The Number-One Male Lead Who Doesn’t Like to Eat (45)

When Xie Yu woke, the first thing he saw was Si Jiu lying beside the bed.

His expression changed. He almost sprang upright, reaching out to touch her.

After confirming that her palm was warm, he was still not reassured. He lifted her onto the bed and listened to her heartbeat.

It took a full five minutes for his emotions to settle.

Only then did he notice the suggestive marks on her neck. Recalling what “he” had thought of Si Jiu in that brief moment of resonance before he lost consciousness, Xie Yu ground his teeth viciously.

Jealousy and possessiveness swept through his heart in an instant, filling him with an intense loathing for his alternate personality for the first time.

Unable to control himself, Xie Yu reached out and stroked the marks on Si Jiu’s neck. Gradually, his grip grew harder.

Obnoxious.

They were far too obnoxious.

Every one of those marks had to be erased and covered with his own.

He lowered his head and pressed his lips against her skin.

Si Jiu let out a hiss when he bit her and woke from her dream, only to find a head buried in the hollow of her neck.

For a moment, she could not tell which personality he was. Instead of calling out to him, she simply pushed at him.

“Ow. Are you a steamed bun?”

Xie Yu paused and raised his head.

The moment Si Jiu saw his eyes, she knew who he was.

“Ah Yu, move. You’re so heavy.”

Xie Yu did not move. He only stared at her, his expression so complicated that Si Jiu could not decipher it.

Whatever it was, it certainly was not a kind look.

She instinctively drew in her neck. “W-what are you doing?”

That was creepy.

“Don’t be afraid of me,” he said suddenly.

Si Jiu blinked.

“You were the one who came to me.”

His voice was low and deep, carrying an overwhelming sense of pressure.

“Now that you’ve come, I won’t let you go.”

Every time, she had been the one to approach him first.

The first time they met at the hospital, there had been a bewildering delight in the way she looked at him.

The second time they met outside her home, her eyes seemed to shine when she looked at him.

The third time, she had boldly taken his hand. Her gaze had been open and fervent, and she had clung to him so shamelessly that he could not drive her away.

The fourth time…

Even though he believed he had firmly tried to push her away more than once, she had continued to pursue him with stubborn determination.

So you were the one who came to me.

Then don’t even think about leaving.

“Don’t be afraid of me,” he whispered. “I’m sorry.”

He was a mentally unstable monster. He had known that ever since he was twelve, when he was kidnapped, witnessed his mother’s murder, and then awoke in a pool of blood.

All that blood had belonged to other people.

The kidnappers who had been tormenting him only moments earlier were all dead around him by the time he came to his senses.

And his hands were covered in blood.

Yet he had no memory whatsoever of how he had done it.

The incident caused a tremendous sensation at the time. Everyone who knew him, and even those who did not, looked at him as though he were a monster.

Even his father was afraid of him.

Later, his father changed his name and took him to a city where no one knew him. Then he abandoned him and left the country.

After that, his uncle found him and took him to see a psychiatrist.

Only then did he learn that he had dissociative identity disorder.

At the moment when he had suffered an extreme shock and found his mother’s murder impossible to face or endure, a second personality had emerged within him.

What followed was a long and arduous course of treatment.

Even after his alternate personality never appeared again, he still did not believe himself to be normal.

Nor did he believe he had the right to love or be loved.

But now, he had grown greedy.

From the deliberately forceful tone of his voice, Si Jiu heard the unease beneath it.

She reached out and gently stroked the crown of his head.

“I’m not afraid of you,” she said, “because I believe you would never hurt me.”

Xie Yu felt his eyes grow hot.

“Mm.” He kissed her forehead. “I promise you.”