Chapter 5: Secrets Unveiled
The days passed in a blur of business meetings, gala events, and silent dinners. Li Yuyan and Jiang Zhen played their parts, each of them pretending the other didn't exist, but it was becoming harder and harder to ignore the growing tension between them.
Yuyan found herself stealing glances at him when she thought he wasn't looking. The way his sharp features softened when he lost himself in his work. The way his eyes seemed to linger on her, just a second too long.
And Jiang Zhen? He wasn't blind to her either. He watched her carefully, his gaze measuring, calculating. There was something unsettlingly intimate about the way he studied her—like he could see through her façade, could see the woman underneath the icy exterior she had worked so hard to build.
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It was late one night when everything came crashing down.
Yuyan had stayed in the study for hours, working on the new business proposal she had insisted on presenting at the next board meeting. The silence in the room was overwhelming, only the faint hum of the city below breaking through the stillness.
Suddenly, the door opened.
Jiang Zhen stood in the doorway, his silhouette framed by the dim light from the hallway. His eyes were hard, unreadable, but there was a flicker of something in them—something raw, something vulnerable.
"Yuyan," he said her name like a warning.
She didn't look up, keeping her focus on the documents in front of her. "What is it, Jiang Zhen?"
He crossed the room in two long strides, standing behind her. His presence was overpowering, and her heart skipped a beat despite herself.
"Why are you still doing this?" he asked, his voice quieter now, but edged with something she couldn't quite place. "Why are you pretending? To yourself? To me?"
She set the pen down, her hands trembling slightly. "I don't know what you mean."
"Don't lie to me," he said, his voice sharp now. "You're not doing this just for revenge. You're not just playing a part. You feel something, Yuyan."
The world seemed to tilt on its axis.
He reached forward, his fingers brushing the back of her neck, sending a shock of warmth through her body. The touch was gentle, almost hesitant, like he was afraid of what would happen if he touched her too much.
"Do you feel it too?" he whispered.
Yuyan froze. Her pulse was racing in her ears, and for the first time since their marriage began, she felt completely lost.
"I…" She swallowed, her voice barely a whisper. "I don't know."
The air between them crackled with something dangerous. The line between love and hate, revenge and desire, had never been so thin.
Jiang Zhen's hand slid from her neck to her shoulder, his thumb brushing the exposed skin there. His touch was electric, and Yuyan found herself leaning into it before she could stop herself.
"Tell me the truth," he murmured. "Do you want to destroy me? Or do you want something more?"
Her heart pounded in her chest. She wanted to push him away, wanted to cling to her anger, her plan. But in that moment, in the suffocating silence of the room, something deep inside her shifted.
"I don't know," she whispered again, the truth hanging heavy between them.
Jiang Zhen closed the distance, his breath warm against her cheek. He didn't kiss her—not yet—but the tension in the room was unbearable, the unspoken words too much to ignore.
"Neither do I," he said quietly.
And for a moment, neither of them moved. Neither spoke. They simply existed in the same space, two people tangled in their own confusion, their own desires.
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