Chapter 3

Gu Nianxi thought Bai Jin must be out of her mind.

Were they really at the point where they could apply medicine for each other?

Did Bai Jin think that just because she'd defended her earlier, they were suddenly sisters?

She struggled, but couldn't break free. Instead, Bai Jin lifted her skirt, revealing a livid bruise on her left knee.

"Bai Jin, who told you you could touch me? Get out. Give the medicine to Xiao An and have her do it."

She propped herself up on her hands, sitting fully upright, and glared at Bai Jin.

To make her refusal clear, she pressed her free foot against Bai Jin, pushing with some force.

The bedroom was lit only by the wall lamp, casting a dim yellow glow. From this angle, Gu Nianxi couldn't make out Bai Jin's expression. She could only see Bai Jin's pale eyes glinting in the darkness, reflecting the light like a predator that had locked onto its prey and was ready to strike. Gu Nianxi instinctively held her breath, a sudden urge to flee rising in her.

But the next moment, the feeling vanished, so quickly that Gu Nianxi thought it was a figment of her exhausted imagination.

Bai Jin lowered her lashes, ignoring the foot pressed against her. She shifted to a more comfortable kneeling position, one hand gripping Gu Nianxi's calf, the other unscrewing the cap of the small medicine bottle.

"Let me do it, sister." Her voice was soft but carried an unmistakable note of finality.

Gu Nianxi's hand, resting at her side, twitched. Being held down and treated like this made her deeply uncomfortable, even a little embarrassed. Especially when it was Bai Jin—the embarrassment only grew. But in the end, she sheepishly lowered her foot.

This was ridiculous. She never imagined she'd be able to share a room with Bai Jin in such peace. Not with hostility and confrontation, but so harmoniously, so affectionately!

That Bai Jin—the brilliant, powerful, arrogant Bai Jin of the future—would willingly kneel down to apply medicine for her!

Was it because of her change in attitude?

Gu Nianxi suddenly found it amusing.

So this was all it took to improve her relationship with Bai Jin—not much effort at all. Just take one step forward, and Bai Jin would cover the remaining ninety-nine.

Why had things gotten so messy in her past life? Why had she been so stubborn that she wouldn't even take that single step?

The pain in her knee jolted her back.

"Ouch..."

She couldn't help pulling her leg back.

Bai Jin paused and looked up at her. Her gaze was focused, as if studying her expression.

Gu Nianxi felt a flush of shame. Counting her past life, she was over twenty, and still this afraid of pain. It was embarrassing.

"I'm fine! Just—just apply it."

She took a sharp breath, enduring the pain and the urge to pull away, her pale fingers crumpling the sheets beneath her.

She planned to just grit her teeth and bear it. But to her surprise, after applying the medicine, Bai Jin began to massage the area.

This time, Gu Nianxi couldn't hold it in anymore: "Bai—Bai Jin!"

The sharp pain shot straight into her brain. Gu Nianxi felt her nose tingle, and her disastrous tendency to cry at the slightest thing blurred her vision.

Through the tears, Bai Jin seemed to look up at her again. Her movements gentled, more like a soft caress than working the medicine in.

...Damn it.

Gu Nianxi thought, if she burst into tears over something as trivial as applying medicine, in front of Bai Jin no less, she'd never be able to hold her head up again!

She forced back her tears: "That's enough! It's just—it just looks bad, but it's nothing serious. It'll be fine by tomorrow."

Her skin was delicate—the slightest bump left marks. Sometimes she'd wake up with bruises on her knees without knowing how she got them, and they looked awful. But even without medicine, they'd heal in a couple of days.

Bai Jin let go.

Gu Nianxi sighed in relief.

Finally, she wouldn't have to face Bai Jin in such a pitiful state—

But the next moment, Bai Jin's hand returned to Gu Nianxi's knee. She pressed the medicine in with her palm, making slow circles, her movements gentle yet firm.

Gu Nianxi's relaxed nerves were caught completely off guard. Under the pain, tears spilled from her eyes.

"Ouch..."

A sound escaped her lips along with the tears.

Gu Nianxi bit the inside of her cheek, glaring at Bai Jin with tear-filled eyes, the sheet crumpled into deep folds under her fingers: "I—I told you it's fine!"

Humiliating. Absolutely humiliating.

Gu Nianxi wished the room were pitch black, so Bai Jin couldn't see her tear-streaked face.

"It'll be over soon. Sister, just bear with it a little longer..."

Bai Jin held the trembling flesh in her grasp. Gu Nianxi's pain was laid bare before her in vivid, concrete detail, filling her sight, hearing, and scent.

Gu Nianxi was crying.

Two tears slid from the corners of her eyes, and she hastily wiped them away with her long sleeve. There was always something childlike about her movements, something that made people want to shelter her, and Bai Jin had never seen such a quality in anyone else.

Her eyes were red, glaring at Bai Jin with a moist, glistening gaze, her voice nasal and trembling uncontrollably.

Being this close, Bai Jin could smell the medicine and perfume on her—the scent of roses and champagne, stronger than the fragrance on the blanket she'd thrown during the day. And beneath the perfume, there was a faint, sweet scent drifting from her skin, a natural fragrance that excited Bai Jin more than anything else.

