[Forbidden love triangle | Dangerous stepbrother | Every move calculated | Friends with benefits to official couple]
[Calculating, charismatic, ambitious man x dazzling, sweet young heiress]
That night, the bar was dimly lit. Li Guangxi's friends laughingly pushed her toward a man sitting in the corner, his features hidden in the shadows.
She leaned in, hoping to get a perfunctory kiss over with, but he grabbed her wrist. He lifted his eyes, his gaze deep and dark.
One night of abandon.
At dawn, she ran, leaving no trace. She hadn't even asked his name.
Two years later.
At the Xie family banquet, her mother took her stepfather's hand and introduced him:
"Xixi, this is your Uncle Xie's son. He'll be your big brother from now on."
Li Guangxi looked up. On the stairs, Xie Xinglan leaned against the railing, two buttons of his white shirt undone. His eyes were cold, as if they had never met.
She lowered her head and curled her lips into a smile. "Big brother."
Her fingertips dug into her palm.
Everyone said Xie Xinglan hated his stepsister. Only she knew that when she kicked off her covers in the middle of the night, someone carefully tucked them back around her the next morning. When she curled up in bed during her period, someone brought her brown sugar and ginger tea that afternoon. She couldn't stand turtlenecks, so the tag had already been removed from her next jacket.
She never asked. He never admitted it.
She was simply waiting.
Until one night, at the corner of the terrace, he pinned her against the wall. His fingertips brushed the faint mark beneath her collar. "Pretending we don't know each other? You didn't call me that way the other night."
She tilted her face up. "What are you talking about, big brother? I don't understand."
He chuckled. "Forgot? Then let me help you go over it from the beginning."
Her breathing faltered. The night wind swept across the terrace, chilling her back.
She wrenched herself free and fled to her room without looking back. She locked the door and leaned against it, panting.
Late at night, she thought she was safe.
Then she heard someone tap the glass once, slowly and deliberately, from outside the floor-to-ceiling terrace window.
Xie Xinglan, carrying the chill of the night, trapped her between the railing and his chest.
"I decide when this game ends."
"Either keep playing my good little sister, or I'll tell everyone how you cried and begged me to stop in front of your big brother."
She looked at him and suddenly smiled. She stepped forward, almost breathing against him. "Have you ever wondered why I lost that game that night?"
The smile in his eyes froze for a moment.
She rose onto her toes, her voice soft. "Because I knew you'd catch me."
Then she turned and put her hand on the doorknob.
Silence fell behind her for two seconds. Then came a low laugh.
Footsteps approached, one, two, then stopped behind her on the third. He didn't touch her, but his breath fell warm on the back of her neck, tinged with alcohol and the hoarseness of a sleepless night.
"Xixi..."
"I drank the half-glass of wine you'd left behind in one go. I've tucked your covers back around you countless times."
Her fingers tightened sharply around the doorknob.
"Have you ever counted?"
His voice dropped a little. "I stand outside your door for as long as you sleep."
"You don't think I only want to keep being your big brother, do you?"
She didn't move. Her hand stayed on the doorknob, her knuckles white, her lips pressed into a thin line.
He stepped back half a pace. His fingertips slid down the back of her neck, stopping at the topmost vertebra, where he pressed gently.
"Your mother is waiting for you at the villa with a late-night snack."
He gave a laugh, his voice low, as if it had been ground out of his chest.
"Tell her you're not going back tonight."
"You can't get away, Xixi."
"Even if you leave, I'll find you."
[Reading Guide]
1. Three-year age gap | Both leads are each other's first and only | Happy ending
2. The male lead has been calculating his moves for two years, but the female lead started earlier
3. The female lead is dazzling and sharp-edged, acting sweet and obedient while always knowing exactly what's going on
4. There is no romantic relationship while they are related by marriage
Theme: Love yourself before you love someone else
