Ji Youyin first met Chen Jingyan in her father's study. It was a rare day of fine weather in Huaicheng. The sunset left a neon-colored afterimage on the young girl's profile. She raised her eyes and saw Chen Jingyan.
The surroundings were blurred in the haze, and the man's face was hidden in smoke. He was gentle but imposing, his presence eclipsing everything else.
Holding on to the doorframe, she greeted him uncertainly. "Hello, big brother."
The man apologized, stubbed out his cigarette, then smiled and corrected her. "I'm old enough to be your uncle."
Only later did Ji Youyin learn that the man was twelve years older than her and a highly esteemed guest of her father's.
The best seats at the Victoria Harbour viewing stand were always reserved for him. The prayer beads on Chen Jingyan's wrist had been given to him by a powerful figure during his stay in the South China Sea.
When her father spoke of him, he said very little, only that the man was beyond words in his nobility.
So when Ji Youyin later kissed him, watching him struggle to restrain his desire, his gentle features tinged with passion, and their bodies pressed close amid the dazzling lights, his dark prayer beads against her youthful skin, she heard him sigh, his voice sounding almost helpless.
"Yinyin, you leave me feeling utterly overwhelmed."
*
She was too young then to know that a web woven of tenderness could be the beginning of possessiveness, and that once trapped in a gilded cage, there was no escape.
*Twelve-year age gap
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