I couldn’t help the slight upward curve of my lips as I looked at Fangfang—her lips red, her teeth white, her entire countenance radiant. My mind involuntarily drifted back to the scene that afternoon in my apartment, when she had helped me in that intimate way, and a flood of ill!cit thoughts followed.
Supporting my cousin Lin Jiahao back into the apartment, Fangfang guided him toward the bathroom so he could shower. I, meanwhile, sank onto the living-room sofa.
Moments later, the sound of running water echoed from the bathroom. Clearly, Fangfang had already begun helping Jiahao wash.
“What are you doing? Hurry up and get in here with me!”
“Jiahao, stop fooling around. You’ve had too much to drink. This is Xiao Nan’s home, not ours.”
“I don’t care whose home it is—get in here now!”
“Don’t… don’t be like this!”
Their exchange ignited a surge of anger in my chest. I knew my cousin turned uncontrollable when drunk, but I had never imagined he would demand that Fangfang shower with him. Just as I was about to storm in and put a stop to it, the unmistakable sound of violent retching erupted. When Fangfang finally led Jiahao out of the bathroom a few minutes later, she glanced at me with evident embarrassment.
“Xiao Nan, your cousin threw up all over the floor. I’ll clean it up properly in a little while, I promise.”
“Sister-in-law, just take care of him. I’ll handle the mess,” I replied, already striding into the bathroom.
After restoring order to the bathroom, I went to Jiahao’s room. Fangfang had managed to settle him into bed, but her expression was subdued—an understandable reaction. There were times when my cousin truly treated her as less than human.
“Is he asleep?” I asked quietly.
“Yes. He drank too much and passed out,” Fangfang answered with a small nod.
Only then did I notice the steady rhythm of Jiahao’s snoring. Fangfang opened her suitcase and took out a nightdress, evidently intending to take a hot shower herself.
The nightdress was a pale-pink Hello Kitty design—adorably cute, yet undeniably alluring. The mere thought of Fangfang wearing it was enough to unsettle me completely.
“You should shower and get some rest soon,” I said hurriedly.
“Mm,” she murmured, nodding again.
Whether Jiahao was genuinely asleep or merely pretending, I knew I had to maintain an appropriate distance on the surface. After all, Fangfang was my future sister-in-law.
Back in my own room, I began my evening routine, yet my thoughts kept circling around the fact that Fangfang would be leaving Shanghai tomorrow. A wave of melancholy washed over me, only to be replaced almost instantly by anticipation: we would still have opportunities in the future.
Unable to sleep after my shower, I stepped out onto the balcony and dialed my wife.
She had graduated from Shanghai International Studies University. We had been introduced through a matchmaker and, although we had been married several years, we still had no children. She insisted she was in the ascending phase of her career and frequently traveled abroad; this, she said, was no time to start a family. Every intimate moment between us was carefully protected. This time, however, with Jiahao’s wedding during the National Day holiday, I felt she simply had to return.
“Hello? Darling, is something wrong?” Her voice floated through the line.
“Yes. Jiahao is getting married on National Day. You need to come back.”
“Jiahao? You mean Lin Jiahao?” she asked quickly.
“Of course. He’s my only unmarried cousin,” I replied with an awkward laugh.
“That complete scoundrel. I’ve already given him three red envelopes, and every marriage has ended in divorce. Why on earth would he marry again? I don’t have time for this!” Her disdain was palpable.
“Darling, doesn’t your company give time off for National Day? Uncle is taking this wedding very seriously. He hopes both of us will be there.”
“National Day is a Chinese holiday. Paris doesn’t observe it. I have to go—I’m about to start a meeting!”
Beep… beep… beep…
The line went dead. I smiled bitterly, lit a cigarette, and inhaled deeply. I had always known that, for my wife, career would forever come before family. Even our honeymoon, shortly after the wedding, had been abruptly cancelled because of her work.
I had barely finished the cigarette when a WeChat notification lit up my phone.
“Xiao Nan, are you asleep yet?”
It was Fangfang. My pulse quickened as I typed that I was still awake. Almost instantly, she sent a photograph of herself wearing the nightdress.
She had taken it inside the bathroom. The pale-pink fabric bore a Hello Kitty motif across the chest, and the hem stopped well above her knees. The sight of her in that alluring outfit sent heat coursing through me; I bolted from my room and burst into the bathroom without a second thought.
“Ah—Xiao Nan!” Fangfang gasped, startled by my sudden entrance.
“Sister-in-law, when you send me a photo like that in the middle of the night, how am I supposed to hold back?” I pulled her into my arms and pressed frantic k!sses to her cheeks, holding her tightly against me.
“Xiao Nan, please… what if your cousin wakes up and notices I’m not there?” she whispered, a shy blush spreading across her face.
“He’s out cold. He won’t wake that easily,” I assured her.
“Still, we should be careful. Let me check on him first. If he’s really asleep… then… then I’ll let you,” she murmured, gently pushing my hands away and slipping toward the bedroom.
Had I heard correctly? Had Fangfang just promised that tonight she would give herself to me?
My heart pounded wildly. Standing there in nothing but shorts and a tank top, I stared at my reflection above the sink, took several deep breaths, and twisted my wa!st a few times to loosen up. Tonight, I resolved, I would give Fangfang an experience she would never forget—one that would reveal the stark difference between my cousin and me, one that would show her where true strength and a w0man’s real happiness lay.
A few minutes later she returned, a small, elegantly packaged contraceptive item in her hand. Seeing it, I knew she had decided to indulge me tonight.
“He’s sleeping soundly, isn’t he?” I asked, barely containing my eagerness.
“Yes, very deeply,” she answered, biting her lower lip, her eyes shimmering with unmistakable tenderness.
Joy surged through me. I shut the bathroom door and turned the lock, then swept her into my arms once more.
The moment our b0dies pressed together, Fangfang’s own excitement seemed to match mine. She wrapped her arms around my neck, and our lips met in a fervent k!ss.
“Xiao Nan… I missed you. Tonight, I really, really missed you,” she breathed against my ear.
In that instant, the world fell away. Time itself seemed to pause. Never in my life had I felt such overwhelming happiness. My wife and I saw each other so rarely that I had long lived like a bachelor—yet tonight, happiness had returned to me. Holding Fangfang close, breathing in her warmth, cradling the goddess of my heart, I understood how infinitely precious this moment was.