My online dating circle has millions of followers, why would she put a collar on me?

When Su Xiaoyue threw herself into Jiang Yi's arms, Jiang Yi's body stiffened as if he were an ice sculpture that had been airlifted directly from the Arctic.

Su Xiaoyue wrapped her arms around his waist, buried her face in his chest, and trembled slightly.

It wasn't cold, it was excitement, the kind of uncontrollable trembling that comes from waiting for over 800 days to finally reach this moment, from suppressing emotions for so long.

"Husband..." Her voice was muffled, coming from his chest, tinged with tears, "I've finally seen you... I can finally really hold you..."

Jiang Yi's hand hung in mid-air, unsure of where to put it.

His reason told him he should push her away.

He wasn't her "husband." He was Jiang Yi, an unlucky guy who was tricked by his sister and cornered by a debt of 1.3 million yuan.

He is a man who has a girlfriend and should not have any intimate contact with other women.

But his body wouldn't obey him.

It's not that I don't want to push it away, it's that I can't.

It wasn't because she was holding him so tightly, but because he could feel her trembling, and feel the scalding tears on her face pressed against his chest seeping through the fabric of her T-shirt, making his whole heart tremble.

Jiang Yi took a deep breath and slowly, extremely slowly, placed his hand, which had been suspended in mid-air, on Su Xiaoyue's back.

It was so light, as light as touching a piece of porcelain that might break at any moment.

"Alright, stop crying." His voice was much gentler than he had expected, so gentle that even he himself felt a sense of unfamiliarity. "Didn't you say you wanted to see me? Why are you still crying now that you've seen me?"

Su Xiaoyue lifted her head from his chest, her eyes and nose were red, and tiny teardrops hung on her eyelashes. Her whole face looked like she had just been pulled out of the water from crying.

She looked up at him, her lips trembling slightly, then burst into laughter through her tears. The smile was so pure it was unbelievable, like an entire starry sky suddenly lit up.

"I'm crying because I'm happy!" She sniffled, her voice still trembling with tears. "I'm crying because I'm happy, not because I'm sad..."

Looking at her tear-streaked face, Jiang Yi felt a surge of bittersweet emotions welling up inside him. He couldn't quite tell if it was guilt or heartache, or perhaps both.

He raised his hand, hesitated for a moment, and finally gently wiped away the tears on her face with his thumb.

Su Xiaoyue froze for a moment at his action, and then her cheeks slowly and visibly turned red, spreading from her cheekbones to her ears, and even her neck was tinged with a thin layer of red.

Her birthmark was on her left cheek. It was originally just a light red, like rouge spreading, but now, because of her blushing, the light red blended with the surrounding blush and was not very noticeable.

"Honey..." Her voice suddenly became very soft, almost like a mosquito's buzz, "You touched my face..."

Jiang Yi paused for a moment, then quickly withdrew his hand as if he had been burned.

"I'm sorry, I—"

"I didn't say you couldn't touch me!" Su Xiaoyue interrupted him, her voice rising half an octave before quickly dropping back down. Head bowed, her fingers twisting the hem of her trench coat, her voice barely audible, "You...you can touch me if you want...I'm not going to run away..."

Jiang Yi opened his mouth, feeling that his current situation was even more difficult to handle than the final exam of advanced mathematics.

Just as he was about to say something to break the increasingly ambiguous atmosphere, a voice came from behind Su Xiaoyue, carrying a teasing tone that seemed to say, "Let's see if you two have had enough of this act."

"Alright, alright, you've hugged me, you've touched me, now it's time for me, the third wheel, to say something, right?"

Jiang Yi looked up and saw a young woman standing two steps behind Su Xiaoyue, dragging Su Xiaoyue's suitcase with one hand and putting the other hand in her coat pocket. She tilted her head and had a playful smile on her lips.

She was wearing a long black coat over a deep red turtleneck sweater, and expensive-looking ankle boots. Her hair was draped over her shoulders, and her makeup was exquisite. She looked like she had stepped out of a fashion magazine's double-page spread.

Her features are very beautiful, with a kind of heroic spirit between her eyebrows and eyes. It's not the kind of delicate beauty, but rather a kind of "don't mess with me" vibe.

Jiang Yi's gaze lingered on her face for less than half a second before quickly shifting away.

It wasn't because it was impolite, but because he noticed it.

The woman looked at him with a scrutinizing, appraising gaze, as if she were looking at something presented to her for evaluation.

It wasn't the kind of starry-eyed look that Su Xiaoyue had, but a calmer, more cautious gaze, clearly wary.

Su Xiaoyue stepped away from Jiang Yi's embrace, turned around and took the woman's hand, her voice carrying a coquettish tone: "Qinghan, don't be like this, it's not easy for us to see each other..."

Gu Qinghan.

Jiang Yi silently matched the name with the face in front of him.

Su Xiaoyue's best friend, the one who accompanied her to Shanghai for surgery, hospitalization, and through her long recovery period.

Su Xiaoyue mentioned this person, saying that "she is very assertive" and that she would bring people with her.

It seems this is the person.

"Hello, I'm Gu Qinghan, Xiaoyue's best friend." Gu Qinghan extended her hand, her tone polite but distant, as if she were going through a necessary formality.

"You're her 'husband'?"

Jiang Yi reached out and shook her hand.

Her hands were cold, and her grip was light but firm, her fingertips lingering in his palm for a fraction of a second longer than normal social etiquette would suggest.

It was as if they were testing something, or confirming something.

"Jiang Yi," he said.

"Jiang Yi?" Gu Qinghan repeated the name, her gaze lingering on his face for a moment before she withdrew her hand, a slight smile playing on her lips. "He's better looking than in the photos."

These words sounded like a compliment, but Jiang Yi couldn't detect any praise in her tone. It was more like a scrutiny, as if she were saying, "I'd like to see what kind of person you really are."

"Qinghan!" Su Xiaoyue tugged at her sleeve, her face showing an embarrassed expression that seemed to say, "Can you please stop doing this?"

"What's wrong? I'm just telling the truth." Gu Qinghan blinked innocently. "He does look better than in the photos. I didn't say he didn't look good."

Su Xiaoyue was speechless after hearing her words, her face flushing even more. She could only turn to Jiang Yi and whisper, "Honey, don't pay attention to her. That's just how she is; she's always so sharp-tongued..."

Jiang Yi smiled but didn't reply.

He could sense Gu Qinghan's distrust of him, a distrust not directed at him personally, but at the identity of their "online dating partner."

She was Su Xiaoyue's best friend, and she traveled all the way from Shanghai to Kyoto to meet her. Her responsibility was to protect Su Xiaoyue and prevent her from being harmed by scammers.

In Gu Qinghan's eyes, he was precisely the one who "needed to be verified."

"The car is waiting outside, let's go." Gu Qinghan picked up Su Xiaoyue's suitcase and gestured towards the arrival gate. "The housekeeper is already in the parking lot, let's go home first."

Come back home?

Jiang Yi paused for a moment.

He originally thought that Su Xiaoyue would stay in a hotel, a friend's house, or even his borrowed one-bedroom apartment when she came to Kyoto.

But the words "housekeeper" and "going home" together point to a possibility he doesn't dare to think about.

"Honey, let's go." Su Xiaoyue naturally took his arm, looked up at him, her eyes full of undisguised joy. "Let me tell you, I have a house in Kyoto. Although I don't come here often, the housekeeper has arranged everything. We can just go there directly."

Jiang Yi opened his mouth, wanting to ask what "you have a house in Kyoto" meant, but swallowed the words back.

It's not surprising that a rich heiress whose family runs a business worth hundreds of billions owns a house in Kyoto.