Day and Night Under the Villain's Spell

[A crazed top who desperately grovels for his sweetheart x A composed bottom who watches the villain rise to power]

-

Song Shiyan transmigrated into a melodramatic novel and became its hapless protagonist, the bottom.

In the original plot, his friend would betray him, his classmates would frame him, the protagonist's white moonlight would target him, and in the end, the protagonist's crazed older brother would drag him down to die together.

Song Shiyan: "..."

Damn it, what a stupid mess.

To get away from this bunch of lunatics, the first thing he did after transmigrating into the book was move and transfer schools, avoiding every plot point that might bring him into contact with the protagonist.

But three weeks after transferring, he caught the eye of the protagonist's crazed older brother.

The other man went out of his way to be nice to him, picked him up and dropped him off at school, put a straw in his drink, watched movies with him, took care of his problems, and even cooked for him himself...

Song Shiyan: What does he want?

System: I'll go check him out.

After checking him out, the System was horrified:

"Oh no! He has a System too!"

Song Shiyan: "?"

System: "He's got the villain's rise-to-power plotline. If he wins you over, he can steal the protagonist's halo!"

Song Shiyan: "..."

System: "He doesn't want to hurt you, but he is here to deceive you into falling for him!"

"Oh..."

From then on, Song Shiyan simply watched Xie Que, the major villain, rise to power.

On a rainy day, Xie Que stood at the school gates holding an umbrella.

System: "A plot point for winning you over: sharing an umbrella."

In the cinema, Xie Que took his hand in the darkness.

System: "A plot point for winning you over: holding hands."

When he walked Song Shiyan home, Xie Que deliberately lingered downstairs.

System: "A plot point for winning you over: the lingering, flirtatious pause before parting."

Song Shiyan finally looked up and asked him, "Is kissing me the next step?"

Xie Que: "...?"

Song Shiyan: "Go ahead and kiss me. Just don't forget to bring me lunch tomorrow."

-

At first, Xie Que really was after the protagonist's halo.

But Song Shiyan was just so much to his liking: smart, beautiful, not clingy, not troublesome. He knew Xie Que wasn't a good person, yet never kept asking questions.

He was comfortable to hold and sweet to kiss, and he was incredibly accommodating in bed.

Since he'd already won him over, Xie Que figured things could stay just like this.

The day the System announced, [Protagonist's halo transfer successful], Xie Que was in a great mood. He booked the finest restaurant and invited his beautiful sweetheart to dinner, deciding to discuss the terms of their future "partnership."

He could give him plenty of money, but marriage was out of the question.

As long as Song Shiyan kept behaving, Xie Que could support him for the rest of his life.

But that very night, Song Shiyan suddenly dumped him.

With a hint of uncertainty and a trace of amusement, Xie Que said softly, "Do you know what you just said?"

"I said," Song Shiyan replied, looking him in the eye and repeating himself, "that it's over between us, dear Mr. Xie."

Xie Que laughed on the spot.

He figured he must have played his part too well while trying to win Song Shiyan over these past few years. How had Song Shiyan gotten it into his head that he had the right to call it off?

It wasn't until much later, when he stood outside Song Shiyan's home holding an umbrella, looking through the glass of a floor-to-ceiling window at Song Shiyan sitting with his chin propped on one hand, silently watching him,

that he suddenly realized he had never been the one with the right to decide.

Theme: Still thinking about it