5
Everything was ready. I got started.
I unzipped the cat carrier, reached inside, gently felt for Quinn Hill’s tail, and rubbed it in my palm.
Oh my God! It really reacted!
I pressed my lips together and watched, lowering my head closer and closer.
Trình Dực gripped the edge of the stone table, tilted his head slightly to glance at me, and said hoarsely, “You… you’re too close.”
He tried to shield that spot with one hand, but managed to keep his voice somewhat steady.
“The experiment’s over. It really is…”
We’re only at this stage, though?
The more embarrassed he got, the more… excited I became (not in that way).
I quietly took hold of his hand and pulled it away.
“You don’t want anyone finding out that an Olympic champion is doing this in the middle of a park, do you?”
I coaxed him gently. “Let’s test it a little more, okay?”
Trình Dực’s chest trembled slightly, and his breathing grew rapid. His fingers gripped the edge of the stone table so tightly his knuckles turned white, as if he were waging an intense inner struggle.
In the end, he let go on his own.
“Okay.”
This time, my curiosity… won out over my caution.
I really wanted to know how that thing could react like a huge bottle of mineral water.
I was already here. How could I not take a closer look?
I continued stroking Quinn Hill’s tail, little by little.
Trình Dực’s sweatpants… began to bulge slightly.
Like a scene from nature after the rain.
Trình Dực narrowed his eyes slightly. From his collarbones to the tips of his ears, he was flushed red.
He had a stunning pair of phoenix-shaped eyes, their corners gently curved and the delicate creases in his upper eyelids adding to their sharp look.
He was so close that I could make out every detail.
A faint blush tinged the corners of his eyes, and against the sunset, it was mesmerizing.
My face grew warm without my noticing.
Now that Quinn Hill was being petted to its heart’s content, it turned around and licked its own tail.
Trình Dực let out a groan, his breathing completely breaking apart.
Oh no!
A cat’s tongue has backward-facing barbs!
I grabbed Quinn Hill’s tail in alarm, stopping it from licking any more.
I looked up—
Horrified, I clenched my hand tight.
“Daddy?!”
Trình Dực went stiff where I’d squeezed him, his eyes wide as he stared at me.
His expression seemed to say, “You’re calling me that… is that really okay?”
I immediately turned his head the other way.
He saw my dad—and blurted out, “Dad?”
As soon as my dad got a good look at his face, he dropped the wooden stick in his hand and broke into a knowing smile.
“Well, well!”
Not far away, my mom casually dropped the brick she was holding, too.
Trình Dực never expected to run into my parents here.
From this angle… that part of him…
had gone soft.
I suddenly started worrying. Was little Trình Dực okay?
All in the span of a few short seconds.
Licked by a cat, squeezed by me, then given the fright of his life by my parents.
Was he really all right?
Would there be any lasting damage?
What if from now on he couldn’t get it up at all?!
6
My dad recognized Trình Dực at a glance.
Anything connected to national glory could turn my dad into the world’s biggest fan.
Back when the Nordic tournament was broadcast live, my dad would get so worked up every time the national team won a medal that he could hardly contain himself.
He’d yell throughout the house and sometimes even cry.
He made such a racket that rumors spread around the neighborhood that my mom… beat him all the time.
As for my mom, though extremely vigilant, she was a bona fide fan of handsome men.
The moment Trình Dực’s face appeared…
I was sure my mom had immediately filed him under “good guy”—no, make that “the best guy ever.”
My parents saw I hadn’t come home for dinner, so they went to the park to look for me.
Instead, they found me standing very close to some huge guy who looked extremely suspicious.
On top of that, we were sneaking glances at each other, looking awfully shady.
So… one of them picked up a rock, and the other grabbed a stick.
They were ready to teach a lesson to the bastard who dared set his sights on their daughter.
But the moment they got a good look at Trình Dực’s face, their attitudes did a complete 180.
“Taylor Parker, you have a boyfriend and didn’t even tell your mom and dad? You should’ve at least brought him home to meet us.”
I immediately denied it. “He’s not my boyfriend.”
Trình Dực calmly added, “Not yet.”
I spent ages explaining that we were just ordinary classmates.
But Trình Dực was a master of conversation. One sweet “Uncle, Auntie,” and my parents were grinning from ear to ear.
After just a little small talk, he’d successfully planted the idea in their heads that “the two of them are in that talking stage, but our daughter’s too shy to admit it.”
My parents believed every word.
They even warmly insisted that since he’d come all this way, he had to come home and have a proper meal with us.
I pressed a hand to my forehead and thought:
If Trình Dực ever sold health supplements, he could probably scam my parents out of their pants.
7
Trình Dực brought a whole pile of beautifully wrapped gifts in from the car, as if he’d been preparing to meet my parents for ages.
My parents liked him even more and couldn’t stop praising him.
Dinner passed in a cheerful atmosphere.
Trình Dực insisted on helping my dad with the dishes, and even posed with my mom for countless pictures.
In the end, my parents happily set him up in the guest room.
Watching all this, I thought to myself—my parents were definitely going to be smitten with him for the rest of their lives.
After that, Trình Dực sat down on the living room sofa and watched a horror movie with me.
I leaned against one side of the chair, with Quinn Hill curled up beside me.
Trình Dực sat down at the other end, making the cushion sink noticeably.
Everything that had happened today was almost enough to prove that our empathic connection was real.
