The next morning, Ruoxi walked back into the vil with the same swing in her step—like nothing happened.

  As if she hadn't just spent the night bantering in a candlelit suite with Gu Zeyan.

  As if she hadn't leaned into his shoulder, trailed her fingers up his arm, and whispered things that weren't quite a confession… but weren't innocent either.

  She walked straight to the kitchen, barefoot, messy bun, one shoulder slipping from her sweater.

  Chen Yuren was already there.

  Pouring coffee like usual.

  Quiet. Still. Composed.

  "Morning," she said.

  "Morning." He didn't look at her.

  She stepped beside him, leaned in—not close enough to cross a line, but close enough for him to *feel* her warmth at his side.

  "You didn't miss me?" she teased, bumping his hip lightly.

  His hand paused mid-pour.

  "I didn't say that."

  She smirked, head tilted, watching him.

  "You're sulking."

  "I'm thinking."

  "About?"

  He set her coffee down without answering.

  She took a sip. "Still bck?"

  "You don't like things sweet."

  She paused.

  That line was too intimate for someone who never flirted with her. Too familiar. Too *accurate*.

  "Since when did you start paying attention to what I like?" she asked, voice light but sharp.

  Yuren finally looked up.

  His eyes were calm.

  But not soft.

  "Since the first night," he said. "You just didn't notice."

  ---

  **Confessional Booth – Chen Yuren**

  "I don't flirt like the others. I don't touch. I don't compete."

  He looked away, then back.

  "But I don't watch a woman like her without feeling something. I'm not blind. I'm just patient."

  ---

  **Meanwhile, Li Shixun sat outside by the pool. Alone.**

  Watching Ruoxi ugh with the others as if she hadn't just burned a hole in Zeyan's chest the night before.

  "She's pying with fire," he muttered under his breath.

  But what he didn't realize was that *he* was already smoldering.

  ---

  **That night.**

  Another letter game.

  Each person could slip a note under someone's door. One message. No signature.

  Ruoxi received two.

  The first was clean, poetic.

  > "You're like sunlight filtered through smoke. Beautiful, but never quite reachable."

  She smiled at it. Definitely not Zeyan. Maybe Shixun?

  The second was scrawled in a neater, more restrained hand.

  > "You asked who's watching. I always was. Just didn't need to make noise about it."

  No name. No hint.

  But her fingers froze.

  Because she knew whose silence that was.

  Chen Yuren.

  ---

  **Later that night.**

  Ruoxi stood outside his door for five minutes.

  She didn't knock.

  She just stood there.

  Then walked away—barefoot, moonlight sliding across her shoulder like a kiss she didn't feel.

  ---

  **Confessional Booth – Shen Ruoxi**

  "I flirt because it's easy. I charm because it works."

  Her voice softened.

  "But tely… someone's watching me like they see the cracks I don't want anyone to see. That's not part of the game."

  She paused. Sighed.

  "And I don't like losing control."