As it turned out, Lu Yixin really was just being mischievous.

Fang Yongnian was very much a gentleman. He first covered her with a blanket, then pulled her clothes down a little.

Really, just a little—yet Lu Yixin’s face began to flush.

She wasn’t someone with thin skin, but once her face reddened, it spread quickly across her whole body. Even if she were tanned, it would still be clearly visible.

She took a deep breath and removed the pillow that had been covering her face.

Fang Yongnian happened to look her way, and their gazes met.

Lu Yixin blinked.

Fang Yongnian sighed.

“Will you apply it yourself?” He handed her the medicine.

Feeling that she was far too timid and had missed a perfect opportunity, Lu Yixin made a muffled hum through her nose, but in the end, she didn’t dare insist further.

“I… I’ll put it on later when I get back.” Her voice was so soft it hardly sounded like her own.

“When it scabs over, use this blue tube—it can remove scars.”

What was most worrying about scratches made by fingernails was infection. The wound wasn’t deep; as long as it was treated properly, there shouldn’t be any scars.

“Mm…” The girl who used to defy heaven and earth was now soft as a little lamb.

“You must apply it.” Fang Yongnian helped her straighten her clothes. He wanted to reach out and tidy her hair as well, but halfway through the motion, he restrained himself.

Physical contact was the easiest thing to get addicted to. It wasn’t time yet.

“That Li Xiao’an…” Fang Yongnian frowned. “She’s in the same dorm as you?”

“Mm.” Having retracted her claws, Lu Yixin was so obedient she looked just like a cat.

The real cat in Fang Yongnian’s home meowed once, lifted its tail, and jumped down from the sofa.

“Stay away from her next time.” That person’s intentions weren’t good. She fought by scratching faces—if she really got hit, it could leave a permanent mark.

“Oh…” Lu Yixin was still soft and pliant, hugging the pillow obediently and completely docile.

Fang Yongnian had nothing more to say. He let Lu Yixin sprawl on the sofa while he got up to tidy the dining table.

Lu Yixin and the fat cat stared at each other with wide eyes.

Behind her came the sounds of Fang Yongnian wiping the table and washing the dishes. The lights were bright, not the warm yellow that often filled her dreams.

Quietly, she turned around, resting her head on the back of the sofa, and fixed her gaze on the man busy in the kitchen.

In the past, when he worked, he always wore a researcher’s white lab coat. Now, at work, he often wore shirts and long trousers, in shades of grey. From behind, his waist looked very slim.

“Fang Yongnian.” She called his name, soft and tender.

Fang Yongnian’s hands paused over the dishes. He answered, “Mm?”

Lu Yixin rubbed her head lightly against the fabric of the sofa. “Do you like me?”

Fang Yongnian turned off the water and turned around.

Only Lu Yixin’s head was showing above the sofa—round eyes, round face.

Her lips were lightly pressed together; out of nervousness, the pillow beneath her chin had been twisted completely out of shape by her hands.

Fang Yongnian did not answer immediately.

Lu Yixin also didn’t act like before—when she couldn’t get a reply, she would hurry to press for one.

She simply lay on the sofa like that, watching as Fang Yongnian finished washing the dishes, as he opened a can of cat food for his cat and replaced its water with fresh.

When everything was done, he went back to the kitchen, washed his hands again, dried them, and then turned around.

Lu Yixin was still in the same position, looking at him with those round eyes and round face.

He walked over slowly, looking down at her from above.

“Mm.” He met her eyes and admitted it.

He liked her—not as an uncle to a niece, but as a man to a woman.

“When did it start?” Lu Yixin seemed to have already expected his answer. She wasn’t very surprised; only, the faint flush that had just faded from her face spread once again.

“That night at the hospital.” Fang Yongnian answered every question she asked, very cooperative.

This time, Lu Yixin was surprised. Her eyes widened, and after a long while, she let out a small “ah.”

That… early?