The scene before her eyes overlapped with the dreams she'd been having for the past month, and Bai Jin felt as if her very soul trembled before Gu Nianxi.

She moved mechanically, feeling the warmth and tremors in her palm. The coaxing words came to her lips almost automatically, as if they didn't need to be taught: "Be good, bear with it a little longer, sister..."

It wasn't until the words left her mouth that she realized how hoarse her voice had become, her throat dry as if she'd just been in a heated argument.

She swallowed and looked at the skin where the medicine had been fully absorbed, her hand reluctantly letting go. "Done."

Whatever she felt inside, Bai Jin wouldn't show it on her face. When she looked at Gu Nianxi again, she still wore that gentle, humble expression.

It made Gu Nianxi want to stomp on that face twice.

Bai Jin's face was only six or seven centimeters from her foot. This might be the closest they'd ever been in both of her lives. If she wanted to kick her in the face, this was probably her only chance.

But reason won out. Gu Nianxi wiggled her foot and, in the end, didn't do it. Instead, she choked out a resentful, "...Thanks."

After all, the girl had come to apply medicine for her.

She wasn't the type to not appreciate a favor.

Bai Jin smiled.

She pulled Gu Nianxi's skirt back down. "Rest early, sister. Don't forget, we have to get up early tomorrow for the company."

Company?

Gu Nianxi remembered now.

To train the younger generation, the Gu family would assign one or two projects from their group companies to the young members once they turned seventeen or eighteen. Regardless of gender, if the project was handled well, they'd receive shares as a reward.

Although it was only shares in a subsidiary and not much, for the group, it was a stepping stone to upper management.

In her past life, she'd been locked in confinement by Gu Hongzhuo for three days, naturally missing the company inspection and project selection the next day.

The good projects went to Bai Jin. But in reality, that project had a huge trap. Even Bai Jin had to put in a lot of effort back then to handle it...

Gu Nianxi was lost in thought, her slightly chubby face bright, eyes sparkling. In Bai Jin's eyes, she looked utterly adorable.

She wanted to pat Gu Nianxi's head a little. But she'd done enough out-of-line things today... if she did any more, even Gu Nianxi would become wary.

Bai Jin felt a pang of regret. After rubbing her fingers together, she said goodbye to Gu Nianxi and left her room.

"Second Miss, shall I take that blanket to wash for you?" a maid asked, reaching for the blanket Bai Jin had neatly folded on the sofa.

Bai Jin was faster, snatching the blanket into her arms: "Thanks, no need."

"Oh..." The maid blinked, thinking to herself, this new Second Miss really did prefer to do everything herself and didn't like people touching her things.

She cleaned her wardrobe and bathroom herself, and even changed her own sheets and pillowcases.

Bai Jin closed the door behind her, leaned against it, and let out a deep breath.

The image of Gu Nianxi blushing and crying lingered stubbornly on her retinas. She lowered her head, sat down on the floor, and buried her face into the blanket.

Bai Jin knew she was sick.

To feel such a strong desire for another woman, to want to sleep with her every moment, was neither proper nor rational.

Before she met Gu Nianxi, she had been a perfectly normal person—one who adhered to the ways of a gentleman, refraining from seeing or hearing what was improper. She wasn't just indifferent to desire; she was almost frigid.

She'd heard of and seen desire between opposite sexes and even same sexes. Bai Jin had attributed it to humanity's animal instincts, and she secretly looked down on those who were led around by their desires.

She had never considered that she could be like this too.

Bai Jin still remembered the first time she saw Gu Nianxi.

The girl descended the spiral staircase, looking down at Bai Jin from above. Her features, blessed by the goddess Nüwa, were breathtakingly beautiful—a beauty that was impossible to ignore, passionate, proud, and dazzling, the kind that was unforgettable at first glance.

She shot Bai Jin a condescending glare from above. Her stark arrogance and disgust burned Bai Jin, making her curl her fingers involuntarily as her heart pounded, each beat drumming against her eardrums.

After that, everything began to spiral out of control.

Bai Jin had dreams every night, and the dream always featured only one person.

She dreamed of her eyes growing hazy, dreamed of her moved by passion, dreamed of her low sobs and gasps she couldn't bear, dreamed of her hair spread across the bed, her sweat carrying her body heat, the scent intoxicating.

She had become someone she looked down on.

Bai Jin closed her eyes, letting her fantasies run wild in her mind.

It was a long while before she got up and went to the bathroom, where she folded the blanket neatly and put it away in the wardrobe.

In the end, this was just some hormonal reaction, just a... physiological response, Bai Jin thought.

I don't actually like her.

True affection meant holding someone dear in your heart and sparing them harm, but Bai Jin only wanted to break Gu Nianxi.

That was the basest possessiveness and destructive urge... with not a single trace of love in it. And between her and Gu Nianxi, such a thing could never exist.

She looked at the mirror in the bathroom.

In the foggy mirror, clouded by the steam, Bai Jin couldn't see her own reflection clearly.