Chapter 2: A Six-Foot Mosquito

I froze. Following his gaze downward, I lowered my head too.

Shit. In my rush earlier, I hadn’t pulled my collar up all the way. Not only were the suspicious red marks on my neck fully exposed, but they also tracked down past my collarbone and disappeared beneath my shirt. There was no way anyone would buy these as mosquito bites.

Unless… that mosquito happened to be nearly six feet tall.

Shen Yuhang’s face instantly turned ghastly. Before I could react, his hand shot out and snatched the folded lab results sticking out of my handbag.

“Hey! What the hell are you doing—”

I tried to grab them back, but he tore through them aggressively. Scanning just a few lines, his expression darkened by the second. When his eyes hit the words HIV Screening, he froze as if struck by lightning. His grip tightened, crumpling the paper in his fist, his teeth grinding together so hard I could hear it.

“Last night…” He looked up at me, eyes bloodshot and ablaze with fury, forcing out each word through his teeth. “Last night, you slept with someone else?”

From the look on his face, if I gave him even a single nod, he’d run off to beat the guy to a pulp right then and there.

I stayed silent for two seconds. Then, calmly, I corrected him. “I didn’t just sleep with someone else.”

His expression softened for a fraction of a second—right before I casually added, “I slept with a drop-dead gorgeous, six-foot-tall guy with chiseled abs and the face of a movie star.”

“…”

A suffocating silence fell over us. Yuhang’s face was so dark it practically blended into the hospital floor.

Looking at him, I nearly burst out laughing. How ironic. Just yesterday, he’d stood in front of a crowd and publicly declared that he only saw me as a sister. Less than twenty-four hours later, why did he look angrier and more pathetic than a cheated-on husband?

My mind was completely consumed by my test results anyway, so I really wasn’t in the mood to bicker with him. “What I do is none of your business.”

Unexpectedly, Yuhang lost his temper. He grabbed my wrist, squeezing hard, his voice rising. “Zhao Niyi, do you have any idea what you’re doing?! Just because I didn’t choose you yesterday, you went out and threw yourself at some random guy?!”

The rims of his eyes flushed red, and a tear actually trickled down his cheek. I stared at him, stunned. Growing up together, I’d seen him cry fewer times than I’d seen him actually use his brain.

“Do you have any idea how dangerous the real world is?! If something happens to you, how am I supposed to answer to your parents?!”

I pressed my lips together. Back in the day, he used to pinch my cheek and laugh, saying, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll take care of my little Niyi for the rest of my life.’ I used to think that was a confession of love. Looking back now… I just wanted to go back in time and slap myself silly.

I looked up at him, the obedient girl he once knew completely gone from my eyes. “I’m an adult. I can take responsibility for my own actions. I don’t need your concern.”

Yuhang froze, looking at me as if he couldn’t believe such cold words had come from my mouth. Pale-faced, he bent over slightly from his stomach pain, yet he stubbornly refused to let go of my arm.

As we wrestled, my sleeve hitched up, exposing the faint, incriminating red marks around my wrist. Yuhang’s eyes locked onto them, his face darkening even further. Finally, he gritted his teeth and barked, “That bastard!”

I was speechless. He was somehow more furious than I was, and I was the one involved.

Despite breaking out in a cold sweat from his stomach cramps, Yuhang insisted on sitting with me to wait for the results. A while later, the final report came out, everything was clear. The heavy boulder crushing my chest finally crumbled away.

The doctor reviewed the lab work and tossed in a few extra cautions regarding “intimate activities.” My face burned bright red as chaotic flashes of last night flooded back into my mind. Snatching my papers, I practically fled the clinic like my life depended on it.

Out in the hallway, Yuhang was still hooked up to an IV. The moment he spotted me, he pushed himself up and tugged gently at my sleeve. His voice carried a rare, fragile edge. “Niyi… you’re not going to wait until my drip finishes?”

I paused. In the past, whenever he got injured, suffered a stomach ache, or drank too much, I was always the one by his side, taking care of him. But now… I simply asked softly, “Do you really need someone here with you right now?”

He blinked, caught off guard, before murmuring, “…Yeah.” His grip unconsciously loosened.

Looking at him, I let out a sigh, pulled out my phone, and said matter-of-factly, “Alright then. I’ll hire a nurse for you.”

“…”

Yuhang’s face instantly froze, his expression snapping back to anger faster than flipping a page. He aggressively snatched my phone away and snapped, “Zhao Niyi! Have you thrown enough of a tantrum yet?!”

“How am I throwing a tantrum?”

“If you’re not staying here with me, where the hell are you going?!” The tips of his ears flushed red with indignation. “How did I never realize how heartless you are?!”

I almost laughed out loud. Remind me, who was the asshole who publicly broke off our engagement yesterday?

Passersby in the crowded hospital corridor were beginning to turn their heads, shooting us curious glances. Annoyed, Yuhang yanked me closer. “Niyi, be good. Stop being angry.”

Then, shameless as ever, he turned to the onlookers and offered an explanation. “She’s my girlfriend. Just threw a little mood at me.”

I was so pissed off I wanted to kick him right in the shins.

Just as I was about to break free, I caught an icy, penetrating gaze locked onto me. I looked up and bumped right into a pair of deep, midnight-black eyes.

It was the guy from last night — Huo Ci.

He looked like he’d rushed straight here from the hotel. His dark hair was slightly tousled, his white tee creased. But his messy appearance was nothing compared to his intense gaze. Standing a few paces away without saying a single word, his eyes were pinned directly to Yuhang’s hand gripping my wrist. The temperature in the corridor instantly plummeted by several degrees.

My scalp went numb. Oh god, I’m screwed. Calling off an engagement yesterday, spending the night with a stranger, rushing to the hospital the next morning, and now getting yanked around by my ex-fiancé in public… Put in his shoes, even I’d think I looked shady as hell.

Before I could figure out how to explain, Huo Ci was already striding over. He reached out with a large hand, clamping firmly down on Yuhang’s wrist. His voice was calm, yet chillingly cold. “I don’t care who you are. You have no right to force her in public.”

I blinked, caught off guard. Wait, does he know what’s going on?

“Hold on!” I cut in frantically, breaking up the thick tension. “He’s not my fiancé anymore! We broke off the engagement yesterday!”

The moment those words left my mouth, the chill in Huo Ci’s eyes thawed instantly. The corner of his lip twitched upward in a barely noticeable smile, but I caught it loud and clear.

The expression written across his face practically screamed: Thank God, I wasn’t the home-wrecker.

Yuhang cradled his red, bruised wrist, his face twisting in fury. Pointing an accusing finger directly at Huo Ci, he bellowed, “Who the fuck are you?! What the hell is between the two of you?!”

Huo Ci didn’t even bother giving him a glance. He merely tilted his head to look at me, his dark eyes brimming with quiet expectation, as if silently waiting for my answer.

My head spun all over again. Our relationship? For some reason, my brain unhelpfully replayed steaming-hot fragments from last night. Huo Ci leaning down against my ear, his deep, raspy voice sending shivers straight down my spine…

Wait. Stop. Don’t go there!

My face flushed bright crimson. Before my brain could catch up with my mouth, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind: “He’s… my boy toy.”