Gui Xiao moved like the wind, leaving me trailing sluggishly behind. By the time I shuffled out into the hallway, he had already vanished.

I ambled over to the guest room door and gave the handle a turn.

Locked. Having a key was useless when the bolt was thrown from the inside. Looks like my grand plan to witness Gui Xiao in his true wolf form tonight was officially busted.

What a massive letdown! My heart was itching with curiosity. After mulling it over for a moment, an utterly shameless idea struck me. Taking a deep breath, I screamed at the top of my lungs:

“Ah! Gui Xiao—help me!”

My eyes were glued to the door in front of me, completely oblivious to the person standing right behind me the entire time. The guest room door slammed open, and Gui Xiao burst out in a panic: “Miss!”

I was just about to use this golden opportunity to hurl myself into his arms—so I could conveniently stroke his tail and feel his chest—when a powerful force suddenly seized my waist from behind and yanked me back. Xie Zhan wrapped his arms tightly around me, his voice a mix of teasing and concern: “For someone so delicate, you really need to be careful. A fall like that could wreck you.”

My heart skipped a beat. Holy crap, I’m dead! I had completely forgotten that Xie Zhan was staying over tonight, and the guest room happened to be right next to mine. My immediate, gut-level reflex was: I can’t let him see Gui Xiao’s tail!

I spun around and slapped my hand firmly over Xie Zhan’s eyes.

And Gui Xiao? Taking in this entire scene, his face instantly darkened. His hands curled into tight fists at his sides, his eyes practically radiating deadly gunpowder.

Before I could process what was happening, I stole a quick glance at Gui Xiao. Wait, huh? No tail? Letting out a massive sigh of relief, I was about to pull my hand back when Xie Zhan grabbed my wrist. He gently pried my fingers away, his eyes dripping with a soft, watery tenderness:

“Is there something I’m not allowed to look at?”

A violent wave of goosebumps broke out across my skin. I shoved him away in disgust and subtly wiped my hand on my back, as if I’d just touched something foul. The whole ordeal took only a few seconds, but when I turned around to call Gui Xiao back to our room, the guest room door had already been slammed shut.

“???”

Behind me, Xie Zhan let out a soft chuckle. “Looks like… your marriage isn’t as smooth as it seems.”

I glared daggers at him. “What are you even doing out here? This is none of your business!”

Right on cue, a sudden deluge of weird floating comments flooded my vision once again:

I froze in my tracks. Looking at Xie Zhan—the gentle, sweet neighbor who grew up next door—a sudden chill ran straight down my spine. I feigned a sudden chest pain, slipped back into my room, and immediately called my contacts to run a deep background check on him.

Inside the guest room, Gui Xiao leaned his back against the door, his ears perked up as he strained to listen.

The knock he was desperately waiting for never came. Over and over, the image of Xie Zhan holding me flashed through his mind like a twisted loop.

The furry wolf ears and fluffy tail behind him drooped in profound loneliness. Xie Zhan’s venomous insults echoed mercilessly in his ears:

Gui Xiao sank down onto the cold floor, burying his face in his hands, his voice raspy and broken:

“But I… I really love her. Would you truly be scared of me… Zhu Mingyue?”

In the master bedroom, I tossed and turned in bed, completely unable to sleep. Thinking about the wounded look in Gui Xiao’s eyes earlier, I knew for a fact he was upset.

But then a thought struck me: those floating comments mentioned that he sneaks in every single night to transfer his life force to heal me. Because I was messing around earlier, he hadn’t had the chance yet tonight.

Which meant… he was definitely coming back to our room.

Let’s see where that big bad wolf hides this time!

…

Because I was waiting for him, I slept lightly.

In a hazy, half-conscious daze, I felt something soft brush against my lips. Hot breath fanned across the tip of my nose—a sensation that made my heart flutter wildly, yet carried an overwhelming sense of desperate restraint.

Gui Xiao had planted his hands on either side of my head, leaning down to press the gentlest, lightest kiss against my lips. His eyes were steeped in heavy, bitter jealousy. He was clearly right on the verge of exploding, yet he still forced himself to be exquisitely delicate, terrified of waking me.

My heart melted into complete mush.

I reached out, wrapped my arms tightly around his waist, and let out a soft, playful laugh:

“Caught you.”