Chapter 84

Mu murmured an acknowledgment and crossed to the couch. He sank down, looking utterly exhausted.

Only then did Elise notice the gauze wrapped around his left hand.

“You're hurt?”

Again, she almost added. First he'd fallen off a skateboard. Then he'd gotten into a fight with Miles and ended up bruised all over. Now there was another injury on his hand.

Mu glanced down at it. “It's nothing. Just a small cut.”

Blood had seeped through the gauze, leaving a startling red mark against the couch.

Elise got up and fetched the first-aid kit. She had done this often enough to know where it was. Mu seemed too tired to protest as she unwound the bandage, though his eyes never left her face.

When the gauze came away, she drew a sharp breath. A deep gash ran across his hand. It was a knife wound.

“How did this happen?”

Mu watched her without answering. Before she could ask again, he caught her hand and pulled her toward him.

Elise cried out in surprise. The next moment she was in his arms, her back against his chest. His breath warmed the back of her neck as he folded both arms gently around her. He was much broader than she was, and he enclosed her almost completely, his head drooping onto her shoulder as though he had no strength left to hold himself up.

They were far too close.

She instinctively tried to pull away.

“Don't move,” he murmured beside her ear, his voice thick with a pleading note. “Let me lean on you for a little while.”

Elise went rigid. His breath tickled her neck, and she could feel him against her back and arms.

“I don't think I've ever told you about my mother,” he said suddenly.

You really don't have to, she thought. Ever since she'd begun to suspect that Mu liked her, she had felt awkward around him. But his pallor and the knife wound were troubling, and something about him seemed wrong.

“All right,” she said hesitantly. “Tell me.”

Her ears were sensitive, and with him so close they grew redder by the second. Mu lowered his eyes, noticed, and couldn't help a quiet smile. When he spoke again, his voice was very gentle, as if he had finally found someone he could confide in.

His mother had taken psychiatric medication for a long time, he told her, and it had left her mentally disoriented. When her condition was severe, she sometimes hurt herself. He had cut his hand taking a knife away from her.

Elise grew quieter as she listened. At first she had wanted to push him away, but by the time he finished, she couldn't bring herself to do it.

“I'm sorry to burden you with that,” Mu said.

It didn't happen often, but each time it did, it brought back the life he had lived before. He had been dragged into his family's battles; his mother had developed a mental illness, and he himself had become entangled in a business fraud case. Despised wherever he went, he had ended up wandering the streets.

Back then he had wanted no part in fighting anyone. He'd hated the atmosphere in the Mu family and despised the manipulation everyone practiced. After being reborn, he had become the very kind of person he once looked down on.

When he had reached his lowest point, Elise had appeared. Without her, he wouldn't have been able to go on.

The memory made his arms tighten around her before he realized it. He held her so hard that she could barely breathe.

“Mu Chuan.” Elise struggled against his arms.

He seemed to come to himself. Recognizing what he was doing, he released her at once. “Sorry.”

Free again, she stepped back twice, putting some distance between them.

Mu looked up at her steadily. While he'd been holding her, a thought he'd tried to contain had stirred again. He had been careful before, afraid of frightening her, but he didn't want to wait any longer. He wanted her to know he liked her. He wanted her to be his.

His gaze darkened, desire and possessiveness showing plainly in it. He clenched his left hand, and blood spread through the freshly replaced gauze. He paid it no attention, his eyes fixed on Elise.

Her heart began to race. Before, she hadn't been sure whether he liked her. Now she was certain.

But she didn't want a relationship. She wanted to focus on school, and she couldn't accept his feelings.

Lowering her eyes, she hurriedly said goodbye, grabbed her backpack, and ran out. Mu seemed to call her name, but she didn't stop.

Ethan's car was waiting at the curb. Elise paused beside it and looked back at the skate park in the darkness.

She needed to keep her distance. Sooner or later Mu would understand what she meant, and she wouldn't have to spell it out.

Over the next few days, she kept his notifications muted. Whenever she saw another health article he'd sent, she left it unanswered. If he messaged her directly, she said she was busy studying and didn't have time to talk.

Even when she replied with only a few words, his messages kept coming.

Elise worried about it all week. That weekend, she was at home after finishing a full practice exam when a cool breeze came in through the window. The temperature had dropped sharply the day before. She closed the window against the chill and picked up her phone.

Nora: My new favorite! What do you think?

Nora: [Photo] [Photo]

Elise opened the pictures. The man in them looked fairly ordinary for a celebrity. Nora explained that his name was Liam Hayes, a little-known actor she'd discovered in a small streaming drama. The show had recently begun airing, and he was getting a little attention.

