Luring My Sister into the Tide [Cohabitation]

[Fake bones / Younger man / Cohabitation / Unconventional second chance romance / Tension and forbidden desire / Six-year age gap]

Resilient, sensitive, gentle older woman × sharp-tongued, obsessive, scheming younger man

Missing persons reporter × legal aid lawyer

Blurb:

While searching for her family, Jiang Yanxiu was branded an ungrateful wretch and cut all ties with her adoptive parents.

Eight years later, in the same city, she runs into Shen Yichao again. He's now in college.

Jiang Yanxiu tries to make sure: "Are you Shuaishui?"

Shen Yichao sneers without changing expression. "So your eyes aren't broken after all."

The well-behaved child who used to tug at her sleeve has grown up, carrying all the resentment and bitterness Jiang Yanxiu felt before she turned sixteen. Like a hidden current beneath the waves, he draws her in step by step, ready to sweep her into an unfathomable whirlpool.

A twist of fate brings them under the same roof again. He works his way into her life and begins to claim territory.

"Jiang Yanxiu, I hate you so much."

He buries his face in her neck. His falling tears burn hot against her skin, and the innocence and vulnerability in his eyes make him seem, for a moment, like the boy he used to be.

"Why couldn't you remember what I looked like? Why did you make new friends? Why did you leave me behind and walk away without looking back?"

His voice catches, and he chokes out, "And why did you lie to me that day?"

Crushed by guilt, Jiang Yanxiu can't find the words to explain what happened back then. She does her best to comfort him, just as she used to when he was little.

That night seems to resolve the questions that have stood between them for years. But soon Jiang Yanxiu notices something is wrong: an unspoken tension between them is growing stronger by the day.

Shen Yichao: "Jiang Yanxiu, why have you been avoiding me lately?"

Jiang Yanxiu: "Mind your manners. You should call me big sister."

On the fifth day of avoiding him, she is finally stopped in her tracks by the young man.

"Do you remember?" Shen Yichao murmurs in her ear. "From the moment we first met, I told you not to see me as just your little brother."

Jiang Yanxiu tries to push him away. "Are you crazy?"

He catches her flailing hand and kisses her fingertips. His gaze burns with intensity. "Big sister, please take another good look at me."

He's long since stopped being the good little boy she thought he was.

Now he's simply a suitor longing for even the smallest share of her love.

A searing heat spreads through her palm, jolting her nerves. Jiang Yanxiu stands frozen, watching something suddenly shatter.

It was her fault. After all these years apart, she'd clearly driven him completely mad.

No blood relation / Not registered in the same household

Character profile template reference thanks to @A Helpless Fish. Character art drawn by the author.

Theme: Pursuit