There’re Always Paranoid Thoughts to Monopolize Me - Chapter 40.1

As soon as she entered the concert hall, Qin Ke first checked the two VIP seats she had given to Huo Jingyan—seeing Huo Jingyan and the young woman sitting beside him, Qin Ke let out a long sigh of relief.

She had seen a photo of that woman before. In her previous life, Huo Jingyan had kept it in a very old-fashioned pocket watch he carried, and would often take it out to examine in his palm during leisure time.

The weight that had been hanging over Qin Ke’s heart finally lifted. She walked back to her own regular seating area.

Just a few seconds after sitting down, Qin Ke saw a uniformed security guard walking briskly towards her from the edge of the concert hall. He stopped beside Qin Ke and gave her a respectful smile.

“Hello, miss.”

“…Hello.”

Qin Ke didn’t understand his intention but still nodded in response.

“I’m sorry to bother you, but during our routine checks, we found that this seat shows signs of loosening. For your personal safety, we’d like to ask you to change to another seat.”

Qin Ke was stunned, instinctively looking down at her seat.

“Loose? I don’t seem to feel anything.”

“But to be responsible for your safety, we still ask you to move to another seat—”

As he spoke, the security guard handed Qin Ke a new ticket, smiling.

“This is your new seat assignment. Please follow me.”

After speaking, the security guard bowed slightly to Qin Ke and gestured to one side with a smile.

Qin Ke looked down at the new ticket in her hand and was surprised: it was for a VIP seat.

A pie like a free airline upgrade or hotel room upgrade had actually fallen on her?

Qin Ke felt something was off.

But being in the concert hall, she had to monitor that Huo Jingyan and his girlfriend stayed for the whole show. For the moment, she had no better choice than to comply.

So Qin Ke stood up and followed the security guard towards the VIP seating area.

This concert hadn’t been heavily promoted, and the performers weren’t very well-known, so even with less than five minutes until the start, there were still many empty seats in the hall.

The VIP area was particularly spacious.

Before sitting down, Qin Ke observed the layout of the VIP seating area. The seats were very retro-style double sofas, visually soft and comfortable. Between the sofas was a space that could accommodate a small marble-textured table that could be raised or lowered—it could be raised as a tabletop or lowered to be level with the sofa.

Behind the backrest of each individual seat was a large enclosed space that could be flattened—clearly designed for maximum privacy.

Noticing there was no sign of anyone in the seat next to hers, Qin Ke felt relieved. She sat down on the left side of the double sofa according to her assigned seat number.

Soon after, the lights dimmed.

The concert was about to begin.

Qin Ke’s gaze fell on the row in front.

One advantage of switching to this VIP seat was that it was more convenient to observe whether Huo Jingyan and his companion were present.

But just as Qin Ke’s gaze fell there, she felt the sofa she was sitting on suddenly move.

Following the direction of the movement, Qin Ke turned her head towards her right.

—

In the darkness, enhanced by her slight night blindness, she could only vaguely make out that someone had sat down in the other empty seat of the double sofa she was sitting on.

As for the rest—whether it was a man or woman, old or young, their appearance…she couldn’t tell at all.

Qin Ke shifted her position a little to the side.

Influenced by Huo Zhonglou from her previous life, she had developed a habit of not being too close to any strangers in private spaces—even slightly crowded elevators made her feel unsafe.

Let alone now.

Qin Ke thought that the table surface between them was lowered to the bottom, so she actively reached out, intending to raise the table. But before she could find the switch, her wrist was suddenly gripped by the person next to her.

Qin Ke’s face suddenly turned cold, and she was about to move as she looked up, but then suddenly stopped.

—

“Huo Jun?”

“…”

The silhouette in the darkness froze, clearly not expecting to be recognized by Qin Ke at the first moment of contact.

A few seconds later, the young man’s voice snorted softly near her ear.

“You’re really sensitive.”

Getting confirmation from him, Qin Ke’s posture relaxed slightly. In just a moment of distraction, she figured out something.

Qin Ke lowered her voice to the softest.

“The seat change, was it arranged by you?”

“Mm.”

The young man responded casually, even laughing carelessly.

“It’s too late now that you know. The concert has started, you can’t go back.”

“…”

Qin Ke, keeping her composure, tried to pull back her hand that was being held by him.

Seemingly aware of her intention, Huo Jun chuckled mockingly, his long fingers gripping tighter.

Qin Ke sighed helplessly, speaking softly, “…Huo Jun.”

“You’d better not call my name at a time like this.”

Qin Ke: “?”

“Don’t believe me?” In the darkness beside her, the slightly deepened breath leaned closer, “Try calling it again?”

Qin Ke: “…”

Qin Ke consciously fell silent. Treating her wrist as if it wasn’t hers, Qin Ke let the person beside her hold it.

As they spoke, the piano on stage began to play, followed closely by the violin and orchestra. The vast concert hall was soon filled with the sound of instruments, gradually increasing in tempo.

However, Qin Ke had no time to appreciate this auditory feast—all her attention was on the front row of the VIP area, where she had booked seats for Huo Jingyan and his companion. Qin Ke hardly dared to blink, fearing that she might miss the moment they left and fail to prevent the impending misfortune, which would surely haunt her for life.

However, this concentration meant she completely failed to notice the emotional changes of the person beside her.

