Cheng P.O.V.

I woke abruptly, disoriented after spending most of the night alert to every sound around us.

Nothing had happened until dawn, when Chin Mae's nightmares started.

His breathing changed first. His fingers tightened against me, his brow drawing together as quiet murmurs became small, broken whimpers. I kept him in my arms, stroking his hair and back, but whatever had trapped him in sleep refused to let go.

I checked my phone.

Messages. Missed calls. Emma. Hong Tao.

I stared at the last name before tossing the phone aside.

Not now.

A thin strip of sunlight had slipped through the curtains and reached Chin Mae's face. He turned away with a faint lament, his expression tightening.

I frowned and moved over him, blocking the light with my body.

Almost immediately, his face relaxed.

Was the sun hurting him now?

After last night, the question wasn't as ridiculous as it should have been.

Maybe it was coincidence. I climbed out of bed and pulled the curtains farther apart, letting morning light reach the bed.

Nothing happened.

Relief had barely loosened my chest when Chin Mae shifted.

“Mmmh…”

His face twisted. He pushed himself upright on his forearms, blinking sleepily at me.

“Cheng? Are you okay?”

As he moved closer to the edge of the bed, he scratched his arm.

Once. Twice.

The skin exposed to the sunlight was turning red.

My stomach dropped.

I crossed the room and pulled him into the shade before dragging him toward the bathroom.

“Cheng?”

“Sorry.”

I soaked a towel in cold water and pressed it against his arm. The redness wasn't severe, but watching it spread made my hands move faster.

If he really was a vampire, shouldn't sunlight have done more than irritate his skin? Films had apparently given me very unreliable medical training.

“Cheng.”

His hand closed around my wrist.

“I am okay.”

He took the towel from me and left it on the sink, studying my face instead of his arm.

“What is happening?”

I couldn't exactly admit I'd exposed him to sunlight to see whether he caught fire.

“Nothing. I was thinking. About breakfast.”

His narrowed eyes said I looked guilty.

I escaped before he could interrogate me and ordered breakfast: black coffee for him, chai for me, something sweet for my headache.

When Chin Mae emerged a few minutes later, damp-haired and calmer, I told him the food would arrive in twenty minutes.

My phone rang.

Hong Tao.

Again.

I silenced it immediately.

Chin Mae's gaze followed the screen.

“Are you not going to take it? Who is it?”

“I'll shower.”

Cowardly, but effective.

The hot water loosened some tension, but not my exhaustion. When I came out with a towel around my hips, Chin Mae sat half-dressed on the bed, phone in hand.

My gaze lingered over him before settling on the phone.

Was he writing to that guy from last night?

Jealousy arrived so quickly it annoyed me.

“Your phone kept buzzing,” he said, bitterness barely hidden beneath his casual tone. “Hong Tao. You should answer. Maybe it's important.”

“He can wait.”

His eyes lifted to mine, and a faint blush appeared before he looked away.

I smirked.

“Come on. We're both men.”

I crawled onto the bed and pushed him onto his back, settling astride his hips.

Usually that would've earned me an immediate shove. This time, his hands stayed beside him.

“How's your head?” he asked, serious and tired, but neither panicked nor angry.

Sitting over him felt far too natural, as though I'd somehow found the exact place I was supposed to be.

“I'll take something after breakfast.”

I planted my hands beside his head, trapping him between my arms.

I liked the position more than I should have.

His expression softened.

“I'm sorry. It's because I made you angry.”

Before I could answer, his fingers moved through my wet hair. A drop fell onto his cheek and he grimaced, then grabbed the small towel around my neck and rubbed it over my head.

“Agh. I'm going to drown.”

A laugh escaped me.

For several seconds, neither of us seemed to notice how strange it was: Chin Mae touching me openly, me sitting on him. No argument. No retreat.

I caught the towel before he suffocated me with it and asked about his nightmares instead.

His arms relaxed above his head as he exhaled.

“It was like being inside a horror movie.”

The attempt at humour couldn't hide how tired he looked.

Then his eyes softened.

“But I felt you there. I couldn't wake up, but… thanks to you, I didn't lose my mind.”

A faint flush warmed his cheeks.

Something inside my chest tightened.

“I'm glad I was useful.”

His brown eyes stayed on mine.

I leaned closer.

His smile faded, but he didn't move away. His lower lip disappeared briefly between his teeth before he released it again.

