Wen Yifan's lips were warm and dry, like a brand searing into his skin.
Her breath was light and shallow, steady and rhythmic, brushing past like a feather. She carried a faint scent of roses, as if bewitching, spreading all around, permeating every crevice to disturb his mind.
The distance was so close that when she blinked, her eyelashes would graze the side of his face. The sensation was barely there, intensifying the unreal feeling, bit by bit, tearing apart his rationality.
Sang Yan's hand lifted uncontrollably, only to pause mid-air moments later. He shut his eyes, mustering all his strength to suppress his desire, his palm gradually clenching before withdrawing.
He still wanted to remain human.
This act of not avoiding her was already taking advantage of the situation.
During this time, Wen Yifan slowly straightened up, putting distance between them.
Her face showed no expression, her demeanor so calm it was devoid of any ripples, as if the person who had just leaned down to kiss the corner of his lips wasn’t her. The scene before him reverted to how it had been a minute ago.
As if nothing had happened.
"Hey, Wen Shuangjiang," Sang Yan looked up at her, his voice hoarse, "You just kissed me."
"..."
As if time was up.
Wen Yifan stood and began walking toward her room.
Afraid she might bump into the cabinet again like before, Sang Yan also stood. His voice was soft, as if afraid of waking her: "You’re just going to kiss and run?"
Wen Yifan walked forward slowly, pausing briefly when she passed his room.
"But I’m the kind of person who can’t stand losses," Sang Yan leaned against the wall, watching her movements, "So you owe me one."
"..."
She continued toward the master bedroom.
Only when he was sure she wouldn’t bump into anything did Sang Yan stop following her. His gaze was inscrutable as he leisurely finished his words: "You can pay me back when you’re awake."
Due to severe sleep deprivation, Wen Yifan didn’t wake until ten the next morning, barely roused by her alarm. Groggily turning it off, she lay in bed for a while longer before finally forcing herself up.
Her expression was sluggish as she habitually glanced toward the door, then quickly averted her eyes as if nothing was amiss.
A few seconds later, she belatedly looked up again, her gaze landing on the spot in front of the door.
Only then did she realize the area was empty—there was no sign of the chair. Her eyelids flickered as she instantly snapped awake, scanning the room.
Soon, she spotted the chair properly placed beside the dressing table.
As if it had returned to its rightful place, looking completely normal.
"..."
Wen Yifan was baffled.
Had she been so exhausted yesterday that she mentally believed she’d moved the chair, but in reality, her body hadn’t acted on it?
Or had she actually sleepwalked?
At that moment, Wen Yifan even considered installing a camera in her room to record her sleepwalking activities, so she wouldn’t be left in this state of bewildered ignorance.
If something really had happened, at least she’d have time to prepare some responses in advance. She got up, trying hard to recall whether she’d moved the chair before bed last night as she headed to the bathroom to wash up.
But the more she thought about it, the less certain she became.After tidying herself up, Wen Yifan left her room. It was already quite late, so she headed to the kitchen intending to grab a sandwich before leaving, but she happened to run into Sang Yan, who was cooking noodles in the kitchen.
She paused in her steps.
Sang Yan glanced up, his eyes sweeping over her.
"..."
The atmosphere felt oddly strange.
The peculiar tension that had been directed at her in recent days now seemed to have shifted onto Sang Yan. Yet his expression was completely unreadable, and he didn’t initiate any conversation, making it seem as though it might just be her imagination.
Wen Yifan closed the refrigerator and hesitantly asked, "Last night, did I..."
Sang Yan stirred the contents of the pot with his chopsticks.
She finished her question in a small voice, "...sleepwalk?"
Sang Yan responded indifferently, "Mhm."
"Then I didn’t do anything, right?" Before he could answer, Wen Yifan quickly repeated what she’d said before, "Just do as I mentioned earlier—if you see me sleepwalking, treat me like air. If I get close to you, try to avoid me."
Hearing this, Sang Yan turned off the stove. "I haven’t even said anything yet, and you’re already trying to distance yourself?"
Wen Yifan explained, "It’s not about distancing. I’m just reminding you."
Sang Yan picked up the pot and casually asked, "Want some?"
Wen Yifan was about to say "no" since she was running late. But after glancing at the noodles in his pot, she hesitated and figured she could spare a few minutes. "Sure."
Sang Yan: "Get your own bowl."
Wen Yifan took two bowls from the cabinet and followed behind him, continuing her probing. "So, what exactly did I do last night? Were you not asleep yet?"
She remembered she hadn’t gone to bed until 2 a.m.
Without looking up, he replied, "Got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom."
