There’re Always Paranoid Thoughts to Monopolize Me - Extra 5.1

On the high window sill beside the dining room, the stained glass window was slightly ajar. The night breeze blew in, causing the several-meter-long curtains to rise and fall in a dancing motion.

On the long table in the dining room, the flames of two rows of candles were also stirred by the wind. The shadows of the candles flickered on the ground.

Except for the sound of the wind, the dining room was completely silent.

At the end of the long table, in front of the high-backed chair.

The man had frozen in place since hearing the girl’s words, forgetting even to mind the suggestive posture of the girl hooking her arms around his neck, almost kneeling on his lap.

He stared intently at the clean, clear eyes so close to him, his own eyes filled with disbelief and desperately suppressed emotions.

“What did you say?” His voice was hoarse, sounding particularly terrifying in such a deep night. “… Say it again?”

However, the girl in front of him was the only person in this world who would no longer fear him.

So Qin Ke just lowered her eyes slightly and laughed softly again.

“Don’t you have to marry Qin Yan? I can be your mistress, the kind without a title.”

“…!”

Huo Zhonglou’s eyes were almost bloodshot. He raised his hand and roughly grabbed the girl’s arm that was around his neck, pulling her wrist away and dragging it in front of him.

“Qin. Ke.” He gritted out her name. “Why are you being so self-dep—”

The heaviest word didn’t make it out of his mouth in the end.

But Qin Ke laughed.

“Because I like you.”

Huo Zhonglou’s figure suddenly stiffened.

But a few seconds later, the eyes visible beneath the white fox mask were filled with a mocking and cold smile.

“What do you like about me?”

Qin Ke was stunned.

This wasn’t quite the reaction she had expected. Wasn’t Huo Zhonglou holding back and refusing to get close because he thought she had no feelings for him at all and it would be best if they had no interaction?

But now that she had confessed, why did he instead…

It wasn’t until she saw the deep-seated emotion hidden in those eyes that Qin Ke began to understand.

—

Even with the previous buildup, her confession still came too easily. After all, in Huo Zhonglou’s understanding, she shouldn’t have had any contact with or understanding of him. Hearing her words now, he might only think she was scheming for the Huo family’s…

Just as Qin Ke had anticipated.

The next second, she heard Huo Zhonglou turn his face away and say coldly.

“Even if I marry Qin Yan, the Huo family won’t mistreat you. Whatever you want… I’ll give it to you. You don’t need to use this method.”

Sure enough, he had misunderstood.

Qin Ke felt somewhat torn between laughter and tears inside.

But she didn’t show any extra emotion on her face, only smiling with curved eyes as she asked, “You’re already going to marry Qin Yan. How could the Huo family not mistreat me? And, you say you can give me whatever I want, are you sure?”

“…”

Huo Zhonglou looked at her with dark eyes.

Qin Ke smiled gently, “Then what if what I want is you?” She leaned down, seemingly not minding that Huo Zhonglou was gripping her wrist tightly, and brought her face close to the man’s ear, laughing softly, “Can you give me that too?”

“…!”

Huo Zhonglou’s temple throbbed heavily.

But to Qin Ke’s surprise, he didn’t stop her movement, allowing her to cling to him.

Qin Ke suddenly found herself in a difficult position.

—

In this suggestive scene, she was just forcing herself not to show any significant emotional fluctuations on her face. If she hadn’t been constantly distracting herself and giving herself suggestions, she would definitely have blushed.

“Why did you stop?”

The man’s low voice suddenly sounded in her ear, with a hint of hoarse laughter that sent chills down her spine.

Qin Ke pressed her lips together, about to say something, when she suddenly felt a tightness around her waist, followed by a shift in her center of gravity — she was lifted up and placed on the empty space of the long table behind her where no cutlery had been set.

The hard corner of the table pressed against the back of her knee, and Qin Ke’s expression froze, a flicker of panic passing through her eyes.

This emotion happened to fall into Huo Zhonglou’s eyes, and his gaze instantly grew colder, his laughter hoarse and gloomy.

“You’re so scared, yet you still lie about wanting me — you really don’t know what’s good for you, Qin Ke.”

Qin Ke was stunned, coming back to her senses.

If she retreated even half a step now, Huo Zhonglou would be more convinced that she was approaching him for other purposes, and then everything she had done would be in vain…

Thinking this, Qin Ke lightly bit her teeth and looked up at Huo Zhonglou earnestly.

“I’m not lying.”

All the reluctance in Huo Zhonglou’s eyes was finally burned away at this moment, replaced entirely by anger — he suddenly stood up, stepped forward, and pressed directly towards the girl sitting on the edge of the long table.

His hands were like iron shackles, tightly constraining the girl, making Qin Ke unable to move an inch from where she sat on the table edge, while he pressed his body forward, leaving no gap, pinning her in place.

“Say it again –”

He pressed against her and laughed, his voice deep and cold.

“You’re not lying?”

“I –”

Qin Ke was about to open her mouth, but suddenly froze.

A few seconds later, she blinked slowly, looking down with some bewilderment and disbelief.

In this shadow, it was hard to see clearly, but a scorching crimson had already rapidly spread across her cheeks.

The next moment she reacted, raising her head in extreme embarrassment and anger. “Huo Zhonglou, you –”

“Didn’t you say you wanted me?” The man’s eyes were black and cold, accompanied by an almost ferocious smile that was particularly chilling. “Didn’t you say you weren’t lying? — Then come!”

The man’s angry voice echoed in the spacious restaurant.

Qin Ke gritted her teeth.