At that time… she had only felt that he seemed a bit unfamiliar.

“Why?” Lu Yixin’s mind kept replaying the scene from that night.

That day… she had woken up because she needed to pee. That day… she had been wearing a two-piece pajama set, the one she’d worn for two or three years. It had once been long pants, later turned into cropped ones.

That day… had absolutely nothing to do with romance or hormones.

Why, then?

“I don’t know.” Fang Yongnian spoke the truth.

Actually, it might have been even earlier—but the moment that truly etched itself into his mind, the moment he began to see Lu Yixin as a woman, was that night in the hospital.

That was the day he discovered that the little girl he had raised was flat-chested.

Lu Yixin was still lying on the sofa, frowning as she tried to recall what exactly had happened that night.

Fang Yongnian poured two glasses of water and handed one to her.

There was a bit of honey mixed in; Lu Yixin didn’t like drinking plain water without taste.

Lu Yixin took the glass and drank absentmindedly.

“What about you?” Fang Yongnian also sat down on the sofa, only out of habit keeping one seat of distance between them.

Lu Yixin must have realized something before, that was the only reason she’d dared to hug him.

He knew the girl he had raised very well. She looked carefree on the surface, but she always knew her boundaries when she acted.

“That day when I drank.” Lu Yixin pursed her lips. “The bottle of mineral water you handed me, the cap was already open.”

Fang Yongnian: “?”

“I never noticed before.” Lu Yixin took another sip of water. “You mix honey into the water you pour for me. The bottled water you give me always has the cap twisted open. You always keep napkins in your car, but they’re actually for me. You still keep the reference books I used for the college entrance exam—just so that if I ever ask you something, you won’t be unable to answer.”

“And also, on the bookshelf in your room, there are a few books about atmospheric science.”

She had seen them earlier when she went into his room to get the medicine.

There were far too many things she could list.

The fact that she had only realized it this late, she must have been blind.

Fang Yongnian: “…”

He had thought he hid it well.

But once Lu Yixin’s heart had awakened to her feelings, everything about him was laid bare.

A little embarrassed, he fiddled with the handle of his cup and said nothing.

“Fang Yongnian.” Lu Yixin slowly shifted closer on the sofa, inching nearer and nearer, until she was right next to him. Then, quietly, she stretched out her arms, wrapped them around his neck, and buried her head into his chest.

Fang Yongnian once again demonstrated what it meant to go stiff in an instant.

“You…” He didn’t even know what to say.

Just a moment ago, their conversation had been gentle, full of warmth—she had seemed so clever, so mature and composed—and then, in the next second, she pounced into his arms.

Her body smelled faintly of aloe, and, strangely, of milk.

“Hehehe.” The supposedly mature girl let out a laugh of triumph into the hollow of his neck.

Fang Yongnian couldn’t hold back anymore and flicked her lightly on the forehead.

“Let go.”

Afraid of pulling on her wound, he didn’t dare to tug at her, so he could only issue a dry, powerless protest into the air.

It carried no authority at all.

“No!” Her answer was, as always, the same.

“Between us…” Fang Yongnian sighed. “Have you really thought it through?”

Lu Yixin froze.

It was the second time Fang Yongnian had asked her something like this.

The first time, she had found it strange that he would even ask such a question.

The second time, it suddenly hurt a little.

“You’ve already made me think about it for a long time.” Her face was buried in his neck, her voice muffled.

He had done so many things to keep her from getting close to him—gentle things, and cruel ones.

If she hadn’t been wild enough, stubborn enough, perhaps there would be nothing left between them by now.

“You know.” She lifted her head, meeting Fang Yongnian’s eyes. “You know that I actually know everything.”

She knew why he rejected her. She knew why it was so difficult between them.

Age.

Seniority.

Disability.

Reality.

All of it—he was the one who had taught her. He was the one who had torn open all the cruelty and laid it bare before her eyes.

He had forced her to face it. Her struggle, her pain—he had seen it all.

