Falling at His Fingertips

Soft, sweet little bunny vs. aloof hypocrite; elder brother steals younger brother’s wife; secret love Tang Luoqing was sweet and gentle, but when she cried, a flush of red bloomed at the corners of her eyes, like rouge crushed into fresh snow. Her boyfriend, Zhou Yancheng, loved seeing her that way: impossibly innocent, yet impossibly alluring. But Zhou Yancheng was a womanizer. One moment he said he loved her, and the next he was leaving a bar with another woman in his arms. Tang Luoqing stood in the rain for half an hour. Just as her tears began to fall, a large umbrella appeared over her head. It was Zhou Jinbai, Zhou Yancheng’s older brother. Beneath the umbrella, the man wiped the tears from the corner of Tang Luoqing’s eye with his thumb. “Don’t cry. I’ll go talk to him.” And by “talk,” he meant pinning his good-for-nothing younger brother to a boxing ring and punching him again and again until he was on his knees begging for mercy. · Tang Luoqing was hurt time and again, and each time she forgave him because her heart softened. Until her birthday, when Zhou Yancheng put his arm around another woman. “It was just for fun. Do you really have to make a big deal out of it?” “Don’t worry. You’re still the one I love most.” On the other end of the phone, Tang Luoqing’s tears fell. As the rain poured down, Zhou Jinbai appeared before her without her noticing. His shirt was soaked through and clung to his body, outlining the sharp lines of his shoulders and back. He lowered his head and kissed away her tears. Tang Luoqing stiffened. “Brother?” Zhou Jinbai slowly unclenched his fist. Faint red bruises still marked his knuckles from the fight half an hour earlier. Tall and slender, he bent down and drew Tang Luoqing into his scorching shadow. “Don’t cry over him. He doesn’t deserve it.” His low voice was wrapped in the mist of the rain, his breath brushing Tang Luoqing’s lips. “Tang Luoqing, look at me.”