Chapter 366 Year-End (9)
Until her lips began to swell and numb, her whole body limp.
Fu Nancheng finally let her go, turned grim-faced, and left the bedroom.
Sometimes he truly felt this woman was here to torment him. Every time he teased her a bit, he ended up burning with desire himself, seeing her yet unable to have her.
...
After Fu Nancheng left, Qiao Mo slowly got down from the table after a while, her legs weak as she walked to the door and locked it.
Waiting for the blush on her cheeks to gradually fade, her lips still carried his clear scent.
Draped in a thin blanket standing by the window, she opened it to let the sea breeze blow in. The salty cool sea breeze dissipated the lingering flair in the room, cooling her mind.
She somewhat hated herself, hated her own incompetence.
Clearly, she was annoyed by his domineering, childlike nature, hated him for not even allowing her to see Jing Hao one last time.
Yet, unfortunately, her resistance to him grew weaker and weaker.
She seemed increasingly unable to refuse him, as if gradually falling into an inescapable net.
She must have fallen for him...
Otherwise, why did her mind short-circuit every time he got close, unable to think, unable to refuse, only left with flushed cheeks and a racing heartbeat.
Realizing this, Qiao Mo lowered her gaze, feeling somewhat sad.
But she was merely a substitute, a substitute with no freedom.
Her affection, to him, might not mean anything.
Qiao Mo’s gaze flickered with complexity, what would it take for him to finally let her go?
But counting the days, nearly five months had passed since the one-year term they agreed on, and she wondered if he would let her leave when the year ended.
...
Time flew by quickly, and soon it was the end of the year.
During this time, Qiao Mo had been staying in the guest room, and Fu Nancheng hadn’t pressured her too tightly.
Yet what made him uneasy was the constant feeling that she was intentionally distancing herself from him.
But, ironically, her attitude was always good, speaking intimately as usual without deliberately avoiding him, leaving him no room to find fault.
He couldn’t articulate it, but it was just a feeling.
Occasionally meeting her gaze, it was full of coolness and detachment. Occasionally, when he made her somewhat confused, she would always find an excuse to make a quick escape, avoiding him from afar.
It was as if she had put on a cold protective layer, appearing warm and smiling, yet that warmth and smile never reached her eyes.
In fact, he was right.
Qiao Mo was indeed intentionally distancing herself, but this time she was smarter.
She no longer clashed directly with him but carefully kept her heart tightly guarded.
She wanted to leave, not wanting to become more ensnared.
The last incident with Jiang Jinghao, and the fact that she was just a substitute, were two thorns lodged firmly in Qiao Mo’s heart, reminding her at every wakeful moment.
She didn’t even dare imagine, if one day the woman in his heart appeared, how she would handle herself.
After all, the person he loved... wasn’t her.
She knew her resistance to him was diminishing, knew that whenever he got close, she became bewildered and infatuated.
So she intentionally kept a distance, seldom allowing such situations to occur again, finding new ways to maintain a distance from him, to keep her mind alert.
Fu Nancheng clearly noticed something, yet ironically, she always had a smile that didn’t reach her eyes, using minimal force to offset great weight, leaving him powerless against her.