My attention followed the movement.

“Cheng…”

His fingers brushed my nape.

Goosebumps spread over my skin.

Then his gaze dropped to my mouth.

He wasn't pushing me away.

For once, he wasn't even pretending he wanted to.

Was he allowing me to—

Three heavy knocks struck the front door.

We both flinched.

Of course.

“I'll get it.”

He gently pushed my chest and slipped out from beneath me.

I stayed on the bed for a second, staring after him.

Get yourself together.

By the time I'd dressed and followed, Chin Mae was arranging breakfast.

I needed to stop. He'd already told me he didn't want to cross that line. His failure to resist wasn't permission, especially after last night.

But it worried me too.

Was he changing his mind?

Or was he simply too exhausted to keep fighting me?

He poured his coffee into my navy mug—the one he knew I preferred because I hated takeaway cups—then sat opposite me.

“I thought you'd talk about last night.”

The brownie in my mouth suddenly became difficult to swallow.

Chin Mae hid part of his face behind the mug, but his tense shoulders betrayed him.

“You haven't. And it's worrying me.”

I stood with my chai and carried it toward the sink, needing movement more than distance.

Behind me, his chair scraped sharply across the floor.

“I drank Brian's blood, Cheng.”

I turned.

His face had changed completely.

“You saw me. How are you not confused and terrified like I am?”

Every question I'd rehearsed vanished as Chin Mae's breathing grew uneven.

“Now I understand Xiao Luo. He said something about my eyes when I was ill. He called me a monster. That wooden stake…” His voice dropped. “He already knew what I was.”

“Maybe he knew.”

The words slipped out.

Silence.

I hadn't properly considered Xiao Luo since that night, and suddenly that felt dangerous.

I'd ordered him not to report anything about Chin Mae, but Xiao Luo had served my family for years. My order wasn't necessarily stronger than theirs.

Hong Tao's name flashed through my mind.

All those calls.

Maybe they already knew.

“And maybe I suspected something was strange too,” I admitted. “But that didn't authorise him to hurt you. He learned his lesson.”

Chin Mae's eyes narrowed.

“What does that mean?”

I tried to move away, but his hand settled around my wrist.

“Cheng.”

The room felt too bright.

Too small.

When Wei Qi disappeared, I'd been underage. Everyone had decided what I should know, who I should trust and what I was allowed to do.

I wasn't a child anymore.

If something happened to Chin Mae because I failed to protect him from my family—or Hong Tao—I would never forgive myself.

“I saw your eyes change before,” I said. “Dark red. Almost rust-coloured. I thought I'd imagined it because… what was I supposed to believe? Vampires?”

His grip loosened.

“And Xiao Luo?”

“I made him understand his place.”

I tried suggesting a run. His expression told me exactly what he thought of that attempt.

“Don't change the subject, Cheng.”

I groaned.

Fine.

“My family is oppressive. Obsessively concerned about my safety. I have bodyguards, and Xiao Luo is our family doctor. They followed me here.”

His eyebrows lifted higher with every sentence.

“Bodyguards?”

“Yes. Try to contain your excitement.”

I leaned against the counter, forcing playfulness into my voice.

“I ordered Xiao Luo to treat you. Not hurt you. He disobeyed me, so I punished him.”

The humour disappeared from Chin Mae's face. He caught my shirt and pulled me slightly closer.

“What did you do?”

I grinned despite myself.

“My bodyguards taught him a lesson.”

Before the interrogation could continue, I hooked an arm around Chin Mae, lifted him over my shoulder and carried him toward the bedroom.

His protests followed me all the way there.

I dropped him onto the mattress and pinned him beneath my weight.

“They beat him,” I explained, poking Chin Mae's shoulder. “Then they put the same piece of wood he'd used on you through here.”

His eyes widened.

“You had someone stab him?”

“Don't worry. He won't die.”

My smile faded when I realised he genuinely didn't understand.

I couldn't let Xiao Luo get away with disobeying me.

I'd been taught that since childhood. If people working for my family could ignore an order without consequences, eventually they'd stop respecting the person giving it. Being seen as weak meant becoming someone they could step over.

That was how things worked.

Or at least how I'd been raised to believe they worked.

“You understand, right?”

Chin Mae studied me.

“Not really.”

My stomach sank.

Then his expression softened.

“But I trust you.”

I stopped.

Four words. He had no idea what they did to me.