He was cruel.

So cruel that, when she thought of it now, there was still a trace of resentment.

So why did he still ask?

Why, whenever she got close, did he have to make her confirm it again?

She had already laid her heart bare, so why did he still think this was nothing more than the fleeting hormones of an eighteen-year-old girl?

“Because I’m a disabled person,” Fang Yongnian said, looking straight at Lu Yixin.

He always understood the words she didn’t say, could read every emotion hidden behind that innocent face.

“I know you don’t like hearing me say these words,” he continued, still meeting her eyes, not allowing her to avoid them again.

“But this is the truth.” Fang Yongnian looked at her.

The words ‘disabled person’ were a reality far crueler than anything he had ever forced her to face before.

“This isn’t only the truth, it’s also something you can’t avoid once you’re with me.”

He looked into her eyes and spoke word by word: “Below my right knee is fake. I’m not a para-athlete. I can’t do any strenuous movements.”

“I can’t run fast. It hurts when I squat. When I drive, I have to use a special car.”

“After the accident, my body became much weaker. I didn’t take good care of it afterward, so inside… it’s probably a complete mess.”

“I can’t pick you up in my arms like the princes in your comics, and when proposing, I won’t be able to kneel on one knee.”

“Many people will say your boyfriend is a disabled man—some kindly, some maliciously.

Your parents will be very worried, afraid that the rest of your life will be hard.”

“In fact, if I were your father, I might break your leg over this.”

“Like you said, there are many boys your age in your atmospheric-science program. They’re healthy, whole. If you were with them, you wouldn’t have to think about any of this.”

“You could take an easier path. You don’t have to wrong yourself like this.”

Fang Yongnian was speaking so much, he hardly sounded like himself.

“If you’re with me, your life will be much harder than most people’s.”

“There are many physical things I can’t do. I can’t play or run with my child on the playground.

And my child would have to go through what you did. He’d hear others say, ‘His father is a disabled man.’”

“All I can do is twist open your water bottles, mix honey into your drinks. Everything else, I can’t do.”

“Lu Yixin.” He forced her to lift her head. “Even knowing all this, do you still want to be with me?”

“Have you really thought it through? You want to be with someone who, when he sleeps at night, only has one leg?”

“The two of us together, we only have three legs.”

“You still have a chance to choose.”

“Do you still want to be with me?”

Lu Yixin sniffled softly.

Fang Yongnian probably didn’t realize that, in trying to make her face him, his hand was now under her chin, his fingers gently tilting it upward.

This was the closest they had ever been—the next step, and they could kiss.

“Have you noticed…” Lu Yixin’s voice was soft and sticky-sweet, “while you’re forcing me to choose, you’re already planning things like proposals and children.”

Fang Yongnian froze, breath caught.

“You were like this before, too…” The young girl still carried traces of childishness on her face, yet her eyes were clear and bright enough to startle him.

“While you’re showing me how cruel reality is, you’re also afraid I’ll get trapped in it—so you stay beside me, afraid I won’t be able to walk away.”

“I told you, I’ll protect you.”

Lu Yixin pressed herself back into Fang Yongnian’s neck again. This time, her cheek rested against his skin.

“The words you can’t say, I’ll say them.”

She leaned close to his ear.

“Fang Yongnian, I like you.”

After saying it, she tightened her arms around him.

Her palm rested on his head, and she gently stroked it. Just as he had done whenever he comforted her.

Fang Yongnian couldn’t say that he liked her, because her parents hadn’t yet accepted it, because there were far too many things he had to face—so many burdens he carried.

He couldn’t, like her, cast everything aside and follow his heart.

So, she would.

She had always known how awkward he was, how proud he was—and how hard everything was for him.

“It was me who clung to you. It was me who chased you first.”

Her voice was soft but unwavering.

It was me, who knew how hard life would be for you without me.

So, I will always be here.

Because I like you, Fang Yongnian.