“First time?”
A masculine voice lingered near the ears. It sounded casual, yet urgent.
The man paused for a moment. The warm chest on her back seemed like it was going to overheat. His cool lips kissed on her skin in quick moves. It was obvious that he wanted this woman now, but he was holding himself back. “You can still stop now before you regret this.”
“I’m not going to.”
The moment she finished her words, the man behind her held onto her waist and pressed onto her on the bed. In the dark, she could not see his face. She only knew that the man was impatient and his body was boiling hot. It was there that magic was on his hands. Every spot of her skin that he touched felt like it was on fire.
She was afraid and she was nervous. She wanted to push him away but when she thought about her mother and brother in the hospital, she grabbed onto the bedsheet under her instead.
Suddenly, it was as if her body was torn apart. It was painful, physically and mentally. To stop herself from moaning shamefully under the man, she bit her lips and kept quiet.
The man was strong and there were a few times that she could not take it and wanted to push him away.
“No—”
Suddenly, Lin Xinyan woke up from her nightmare. Her eyes were widened and her eyes looked around the room before landing on a man’s eyes.
She was shocked.
She jerked into a sitting position and she sounded incoherent as she said, “Who— Who— Who are you?”
“Shouldn’t I be the one asking this?” The man’s voice was low. He had neat short hair, a pair of brown eyes and a beautiful smile. He stared at the tear tracks on Lin Xinyan’s face. “Did you have a nightmare?”
Lin Xinyan grabbed onto the blanket. It was an understatement to say that it was a nightmare.
She had not dreamt about that night for many years. The dream had been so realistic. It was everything she never wanted to recall. To have dreamt about it felt like someone had roughly tore away the blood clot on her old wound.
“You saved me?” She remembered suffocating in the water and losing her consciousness. She had no idea what happened afterwards.
“Yes. To be more accurate, I asked someone to save you.” The man held a faint smile on his face.
Yet it did not seem like a joyous smile.
It was only now then did Lin Xinyan realize that the man was in a wheelchair. He was wearing simple clothes and there was a blanket covering his legs.
The man’s gaze on Lin Xinyan deepened. He did not see disgust in her eyes, only shock, and that made him feel relaxed.
“I was coming home last night and saw a person jumping into the river. So I asked someone to save you.” The man’s voice was gentle. “Is someone trying to hurt you?”
If he had seen her jump into the river, he had also seen someone chasing after her.
Lin Xinyan did not reply to him. She shrunk into herself and frowned when she realized her foot was in pain.
The man sensed that Lin Xinyan was wary of him. He understood her wariness; after all, they were strangers. He did not insist on the question. “Don’t worry, you won’t be found by him here. The injury on your leg has been seen by a doctor. You’ll be needing a long rest.”
Lin Xinyan knew that her leg was injured. She was surprised that he had gotten someone to take a look at it. “Thank you.”
“No need to thank me. It’s normal for someone to help a person in need. Even if it was someone else that night, I’m sure they would do the same… After all, they’ll be saving a beauty.”
The man deliberately paused before teasing her.
Lin Xinyan knew that he was teasing her, but he was her savior, so she said nothing even if she had not liked his words.
“What is this place? Can I borrow your phone?” Now that she had escaped from He Ruize’s grasps, she wanted to call Lin Xichen to tell him that she was safe. She did not know how Lin Xichen and Lin Ruixi were in the few days that she was missing.
The man’s gaze landed on Lin Xinyan’s wrist. On her thin wrist was a jade bangle. This bangle… He looked away and rejected her. “No. She’ll be taking care of you from now on. If you need anything you can tell her.”
He started to wheel out of the room. When he reached the door, he paused and turned to her. “What’s your name?”
Lin Xinyan widened her eyes and said untruthfully, “Lin Yan.”
She sensed that this man was not a simple man.
The man laughed. “Lin Yan? Yan? It sounds good. I’m Bai Yinning.”
There were soft sounds from the wheelchair as he wheeled out of the room. Gradually, the sounds faded away. A girl who had been standing by the door walked in and greeted Lin Xinyan. “Hi, I’m Liu. You can tell me if you need anything.”
Lin Xinyan shook her head. She needed nothing as of now. She did not trust this man. She felt as if she had escaped from one trap just to fall into another.
“What is this place? Who was that man?”
“This place is Baicheng. That was the young master.” Liu answered.
Lin Xinyan frowned. This reply gave her no answers. Just Baicheng?
Where was this place? She had never heard of this place.
“Don’t worry, our young master is a good person.” As if Liu had seen Lin Xinyan’s worries, she explained, “He just can’t walk, he’s not a bad person.”
The girl looked young and there was a look of admiration and shyness when she was talking about the young master.
Lin Xinyan guessed that she adored Young Master Bai.
“I want to sleep.” She had not had a good sleep ever since she was taken by He Ruize. She was exhausted. At the very least, the man did not seem like he was going to do anything to her yet.
She was too wary right now and everyone could guess what she was thinking about. She wanted to rest and clear her mind, then she could think of how to get contact with the outside world.
“Okay, call me if there’s anything.” Liu went out of the room and closed the door.
Lin Xinyan laid down. There were birds chirping outside, but it could not stop her sleepiness.
Her eyelashes fluttered then stopped. Soon, there were even breathing sounds.
After Liu had closed the door, she had not left immediately. She stood by the door and listened to the sounds inside the room. After making sure that Lin Xinyan had really fallen asleep, she turned to walk to the living room. In the living room, Bai Yinning was leaning against the window and his eyes were closed.
When he heard her footsteps, he asked, “What is she doing?”
“Sleeping.” Liu stood behind him.
She secretly glanced at the man who sat straight in the wheelchair. She felt that fate had been cruel to him. He was so kind. Why did fate have to take away his ability to walk?
“Give her everything she asks for.” Bai Yinning gently said.
Liu could not understand why, so she asked, “Young Master, do you know her? Why are you so nice to her after saving her?”
Bai Yinning looked out of the window. There was a tit on the branch that kept chirping. There were leaves that swayed in the wind. Eventually they would all fall to the ground.
Just like fate.
“It’s fate.” He answered quietly.
Fate? Liu did not think that it was a good explanation. Would it not also be fate that she had met with Young Master?
She had been sold to the Bai family at a young age and had taken care of him when she was mature enough. Was this also like the fate that he spoke of?
“Then is it fate between me and you?” Liu asked with a hopeful tone.
Bai Yinning turned his wheelchair to face the girl standing in the light. He had a faint smile as he said, “What is fate?”
Liu shook her head.
Bai Yinning waved his hand. “Go and do your things.”
Liu wanted to ask him to clarify what he meant by fate, but she did not dare to go against his words. She went away obediently.
Bai Yinning glanced at Lin Xinyan’s room. His gaze darkened and when he thought about the jade bangle on her wrist, his grip tightened.
