Possessive Desire

[Main story complete, bonus chapters coming!] [Blurb] When Ruan Mo was fifteen, her father went bankrupt. She was sent to the Zhou family. No one in the Zhou family treated her well, and Ruan Mo lived as if she were walking on thin ice. Only one man showed her any warmth: Zhou Ziheng, said to be the most gifted young man in all of Shangjing, and the current head of the Zhou family. She called him "Brother Ziheng," and he protected her. That was the only warmth Ruan Mo felt during her three years with the Zhou family. She never expected that when she turned eighteen and became an adult, she would finally be able to leave the Zhou family. She packed everything, secretly applied to a university on the other side of the world, and was about to leave this oppressive place. But on the day she was meant to leave, her plans were forcibly stopped. Ruan Mo stood in the airport lounge, looking at the man sitting in a waiting-area chair. He was elegant and handsome, wearing gold-rimmed glasses with a faint smile on his lips. He seemed like an ordinary passenger, her gentle Zhou Ziheng. Zhou Ziheng took off his glasses and gently blew on them. He smiled warmly, but there wasn't a trace of warmth in his eyes. Like a cold, poisonous snake, he slowly flicked his tongue. "Little Jasmine." "Is this how you repay me?" * Later, Ruan Mo begged Zhou Ziheng to let her go. Ruan Mo: "...You weren't like this before." Zhou Ziheng smiled at Ruan Mo and gently lifted her chin. "Oh? What was I like before?" Ruan Mo: "Gentle and warm, like a ray of light." "Not like now... so completely cold." "..." Zhou Ziheng: "I'm sorry, Little Jasmine." "Brother Ziheng has always been just the way he is now." Character dynamics: [On the surface]: ruthless male lead x sweet, docile female lead [In reality]: deeply devoted male lead x ruthless female lead Note: 1. One-on-one romance, happy ending, both leads are sexually inexperienced. 2. There is no intimacy before the leads turn eighteen. 3. Old-school, angsty melodrama. Neither lead is a good person. The male lead indulges the female lead; his breakdown in the blurb is caused by many things, not without reason. 4. The female lead's sweetness and docility are an act. She personally handles the confrontations in the early story, and directly takes on the male lead as she fights for power in the middle. 5. The female lead loves only the male lead from beginning to end, and has only ever been with him. Coming soon: Modern romance, First Snow at the Harbor. Please add it to your reading list~ [Blurb] On the day the first snowflake fell on Laizhou Harbor, the director of the research institute personally assigned Xu Wenyan to take on a batch of interns. Everyone was shocked, because they all knew Professor Xu never took interns. Xu Wenyan was also surprised. He asked the director if some important person needed his personal attention. The director said, "She's a pampered little princess." "For some reason, she's insisted on coming to this bitterly cold coast to study marine biology. Dean Yun is worried about her and specifically asked you to take her on, Old Xu." "..." * Everyone at the Laizhou Marine Research Institute knew that Professor Xu hated taking on clueless, spoiled interns. But they saw the usually taciturn, distant Professor Xu personally teach the fussy little intern how to use precision instruments. They saw him buy her her favorite Gu Li Duo drink. And every time the young woman missed home and cried late into the night, he would carry her to his room, then go sleep alone in his car through the bitter winds below freezing. On the day they parted, with spring in full bloom, Yun Shu tugged at Xu Wenyan's white lab coat and asked if he would ever come to the capital to see her. Xu Wenyan silently packed a whole trunk full of the Gu Li Duo she loved most. Her driver was waiting for her. He ruffled her hair and said, "Don't drink it so cold anymore." * Forced into an arranged marriage by her family, Yun Shu became engaged. She made one last call to the number that had never rung again. Perhaps, in that man's world, their memory had long since faded into insignificance, just a tiny fragment unworthy of his attention. On the day of the engagement, the doors suddenly burst open. Xu Wenyan, dressed in black, stormed in and took Yun Shu away while the engagement ceremony was still underway. His large hand gripped her waist beneath her qipao as if he meant to crush her and melt her into his very bones. Yun Shu's eyes reddened. "Didn't you say you didn't want me anymore? What is this, then?" The taciturn man brushed his thumb over the corner of her eye, then suddenly lowered his head and kissed her. "I'm stealing you away." "I used to think I wasn't good enough for you, so I thought that as long as you were happy, that was enough for me." "But after caring for you for so long, I realized I still can't just..." "Hand you over to someone else." Taciturn research scientist x pampered heiress Note: 1. One-on-one romance, both leads are sexually inexperienced, happy ending. 2. Eleven-year age gap. Theme: Live in peace and love, and grow together