She's Not Someone to Mess With

[Living-under-one-roof trope / parents remarry / second-chance romance later on] When Chen Chen was in her second year of high school, her gambling-addict father went to prison. At a dinner, the man sitting beside her mother introduced himself: “This is my son, Song Mingzhi. He's three months younger than you, so you can think of him as your little brother from now on.” Chen Chen was no typical good student. The first time she met Song Mingzhi, she was smoking and drinking at a barbecue stall with her best friend. “I'd never let my future girlfriend smoke or drink.” He smoked and drank, yet scrutinized her from across the crowd. “Why should girls be judged like this for smoking and drinking?” At another table, smoke curled around her fingertips. The second time they met, they were trapped in an elevator accident. The third time they met, she showed up in a hotel lobby with her best friend in the middle of the night... The last time they met was at a dinner where their parents discussed remarrying. Years later, Chen Chen's father was accidentally injured by Song Mingzhi and lay in the ICU, hovering between life and death. Before Song Mingzhi went to prison, he looked at Chen Chen and said, “I want you to owe me for the rest of your life. You'll repay me with yourself.” After he was released, Chen Chen grabbed Song Mingzhi by the collar and said quietly, “I'll give myself to you right now.” But he shoved her away. In the darkness, the man's low voice murmured as he stroked her hair. “Don't even think about running away again. I want you for the rest of your life.”