Elise had never been particularly interested in following stars, but she respected Nora's enthusiasm. Besides, she was used to her friend finding a new favorite every so often.

Elise: He's handsome.

Nora: Nobody says that anymore! You're supposed to say, “Sir, I'm obsessed!!”

Elise: ...

Nora: [Hmph!]

After replying, Elise noticed a new notification beside Mu's chat.

Mu: It's gotten cold. Remember to dress warmly.

Her finger hovered over the screen. She had been so distant with him. Why hadn't his enthusiasm faded at all?

Still unable to think of a solution, she opened her social feed. Nora had posted a grid of nine photos of Liam. Elise liked the post, remembered Nora's instructions, and started to type a comment.

“Sir, I'm obsessed.”

That felt strange. She didn't even know the man; why address him as sir? She deleted the address and posted what remained: “I'm obsessed.”

Elsewhere, Mu was looking at his phone, his expression dark.

Pei Yi kept his distance. Mu had been in a visibly bad mood lately, and everyone who worked for him had been on edge. Pei, who stayed at his side, had it worst of all.

He didn't know what had happened. All week Mu had stared at his phone whenever he had a moment. Once, while pouring him coffee, Pei had caught a glimpse of a chat on the screen. Since then, he had even taken care to walk quietly around the office.

Now Mu's face had darkened again. Pei barely dared breathe.

“Pei Yi.”

Pei flinched and hurried over.

Mu frowned at the screen. He seemed genuinely unable to make sense of what he'd read. “What does ‘I'm obsessed’ mean?”

Pei stared at him for a moment before understanding. It was the sort of thing young people said online. Mu was young too, but he rarely paid attention to the internet.

“It's a way of expressing admiration,” Pei explained carefully. “Or saying you like someone.” He watched Mu's face. “People have called things like that out to you at public events too.”

Mu narrowed his eyes. “It means she likes him?”

“Yes.”

Mu said nothing.

Elise had barely put her phone down when it lit up again. Nora was calling her on video.

Puzzled, she answered. Nora's anxious face appeared on the screen.

“Ellie, go look at X! Something happened!”

She was so worked up that the phone shook in her hand and the picture blurred.

“What happened?”

“Look at the link I sent you!” Nora hung up before Elise could ask anything else.

Elise opened their chat. Nora had shared a post from a gossip account: the Mu family heir had been seen acting intimately with a mysterious woman at a gala, and a romance might have been exposed.

The photo beneath it was blurry, but Mu was unmistakable. It had captured the moment at the gala when he smiled gently and held out his hand to invite her to dance. Elise was seen in profile, and the low resolution blurred her features enough that strangers couldn't readily identify her. Anyone who knew her, however, would recognize her at once.

Elise stared. How could they take a moment so completely out of context? It had been the dancing portion of the evening. Since when did dancing together prove they were dating?

If the photographer had been a reporter at the event, they must have known what was happening. Publishing the picture this way looked like a deliberate attempt to mislead people and attract attention.

Mu belonged to one of the wealthiest families around. Plenty of actresses dreamed of marrying into his family, but he had turned them all away. Over the years he had never had a romantic scandal, which had earned him plenty of admirers.

In only half an hour, the post had gathered more than ten thousand comments.

“My husband! Noooo, I refuse to believe it!”

“Who is she? She's so lucky! When have you ever seen Mu Chuan smile like that? He looks so gentle!”

“I want to switch places with her! Did you see him bend down? He actually bent down for her!”

“Such a gentleman. I'm dying!”

Elise covered her face. She had just decided to stay away from Mu, and now people thought they were involved?

Some readers believed the rumor. The topic had started somewhere in the twenties on the trending list and kept climbing. More comments appeared by the minute, and gossip accounts were reposting the story. Elise grew anxious. There really was nothing between them. How was she supposed to explain that now?

Then she found a comment from someone claiming to have worked at the event:

“I was there, and I can't keep quiet. Do these gossip accounts have any shame? It was the dance portion of the gala. A woman was chosen at random to dance with Mu Chuan, that's all. How did you invent a romance from that? Keep spreading false claims and you may hear from a lawyer.”

The explanation sounded credible and specific, and people pushed it to the top with their likes.

“Rumors take a second to make up and forever to clear away.”

“My husband is still single, okay? Stop pairing him with some random girl.”

“Has she looked in a mirror? I knew Mu wouldn't like someone like that. She looks so ordinary.”

“Ordinary? Please. It's the angle and the bad picture. She's beautiful in person!”

Elise tapped on the account defending her. The username was NoraRounds, and its owner had argued with several people who had insulted her.