I sat back over his hips, folding my arms mostly to hide the reaction.

“And we need to talk,” he added.

There went the moment.

Chin Mae lifted himself onto his forearms. The humour vanished from his face.

“Yesterday was my first time attacking someone.”

His gaze dropped.

“I don't know what to do.”

I'd lost control before. I'd hurt people. But Chin Mae wasn't frightened of his temper.

He was frightened of becoming hungry.

I moved off him and sat beside him.

“You never wanted blood before?”

He shook his head, shoulders curving inward.

I tried to remember every vampire film and book I'd encountered—a humiliating foundation for the conversation.

Usually there was a bite. Sometimes drinking vampire blood. Transformation happened within hours, perhaps a day.

But Chin Mae had carried a bite on his nape when I first met him.

Months ago.

“If that bite changed you,” I murmured, looking toward the back of his neck, “why is this happening only now?”

His expression went distant. I regretted asking immediately; I could see him searching through memories he didn't understand.

I moved closer.

“Hey. You're not going to be a danger to anybody.”

He looked at me.

“I'll be here.”

“You don't know that.”

He was right.

Neither of us knew anything.

“We don't exactly know another vampire we can ask,” I said, letting sarcasm soften my voice.

A tiny laugh escaped him.

Good.

“So we test things.”

His eyebrow rose.

My gaze accidentally drifted toward the window.

Realisation crossed his face.

“You did that with the sunlight on purpose?”

Shit.

“I needed information.”

“You opened the curtains while I was sleeping to see if I'd burn?”

“When you say it like that, it sounds terrible.”

His stare sharpened.

“Useful information,” I added.

He looked ready to strangle me.

Instead, Chin Mae turned toward the sunlight reaching the edge of the mattress. He cautiously extended his hand, moving his fingers in and out of the beam.

I watched every movement.

The skin gradually reddened.

Nothing more.

“We take it slowly,” I said. “We figure out what the sunlight does and how much you can tolerate.”

His fingers retreated into the shade.

University was another problem. I suggested getting Xiao Luo to exempt him temporarily for medical reasons while I covered the classes we shared.

Chin Mae gave me a long look.

“You want help from the doctor you had beaten and stabbed.”

“When you phrase everything like that, you make me sound terrible.”

“I don't need to try.”

Fair.

“And the feeding?” he asked quietly.

There it was.

The question neither of us wanted.

I looked at him.

“You've been craving rare meat for weeks. We start there. Buy more, test whether it helps.”

“And if it doesn't?”

My answer had been waiting since last night.

“If you need human blood, I'll give you mine.”

Chin Mae froze.

His hands closed around mine almost immediately.

“No.”

The fear in his face sharpened.

“You saw what happened to Brian. I couldn't stop.”

I had seen it.

I'd seen Brian weakening beneath him.

I'd also seen Chin Mae pull away once before the hunger dragged him back.

And I'd seen his face when he recognised me.

“I know.”

His fingers tightened.

“And you're still offering yourself?”

“If you need blood to survive, I'm not going to watch you starve.”

“You don't know what I'll do to you.”

No.

I didn't.

Pretending there was no danger would be stupid.

I turned my hand inside his grip until our palms met.

“We test everything else first. Meat. How often the hunger comes. What makes it worse. What makes it stop.”

His eyes remained fixed on our hands.

“And if none of that works?”

“Then we deal with that when we get there.”

His shoulders remained tense.

“What if I hurt you?”

I almost told him he wouldn't.

The lie reached my tongue and stopped there.

Instead, I squeezed his hand. “Then we make sure you're never hungry enough to lose control like that.”

He finally looked at me. “And if that isn't enough?”

“Then we find something that is.”

For once, Chin Mae didn't argue.

He simply looked exhausted.

Frightened.

Nothing like the monster Xiao Luo had described.

I'd already lost someone once because there were things I hadn't understood until it was too late.

I wasn't doing that again.

Not with him.

“It'll be fine.”

His mouth opened, ready to object.

I tightened my fingers around his. “Trust me on this, okay?”

His expression wavered.

I moved closer, keeping our joined hands between us.

“We'll figure out the sunlight. The hunger. What happened to you. Whatever this is.”

His fingers slowly closed around mine.

“And until then, you're not doing any of it alone.”

I didn't know whether I was reassuring him anymore or myself.

Maybe both.

But this time I meant every word.

“I got you.”