’Don’t make me feel like this again. I don’t like this feeling.’

"I am sorry."

This was the moment Jia thought she could finally find the words for her sentiments. She hadn’t liked this feeling either. Though she had faced Qiu Dai with strength and resolve, death was still a grim reality that had shaken her from within. It was when Mingshen had pulled her into his embrace, it was now that she saw the curtain of fear draped over his eyes that she felt herself drawn to hold his face.

"This expression...doesn’t suit you," she said, feeling quite strange herself at the same time.

Mingshen was notorious, infuriating and frustrating. A one-sided relationship of being enemies that had only sent her fuming all the way and all the time without the cheeky smile on his lips dimming down even once.

Now that I think about it...

"You look better when you have that silly smile on your face. I am...sorry I made you feel this way. I was..." her breaths quickened, "Actually, I was afraid too."

An awkward, embarrassing smile made her lips falter. "I guess I always try to wear my heart on the sleeve, but I am not so strong. Actually, I wasn’t trying not to fall apart the whole time. I tried my best to make him surrender, but he just wouldn’t listen. I failed, and I feared. Th-The l-last..." she didn’t realize it but her steady voice was breaking amidst her tumultuous breaths, "few seconds were horrible...I didn’t want to die."

"I was thinking about so many things," tears plopped down her cheeks, "be-because the last few months w-were so peaceful...Living with Uncle Cheng, Aunt Bingqing and...you. It felt nice to return to the Yang mansion after work. It felt nice to eat with you all, laugh with you all...It felt nice because you were right beside me...everyday, we were together, every time we would banter, a-and life didn’t feel so ha-hard anymore...

When the last few seconds ticked by, I was suddenly...afraid of losing everything. Y-you are infuriating at times, but at that moment, I thought that ah...I wanted to live with you for a li-little longer...I wished we wouldn’t have f-fought so much before. It dawned upon me how life is really so short and I wasted so much time...so much time in living all alone by myself. It was actually t-the time I spent with you that it felt a little easy to live on. A li-little easy to breathe...S-So I was really afraid that I wouldn’t see you again, Mingshen-"

His palm gripped the back of her head as he pulled it forward, pressing it against his chest. He heard her break down, the facade of her strength finally shattering into pieces and the echo of her sobs audible only to him. Her fingers clutched onto his shirt, crumpling it messily within her palm, but he didn’t give a damn about those creases. The only feeling he ever wanted at this very moment was to have her pressed against him, firmly and tightly, as if no other escape existed from the confines of his arms.

"I was..." her trembling, muffled voice came, "really so happy and relieved when I saw you on the video call. I believe we would make it though no matter how hard it was..."

Mingshen’s lips pressed into a thin, hard line, for it was difficult to stop the frustrating, stinging ache from spreading across his cheeks.

"This expression doesn’t suit you either. I like it more when you are cursing at me, not crying at me. Spicy should be fiery, not teary."

There was a pause after which Jia couldn’t help burst into laughter. Still crying, but laughing all the same.

"That was some good rhyming."

"I am good at other things too."

"..."

She began to withdraw quietly, but she was all neatly tied with a ribbon right into the devil’s arms. How would he let her go? So he slammed her back right back at the door with a decisive thud.

"It’s a good time to see the other things I am good at." 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Her heart was this close to bursting out from her chest, but then she frowned at her own weakness.

Song Jia had never once faltered before the devil, so was tonight the night that the devil would finally claim victory?

I don’t like the sound of it.

"...Are you sure about this?"

His eyes narrowed. "Yang Mingshen always knows what his heart wants. And I think..." he closed the distance between them, specifically their lips, making her heart jump like a ride of a rollercoaster, "It’s the right time to test how well our bodily functions complement each other."

"Can you...not use that term?"

"Science..." he didn’t smile, but his finger traced the contour of her cheek, "is all about research, my dear. The deeper we venture is where we find the treasure."

"...You are really spot on with your rhyming today."

A glint of hunger flashed past his eyes. "Yeah, I am. So allow me to be spot on with my kissing skills too."

Her breath caught as his lips brushed against hers, soft at first, almost testing, as if giving her time to pull away and when she didn’t - was when something deeper took over.

The hesitation melted. His hand tightened at her waist, drawing her closer as if afraid she might disappear if he loosened his hold even a fraction. So closer that their chests collided with a force that knocked out their breaths, yet their lips never left each other. His teeth sunk into her, not deep enough to leave a trail of blood trickling down but neither shallow enough to keep any illusion from lurking around.

Her breath hitched sharply, fingers tightening against him as a quiet gasp escaped her lips. Her world suddenly narrowed to a heat she had never felt tingling within her before, to the way his presence overwhelmed every sense she had.

And before she knew it, her own fingers had already clasped onto his head and met his lips the way he did, with not even a flicker of a single doubt leaving its traces anywhere.