To Covet (GL) - Chapter 16

I lay sprawled on the spacious bed, rolling from one end to the other. The blanket was kicked to the foot of the bed. Since there was nothing to do, I went downstairs to the banquet hall, grabbed a plate of pastries, and brought them up to eat while I did my homework. I also took a hot shower to get rid of my drowsiness. I didn’t want Yu Hanyang to come wake me up and ask me why I was here and not downstairs.

“I’m going back,” I said, texting Yu Zhouwan as I dried my hair.

The first week of competition training was noisy. More than half of the students in the gifted class were participating, and the teacher had to shout to get everyone to be quiet every ten minutes. On a Friday night, the noise level would only double. When the last study session ended, I suddenly remembered that Yu Zhouwan had texted me her location and room number. I decided to escape the school and come here for some peace and quiet.

Yu Zhouwan didn’t reply. I was just tidying up when I heard a knock on the door.

“I forgot my room key.”

When she spoke, her phone screen was on the dialing interface.

“What if I had already gone back?”

Her eyes were glistening. The lipstick on her lips had dried up, showing cracks.

I moved to the side to let her in.

Yu Zhouwan quickly took off her shoes and stepped barefoot onto the fluffy carpet. She unzipped the side pocket of her handbag and took out a room key. A bunch of colorful glass bottles, whose names I didn’t know, fell out of her small bag.

“I’m leaving.”

I stretched. So she called me here just to have a doorkeeper.

Yu Zhouwan didn’t rest for a moment. She took out a makeup remover wipe and started wiping the makeup off her face in front of the mirror.

“Do you want to go back together?” I asked, pushing open the glass door to the bathroom.

She wiped off her lipstick and put on some lip balm. I couldn’t help but lick my lips.

“I’m waiting for Mom and Dad,” Yu Zhouwan said, scooping up some water to wash her face. “Don’t go back alone. It’s too late, and it’s not safe.”

“Just say you came to find me after evening study, okay?”

The vanity lights shone on her eyes, making them look bright and clear. Her voice, asking for permission, had an upward lilt at the end. It seemed like the star of the banquet was in a great mood.

The clinking bottles and jars were neatly put back into the bag. Yu Zhouwan undid her updo, and her hair fell, covering her shoulders and shoulder blades. She took off her gloves and massaged her sore shoulders in front of the mirror.

“I need to change,” she said. As she raised her hand, a string of sensor lights went out, blinding me for a moment. “You should go outside first.”

I didn’t listen to what she said. Instead, I took a step forward and closed the bathroom door.

I leaned close to the side of her neck. The pearl earring on her earlobe was the brightest thing there.

“Yu Keyi, let go,” her voice was a little distorted. “What if Mom and Dad come in…”

I covered her mouth.

However, Yu Zhouwan seemed to hate me messing with her here, risking us being caught. I heard a muffled thump, followed by the coldness of my lower back hitting the edge of the marble.

It was a hard hit. When I pressed Yu Zhouwan’s shoulders to pin her down on the bed, the muscle still had a dull ache, like it was being crushed by a rock.

It took a lot of effort to stop myself from wincing.

Yu Zhouwan seemed to be in a state of shock. When I rubbed the faded but still visible marks on her wrist and kissed them, she just stared blankly at the ceiling.

I didn’t know if this was a silent agreement to continue or just a surrender to her fate.

“Yu Keyi,” she said, burying her face in the blanket. “What if they suddenly come in?”

I tilted my head.

At home, our bedrooms are practically separated by just one wall. Why didn’t you worry then? I thought to myself.

I couldn’t tear her delicate gown. I had to be gentle. I unzipped the tiny zipper hidden in the seam of the fabric at her back, tidied her stray hair, and slowly, from her shoulders, let the dress fall to her hips, around her thighs, and finally to the floor, where it was crumpled into a ball, completely unrecognizable from the expensive dress it had been on Yu Zhouwan.

I took Yu Zhouwan’s hand and placed it on the dangling charm of my clothes.

“Take it off,” I said.

I sat on Yu Zhouwan, a gray shadow cast by my body covering her. Our legs were tangled together. I couldn’t tell whose sweat had turned sticky first.

The clothes slid from the edge of the bed to the floor. She felt the metal buckle of the belt and hesitated.

“Undo it,” I said, pinching Yu Zhouwan’s fingers. “Good sister.”

The heavy feeling at my waist disappeared.

I leaned down and kissed her collarbone, my hand finding the discarded belt.

Click. The metal buckle was locked around her neck.

The obstruction of her breathing made her instinctively reach out and grip it.

“Keyi…” Yu Zhouwan said, breathing with her mouth wide open. “Ugh…”

I tightened the belt. She had to change from lying on her back to sitting face to face with me, our naked bodies pressed together. The belt she had taken off herself was now tightly fastened around her neck—a collar of submission, completely in someone else’s hands, to be manipulated as they pleased.

I was still on Yu Zhouwan’s lap, and she couldn’t sit up straight. The belt in my hand didn’t allow her to lie down. She had to use her hands to prop herself up against the bedsheets to keep her balance. A faint shadow was cast on her sweaty skin by the clean line of her chin and neck.

“Yu Zhouwan,”

The only response was her suddenly heavy breathing.

“What do you want to do?”

I moved my hand and suddenly pulled the belt tight. Yu Zhouwan was caught off guard and fell forward.

Our positions were swapped. She was on top, but the leather collar was still around her neck.

“Big sister has done it so many times, and with others,” I said, wrapping my fingers around her hair. “Make me feel good, huh? Okay?”

“No…” Yu Zhouwan said, struggling to defend herself. “I didn’t do… that.” Her hands, with nowhere to go, hesitated and went back to her sides. I found her arm to be surprisingly hot when I touched it.

“Didn’t do what?”

I pretended to have completely forgotten the question. I pinched the inner part of her thigh.

Yu Zhouwan winced in pain.

The desire to explore the unknown finally won over the awkwardness of a first attempt. My fingers reached into the collar, and I pulled her down to lie on her stomach.

Yu Zhouwan fumbled with the buttons on my back. Before she could put her hand on me, her face was so red it was about to drip blood. She tentatively nibbled and licked me. Her movements were clumsy and awkward. When she saw me staring at her, she stopped, blinking, not knowing if she should continue. The combination of her innocent, pure expression, her naked, appealing body, and the confining leather collar was a brutal attempt to hide the urgent desire that was about to overflow.

I pulled one of my legs out, changing our straddling position into a scissor-like one.

Yu Zhouwan guessed what I wanted her to do. She hugged my leg, pressing her hot cheek against it, and wrapped her arms around my neck, moving her hips clumsily.