Chapter 29: Chapter 29
"I changed my mind. I need my wife to massage my shoulders a little, because I'm tense. Today's workload was heavy, and I can't unwind." YuZhi had no idea why this was the first thing that came to mind and could only conclude that making her touch him would infuriate her in a whole new way. At times he couldn’t understand his own head or the way his mouth said words he didn’t pre-plan or even mean. Last thing he wanted was her touching him, in any kind of way, but he’d said it now. If he didn’t have physical outlets to blow off steam, then massage did help and she was the only person around who he could ask to do it without it being weird. He sighed internally, shaking his head at himself for wherever his brain had gone.
"Are you kidding?" TangShi sat upright fast and scowled at him through lowered lashes of a sneer. The last thing she had the urge to do was massage him. If he wanted one, he could go ask his girlfriend and leave her be.
"We'll do more than that tomorrow night, so maybe you should get used to being physical in other ways. After all, as your husband it's my right to have you touch me when I need it." He shrugged like he really didn't care at all, like tomorrow night wasn't a big deal either and sat down on his side of the bed. Truth be told, he was stressed about that too, resented it also, and this act was getting to him on a whole other level. He would be glad when they didn’t have to stick to a script and play at stupid set ups.
Now that Rhea had been publicly making their relationship as best friends obvious, and the scandal of their breakup was old news, there was an official double date planned for the three of them and an actor friend. Stage two of transitioning to a new woman to avoid a new outcry from his fans.
Je Hyun was popular right now as a drama actor and he was a good enough friend to pretend to date Rhea without actually doing it. Notable enough to be remembered and with the acting ability to pull it off. It wasn’t YuZhi’s idea of fun. To be out with TangShi for the first time making it obvious romance was blooming between them, while the woman he loved cuddled up to one of his closest friends to prove there was no love left. The thought of it made him sick to his stomach.
He turned and pulled his night shirt off in one even swoop, aggravated at reminding himself about the damn date. Annoyed that he had nowhere to vent tonight except here as ZhengLi had prior arrangements elsewhere and he couldn’t be bothered with anyone else’s company. Seeing Rhea was too risky, and he didn’t have the energy for it either. All she did nowadays was get emotional, question his time with TangShi, get more insecure and cry at the stupidest thing. He was finding it hard on his own and she was making it harder.
TangShi’s face burned with heat as she turned her eyes away from his naked upper torso. Outraged yet also mortified he would take his clothes off in front of her again. Her heart rate escalating, and her body temperature soaring, making her feel breathless all in one go. She had given up trying to deny that she still found him attractive, because in all honesty YuZhi was gorgeous. There was something about him that no other man had ever compared to.
"I don't want to. I'm tired, go to sleep." She stammered out, hiding her crimson face by pulling the sheet up to her upright position, but YuZhi was persistent. He could sense her anger and knew the coy act wasn't fake. This girl was not one to spend her time with half naked men if this is how she reacted, and despite himself, it eased his mood a little. Weird stuff like this was becoming common between them and he stopped trying to analyse it when he realised she always pulled contradictory feelings out of him.
"You're refusing to give your husband some much needed stress relief. What kind of cold and heartless woman are you? Come here... it's the least you can do. We're already married, so come touch me, there has to be some perk to living with you." YuZhi turned to her, intent on a massage now he pushed it this far and leaned over, catching her wrist to pull her closer to him. His strong hand enveloping her delicate small limb too easily and his tug was harsh for someone of her size. He overestimated her weight, strength, and position and pulled her like he would a heavy man resisting.
TangShi lurched forward with momentum, a little too easily given how small she was compared to him and somehow ended up on her knees in a flash, which boosted her up and over clumsily. She lost her balance, arms flailing wide as he let go of her and fell completely on top of YuZhi in an awkward fashion that sent both tumbling backwards. He hadn't expected this weird manoeuvre or her sudden collapse on top of him, so was unprepared to have his bride suddenly jerk up and come tumbling down with speed.
He grappled his arms out to counteract the uneven weight load on how he was bent over. Instinct had him throw his hands to her waist to grab onto an anchor as she knocked him over like a ten pin.
They ended up falling from the bed, his arms encircling the small frame of the woman coming with him and they landed on the polished wood floor with a heavy thud. Him shielding her and taking the full brunt on his back while grasping her tightly to make sure she wouldn't go flying away on her own and injure herself. It wasn't his mind that chose this way of falling with her, but a deep instinct to protect someone smaller and delicate. YuZhi had always been a man who had strong protective reactions.
TangShi's nose bumped YuZhi's cheek firmly as he grunted with the ooomph of being landed on. They both exhaled with an impacted 'Ugh' and came face to face in a compromising moulding of two bodies. Eye to eye, lips an inch apart, and noses side by side when everything stilled. Stunned into silence at this unexpected accident. It was intimate as hell and rendered both mute. TangShi and YuZhi’s heart rates accelerated in union although neither was aware.
TangShi froze, her eyes stuck on YuZhi's as his widened in shock and realized he was restricted under her slight frame while her limbs were hanging around him in the least innocent way. Body parts pressed against one another suggestively, her knees on either side of his thighs, her palms stuck to his naked shoulders, while wearing a skimpy silk nightdress and he wasn’t wearing much in the way of clothes. Right under his chin was an impressive view of her cleavage that was boosted by being on his pecks and he was aware it was in his line of vision. Every inch of her was glued to every inch of him and only separated by thin layers of satin.
His build dwarfed her slender curves and even as a cold man with no sexual urges for her, he still had a heated reaction in his pants to feeling her this way. His hands had somehow made their way from her lower back to the upper curve of her ass in the tumble and he removed them fast, in slight panic, as though she burned him.
TangShi's face reddened to the colour of beetroot. She cringed at the contact, pulled back to untangle herself while inwardly freaking out and dying of shame at the same time. This was so not what she had in mind when she came up here tonight. YuZhi seemed rooted to the spot, motionless apart from letting her go and holding his hands up by his sides in a surrender pose as he stared at her with a strange expression.
He had lost all thoughts of anything else when her body and his collided, yet a sense of familiar stirred inside of him, just like once before. Her lips so close, her pretty eyes on his which seemed to somehow silence him. The unique scent of this woman that was more alluring than any expensive perfume had had ever smelled on Rhea and brought back aching longing of the past. Once again Alice strayed into his head without invitation and set off the pangs of regret.