To Covet (GL) - Chapter 73

As I scribbled down data, I was mentally calculating how to use the reflection.

Hidden behind a cluster of gorgeous roses, the reflection in the mirror showed only one thing clearly: a pair of eyes with fierce, prominent lower whites looking upward.

By the time I realized what I was doing, a broken flower lay in my hand. The juice squeezed from the petals dripped through my fingers onto my homework. I washed my hands many times; even after the thin fragrance had faded, my hands still held a bitter, astringent touch and a grassy scent.

I have a subconscious habit.

Whenever I prepare to complete something that exceeds expectations in the future, I maintain an excessive focus on the tasks of the coming days. It’s like the deep breath and the holding of air you must do before swimming.

It wasn’t until I finished my exams and got on a train heading in the opposite direction of everyone else that I remembered I should tell Yu Zhouwan I was back.

It takes nearly two hours by subway to get from the high-speed rail station to the house. I didn’t want to waste my precious rest day on a commute.

Yu Zhouwan had asked me a few days ago if I had any days off. I intentionally replied by pretending to be busy, lying that I wouldn’t finish exams for a few more days, even as I was already standing at the subway entrance.

In the end, I didn’t report any of my movements to her.

A clichéd plot germinated in my mind—the husband who returns home early from a business trip only to catch his wife in bed with someone else.

Of course, Yu Zhouwan wouldn’t be so desperately lonely that she’d seduce others, but I wanted to give her an unexpected encounter—to see if she, as my “puppy” during this time, had defied the order not to masturbate without permission. After all, she refused to tell me anything lately except for daily greetings.

There shouldn’t be secrets.

Perhaps that was why looking at the flowers made my mind wander so wildly.

No one was home on the weekend. Guessing that Yu Zhouwan was at a lesson, I went back to my room to rest.

Curled up in bed, I couldn’t stop the wave of sleepiness, yet I couldn’t help but fantasize about who she was with right now. Imagining Yu Zhouwan’s expression, her image became increasingly vivid in my mind, making it impossible to sleep despite a splitting headache.

I fished out the key hidden in the corner of the cabinet and opened Yu Zhouwan’s door. Originally, the key was with her, but one day before leaving Linzhou, I saw Shi Yunya through the crack of the door secretly making a duplicate and hiding it here.

I never told Yu Zhouwan.

The cracks in her marriage with Yu Hanyang appeared not long after it began, and her long-suppressed desire for control had shifted onto her daughter.

Most of Yu Zhouwan’s wardrobe and desk drawers could be opened directly, except for the smallest hidden compartment against the wall, which was firmly locked.

I remembered the camera Gao Rui had mentioned—it sat steadily on top of the bookshelf, not in operation, at least not for now.

The lens stared straight at me, reflecting a distorted face.

I held it up in the air; I could have smashed it with a single let-go.

But in the end, I withdrew my hand and put it back in its place, perfectly aligning it with the gap in the dust.

Perhaps in the next moment, the small red light would blink on, and the lens would turn toward me.

I lay down on Yu Zhouwan’s bed, burying my face in her quilt. The sweet fragrance enveloped me, making me want to burrow entirely inside.

I rolled around in her covers, making the bed a mess, as if countless moments of intimate contact were nibbling and grinding against her skin, our scents staining each other.

I slept contentedly on her bed until I woke up naturally. It was already past ten at night.

No one had returned. I found some bread and chicken in the fridge, ate them while huddled on my balcony, and started scrolling through my phone in the dark to pass the time.

The door unlocked and closed again. I could tell who was back by the footsteps.

Yu Zhouwan turned on the living room light and went to change and shower quickly. I observed her through the slightly ajar door. Her back, with long wet hair, moved toward the living room where she opened a can of peach soda. Then Shi Yunya returned. She made a call to someone I didn’t know; mother and daughter exchanged a few words, seemingly clashing, and parted unhappily.

Faintly sensing a gaze fixed on her, Yu Zhouwan walked around in confusion, looking everywhere. She paused for a second at my door before leaving again, unaware that someone was sitting behind the glass door of the balcony.

I felt the thrill of an intruder spying on someone else’s daily life in a stranger’s home.

They quickly turned off the lights. I waited a sufficiently long time to ensure the sleepers were deep in their dreams before I crept up.

It took several minutes to slowly and silently turn the doorknob.

Yu Zhouwan was asleep with her back to me.

I stood by the bed, watching her body rise and fall with her slow breathing.

Gently, I lifted a corner of the quilt. My fingers touched the soft flesh of her side, pressing down with a bit of force, feeling forward toward her smooth lower abdomen.

Her relaxed skin went rigid instantly.

Yu Zhouwan tried to resist, but I quickly pinned her down. With one arm pressing down her shoulder and my hand covering her eyes, my other hand reached deep inside her clothes, moving upward to touch the soft flesh of her breasts, deliberately increasing the pressure to knead and toy with them.

Her struggling intensified, like a fish out of water. Her soft, anxious whimper instantly turned into a violated sob, her gasps growing wider.

“Sister,” I kissed the side of her neck; her scent and body heat were still intoxicating. “I’ve come back to have a little affair with you.”

Yu Zhouwan was startled by the sudden offense. When she turned to look at me, her eyes were still brimming with tears of shock.

Covering us with the quilt, I began to bite at her skin randomly in the darkness.

She reached up to touch my cheek, stroking it comfortingly. Her thumb swept over the bridge of my nose, then my eyes and hair.

I was becoming a bit addicted to this.

“Where did you go?”

“To my foreign tutor’s lesson.”

“Really…?” I pressed against her shoulder, feeling the faint impact of her exhaled breath against her body. “You weren’t out on a date while I was gone?”

“No.”

I actually wished Yu Zhouwan would take my lead and make up a few lies, but she was never good at lying or joking. She directly denied any possibility of doubt. If I kept questioning her, I’d probably get a detailed itinerary of her entire day.

She was so well-behaved.

“I can’t sleep,” I grabbed her hand and kissed her warm, damp palm, sliding into her embrace. “I only have one night. I don’t want to waste it sleeping.”

She gave a soft hum.

“But you did accept flowers from someone else.”

“Sister… did you really not want to date anyone else?”

Yu Zhouwan was silent for a while.

“The flowers were for you.”

After a moment of daze, she suddenly let out a soft, mocking laugh.

“Yu Keyi, I thought you were so smart you’d have guessed it long ago.”

I clenched my hands; it felt as if the juice from the crushed Elsa roses had seeped into my palms again.

“Yu Zhouwan,” I accidentally bumped the phone on the nightstand. The glowing screen suddenly lit up, illuminating her clear eyes.

She pressed down on top of me, a fine layer of sweat on her body appearing even softer and smoother in the faint reflection.

“If there’s a day Sister gets tired and wants someone else, I will…”

“Send all those photos and videos of us to her for her viewing pleasure.”

“I’ve been secretly filming every time we do it.”

“Let her see how seductive Sister is when she’s in heat.”

“If that happened, would she fuck you even harder?”