taken advantage of the situation, of her weak point.

The lady got up her seat for the first time in a long while since Chen Linyun came over to check on her that evening.

She went straight to the floor-to-ceiling window. She stared out of the window, into the dark horizon.

'Perhaps Chen Linyun is true to me with his intentions. But what about me, am I being true to him?' She pondered deeply. 'Maybe it is me who's being deceitful.'

Her eyes flickered with uncertainty, with self-disgust.

'Chen Linyun is a good person. He doesn't deserve to be misled. Am I only fooling around?' She clutched the hem of her dress.

She sighed. 'I have to settle this matter with him soon.'

She turned towards him, who stayed seated at the couch. He was staring at her, watching her every move, and a.n.a.lyzing it.

"Chen Linyun, it's getting late. Let's call it a day. Thanks for checking on me, and for the kind words." She smiled her genuine smile. Saying that her little ladyheart was touched was quite an understatement.

'I have to settle this matter with him soon… But not now…'

"What happened already happened. We can only move forward." She smiled.

The Xue Jinxu that he knew – the controlling, strong-willed alpha female – appeared to have returned now. He could rest his mind tonight.

"Guangxi is strong. I'm strong, the company and the whole family are strong. This incident would have shaken us, but not enough to destroy any of us."

She sauntered towards him. She inserted her arms around his waist and gave him a warm hug. She dug her head on his chest. He looked down on her, surprised. He landed his hands on her back, returning the hug.

Her brows knitted together, she said, "Chen Linyun, just… thank you."

"You're a good person."

She withdrew her arms, stared at him for a while, her countenance no longer pale and tear-stained from a while ago, but it had turned slightly flushed pink. It was lovely. Her eyelashes did the trick, which had that maddening effect on him.

Then she ran towards her bedroom. "Good night!"

The door behind her slammed shut.

It was his cue to leave the place. The owner of the apartment had turned her back from him, ran away from him, and even said what she had been wanting to say. He had no business left for him to linger there.

And so, he left Aparment 301. His mission was accomplished with flying colors. He was contented with the results of the night. His mouth slightly curved upward, but clenched his fist, and his jaw tightened.