So during a particularly dramatic part of the performance, when Qin Ke was suddenly pulled down and pressed onto the sofa by the person next to her, she was completely taken aback, looking up with bewildered eyes.

“Hu-Huo Jun?”

The young man’s voice above her body was low and slightly husky.

“Is Huo Jingyan so attractive to you that you can focus solely on him throughout an entire concert?”

There was an unmistakable coldness in his voice.

Qin Ke’s heart trembled.

She tried her best to steady her voice, making it sound as calm as possible. “This is at a concert, Huo Jun, you…”

“Of course I know where we are.”

Huo Jun’s voice pressed against Qin Ke’s ear, over the grand background music of the performance. He laughed, and the coolness in his voice crawled into her limbs through her wrists pinned above her head.

His breath drew near, each word exhaling an ambiguous atmosphere.

“Since you care so much about Huo Jingyuan, you probably wouldn’t want him to see—” His voice paused, “us in this position, would you?”

The young man’s voice was steeped in jealousy, even his laughter carried a hint of gritted teeth.

Hearing the threat behind these words,

Qin Ke’s eyes trembled slightly. After a moment, she spoke softly. “You won’t do anything.”

Huo Jun seemed to have heard a joke.

“I don’t even know what I might do—how do you know?”

“…”

Before Qin Ke could speak, Huo Jun leaned down and whispered in the girl’s ear.

“The right time, the right place, everything in my favor… I have it all. Forget resisting, you don’t even dare to speak loudly now, do you?”

Qin Ke took a light breath, gathered her courage, and turned her gaze back to face the young man whose outline was unclear in the darkness. She heard her own voice drowned in the grand performance, as faint as a firefly.

“I know. You won’t force me. Because you’re Huo Jun, that’s why you won’t.”

“…”

The young man spoke harshly, “Is that so? Then you don’t know me well enough, Qin Ke—since I can’t have you anymore, why should I still cherish you?”

Qin Ke lightly pressed her lips together, not speaking.

In the darkness, the depths of the girl’s eyes reflected the faint light from the stage, shining brightly, like the only torch in a long night.

Huo Jun’s cheekbone twitched slightly. He lowered one hand, gripping the girl’s chin, forcing her to tilt her head up slightly.

Her lips, previously pressed together from tension, were beautifully red.

Huo Jun leaned down.

Their breaths were drawn closest, scorching hot. The scent that was driving him mad was just within reach.

He could kiss her with just a slight lowering of his head.

However, just as the distance was about to become zero, the young man’s form froze in mid-air.

“Heh…”

After a while, Qin Ke heard him laugh lowly with a hoarse voice. The fingers restraining her wrists slowly loosened.

The young man gradually sat back, his tone carrying laughter, but full of self-mockery.

“I was wrong too early.” His voice seemed to hide a dejected beast on the verge of madness, his low exhalations suppressing a growl from deep in his chest, “I thought when you looked at me like that, it was helplessness, that I could do whatever I wanted to you, but it’s the opposite—”

Huo Jun’s words suddenly stopped. After a moment, he laughed hoarsely.

“Qin Ke, do you look at every mad dog you’ve completely tamed, at your mercy, with that kind of gaze?”

“…”

Qin Ke’s pupils contracted slightly.

This was the first time she heard complete, unconcealed hurt in Huo Jun’s voice—like a wounded, bleeding wild animal crawling before her eyes, even if it couldn’t hold on, still stubbornly tearing open its own wounds for her to see.

Whether intentional or not, he was forcing her to be moved, forcing her to soften her heart.

——

And he succeeded.

When Huo Jun and Huo Zhonglou became equated.

Then he became the person she couldn’t remain indifferent to in this life.

“Every one?”

“…”

“Did you think there would be many ‘mad dogs’ like you in this world?”

The girl sighed softly in the darkness, her voice low and gentle.

Huo Jun turned around, and before he could speak, the warmth that had just separated returned to the back of his hand, a warm breath approaching—

The girl lightly kissed his lips.

“…!”

The music suddenly stopped.

The lights came on, as if daylight had fallen.

****

After several intermissions interspersed with performances, the concert officially ended.

The VIP seating area was sparse and distant, with large gaps and limited audience. In front, Huo Jingyan and his girlfriend had just stood up and turned around, immediately encountering Qin Ke and Huo Jun in the row behind.

Both sides paused simultaneously.

Huo Jingyan came to his senses and smiled with some surprise, “So you two came as well?”

“…Happy birthday, Teacher Huo.”

Qin Ke’s cheeks were slightly flushed as she hastily came to her senses and stood up.

The young woman standing next to Huo Jingyan, holding his arm, smiled and looked up.

“Is this the student you told me about, the one who gave you concert tickets and insisted you bring me?”

“Yes, my prized student who was snatched away by Old Song,” Huo Jingyan said to the young woman, then looked up at Qin Ke and Huo Jun, “Let me introduce you, this is my girlfriend, Yan’an.”

“…”

Noticing the gaze from Huo Jun, Qin Ke ignored it and smiled at Yan’an, “Nice to meet you, Teacher’s girlfriend.”

Yan’an nodded at her, then said with feeling, “Such an obedient and cute girl with good grades, not just Old Song, even I would want to snatch a student like you if I could.”

“…”

Huo Jingyan looked at her helplessly, then explained to Qin Ke, “She’s also a high school teacher, just not in Qian City.”

Qin Ke was stunned.