She Has Me in Her Grip

[Woman disguised as a man + Sickly-sweet heiress + Fake boyfriend contract + Mutual healing]

Lin Lu’s perspective:

I’m an orphan. I was adopted, then sent back, and lived as a boy for six years.

I thought my whole life would be like that: no one discovering me, no one caring about me, no one throwing me away.

Then Shen Wanyin discovered my secret.

She didn’t expose me. She just smiled and said, “Be my boyfriend.”

In front of other people, I’m her “boyfriend.”

When we’re alone, she makes me wear skirts, let my hair down, and be a girl again.

I thought she just found it amusing.

Then she started asking, “Where did you get all these scars?”

Then she started coming to check in the middle of the night to see if I’d had a nightmare.

Then she said, “You deserve to be loved.”

It was the first time anyone had ever told me I deserved anything.

Shen Wanyin’s perspective:

At first, I just thought she was interesting.

Disguised as a boy, she looked like a frightened little deer. It was fun to watch her tremble.

So I kept her around.

But then I realized…

When I bought her breakfast, she couldn’t bring herself to eat it. She had to save it for later and ask, “Will there be some tomorrow?”

If I so much as touched her, her whole body stiffened, as if she’d been hit before.

Whenever I was a little kind to her, her eyes reddened and she said, “I’m sorry.”

What had she been through?

I looked into it.

Afterward, I sat motionless in my study for a long time.

I thought I was raising a pet.

It turned out I was the one who’d been tamed.

Possessive heiress × Insecure little sweetheart

A slow-burn romance, with both sweetness and angst. She teaches her how to be loved, and she teaches her how to love.