Chapter 1: Blazing Memories.

Lin Xi arrived late to our class reunion.

No one had warned me. No one had told me that the sweet little puppy I remembered could transform into the kind of man who made everyone afraid to breathe too loudly.

I hid in a secluded corner of the VIP room, hurriedly putting on a pair of black-rimmed glasses in an attempt to make myself as inconspicuous as possible.

After all, back then, I had ended things with him in the most spectacularly disastrous way possible—by cheating on him.

The music in the bar pounded so loudly that it nearly drowned out the frantic drumming of my heart.

And somehow, through a truly spectacular stroke of bad luck, Lin Xi and I ended up losing the game at the exact same time.

The punishment was simple:

Truth or Dare.

Since the girls were given priority, I hadn’t even had a chance to speak when a familiar, deep voice came from the other side of the sofa.

“Truth.”

The class president drew a card and grinned knowingly.

“Mr. Lin, when was the last time you kissed someone?”

The entire room instantly fell silent as everyone turned to look at him.

I lowered my head and adjusted my glasses, but my ears were practically standing at attention.

Before answering, he glanced at me.

“Eight years ago, during summer break.”

The room exploded.

“Oh my God! You stayed single for eight years? You’re that devoted?”

“What was she like? She must’ve been incredible if you still remember her after all this time.”

Everyone was buzzing with excitement.

Meanwhile, I sat there frozen.

Eight years ago. Summer break.

That was right after the college entrance exams.

It was also when I had dragged my sweet little puppy into a hotel.

The moment we entered the room, I had pinned him against the wall and kissed him recklessly. When we finally pulled apart, breathless, I had shamelessly continued teasing him.

“Lin Xi, I got into Capital University… Aren’t you going to give me a reward?”

That night, under my relentless coaxing and teasing, things between us crossed boundaries they shouldn’t have.

And of course, there had been plenty of lingering kisses.

The class president sitting beside me nudged my arm.

“Wanwan, if you get punished with a drink later, I’ll drink it for you.”

I snapped back to reality, my face burning.

Lin Xi gave a quiet, mocking laugh.

“If I remember correctly, ‘Truth’ only comes with one question. And Tạ Vãn lost too.”

I took a deep breath and forced myself to calm down.

“I choose Dare.”

Lin Xi crossed one leg over the other and leaned back against the sofa, casually sipping his drink as though he were settling in to watch a show.

The class president drew another card.

“Choose one male classmate and stare into each other’s eyes for one minute… or finish this entire bottle.”

The whole room immediately protested, insisting that I complete the challenge.

I bit my lip, preparing to randomly pick someone sitting nearby when Lin Xi suddenly raised his eyes and looked straight at me.

“Wanwan. Come here.”

His voice wasn’t loud, but the chill in it sent a shiver down my spine.

I froze for a few seconds.

Then, for reasons I couldn’t explain, I obediently walked toward him.

When I was only one step away, he suddenly grabbed me and pulled me onto his lap.

The room erupted in cheers.

I struggled to get up, but his strong arms locked firmly around my waist.

My waist felt scorching hot—not because I was embarrassed, but because of the man’s hand resting far too comfortably there. The warmth seeped through my cotton shirt and into my skin, leaving me tingling.

Amid the noisy countdown from everyone around us, I had no choice but to lift my head and meet those dark eyes.

Back then, they had belonged to an innocent little puppy—clear and guileless, the kind of eyes that practically begged to be teased.

Now they were deep and bottomless, like black holes that made it impossible to look away.

The moment the countdown ended, Lin Xi took advantage of my brief moment of distraction and snatched the black-rimmed glasses off my face.

Before I could even protest, he had already scooped me up in front of everyone.

“Lin Xi, put me down!”

I struggled, but he acted as though he couldn’t hear me.

He even gave me a light smack on the backside.

“Behave.”

Behave? In his dreams!

As we passed through the bar’s lobby, several guys standing outside whistled and cheered us on.

My face burned bright red.

Once we were outside, I was practically tossed into the back seat of a luxurious Maybach.

The door clicked shut.

The space suddenly felt much smaller, and the man in front of me clearly had no intention of keeping his distance.

After a long struggle of kicking, clawing, and fighting for my freedom—with absolutely no effect—I ended up pinned against the car door, unable to move.

Lin Xi gave me a cold laugh.

“So noisy. You’re not pretending to be sweet and innocent anymore?”

I immediately fell silent.

Eight years of life had worn away most of my sharp edges. If I wasn’t already a soft little dumpling, then I’d been steamed into one. Being timid had practically become second nature.

Seeing me go quiet, his voice softened slightly.

“Didn’t you say you got into Capital University back then? Why didn’t you go?”

I switched to my usual “play dead” strategy, lowering my head and pressing my lips together.

He laughed.

With one hand, he lifted my chin and forced me to look directly at him.

“Tạ Vãn, I’m very free tonight… Free enough to spend the whole night tangled up with you.”

There was an unmistakable stubbornness in his eyes.

My heart gave a small, involuntary jolt.

But outwardly, I forced myself to put on the same wicked, provocative smile I’d worn years ago.

“After all these years, you still don’t get it? Lin Xi, I lied to you. I went to Hong Kong University.”

The man in front of me was no longer the innocent little puppy I’d once known.

He leaned back slightly, his finger sliding from my chin down to my neck, then along my collarbone before stopping over my chest.

He tapped lightly over my heart.

His voice was cold, but there was a trace of grievance beneath it.

“You heartless woman… You got what you wanted and ran. What exactly am I to you?”

I didn’t dare look at him.

I didn’t know how to answer.

Back then, we’d promised each other we’d both go to Capital University.

But the moment I received my admission letter, I quietly left Hucheng without giving him a single explanation.

Suddenly, pain shot through my neck.

Lin Xi was biting me.

The sting dragged me straight back into memories from eight years ago.

Back then, I was always trying to get close to him, while that adorable little puppy would blush and push me away.

“Wanwan, wait a little longer… Let’s wait until we’re eighteen. We need to focus on school right now.”

That “little longer” lasted all the way through the college entrance exams.

With top student Lin Xi tutoring me, I got into Capital University exactly as expected.

But the very next day, everything came crashing down.

A strange voice suddenly appeared inside my head.

It told me I was the heroine of a “canary” romance novel, and that my male lead was waiting for me in Gangcheng.

At first, I didn’t believe a word of it.

But the voice refused to disappear.

Every night, it forced me to have the exact same dream.

In the dream, the day before I filled out my college applications, my father would die in a car accident.

I tried to stop it.

I tried to convince myself it wasn’t real.

But the tragedy happened anyway.

I watched with my own eyes as a truck crashed into the bakery.

I watched my father die before me.

And then…

He became nothing more than a cold urn of ashes.