Chapter 3: Short Joy

After that failed bath night, I gradually settled into my new routine. The previous year, my adoptive parents, terrified that going off to college would give me wings to fly the coop, had locked me in my room on the exact day of the college entrance exams. Now that I had a second chance, there was no way in hell I was going to waste it.

I launched a full-scale campaign of soft-power tactics on Than Ngon:

“Pretty please, hubby~?”
“You’re seriously the smartest guy ever~!”
“I love you more than anything in the world~!”

Than Ngon would fight a losing battle to suppress the twitching smile at the corner of his lips, putting on an insufferably haughty front. “Piece of cake.”

And just like that, I went back to school.

As it turned out, Than Ngon was a walking, talking supercomputer. Every night before bed, I’d drag my stack of complex homework into his room under the guise of asking for help, and flirt with him a little while I was at it. It quickly became our bedtime ritual: solving tough problems while getting my daily dose of entertainment. Than Ngon had officially become the ultimate cheat code of my life.

On the day exam results were released, staring at the digits on the screen, I burst into tears on the spot. The very first person who crossed my mind was Than Ngon. I wanted to sprint straight to him and share the news, but he’d been insanely busy lately, practically living in his study day and night.

I knocked on his door. No answer. Pushing it open, the room was completely empty.

It suddenly hit me that right before the scores dropped, he’d come looking for me and said a whole long speech. But I’d been so nerve-wracked that I just nodded along blindly without absorbing a single word. So… he’d gone out? Living with him for nearly a year, this was the absolute first time he’d left the house. A good half of my excitement evaporated instantly.

The person I was waiting for hadn’t returned, but a phone call from the Shen family beat him to it.

“Is this Shen Phan? Listen to me!” my birth mother’s voice snapped through the speaker. “I’ve sent a driver to pick you up. Pack your things and leave the Pho estate right now!”

The distant tone, the absurd demand, it was almost comical. I asked coldly, “Why?”

“You don’t need to know why! I’m doing this for your own good!”

“My own good?” I nearly burst out laughing. First they handily sold me off, and now they wanted to kick me out? “Unless you give me a real reason, I’m not going anywhere.”

The woman roared through the receiver:

“You stubborn brat! Listen to me! Than Ngon has been playing dumb this entire time! Today he marched right back into the corporation, ousted his uncle, and reclaimed total control! Our family wronged him in the past… but he still has feelings for Nhu Y, so he probably won’t crush us completely. Nhu Y is our only saving grace right now!”

Her tone turned sharply venomous:

“As for you, you’re nothing but a stain to him, living proof of his humiliation! The second he sets eyes on you, he’s going to hate you! You need to get out before he comes back! Do you hear me?!”

The call disconnected. I stood there, rooted to the spot.

Honestly… I’d always known Than Ngon wasn’t resigned to his fate. Living together for nearly a year, I could tell most of his pathetic, broken facade was an act. An act for the servants, an act for the spies watching his every move. How could a man who once ran a massive corporate empire ever be simple? Was I really naive enough to think a few quickly slapped-together breakfasts had melted a heart like his?

I suddenly remembered waking up in his bed one morning. As daylight broke, he’d held me tight, burying his face into the crook of my neck, whispering, “Stay with me.”

At the time, I’d asked, “If your legs ever heal… will you throw me away?”

His eyes had snapped open instantly, locking onto me with a sharp, guarded intensity. That flick of suspicion had sent a chill straight down my spine. Even though he’d quickly brushed it off with a playful snort. “Once I heal, you’re the first person I’m kicking out… you little pervert”. I knew that underlying vigilance was the only real thing about him.

I had no idea how much of his current self was an act, nor how much of his sweet talk could actually be trusted.

And in this high-stakes game, I didn’t dare gamble my future.

I began packing my bags. When I first arrived, I’d owned nothing but a few raggedy clothes. Now, the walk-in closet was bursting at the seams. Than Ngon had bought every single piece. To be completely honest, I wanted nothing more than to sweep everything into a bag, sell it off, and use it as startup capital. But unfortunately, space in my plastic woven sack was limited.

In the end, I settled for high-value, lightweight items, cramming designer handbags and delicate necklaces into the bottom of the sack. The camouflage was flawless: on the outside, I looked so dirt-poor that even a stray dog passing by would feel pity and leave behind two cents.

Slinging the sack over my shoulder, I turned to take one last look at the room. A wave of reluctance washed over me, but I forced myself to turn away and head for the door.

The moment I opened it, I slammed right into a pair of blazing, dark eyes.

It was Than Ngon.