Chapter 62: TWO HEARTBEATS.
After a long and complicated talk with Zinchen Liu, Hua Rong finally returned to the quiet room. The door clicked shut behind her, and the moment she turned, Xu Lingwei was already standing there, as if he'd been waiting.
His hand reached out—not roughly, but with urgency—and caught her by the neck, pulling her toward him in one swift motion. Her eyes widened, but before she could speak, his mouth was on hers.
Warm. Breathless. Possessive.
His lips moved against hers with hunger, and his tongue slid past her lips. She gasped softly, hands instinctively flying up to his shoulders for support. One hand slipped to the back of his neck, the other clutching his sleeve.
His fingers wove into her hair, tilting her head, deepening the kiss. Her legs trembled slightly. She felt his breath mix with hers, the way his lips chased hers with a kind of frantic tenderness.
She tried to breathe, but he wasn't stopping.
Her heart raced, her mind spinning, until finally, she managed to push him back with a soft gasp. Their lips broke apart, and she stepped back slightly, breathing hard, her cheeks flushed.
"W-What was that?" she asked, her voice shaking not with fear, but the leftover heat between them.
Xu Lingwei looked at her, not with anger, but with a strange, vulnerable intensity. "What were you doing with him for that long?" he asked, his voice low—not accusing, but aching.
She hesitated, looking away—not because she was guilty of something unforgivable, but because she knew she'd kept things from him. Important things. Things he deserved to know.
"We were... discussing something," she murmured.