Wen Yifan sat at the dining table, patiently waiting for him to continue. But when he remained silent, focused solely on serving the noodles, she pressed on, "Did I... do anything inappropriate last night?"
Setting the freshly served noodles in front of her, Sang Yan looked at her with a faint smirk. "Last night?"
Wen Yifan: "Yeah."
Sang Yan paused for a few seconds, as if recalling, then said, "You didn’t do anything like before."
Wen Yifan let out a sigh of relief.
He added, "However—"
Wen Yifan immediately turned to him.
Sang Yan grinned. "You did something even worse."
Wen Yifan: "?"
Noticing her expression, Sang Yan raised an eyebrow. "Don’t go imagining anything indecent."
"..."
She hadn’t even thought of that!!!
Wen Yifan took a deep breath, feeling like she was about to lose it, yet she forced herself to remain calm, as if this were no big deal. She pressed her lips together and persisted, "So what was it?"
"I won’t go into details," Sang Yan said lazily. "I’m afraid you’d feel like your world has collapsed, unable to believe you’re capable of such things."
"..."
With an infuriating tone, he added, "I’m just that considerate and forgiving."
"It’s fine, just tell me," Wen Yifan said through gritted teeth. "I can handle it."
Sang Yan looked at her, his gaze drifting from her eyes downward, lingering somewhere. His eyes darkened slightly, and he pressed his lips together. He averted his gaze, his tone casual, yet tinged with an air of having suffered great injustice. "Forget it. I can’t bring myself to say it."
Wen Yifan: "..."
With your personality.
You, of all people, have something you, fucking, can’t, say, out loud?"Let me put it this way." Sang Yan tapped his fingers lightly on the table, enunciating each word clearly. "Recently, I've been in a pretty good mood. So for now, I won't hold these things against you."
"..."
"But in the future, I'll make sure you repay every single one of them."
Wen Yifan really disliked this feeling of being indebted. She said earnestly, "Can I repay them now?"
Sang Yan leaned back in his chair. "Now's not the time yet."
Wen Yifan: "Then how should I repay?"
Sang Yan didn't answer.
The current situation reminded Wen Yifan of her first visit to the Overtime Bar, when she'd accidentally called him "Top Performer Sang" due to a slip of the tongue. At the time, Sang Yan had mistakenly thought she was there to solicit him.
What she was doing now seemed somewhat similar to "soliciting," but not quite.
She'd done something wrong and ought to compensate him for emotional damages.
Was that the general idea?
Unable to think of any other way to make amends for her actions, Wen Yifan could only come up with this most logical solution. Hesitantly, she asked, "Do you... want money?"
Sang Yan's expression froze.
"Um, can I give you an IOU for now?" Wen Yifan was currently in rather dire financial straits. Once she passed her probation period, she probably wouldn't be this pitiful anymore. "Next time, you can just wake me up directly."
Sang Yan stared at her expressionlessly, no longer continuing the topic. After a long pause, he finally said impatiently, "Hurry up and eat."
......
After that, the situation seemed to reverse.
Wen Yifan had already heard from him about how she'd kissed him while sleepwalking. Several days had passed since then, and no matter how unbelievable it was, she'd already come to accept it.
Although Sang Yan claimed she'd done something even worse this time.
But he always talked like this, and Wen Yifan didn't really believe she could do anything that outrageous.
Last time's kiss could be explained by his lack of vigilance, but now Sang Yan was fully aware of her sleepwalking habit. If she really did anything inappropriate, he wouldn't have just let it happen.
Wen Yifan didn't take this sleepwalking incident too seriously.
Instead, it was Sang Yan who started acting strangely, as if repeating her previous reaction. Like he was just slow to process things and only now realized how unacceptable it was that she'd kissed him—
This was evident from the chair he placed in front of his bedroom door before sleeping.
Wen Yifan roughly deduced that her sleepwalking episodes weren't very frequent, occurring only occasionally. Combined with the fact that Sang Yan rarely brought it up, she gradually stopped worrying about it.
Unconsciously, time crept toward the end of April.
Earlier, Fu Zhuang had mentioned that their department would be hiring new people, but there had been no follow-up. Wen Yifan thought his information might be wrong and didn't pay it much mind.
Just as she was about to forget about it entirely—
On Monday afternoon.
Wen Yifan and Fu Zhuang returned from an interview to find two unfamiliar faces in the office.
One male, one female, both looking quite young, like college students. Since they'd just arrived and had no mentors assigned yet, they were sitting at their desks flipping through materials with nothing else to do.
