Chapter 27 Part 3

Zhu Ran had never kissed anyone before and had no idea that kissing could be such a terrifying thing.

Everything slipped out of his control—his body, his mind, his pulse, even his breathing—all defied his will and plunged into this grand, chaotic revelry.

He felt like Huo Boyan was going to devour him, or perhaps absorb him into his very body.

Zhu Ran clutched Huo Boyan’s shoulders, struggling desperately to reclaim his breath, but the fight only drained his oxygen faster.

Even worse, Huo Boyan kneaded the small of his back, and Zhu Ran’s waist went instantly soft. A surge of even greater fear rose in his heart, yet his body betrayed him, clamoring to continue.

A strange sensation flowed through Zhu Ran’s body, swelling and expanding, eroding his reason and will. It was like stepping into soft sand—sinking deeper and deeper until he hit something at the bottom.

If Zhu Ran had known about the Hong Kong Island tabloids’ reports on Huo Boyan, he would have understood that this was indeed something terrifying akin to Godzilla.

His brain jolted awake through its protective instincts. Whether it was Huo Boyan’s actions or his own reactions, they terrified Zhu Ran to his core, and he desperately wanted to escape.

But Huo Boyan’s movements were ferociously intimidating. Leveraging his height advantage, he lifted Zhu Ran’s legs off the ground, leaving him no choice but to collapse into his arms and submit to the kiss.

In the midst of his violent struggles, Zhu Ran knocked over the dessert tower on the coffee table. He merely turned his head for a glance before Huo Boyan bit his lip again, punishingly pinching the small of his back.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Hearing the commotion inside, someone knocked on the door and asked.

Huo Boyan didn’t even pause to respond. He simply carried Zhu Ran straight to the door and pressed his body against it.

The substantial noise alarmed Chen Jiaming outside, and knocking sounds—”bang bang”—rang out. Zhu Ran was pinned to the door by Huo Boyan, with Chen Jiaming’s full attention just one door away.

Too stimulating.

Zhu Ran felt like he’d exhausted his lifetime quota of rebellion that very night. And this terrifying kiss continued unabated. Huo Boyan appeared cold and aloof, but his tongue acted as if it had come alive, leaving Zhu Ran in complete disarray.

Zhu Ran soon couldn’t stand on his own—no, he had nowhere to stand at all. Huo Boyan pinned him against the door, forcing Zhu Ran to cling desperately to his body.

Outside, Chen Jiaming was beside himself with worry. He suspected his boss had been attacked. The boss used to take bodyguards everywhere, but lately he’d been meeting Zhu Ran alone—and sure enough, trouble had come!

“Boss, hold on just a bit. I’m coming in right now.” Chen Jiaming called for bodyguards and rallied a few burly men to ram the door.

At the same moment, a “click” echoed from inside. Huo Boyan supported Zhu Ran’s body with one hand and used the other to lock the door.

The knocking grew even louder, the vibrations thudding against Zhu Ran’s back through the door panel. Amid this furious barrage, Huo Boyan hoisted Zhu Ran higher and lowered his head to bite at the shirt covering his chest.

Zhu Ran arched his back sharply. One hand gripped Huo Boyan’s hair while the other clamped tightly over his own mouth, not daring to make the slightest sound.

Just as Chen Jiaming summoned the bodyguards to break down the door, a muffled voice finally came from inside: “I’m fine.”

Huo Boyan’s voice remained as calm as ever, though it couldn’t conceal the underlying hoarseness.

Liang Ziqian laughed and said to Chen Jiaming, “Alright, it’s fine now. Disperse for now—don’t interrupt your boss’s good time.”

Chen Jiaming fretted endlessly. He knew exactly what Liang Ziqian meant, but he didn’t believe Huo Boyan was the type.

Yet Huo Boyan had admitted personally that he was fine. If Chen Jiaming burst in and saw something he shouldn’t, his career was over for good. He agonized over it, weighing his options repeatedly, and decided to wait two more minutes before checking again.

The corridor outside fell quiet, and Zhu Ran inside finally caught a moment to breathe.

So utterly disheveled.

He was practically perched on Huo Boyan’s forearm, clothes in disarray, hands limply clutching Huo Boyan’s head. His mind reeled from the intense shock, lost in a prolonged blankness, reduced to instinctive panting.

An image flashed in Zhu Ran’s mind: him and Huo Boyan standing in the Art Museum, gazing at the sculpture together.

Back then, he’d scoffed at Huo Boyan’s words, naively believing he could control his own thoughts and body. He’d thought that with enough will, he could remain forever rational, pure, his mind crystal clear.

But now, mere days later, Zhu Ran felt a thick wave of guilt crashing over him. He longed to confess to a priest and beg for absolution.

What frightened him even more was that alongside the guilt came an intense craving—and a pleasure so profound he wouldn’t mind plummeting into hell for it.

All the pent-up repression in his emotions, the self-destructive urges, the burning resentment, and the suspicions and grievances toward Huo Boyan these past days—all finally vented in this beast-like frenzy of biting and tearing.

Zhu Ran seized Huo Boyan’s hair and kissed back with equal ferocity, mirroring how Huo Boyan had kissed him.

Their bodies slammed into the wall first, then knocked into some other object, but neither cared.

Just like Francesca and Paolo in the story, willing to fall into hell for this fleeting pleasure.

Huo Boyan began to regret his excessive caution toward Zhu Ran—otherwise, he could have savored this sooner. He never imagined that the next moment would bring a sudden twist—

Zhu Ran clamped one hand around his neck.

Huo Boyan halted abruptly and lifted his head. He clearly hadn’t recovered from the prior intensity; his breath, gusting against Zhu Ran’s hand, was rough and heavy, his eyes terrifyingly red—like a beast interrupted mid-feast.

Zhu Ran quailed under his gaze but refused to yield.

Gazing down imperiously at the man, the corners of his eyes still flushed, his expression utterly calm: “Huo Boyan, you took me for a corporate spy?”