Just as she was about to raise her lower leg, the back door of the restaurant was suddenly knocked.

Huo Jingyan’s calm voice came through —

“Young Master Zhonglou. The family driver has reported that Miss Qin Yan and Mr. Qin and Mrs. Yin are already on their way back.”

“…!”

The two people above and below the long table in the restaurant froze simultaneously.

It wasn’t because of the content of these words, but because the sudden knocking and voice indicated that Huo Jingyan had been waiting outside the back door for an unknown amount of time before suddenly speaking at this critical moment.

Even more so, he might have been there from the beginning.

Realizing this, both of their expressions changed simultaneously.

Qin Ke hurriedly pushed Huo Zhonglou away and jumped off the table, her face so red she almost wished she could find a crack to crawl into.

Coming to her senses, Qin Ke wanted to leave through the dining room’s back door, but Huo Zhonglou grabbed her wrist.

Qin Ke was stunned, turning her head back, not knowing why this person who had been distant all evening suddenly approached her at this moment.

She saw Huo Zhonglou looking down coldly, his tone somewhat uncomfortable.

“Stay a bit longer before you leave.”

Qin Ke: “??”

Seeing that Huo Zhonglou wouldn’t respond, she asked out loud, “Why?”

Huo Zhonglou gritted his teeth and pulled her to the mirror in the side hall of the dining room.

In the mirror, the girl’s cheeks were flushed, her lips lusciously red, and her black pupils seemed as if they could squeeze out water.

The man standing beside her, with his back partially to the mirror, lowered his voice and asked through gritted teeth, “Do you want to go out like this, letting them all see you in this state?”

“…”

Qin Ke became even more embarrassed. But after a few seconds, she seemed to think of something and suddenly laughed.

Huo Zhonglou frowned at her.

“… What are you laughing at?”

Qin Ke, with her fair hands behind her back, turned away from the mirror smiling, “Huo Zhonglou, you actually like me, don’t you?”

“–!!”

Huo Zhonglou’s pupils suddenly contracted.

The shock made him miss the opportunity to deny it immediately. By the time he wanted to recover, it was too late. The girl’s face bore an “as expected” expression, her eyes bright and her smile radiant.

“Although I don’t know why you want to marry Qin Yan when you clearly like me…” As if.

“But I just suddenly thought, you must think you can endure it, endure liking me, endure having thoughts about me, and even watch me be with someone better?”

A vein throbbed on Huo Zhonglou’s forehead.

He clenched his fist and turned away.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Don’t flatter yourself.”

He lifted his foot to leave.

But the bright, smiling voice pursued him from behind.

“But can you really endure it, Huo Zhonglou?”

“…!”

As if his weak spot had been hit, Huo Zhonglou’s figure suddenly froze.

And the girl was already laughing, her fair hands behind her back as she walked towards the door. Her steps were joyful, as if dancing to a beat, as she slipped past him unhurriedly.

The lingering sound fell behind him.

――

“It’s really strange, isn’t it? You can’t even bear others seeing me in that state just now, so how do you think you could endure seeing me with someone else?”

As Huo Zhonglou was almost stunned blank by these words, the girl stood by the door, looking back at him.

Whether it was an illusion or not, the playful smile on her face faded away.

“… You’re the one who’s lying, Huo Zhonglou.”

“–!!”

Bang.

The long door closed again.

****

Qin Ke believed that she had administered a strong dose of medicine that night.

She thought that after she had revealed this fact, which she herself had only discovered that night, Huo Zhonglou would surely come to his senses, no longer be awkward about those strange thoughts, and would honestly accept her choice to actively enter his world…

Then she realized she had been too naive.

After that night, for two whole days and nights, Huo Zhonglou hadn’t shown his face at the Huo family house at all.

—

After Qin Ke pointed out the truth, he seemed to have discovered the problem at its root and decided to stay as far away from her as possible to avoid being unable to resist such situations.

Qin Ke was almost furious enough to grind her teeth.

On the evening of the third day after that night.

Just as Qin Ke could hardly resist leaving the Huo family’s old house to find him, she received a “tip-off” from a servant. Outside the house, Huo Zhonglou’s private car had finally returned. He was already entering the main building.

Qin Ke abandoned her half-eaten dinner and rushed to the main building.

She finally intercepted him as Huo Zhonglou was passing through the main hall and walking up the stairs to the second floor.

“Huo Zhong–”

Her voice stopped abruptly when she noticed several of his subordinates and servants following behind Huo Zhonglou.

Qin Ke hesitated for a moment, then changed her form of address.

“Brother-in-law…do you have time later? I have something I want to talk to you about.”

The few people behind were already surprised, but upon hearing the term “brother-in-law,” they looked even more shocked at the man halfway up the stairs, his back to them.

—

They had never known that Huo Zhonglou was already married??

But in everyone’s view, the man’s back was extremely rigid.

“Go to the conference room.”

A few seconds later, he actually ignored Qin Ke completely, only speaking to the still stunned group, before continuing up the stairs without looking back.

Qin Ke was the most surprised.

She almost instinctively took a step up the stairs, wanting to chase after him, then suddenly stopped.

Because she suddenly realized why Huo Zhonglou was so cold, not saying a word to her, not looking back at her once.

—

He had returned in a hurry and probably hadn’t expected to encounter her, so he probably wasn’t wearing that mask. He didn’t want her to see his face.

Qin Ke sighed silently in her heart.

She withdrew her left leg that had already stepped out.

She stood at the bottom of the long wooden stairs for a long time, not knowing what to do.