Fu Zhuang seemed to recognize one of them and called out cheerfully, "Mu Chengyun."
Hearing the name, Wen Yifan took a closer look at the young man's face and realized it was the same guy who'd asked for her autograph before. She turned to Fu Zhuang and asked casually, "You know him?""Yeah, I know him. He's my classmate, Mu Chengyun," Fu Zhuang enthusiastically introduced. "I mentioned him before—the one who asked if our team was still recruiting. He's pretty famous in our department and has even acted in a movie! Dude's amazing!"
Hearing their conversation, Mu Chengyun stood up and came over to greet her. "Hello, senior. I'm the new intern, Mu Chengyun."
"You can call her Yifan-jie or Wen-jie. If you just say 'senior,' who knows who you're referring to? Everyone here is your senior," Fu Zhuang proudly patted his chest. "I'm your senior too."
Mu Chengyun immediately looked at Wen Yifan, as if seeking her approval.
"Either is fine," Wen Yifan said. "We've met before, right?"
"Yeah," Mu Chengyun replied with a shy smile. "I didn’t expect Yifan-jie to be a fan of mine."
"..."
Fu Zhuang was shocked. "Sis, you've seen his movie?"
Wen Yifan paused for three seconds before answering without explanation, "Mm."
Another intern chimed in at that moment. She seemed lively, with a small canine tooth visible when she smiled. "What movie? Let me see if I’ve watched it."
Without waiting for an answer, the girl added, "Oh, by the way, I'm Fang Li. Senior, can I call you Yifan-jie too?"
Wen Yifan agreed but didn’t continue the conversation, returning to her seat instead. She turned on her computer and saw Fang Li take out her phone to exchange WeChat contacts with Fu Zhuang and Mu Chengyun.
A short while later.
Just as Wen Yifan opened a document, she noticed the light dimming beside her. She looked up to see Mu Chengyun standing next to her, politely asking, "Yifan-jie, could I add you on WeChat?"
Fang Li also walked over and stood nearby, waiting.
Wen Yifan hesitated briefly before picking up her phone and nodding. "Sure."
After accepting their friend requests, Wen Yifan scrolled through WeChat and noticed a message from her current landlord reminding her about this month’s rent.
Only then did she realize the payment was due.
Work kept her so busy she forgot everything.
Wen Yifan quickly apologized and transferred the money via online banking. Once the transaction was complete, she found Sang Yan’s WeChat and sent a message:
[The rent for this month is due.]
[You can transfer it to my Alipay.]
She then set her phone aside and began drafting her news article.
Less than thirty seconds later.
Her phone screen lit up.
While still looking at her computer, Wen Yifan picked up her phone and unlocked it.
The notification showed Sang Yan’s transfer record.
She tapped it casually to confirm the amount.
— Sang Yan has transferred 30,000 yuan to you.
Exiting Alipay, she opened WeChat to reply with "Received," but something felt off. She tilted her head and reopened Alipay to check the amount again.
Wen Yifan silently counted the zeros.
One, two, three, four…
"..."
"?"
Four zeros.
That made it thirty thousand , didn’t it?
His monthly rent was three thousand.
Even if he wanted to pay for a few months in advance, thirty thousand was excessive…
She took a screenshot and sent it to him on WeChat:
[Why did you transfer so much?]
Sang Yan replied quickly:
[What.]
About a minute later.
Sang Yan:
[Oh.]
[Added an extra zero.]
"..."
Wen Yifan thought to herself, Must be nice to be rich. It seemed like he hadn't even noticed the issue if she hadn't brought it up.
Wen Yifan: [Then I'll transfer it back to you.]
Sang Yan: [No need.]
Sang Yan: [Keep it for next month's deduction.]
Wen Yifan had thought he was just staying for an extra month and was confused when she read this. After some thought, she still asked: [Around which month are you planning to stay until?]
Sang Yan: [?]
Text couldn't convey tone, so Wen Yifan added: [I just want to confirm.]
Wen Yifan: [That way I can decide when to start looking for a new roommate.]
This time, Sang Yan didn't reply immediately.
After a long while, he finally sent a voice message.
Wen Yifan clicked to listen.
Sang Yan's lazy voice trailed off at the end: "Until you've repaid the debt you owe me."
"......"
Wen Yifan didn't understand: [What debt?]
Another message came.
Sang Yan: "What, do I need to remind you?"
Wen Yifan was still trying to figure it out.
This time, Sang Yan switched to text.
A series of messages came one after another.
Like heavy hammer blows, each sentence struck her mind.
[You]
[Late at night]
[Reason defeated by desire]
[Attempted]
[To possess me]
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