Dangerous Intimacy

[Signed for print publication. Follow @Liwu on Weibo for updates.]

When Zhen Yao was seventeen, her parents both died in a car accident, and she lost her sight as well. The Song couple, who had been close friends with her parents, kindly took her into their home and personally looked after her.

Overnight, she gained three older brothers. The three young men, each a star in his own right, doted on her endlessly.

The second brother was gentle, the third carefree. As for the eldest...

She was a little afraid of him.

At first, she feared him and avoided him. Later... she still feared and avoided him.

After she regained her sight, the way he looked at her always made her feel there was nowhere to run.

One night, as she walked down the long hallway toward her room, a pair of arms pulled her through a tightly shut door.

The eldest Song son, so proper by day, revealed his true nature in a kiss in the darkness.

*

There are three things in this world that cannot be hidden: poverty, a cough, and love.

And the one place where love can never be concealed is a person's eyes.

Song Lubai watched her eyes as they prepared to see again, quietly counting down to the moment his secret would be revealed.

*

[Bonus scene]

Mr. and Mrs. Song: Yao Yao, there's no rush. You can fall in love later.

Second Song brother: Exactly.

Third Song brother: Right. Don't let some random man whisk you away too soon.

The random man in question, eldest Song brother, silently took the young woman's hand under the table and said calmly, "Men out there are no good."

When their relationship came to light, the usually gentle second Song brother threw a punch. Mr. Song slammed the table and shouted, "Forget men out there. You're no good either!"

#Also known as "I Have So Many Brothers I Can't Keep Count"

#Nine-year age gap

//

Coming soon: "Heart Racing Afterward"

Blurb:

[Ten-year age gap. Neither has an ex, emotionally or physically.]

The night she got drunk, Jiang Jiami spent a wonderful evening with a handsome, gentlemanly, mature man in great shape. They parted amicably afterward, thinking they'd never see each other again.

The next afternoon, sore all over, Jiang Jiami went downstairs to meet one of her father's friends. The man in the living room looked strangely familiar.

The man who had been anything but gentlemanly the night before was now impeccably dressed, the very picture of respectability.

"Jiami, this is one of Dad's friends," her father said with a smile. "He's also the investor behind your school's scholarship."

"Zhou Xushen." The man offered her a hand and smiled faintly, his gaze full of meaning. "Hello, Jiami."

She forced herself to shake his hand, his body heat filling her mind with all sorts of impure thoughts.

Jiang Jiami thought things with Zhou Xushen would end with that night, when they were still strangers. But he tempted her until she lost her head, and she kept seeing him behind her father's back, again and again.

At a lecture, Zhou Xushen appeared as a guest speaker. The students were all captivated by him, and during the break they crowded around him.

Jiang Jiami's friend pulled her over, and the man turned as if by chance. His smiling gaze found her at once across the crowd.

Properly dressed and composed in public, he later led her backstage, where no one else was around. Through a door that could barely keep out the roar of the cheering crowd, he kissed her until their clothes were rumpled and his tie came loose.

One day, Jiang's father sighed, "It seems Xushen has a woman in his life. That's rare. We should meet this sister-in-law of mine sometime."

"Sister-in-law?!" Jiang Jiami forced a laugh. "Dad, that wouldn't be appropriate..."

"Xushen and I are old friends despite our age difference. What's wrong with calling her my sister-in-law?"

But when he turned around, Zhou Xushen remained perfectly composed and smiled. "Dad."

Mr. Jiang: "…"

Mr. Jiang: "????????"

I thought of you as my younger brother, and you want to be my son-in-law?!

Theme: Embrace warmth and light.