Shao Yinan's low voice had barely faded when the girl in his arms spoke back in a muffled whisper.
"Wen Yin… I might not be as… as good as you think." She buried her face deeper against his chest, clinging as if she could hold herself together that way.
She remembered, then, the stubborn resistance she'd always felt toward love—an instinct born of old wounds. But those scars were supposed to belong to the past now. "Maybe I have a lot of little flaws," she added, timid and suddenly smaller.
[LIVE CHAT]
- "She's being so careful—has she been hurt before?"
- "An innocent woman like Wen Yin? Bet she’s been ditched by a bunch of guys."
- "Can't believe a girl like this caught Shao Yinan’s eye. Do men really like pure, fragile types?"
- "Stop jumping to conclusions, people. Don't slap a label on her."
- "Is this the same fandom freaking out because their fave didn’t confess? Lol."
- "No way someone’s actually nervous. Right?"
- "Don't ask whose fans—just enjoy the show."
Shao Yinan heard her trying to continue and, without thinking, gently pulled her out of his arms.
The world emptied into a sudden chill. Heat drained from Wen Yin all at once; she felt as if she'd been placed into an icebox. For a heartbeat she was lucid, shivering through to her bones. Then warmth returned, enveloping her like a blanket.
He cupped her face with both hands, forcing her luminous deer-like eyes to meet his. His expression, for all its restraint, carried an unshakable seriousness.
"Wen Yin," he said, "I want to tell you something."
"You—every part of you, I can accept." His voice was steady, intimate. "It's precisely because of who you are that I—" He smiled, and there was nothing tentative about it. "I will always be moved by you."
[LIVE CHAT]
- "‘I will always be moved by you’ — stop it, my heart!!"
- "Shao Yinan, speak more of these lines, please!!"
- "Finally—a confession scene! I thought they'd make us wait forever."
- "This is so much better than a staged proposal. Love it."
He had imagined a different moment for this—a grander setting, perhaps her birthday, a carefully arranged confession that would belong only to her. He had rehearsed it in his head a dozen times. Not like this, not blurted out in the middle of an impermanent set. He felt a flicker of irritation with himself for the lack of ceremony.
From the first episode of the dating show he'd noticed something off about Wen Yin. She recoiled at casual touches that would otherwise be harmless. Around Xiao Mo, Jiang Shi Huai, and the others, her face had shown plain disgust. That near-pathological aversion had made him curious, and a little concerned. His private digging had only confirmed his suspicions. She guarded herself against love as if expecting to be broken.
Seeing her now—reserved, hesitant, even a little ashamed—there was nothing of the dazzling, spotlight-stealing Wen Yin the cameras loved. For a moment, his gaze darkened; the cool lines of his face sharpened with a dangerous calm.
"You won't be anyone's substitute with me, will you?" she asked, voice small. The question trembled on the surface of everything between them.
Shao Yinan's next words could have melted any woman's defenses. He spoke with deliberate tenderness: "Here—with me—you will never be a replacement. And no one could ever take your place."
[LIVE CHAT]
- "Someone hand me a towel, I'm drowning in sweetness!"
- "I walked into a wall of fluff and never left. Help."
- "Pinch me, this confession is everything I've waited for!"
- "Their chemistry is lethal. Officially obsessed."
The certainty in his dark, deep-set eyes was startling. Wen Yin's lids flooded. A single teardrop, unnoticed by both, fell and disappeared among scattered rose petals. She rose onto tiptoe without thinking.
His pupils contracted as if struck; he stepped back a fraction, and a heat rose to his face that made his ears flush. Then, like a storm breaking, the control dissolved. In an instant he took the initiative.
He pressed her hand—unresisting—against the tabletop behind them. Rose petals poured down in a soft, blushing rain. Shao Yinan wrapped his arm around her narrow waist, drawing her close, and deepened the kiss.
Pink and white petals settled on their hair, their shoulders, around them like a private snowfall. The studio audience shrieked; the live feed exploded.
[LIVE CHAT]
- "AHHHHHHH—he kissed her!! I’ve waited SO long!!"
- "Petals on cue? Who's directing this romance? Genius move."
- "Shao Yinan is actually the poster boy for romance right now."
- "DECLARING TONIGHT'S WINNER: Wen Yin. Hands down."
When the petals finally stopped, they broke apart, breathless. He wiped the smear of lipstick from the corner of her mouth with the back of his hand, and his gaze darkened again—only this time it was softer, possessive.
Wen Yin felt lightheaded, as if waking from a dream. Her face had gone a solid apple red; even her ears glowed the color of cooked shrimp. Shao Yinan tried—and failed—to hide the small laugh that escaped him.
"What are you embarrassed about?" he asked, amusement and affection lifting the corner of his mouth. His dark eyes lifted to her, warm and indulgent.
She stammered, shy and half-denied, "Who… who’s the one who's embarrassed?"