Chapter 10: Disappointment

Qu Bainán had the classic heavy-browed gaze that felt overwhelmingly intense when he was angry.

Chen Su’s smile froze on her face. “Since you know I’m pretending and still play along, aren’t you afraid your white moonlight will get mad?”

He clearly could have exposed her.

Qu Bainán let out a cold chuckle, his knobby fingers coming up to cup her face, slowly tracing the injured corner of her forehead.

Chen Su possessed a face so exquisitely beautiful it stirred a primal urge to protect whenever she was hurt.

He had felt this since they were children.

“She doesn’t need coaxing when she’s angry, but when you’re mad, you’re ready to move out at the slightest disagreement.”

He pressed down lightly, neither too hard nor too soft. “Unthinkable.”

His tone was utterly indulgent, as if she were a cherished pet who had run away—he couldn’t bring himself to scold her and could only offer a verbal warning.

Never before had Chen Su felt as if her heart were stuffed with cotton.

She pushed his hand away. “Qu Bainán, one can’t have it both ways.”

She sat up and put some distance between them.

“I can’t be Song Mingyu’s girlfriend and maintain the kind of relationship we had before,” she said with a smile, “just like you can’t have a girlfriend and still use all your kindness for me.”

“Unless,” she added, hiding her clumsiness in her words, “you don’t see me as your sister.”

Her voice carried a desperate hope that Qu Bainán would say yes.

Say he didn’t see her as a sister.

Then she could cast aside all moral boundaries and stand with him against the world.

Qu Bainán saw the hope flickering in Chen Su’s eyes, and his heart trembled slightly.

He lowered his eyelids. “What answer do you want?”

She had given him two choices, and he picked “or.”

Chen Su felt that if she probed any further, she would lose the last shred of her dignity.

“I don’t know.”

She exhaled slowly. “All I know is that you’ve always treated me well since we were kids—except those few years in high school. But now I’m grown up. You can’t take care of me forever.”

Qu Bainán’s gaze faltered. “How do you know I can’t?”

Chen Su was stunned by his words.

Seeming to realize the ambiguity, Qu Bainán added in a hoarse voice, “Su Su, love comes in many forms.”

He stepped forward, his knobby fingers gently stroking Chen Su’s hair.

“I will always be your brother.”

Always.

Those two words were sharp to the point of pain.

The emotions Chen Su had long suppressed finally erupted. She pushed Qu Bainán’s hand away almost indignantly.

“A brother wouldn’t share a bed with his sister,” she closed her eyes, her voice near a sneer. “Qu Bainán, I used to think I was the one who wasn’t clear-headed, but now I see—you’re not as clever as you think.”

Who was Qu Bainán?

He was the heir to the most powerful military and political family in Harbor City, as well as its wealthiest clan’s scion, a celestial favorite adored by all.

He graduated with a law master’s degree at eighteen and took over the Qu family business by twenty.

Those with noble lineage didn’t have his wealth; those with wealth didn’t have his lofty status; those with status didn’t have his dazzling appearance; those with looks didn’t have his innate business acumen.

No matter how deep the schemes or how cunning the stratagems, to him they were mere child's play.

Yet this very man, after weighing gains and losses, had chosen to entangle himself with her.

It was a losing transaction.

A faint gleam flickered behind Qu Bainán’s glasses, vanishing in an instant.

“Remember to apply medicine,” he said without responding to Chen Su’s words, turning to leave. He paused at the door. “Otherwise, the scar will look terrible.”

At the doorway stood Shen Zhiwei, who turned upon hearing footsteps and saw Qu Bainán emerge.

She stepped forward. “Bainan, how is she? Is Chen Su badly hurt?”

Qu Bainán hummed softly. “Minor injury.”

Shen Zhiwei felt deeply guilty. “It’s all my fault. Should I go apologize to Chen Su in person?”

“You didn’t push her, no need to apologize,” Qu Bainán said calmly.

He pulled out a cigarette and lighter from his pocket, lighting up by the railing.

Inside, Chen Su stood frozen in place, her hand stuck on the door.