With her long and slender fingers clutching his lapel while the other hand slapped against the wall behind him, Ru's green eyes challenged Xiao Zhi Ren to look back. Their height difference wasn't that much, and with him being pushed against a wall, their faces were at a level.

They were so close that he could even feel her hot breath falling on his face. 'F*ck! Someone just kill me!' He groaned inwardly.

Seeing his eyes still avoiding her face, Ru felt indignant. "Zhi, I don't like it when people don't look me in the eyes while talking to me."

'How am I supposed to look? Mm... Why does she smell like lemon? And why do I suddenly find lemons to be very enticing?' Xiao Zhi Ren was obviously lost in his own thinking.

"Zhi, are you ignoring me?" Ru's voice raised an octave.

"Can you please back off a little," Xiao Zhi Ren tried to push her body back but when he touched her chest, his eyes widened and he pulled his hands back like they just touched a burning flame. Although her chest was still tied in a binding, he knew what was underneath that hard facade.

Ru saw his reaction, his gaze, his discomfort... She thoroughly observed everything.

"Zhi, are you uncomfortable with knowing that I'm a girl?" Her voice might have turned softer but her bluntness was enough to stun Xiao Zhi Ren for a second.

Maintaining a reasonable distance from her, he scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "It is a bit uncomfortable." He wasn't used to this yet. He was still trying to process the fact that she was a girl. And that too the one he had been yearning for. One wrong step and he might lose her again. He didn't want that. Not at all!

Ru lowered her eyes to ponder his words.

"I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable." Xiao Zhi Ren stared at her as she continued, "I know you only wanted a sworn brother but I deceived you. I'm really sorry about that. I know you didn't want to be a part of this mess. I didn't want you to be as well." Before he could refute her words, she kept going on, "If this is really too much for you... I'll move out of here."

Xiao Zhi Ren's heart sank. 'What did she say?'

If he wasn't certain before, her next words only confirmed it, "You don't have to worry. I'm Xie Rong, I know how to disappear. You won't even hear my name again."

Xiao Zhi Ren suddenly lost his temper. He gripped her wrist in his hand tightly. "Are you crazy? How many times are you planning to run? Aren't you tired of running? Why can't you just stay here and let this place finally become your home? Are you that eager to disappear? One day, people might really forget all about you. For goodness sake, stop running!"

He was furious. Actually, he was beyond furious. Her words reminded him of how she vanished all those years ago. When he found her, she was running from someone. When he tried to protect her, she ran from him. And when he tried to look for her, she was nowhere to be found.

After all those years, now she stands before him. How can she even think about leaving again? Is she even gonna run from him? Why?

Ru couldn't understand his rage. And more so, she was looking at him disbelievingly because she couldn't understand how he knew that she had been running for a long time? She never said anything about that.

In fact, she was indeed tired of running. And that's why she finally chose to come back. She wanted a home as well. She didn't want to play the game of identities anymore. But why was he questioning her? With what right? He said it himself that she was making him uncomfortable, then why was he behaving like that now?

"You... You said I'm making you uncomfortable." Ru didn't question about anything else. She didn't need to hear anything else. Not now.

Xiao Zhi Ren let go of her wrist and lifted his hand to stroke her cheek with the back of his knuckles as he whispered, "But I don't want you to leave."