Chapter 21: Arrested

To his astonishment, a woman stood before him, completely naked, her hair still wet, beads of shower foam clinging to her skin. Her hands fumbled awkwardly, unsure where to place themselves—covering her upper body but unable to conceal the rest. Indeed, this woman was none other than Tang Rui, who lived in Lin Fan’s house. The sight startled Lin Fan, but remembering how this girl had once caught him showering, and now the tables had turned, he couldn’t help but smile wryly to himself. Fate’s twists and turns, he mused, are truly beyond imagination.

“Aah—pervert!” A piercing scream rang out within the villa, shrill and jarring.

Seeing Lin Fan’s gaze still locked upon certain “parts” of her, Tang Rui panicked, unable even to form a coherent sentence. She hastily snatched a towel and wrapped it around herself, glaring at him furiously. “You… what are you doing here?”

Though Lin Fan hadn’t expected such a coincidence, he showed no panic—the fortune was his, after all. Seeing that Tang Rui was now covered, he shook his head and replied, “This is my house, you know. Am I not allowed to come upstairs?”

“What’s going on? Who’s screaming so early in the morning?” Lin Yan staggered in, rubbing her eyes, still in her pajamas, clearly roused from sleep by Tang Rui’s shriek.

“Aah—” But when Lin Yan took in the scene before her, she too cried out—though her scream was considerably gentler than Tang Rui’s earlier one. Even if Lin Yan were a fool, she’d know what just transpired. It was, in a way, the reverse of what had happened last time, though the circumstances now were entirely different.

Seeing her brother still standing there bare-chested, Lin Yan shot him a fierce glare and shoved him out, slamming the bathroom door shut behind him.

Inside, Tang Rui scrambled to put on her clothes, her mind whirling with what had just occurred. This was nothing like last time. Before, she had been the one to see him; that was at least bearable. But now, she was the one who’d been seen. The indignity stung—never in her life had a man laid eyes on her body. Now… But Tang Rui wasn’t the type to be brazen or confrontational. Raised in a genteel family, she couldn’t bring herself to say anything harsh. At most, she could manage a single muttered, “Stupid pervert.”

“Sis, I swear it wasn’t on purpose. It was her—she didn’t even lock the door,” Lin Fan pleaded from the sofa, desperate to explain himself to Lin Yan.

Of course, Lin Yan found such explanations dubious, but what could she do? The incident had already happened. She could only silently hope that Tang Rui wouldn’t make too big a fuss, though she doubted Tang Rui’s temperament would allow for such drama anyway.

Lin Fan gazed at the ceiling, a mischievous grin tugging at his lips as the memory replayed in his mind—the image of Tang Rui’s smooth, flawless skin surfacing again, unbidden.

“What a beauty,” he couldn’t help but sigh, feeling an involuntary reaction.

“What did you say?” Lin Yan fixed him with a deadly glare, then, noticing the rather obvious tent in his lap, a flush crept over her own cheeks.

“Nothing, nothing at all,” Lin Fan hastily straightened up, feigning seriousness. Lin Yan glowered at him, shook her head in exasperation, and went upstairs to check on Tang Rui.

…

Upstairs, Tang Rui stood before the mirror, blow-drying her hair, her cheeks tinged with pink. Her mind kept drifting—her first sight of Lin Fan bathing, and the memory of him bursting into the bathroom bare-chested just now. Perhaps it was simply the first time she’d ever seen a man’s body. She couldn’t deny that Lin Fan’s physique was deeply attractive to her: his muscles were toned and defined, not as bulky as those of a bodybuilder, but radiating an undeniable strength. With a man like that by one’s side, surely anyone would feel safe… Of course, Lin Fan had no inkling of Tang Rui’s thoughts. If he had, he’d have been overjoyed.

“Rui, don’t tell me you’ve fallen for my brother?” Lin Yan entered the room, finding Tang Rui lost in thought in front of the mirror. She gently nudged her and teased.

Tang Rui gave a start, quickly banishing her earlier daydreams. She hadn’t even noticed Lin Yan coming in. Seeing Lin Yan’s probing gaze, her cheeks flushed deeper. “Lin, don’t be ridiculous. How could I possibly like him?”

Indeed, the two had barely met a handful of times. How could her brother’s charm be that irresistible? And after what had just happened, how could Tang Rui possibly like him? Or so Lin Yan told herself.

…

Downstairs, the atmosphere at the breakfast table was palpably awkward. Tang Rui kept her head down, eating in silence, while Lin Yan shot Lin Fan glances brimming with warning.

“Um, I’m really sorry about earlier. I had no idea you were in there,” Lin Fan said earnestly to Tang Rui. After all, he had barged in unannounced and seen her naked, yet she’d only called him a “pervert” once. Women like her, he thought, were becoming increasingly rare. Any other girl would have cursed him blue in the face, if not taken the chance to extort him.

“It’s okay,” Tang Rui glanced up at Lin Fan, forcing a small, embarrassed smile. In truth, she’d never really looked closely at Lin Fan’s face before. Now that she did, she realized he was actually quite handsome—not in a flashy, celebrity way, but with a rugged masculinity, and the longer one looked, the more appealing he seemed.

Lin Fan was momentarily taken aback by her reply. He hadn’t expected her to say it was nothing. He could tell that, though her smile was a little strained, there was no blame in it. His affection for her grew in that instant. Little did he know, Tang Rui herself couldn’t explain why she hadn’t scolded him more harshly. Perhaps it was because of Lin Yan…

As they ate, the doorbell to the villa rang. Lin Yan got up to answer, and found several police officers standing outside, along with a young man whose nose was swathed in bandages.

“Excuse me, are you Miss Lin Yan? Is this your license plate number?” The officer entered, surveying the villa.

Lin Fan, sitting with his back to the door, paused, a sense of familiarity prickling at him as he muttered inwardly, “That voice sounds familiar…”

“It’s him! That’s the one!” Before Lin Yan could answer, the bandaged young man stepped forward, pointing directly at Lin Fan, who was still eating.

Lin Fan turned and immediately recognized the man before him, a flash of anger in his eyes. He’d let him off last time, but now he’d turned up with the police. There was no mistaking it—the young man with the injured nose was Wei Liang, whom Lin Fan had beaten up twice before.