Roses in Flames

Ye Yuntang glanced at the room key in her hand, confirming that she had not gone to the wrong room.

She looked at Xiao Lin with a puzzled expression. "Captain Xiao, you've come to the wrong room, haven't you?"

Xiao Lin looked down at her without saying a word.

Ye Yuntang felt a chill run down her spine from his dark and deep gaze.

Her fingers tightened around the room key.

He stared intently at her, making her feel inexplicably flustered.

But she also felt that this panic was meaningless.

After taking a deep breath, she said to him, "Excuse me, I need to go in."

"Ye Yuntang, I want to talk to you." He finally spoke, his voice low and husky.

Hearing him call her by her full name, Ye Yuntang's heart seemed to skip a beat.

"Shall we talk about work?" Ye Yuntang asked.

The man's eyes darkened further. "Private matters."

Ye Yuntang, "..."

Xiao Lin: "I have a single room. Shall we go to my room?"

Ye Yuntang was speechless for a moment.

She didn't want to go to his room.

Seeing that she was standing still and not saying anything, he pursed his thin lips and said, "If you're not afraid of being seen, you can say it in the corridor."

Ye Yuntang: "If I don't tell you, will you just stand here and not leave?"

Xiao Lin nodded. "Yes."

"Let's go to the rooftop. You go first, I'll put my things down and then go up."

Xiao Lin glanced at the dessert box Ye Yuntang was carrying. His Adam's apple bobbed, as if he wanted to say something, but he didn't say anything.

He strode off toward the elevator.

Ye Yuntang swiped her card to enter the room, put down the desserts Shen Yan had given her, and went out to the rooftop.

There was no one on the rooftop. Ye Yuntang searched around and found a man playing with a lighter in a corner.

He lowered his head slightly, his hand with the watch on it was in his pocket, and his eyes and brows looked deep and mysterious.

Ye Yuntang straightened her back and walked towards him.

She was wearing high heels, and as she approached, the heels tapped rhythmically on the ground.

Xiao Lin looked at her.

A gentle evening breeze blew, and a few strands of hair brushed against her cheek. She raised her hand and brushed them away.

Their eyes met.

Ye Yuntang didn't want to show any weakness, so she tried her best to maintain a calm and composed expression.

When she was still a few steps away from him, she broke the silence, "What does Captain Xiao want to talk to me about?"

Xiao Lin put the lighter into his pocket and spoke in a low voice, "The day Bai Chuwei met Liu Qianqian in the detention room, I was on duty with Lao Yang, but Lao Yang had something to do and was called away by Director Shao. Bai Chuwei was shocked and suffered a massive hemorrhage. It happened quite suddenly. If I had gone to call the officers in the duty room, it would have taken at least two or three minutes. Bai Chuwei was in a critical situation and was on the verge of fainting."

"I couldn't just stand by and watch her fall to the ground and get hurt, so I had to carry her to the hospital sideways. On the way to the hospital, I called my supervisor to report, and all the procedures were followed clearly."

"I'm the captain of the criminal investigation team, and I have to follow the rules, but above the rules, I also have to follow my conscience. I saved her out of humanitarianism, and it has nothing to do with who she is."

"If my actions at the time made you feel uncomfortable, I should reflect on my actions and communicate with you promptly."

Ye Yuntang was somewhat surprised.

Unexpectedly, he suddenly explained why he took Bai Chuwei to the hospital.

Ye Yuntang pursed her lips and said, "We are both public officials. I don't think there's anything wrong with you taking Bai Chuwei to the hospital. It's my own problem that I want to draw a line between us and keep my distance."

She feared that if they continued to spend time together, she would lose control of her heart.

His personal charm was greater than she had imagined.

If she were to fall into enemy hands, it would not be a good thing for her.

Xiao Lin frowned as he looked at Ye Yuntang, his eyes filled with complex and dark emotions.

He is good at reasoning and investigation when it comes to solving cases.

But when it comes to relationships with women, he's a complete novice.

These past few days, he's been thinking about it a lot, but he still can't figure out why she changed her mind so suddenly.

Aside from the day she bumped into him carrying Bai Chuwei to the hospital.

Is she angry? Jealous?

He was puzzled.

Lately, she's been deliberately avoiding him at work, as if he were some kind of monster.

During today's social event, he looked at her several times, but she didn't even glance at him.

He was angry.

He was angry that she took the initiative to sleep with him, flirted with him, and then just walked away.

He wanted to maintain his pride and ignore her, but when he saw her and Shen Yan playing the piano together on stage, his heart felt as if something was grabbing at it.

It's really unpleasant.

Both of them were too proud. Heaven knows how much courage it took for him to come to her.

He didn't like to explain, but he still swallowed his pride and explained to her what happened that day when he took Bai Chuwei to the hospital.

"Xiao Lin, have you fallen for me?" Ye Yuntang suddenly asked.

Xiao Lin's facial features suddenly tensed. "I don't know."

He had never liked anyone before, so he didn't know if he had fallen for Ye Yuntang.

Or was it because she was his first woman, and his possessiveness got the better of him?

Ye Yuntang pursed her lips tightly. "Actually, you're resentful. You're resentful that my control over our relationship. From the first time we slept together, I could tell you're a very strong-willed person at heart. I gave you ten thousand yuan, and you immediately dragged me to do it again, then gave me ten thousand yuan too. This time, when I said I wouldn't bother you privately anymore, you must have felt embarrassed and hurt your pride. You want revenge, right?"

Xiao Lin frowned, his eyes sharp, and said, "No, I didn't think about revenge. I care about you more than I thought. Seeing you playing the piano with Shen Yan made me very uncomfortable."

Ye Yuntang was stunned.

She hadn't expected him to be so honest.

"I can understand how you feel now. Actually, it's not necessarily a bad thing to suppress that discomfort and nip any unwanted thoughts in the bud."

Xiao Lin stepped forward, placing his large hand on Ye Yuntang's slender shoulder. He looked down at her, his gaze so deep it seemed to draw her in. "So, the day you saw me carrying Bai Chuwei to the hospital, you decided to nip the seed in the bud, didn't you?"

Ye Yuntang glanced at the man's large hand on her shoulder. On the back of his hand, where the fingers and bones were clearly defined, the veins were like vines ready to burst forth, winding along the wrist bone all the way to the forearm, stretching out a strong and powerful arc, revealing a restrained sense of aggression and sexual tension.

Ye Yuntang's long eyelashes trembled slightly, her gaze unsure of where to look. "There's no point in saying any more of this. Wouldn't it be better if we preserved the last bit of decorum we have as colleagues?"

The man showed no intention of letting go of her. He leaned down, his handsome face drawing closer to hers. "What if I can't answer correctly?"

Ye Yuntang's heart skipped a beat. "You shouldn't be the kind of person who gets entangled in complicated situations."

The man stared at her with his dark eyes. "How do you know I'm not?"