Chapter 8: The Fifteen-Year-Old Confession

Not far away, the voices and laughter of a couple echoed down the corridor, approaching our spot. Tan Yen pivoted on his heel, shifting his massive frame to shield me completely, cutting us off from the outside world.

On one side lay the glittering, decadent nightlife with its bass-heavy rhythm and chaotic noise; in our tiny, shadowed corner, the two of us stood motionless, locking eyes.

“What was I supposed to say?” Tan Yen let out a soft sigh, the picture of defeat. A suspicious flush crept up the tips of his ears.

“It was fine when we were little and you’d cling to me all day. But when I turned fifteen, every time you wrapped yourself around me… my body couldn’t help reacting like a fully grown man’s. Tell me, what was I supposed to do with that?”

“Back then, you were so innocent, calling out ‘Yen-ge’ this and ‘Yen-ge’ that, while I was standing there harboring corrupt, filthy desires to throw you down and have my way with you. I felt like a sick, pathetic creep.”

“Yet you were hooked on it, sticking to me like glue and refusing to let go. I had no choice but to push you away…”

I gasped, completely blindsided by this wild plot twist. Who on earth could have guessed that the icy, stoic blockhead from back then was dodging me because of something so… visceral?!

“Then what about when I confessed to you at sixteen?” I demanded. “You shot me down without mercy for two whole years!”

“We were both minors!” Tan Yen countered. “You made a grand spectacle of pursuing me every single day. Did you really not hear the neighbors whispering behind your back? Did you not care about your reputation as a young girl at all?”

“Besides…” His voice dropped into a low, somber register, tinged with a streak of loneliness. “Your ‘skin hunger’ made it impossible for me to tell if you actually cared about me, or if you just needed a human body to satisfy a physical craving.”

“I told you to go home and figure out your feelings before coming back to me, but what did you do? You threw a tantrum and declared your love to the entire world, as if you were terrified people wouldn’t know you were desperate for a guy.”

“I loved you, but I wanted us to be together because we genuinely loved each other—not because you needed a human heating pad…”

God, save me! Right now, I desperately wanted to punch myself in the face—and while I was at it, beat that damned system to a pulp.

That whole “skin hunger” story was just a blatant lie I’d made up to cover up the system’s lifespan-recharging mechanic! Back then, the neighbors were constantly gossiping about boys and girls keeping their distance, while my dad strictly forbade me from seeing Tan Yen, threatening to ship me overseas if I kept clinging to him. To protect my fragile little life, I blew things out of proportion, claiming I had a condition and would literally writhe in agony if I couldn’t hug Tan Yen.

Who could have known that a stupid lie would plant such a massive knot in his heart?

“Everyone says skin hunger is just a physical dependency,” Tan Yen continued, his tone thick with aggrieved hurt. “After I stopped letting you touch me at fifteen, you didn’t seem to suffer any real withdrawal. That only made me believe even more that what you felt for me was just physical habit, not actual love.”

“Honestly, after my family moved, I was worried sick thinking you’d fall ill. I was so panicked about how you were doing that I secretly followed you around, watching over you for more than a month. And what did I see? You didn’t try to look for me even once! You were out there bouncing around, happy as a bird freed from its cage!”

“That proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was just a physical crutch to you. You didn’t actually like me all that much.”

Listening to his whiny, heartbroken tone left me hovering right between tears and laughter, my chest tight with indignation. “I was dying of heartbreak inside back then!”

“By that point, you were officially with Tran Chi Chi! No matter how heartbroken or desperate I was, I had my pride and morals! How were you supposed to know that behind my brave, faked smile was a total breakdown?!”

“If you had such stupid worries, why didn’t you just ask me directly?! If you’d just opened your mouth…”

“I wanted to,” Tan Yen cut me off sharply. His expression shifted into something intensely strange, but he didn’t finish the sentence. Instead, he simply stared down at me, his gaze so deep it felt like it could swallow my soul whole. His pitch-black pupils were clouded with a dark, heavy hunger that made my face burn like fire.

“None of that matters anymore, Du Yen.”

“Everything is out in the open now.”

“All these years of holding back, suppressing myself… I’ve reached my limit. I can’t take it anymore.”

—

Tan Yen slammed his foot onto the accelerator, pushing the car to the legal limit as we sped home like his ass was on fire.

With blood rushing straight to our heads, the second we stepped into the elevator, we threw ourselves into a desperate, fiery kiss.

“Tan Yen…” I breathed his name softly.

My arms wrapped tight around his neck, pulling him down to meet me. We were so close our noses brushed, our heavy, ragged breaths mingling together. Tan Yen’s eyes, usually as clear and tranquil as a cool autumn lake, were now clouded over with raw, simmering desire.

Stepping out of the elevator, I blinked, the outer corners of my eyes slanting upward in a dazed, drunken allure. My voice dripped with sweet, clingy warmth: “Yen-ge… I want you~”

“…” Tan Yen’s jaw clamped tight, his throat bobbing heavily as he fought for control.

The very next second, a spine-chilling cold swept over me. I felt a gaze, so searingly intense it could bore a hole right through us, burning into my side from the apartment doorway.

I stole a sideways glance, and my entire body instantly turned to stone.

“Dad…”