As the taxi neared his neighborhood, Gu Xi leaned against the window, half-lidded eyes tracing the silhouettes of apartment buildings drifting past. Quiet. Familiar. But for some reason, his chest felt unusually heavy.
What was he doing here, in this new world?
The system had given him a body that could become more beautiful, more alluring, more powerful than any man this society had seen. He could climb up. Get rich. Get powerful. Get loved. If he wanted, he could play around. Date ten girls at once. Tease them. Let them spoil him. This world was built to hand him that life on a silver platter.
And yet…
What kind of future did he want?
He thought back to his previous life. Regrets piled one after the other. Not enjoying his high school days. Not confessing to that crush in his university literature seminar. Not calling his parents enough once he started working. Not traveling. Not experiencing. And most of all, never… sharing anything.
He never got to look at a skyline and say, "Look at that," to someone beside him.
Now, here he was—reincarnated into a world that reversed everything. Women were the strong ones. They were the predators. They chose. They courted. They loved as they pleased, and they dumped as they pleased. He had every reason to be cautious.
So why was his heart skipping?
He glanced sideways.
Chang An was leaning slightly forward, her back against the seat, long legs folded elegantly. From this angle, her side profile was sharp and beautiful. The type of beauty you wouldn't dare to look directly at in his past world. Even now, her brows were furrowed ever so slightly, and her lips pursed.
Was she... nervous?
She hadn't spoken since they got in the car. But her eyes had kept flickering toward him. And then quickly away.
He understood.
Just like him, she was scared too.
She didn't know how he felt. Didn't know if she crossed a line. But she was still the one who reached out first, with a heart bigger than her pride.
"...So this is what it means to be brave," Gu Xi murmured to himself.
The taxi came to a soft stop.
"We're here," she said quietly, opening the door and stepping out first.
Before he could move, she was already holding the door open for him.
Gu Xi rolled his eyes. "You're not my chauffeur."
"You're smaller," she replied simply. "Can't let you get bullied by the cold wind."
He gave her a look, then stepped out.
They walked side by side under the amber streetlights, the late-evening air soft and chilled. Neither of them spoke. But the silence wasn't awkward. It felt… suspended. Like something was about to happen.
They arrived at the front gate of his apartment.
"Today was fun," she said first.
"Mm." Gu Xi looked at her. "You looked like a kid when you saw the sharks."
She huffed. "I was not—"
"You even had sparkles in your eyes," he added, teasing. "Big, round sparkles."
She raised her hand as if to flick his forehead, but he only grinned. And waited.
She didn't say anything more.
Just looked at him.
He understood that look.
She didn't want it to end.
Neither did he.
Screw it.
He stepped forward.
"Chang An."
She blinked. "Mn?"
Without another word, he cupped her cheek in his hand.
And then kissed her.
Right on the cheek.
The cab driver waiting at the curb turned her head slightly, lips curling into a smile. Youth. It was always nice to see.
Chang An stood frozen.
Her eyes wide.
Her breath caught.
Gu Xi's face was pink, but he smiled anyway.
"I really, really had fun today."
"…Gu Xi?"
"I can't accept your confession. Not yet," he said gently. "But if you come back, and you still feel the same… and I'm still single, then—"
Ding!
He ignored the system prompt.
"Then I'll go out with you."
Chang An didn't say anything at first.
Just touched the spot on her cheek where he kissed her.
As he waved and turned around to head up the stairs to his apartment, she finally smiled. That kind of silly, helpless smile only a girl head over heels could wear.
The cab driver peeked through the mirror. "Not going after him?"
Chang An shook her head, eyes still on the stairwell.
"Not yet. Not like this."
"I'll come back a woman who deserves him."
She pressed her cheek, her resolve hardening. Gu Xi was hers—she could already see the life they'd build when she returned, a woman in every sense.
Unseen by both, a figure watched from the balcony above. Gu Lin, Gu Xi's adoptive sister, gripped the railing, a cigarette smoldering between her fingers. She rarely smoked, but tonight, her tangled feelings for Gu Xi had driven her to it. She'd seen it all—the date, the kiss, the way her brother's eyes lit up for someone else. Not her. Never her.
Her fist crushed the cigarette, snuffing out the ember. But inside, a darker flame roared to life, her dead eyes glinting with something dangerous. She loved him. And she'd stop at nothing to make him hers.
The apartment door creaked open. Gu Xi stepped inside, still buzzing from the night. Gu Lin turned, her lips curling into a rare, unsettling smile. "Where've you been, brother?" she asked, her voice soft but laced with something that made his skin prickle.