Chapter 5

My eyes flickered.

A rich man interested in Shen Nian…

Wasn’t there one in the private room tonight?

I took out my phone to call a car home, and a Mercedes slowly pulled up in front of me.

I’d left the karaoke bar through the back exit. It was deserted here.

Who would drive to a place like this?

Even a toe could tell they were up to no good.

Sure enough, a bodyguard in black got out of the passenger seat and approached me.

“Our boss would like to have a word with Miss Shen.”

I looked up at the sky.

What normal person went looking for someone to talk to at one in the morning instead of sleeping?

I took a step back. “And if I say I don’t want to?”

“Then don’t blame us for being rude!”

He grabbed my arm and yanked me forward, pressing my head down as he did.

“You refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit? You’re already selling yourself, so why pretend to be some chaste maiden?”

“Our boss has taken a fancy to you. You should be grateful!”

If he hadn’t been squeezing my throat so I couldn’t speak, I would’ve asked whether he wanted to take that good fortune for himself.

Just as they were about to shove me into the back seat, the old man inside, reeking of cigarettes and alcohol, held out his arms to welcome me.

I closed my eyes, ready to accept my tragic ending.

“Out looking for human cargo at a karaoke bar in the middle of the night, Mr. Song? Do you think public security is a joke?”

Through the haze, I thought I heard a familiar voice.

The bodyguard beside me stopped moving.

I squinted toward the sound and nearly went blind from the headlights.

A tall figure leaned against the car behind them.

I couldn’t make out his face.

But I almost stopped breathing.

Gu Junheng…

Hadn’t he gone abroad?

10

Gu Junheng hadn’t gone abroad for graduate school at all.

He’d invested the money he got from the Shen family and made a fortune.

Right after graduating, he’d started his own company.

After that, things spiraled out of control.

Gu Junheng, who was supposed to wait for the heroine to save him, had suddenly gone down the domineering-CEO route. He’d even appeared at the back exit of the karaoke bar, as if he could see the future, and stopped Mr. Song from taking me away.

He’d indirectly changed Shen Nian’s fate, too.

I opened my eyes. The room before me was both familiar and strange.

Familiar because it had been decorated exactly like my old room in the Shen house.

Strange because this wasn’t the Shen house.

The Shen family home had already been sealed and auctioned off to pay its debts.

Then where was I…?

“You’re awake?”

Gu Junheng pushed the door open, carrying a glass of water.

I was about to push off the blanket and get out of bed when I realized my hands and feet were shackled.

“This is your punishment for being disobedient.”

Gu Junheng wasn’t wearing his glasses. His amber eyes held only my reflection.

He set the glass on the bedside table and braced himself over me with both hands.

I instinctively edged backward.

His glasses were like a switch. Without them, he was back to being the “thug in a suit.”

When he saw me shrinking away, he looked almost hurt.

Then he unfastened a few more buttons on his shirt.

I stared.

Underneath, he was… wearing…

Red rope bondage, like a turtle shell.

“Isn’t this what you like best, Niannian?”

“Why don’t you want to play with me anymore?”

He took my hand and gently tugged on the red cord.

It revealed red marks on the cool, pale skin beneath.

Beautiful enough to make you dizzy.

I swallowed.

Gu Junheng kept tempting me.

“Or is it because I never told you…”

“That I actually like it when you treat me that way?”

“As long as you stay by my side, you can do anything you want to me, Niannian.”

“You were so in love with me. Why did you run away that day?”

“Don’t you love me anymore?”

I clenched the red cord in my hand and pulled hard.

In that instant, our breaths mingled.

I smiled at Gu Junheng.

“That’s right.”

“I don’t like you anymore.”

“I’m bored of you, Gu Junheng.”

The system in my head dropped the sunflower seeds it had been eating.

【Host, how did you suddenly figure out how to play a vicious supporting character?】

【I’ve always known how.】

【…Ha.】

【I don’t believe you.】

Gu Junheng stroked my face, his eyes full of adoration.

“I don’t believe you, Niannian.”

“You love me.”

“Otherwise, why would you use me to satisfy your need for skin-to-skin contact?”

11

I’d always kept a secret.

I had a severe need for skin-to-skin contact.

And Gu Junheng was the only person who could satisfy it.

It was absurd, but somehow it had really happened to me.

When I first encountered this redemption novel, I’d treated it as nothing more than entertainment.

I never expected to be so drawn to Gu Junheng.

And the official illustrations were so unfairly beautiful.

I…

I think I fell in love with Gu Junheng at first sight.

I wanted to run to him whenever Shen Nian tormented him, hug him, and kiss him.

I wanted to tear off the shirt covering his body and leave more marks on that skin already covered in red.

So when the system found me and explicitly asked me to enter this book—

I smiled where it couldn’t see me.

I used to think heaven hated me, making me fall in love with a character made of paper, someone I could never meet no matter how badly I wanted to.

But then heaven took pity on me.

It gave me the chance to meet the man I loved.

So I came here without a moment’s hesitation and became Shen Nian.