Trình Dực hesitated for a moment, then spoke. “There’s something I’d like to discuss with you… Could you bring Quinn Hill to D thành?”
We were both about to start college in D thành.
I’d looked at the news. Trình Dực was from there, after all.
What was he getting at? Did he want to take Quinn Hill away to protect himself?
No way!
“I won’t agree to that.”
Trình Dực softened his voice, trying to reassure me. “Don’t worry. I’ll give Quinn Hill the best life possible.”
What the hell was he talking about?
Quinn Hill was a stray I found two months ago under a tree near my apartment building.
It was pouring that day. Quinn Hill hadn’t even opened her eyes yet. She was tiny as a little golden mouse, weakly mewing.
I’d used a syringe to feed it milk drop by drop, raising it little by little until now.
Quinn Hill was the first kitten I ever raised with my own hands.
No one had the right to take it away from me!
At this point, I couldn’t keep up my cool, distant act anymore.
I demanded of Trình Dực:
“What were you doing all that time before? What have you done for Quinn Hill in the past two months? Do you know when Quinn first opened their eyes? Do you know what kind of litter Quinn likes? What food Quinn eats? You don’t know anything—you only care about yourself!”
Trình Dực stared at me, mouth agape, then softened his voice and tried to calm me down:
“Don’t get worked up. We can talk this out.”
But the more I said, the more I felt like a struggling single mother raising her child, now forced to face a lousy father trying to fight for custody.
“How could I not get worked up? Quinn Hill is my whole life!”
Trình Dực sighed.
“Quinn Hill is mine, too.”
The negotiation broke down in a tense standoff.
Furious, I scooped up Quinn Hill and headed straight back to my room.
8
In the middle of the night, I drifted in and out of sleep.
I vaguely felt someone stroking my face, while soft breaths sounded beside my ear.
I cracked my eyes open and glanced beside my pillow—
A slender hand was braced right beside me.
I followed the arm upward… and saw Trình Dực’s face!
You bastard!
I woke up in an instant.
What was he doing sneaking into my room in the middle of the night?!
Seeing that I was about to scream, Trình Dực quickly clapped a hand over my mouth.
“Shh—”
With his other hand, he fumbled for the bedside lamp switch and turned it on.
The light flashed on, bringing everything into clearer view.
He was very close. His hair fell slightly forward in the lamplight, framing dark eyes and long, thick lashes.
Damn…
No matter how handsome he was, it couldn’t excuse his midnight creep behavior!
But the difference in strength between us was obvious. I couldn’t move at all.
So I stuck out my tongue and licked his palm.
He startled, just as I’d expected, and loosened his grip a little.
I seized the chance and sank my teeth into the webbing between his thumb and forefinger.
But he didn’t react at all. His pain tolerance was incredible.
He even calmly explained, “I came to find Quinn Hill.”
He’d snuck into my room in the middle of the night just to steal my cat?
That was even more unforgivable!
I raised my leg, ready to kick him.
But just then, Trình Dực gently lifted my head and pulled Quinn Hill’s tail out from under the pillow.
Kids really were carefree.
Even with its tail pinned down all night and all that commotion, Quinn Hill still didn’t wake up.
It only rolled over once, then went right back to sleep.
What a heartless little thing!
But Trình Dực didn’t have it so easy.
That overly sensitive part had been pressed all night, making the pain feel a hundred times worse.
The pain was so bad, he’d jolted awake in the middle of the night and texted me.
I pulled out my phone and checked his messages.
Sure enough, every single one had been sent in the early hours of the morning.
【Lâm Dư Kiều, are you asleep?】
【It’s nothing important.】
【Could you check what Quinn Hill is doing?】
【Is its tail stuck somewhere?】
【This is really important… I can’t take it much longer!】
【Lâm Dư Kiều, I’m begging you, pay a little attention to me!】
【📞 Voice call】
【📹 Video call】
I hadn’t heard a thing.
His last message had come in ten minutes ago.
【Sorry, I have to go into your room and check on Quinn Hill.】
Once I learned the truth, I suddenly felt a little guilty.
I quickly wiped the spit off his hand with my sleeve.
Trình Dực narrowed his eyes slightly and let out a sigh.
I guessed he must have felt utterly helpless—ever since he’d run into me earlier that day, I’d been putting him through one ordeal after another.
But afraid of making enough noise to wake my parents, I apologized in a whisper. “Sorry… Quinn Hill and I will make it up to you.”
Trình Dực leaned slightly closer. The fabric of his pants brushed against the bedsheet with the faintest rustle.
He leaned close to my ear, his low voice making me tense up instinctively until even my toes curled.
“Move in with me.”
“Huh?”
When I reacted a little too loudly, he was already used to this and immediately covered my mouth with his hand.
“I have a small apartment right across from trường D. When you start school, bring Quinn Hill over and live with me.”
“That way, you won’t have to be away from Quinn Hill.”
“And I can keep an eye on Quinn Hill’s tail whenever I want.”
After hearing him out, I suddenly thought the idea wasn’t so bad after all.
For one thing, if Quinn Hill stayed back home and accidentally sat on its tail again, putting Trình Dực in the same situation as tonight, it could be really dangerous.
For another, I didn’t want to be separated from Quinn Hill, either.
I’d once asked my dorm roommates if I could bring a cat, but one of them was allergic, so there was no way.
If Trình Dực already had an apartment near school… then the problem was easily solved.
“Okay, I’m in.”