Arc 1

The ride continued in silence. Ye Jin took her phone and began playing some games while Gu Yan watched silently. The silence was oddly comfortable.

As they neared Ye Jin's house, she broke the silence once again, "Hey, Gu Yan, how about you download this game? I need a partner I can play with."

Gu Yan sneered, "Huh, you died like 10 times within the span of 5 minutes."

Ye Jin's cheeks puffed up in anger. "Because I'm still a newbie," she defended, "and that's why you should be my partner."

"Why? So that you can pull me down, you pig teammate?"

Ye Jin smacked him on the head. "Who are you calling a pig teammate? Besides, as my friend, aren't you supposed to help me? A friend in need is a friend indeed."

Gu Yan retorted, clutching his head with an aggrieved expression, "Don't gaslight me into your failure! And who said I want to be friends with you anyway?"

Ye Jin lifted her trembling fingers, pointing them at Gu Yan, her face twitching in annoyance. "You… you… you children of these days have no respect for adults."

Gu Yan snickered. "What adult? You're just 17. You should even call me gege or Gu-ge, and I'll call you Xiao Jin.'"

"Argh!" Ye Jin pounced on Gu Yan and dragged his soft blonde hair.

"Hey!" Gu Yan shouted as he tried to push Ye Jin away. "Get away from me, you animal!" Gu Yan said as he successfully pushed her away.

Ye Jin pounced back on him, attacking his hands with her mouth. Gu Yan looked at her awkwardly, with her teeth sunk into his arm.

"You know this doesn't really hurt, right?"

The driver, who had been watching everything from the rearview mirror, was a bit surprised and worried. He had been working for the young master since he was a child, so he knew his temperament well. His young master despised being touched, and though he was quite playful, the driver knew that his master's smile was usually not genuine; it gave off an eerie feeling. But his current smile looked really genuine.

The driver suddenly saw Gu Yan's cold eyes from the rearview mirror, staring at him, though there was still a smile etched on his face. The driver quickly looked away from the rearview mirror. He could not afford to make the young master angry.

Gu Yan turned away from the driver and focused back on Ye Jin, who gave him a defeated look. She removed her teeth from Gu Yan's arm and said, "Hmph, I don't need you anyway. I'll just ask Mei Yun and Ning Yin to be my partners."

Gu Yan having a sense of crisis, quickly said, "Since you begged so desperately, I'll just carry you in the game. Besides, I'm in the top 100 of the game, so you won't affect me that much."

Gu Yan felt a hint of jealousy, though he didn't understand what he felt. He just knew that he didn't like the idea of her going to Mei Yun and Ning Yin to be her partners. He had only had this kind of feeling for Ning Yin before, but it wasn't as intense as what he currently felt.

Ye Jin gave him a doubtful look. "I don't believe you."

Gu Yan quickly pulled out his phone, opened the game, and showed her his status. Ye Jin's eyes widened in shock. This jerk really wasn't lying. She needed to hug his thighs quickly.

She grabbed his hand and gave a coquettish smile. "Great God, please show mercy on this lowly mortal and be her partner."

Gu Yan laughed, his laughter unrestrained.

Ye Jin looked at him with a puzzled expression.

'Did this kid forget to take his meds?'

Gu Yan then rubbed her cheek. "You really looked like a red tomato just now," he said, pulling her cheeks, "and your cheeks are quite soft. I wonder how they would taste."

Gu Yan opened his mouth and chomped down on her left cheek.

Ye Jin yelped and smacked his head. "You cannibal!"

"Ow!" Gu Yan rubbed his head in pain.

The smack had been quite painful, but he wasn't angry. In fact, he liked it, though he didn't understand why he felt like eating her cheeks. They looked so soft that he just wanted to take a bite out of them.

The ride continued in silence again, with Ye Jin occasionally whining that since he had bitten her cheek, he could only apologize by being her partner.

Gu Yan swiftly agreed and carried her throughout the whole gameplay. At the end of the game, Ye Jin looked at him with admiration.

She felt like worshipping him.

The car soon arrived at her house; the rain had already stopped. Ye Jin opened the door, preparing to leave.

Gu Yan grabbed her hand and smirked. "Why are you leaving so quickly? Afraid your parents will catch you with a handsome boy like me?"

Ye Jin faked a gag and then said bluntly, "My parents are dead."

Gu Yan fell silent. He did read in the report that she was an orphan, but he felt like just teasing her and forgot she had no parents.

For the first time, Gu Yan felt conflicted about what he wanted to say. He didn't know why, but he really didn't want to say anything unreasonable or playful now. He was scared of seeing her show a hurt expression.

Ye Jin waved him off. "Goodbye, Gu Yan, see you tomorrow."

"Goodbye," Gu Yan replied, watching as she entered her house.

As Ye Jin turned away from Gu Yan, her playful expression dropped, and her face turned cold. It was quite tiring to act like a fun teenager. While she knew she had gotten Gu Yan's interest, keeping that interest was another problem, so she had to act like this.

Seeing her enter her house, Gu Yan ordered his driver to drive off.

Gu Yan took his phone out and opened a document. Immediately, Ye Jin's picture popped up, and below her picture was her whole information.

Gu Yan read it slowly and stopped where it was stated that she was an orphan. Her parents had died as a result of a fatal accident, and her uncle had become her guardian.

Everything in her profile seemed normal, except for her uncle.

Besides, Gu Yan knew within himself that he didn't really believe she was normal. This was because even though she wasn't aware, her demeanor, mannerisms, and stance always looked guarded and ready for an attack.

Why would she have such a demeanor if she were ordinary?