Chapter 499

Chapter 499 Who Is More Resolute Than Who

In truth, Su Rui had ridden this elevator before. It was different from an ordinary elevator — it required Qin Yueran’s fingerprint to go directly to the rooftop. And if Qin Yueran didn’t want the elevator doors to open, all she had to do was not enter her fingerprint again.

Right now, the elevator had stopped at the rooftop floor, and Su Rui was essentially locked inside.

For some reason, watching Qin Yueran lock the elevator doors, Su Rui suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

It was a truly maddening feeling. He had roamed the dark underworld of the West for years, fearless and capable of making enemies tremble at the mere mention of his name — so why was it that every time he faced this eldest young miss of the Qin family, he felt like a mouse cornered by a cat?

“So… why did you lock the door?” Su Rui asked with an awkward smile, his facial expression stiff as a board.

“Locking it is safer.” Qin Yueran smiled sweetly.

“I don’t feel safe at all.” Su Rui said honestly, and this spineless man was already breaking out in goosebumps all over.

Hearing that, Qin Yueran nearly choked with rage. She had lowered herself to seduce him, and he had the nerve to say he didn’t feel safe. Was she really that terrible?

She was, after all, the fourth young miss of the capital’s Qin family, with suitors as numerous as fish in a river. And yet here she was, throwing herself at Su Rui, while he kept dodging and evading her at every turn.

Even the thickest-skinned person would feel hurt after being rejected and avoided like this, wouldn’t they?

Of course, that didn’t mean Qin Yueran was “thick-skinned” — those words were far too harsh to place on a young woman. What she was, was brave. Brave enough to give everything for her own feelings.

Among all the women around Su Rui, Qin Yueran was without a doubt the boldest. Her methods were more aggressive than anyone else’s, and she had gone further than anyone else. And in fact, the results of those methods had placed her far ahead of the other women in this unspoken competition.

“Are you really that afraid of me?”

Thinking back on everything she had been through — even giving Su Rui the most precious thing a woman has — and receiving not a shred of affection in return, only fear, Qin Yueran felt more and more heartbroken, more and more wronged the longer she thought about it.

Su Rui had been wondering whether this woman was going to drug him again and force herself on him, and just as that worry was building in his mind, he suddenly noticed that Qin Yueran’s eyes had turned red. Glistening tears were swirling behind her eyelids, threatening to spill over at any moment.

Su Rui was stunned. “Why are you crying?”

Men always have a hard time reading what women are truly thinking. Watching Qin Yueran’s tear-streaked face, Su Rui found himself at a complete loss.

“I’m pathetic, aren’t I?” Qin Yueran tilted her head up, her face streaked with tears.

“Uh…”

“I have no shame, don’t I?”

“Uh…”

“I’m annoying, aren’t I?”

“Well…”

Qin Yueran kept firing one question after another, and Su Rui had no idea how to answer any of them.

He knew perfectly well that the answer to all of them was no — but right now, he couldn’t bring himself to say it no matter what.

Watching Qin Yueran cry, he felt a heaviness settle in his chest.

“I confessed to you openly. I went out of my way to get close to you. I challenged Lin Aoxue. I even slipped you a love potion and slept with you against your will.”

Qin Yueran’s words left Su Rui speechless.

“And yet, after all that, not only do you not like me — you want to get away from me even more. Did I do something wrong? I really want to know. Did I? All I did was like you!”

Qin Yueran’s words made Su Rui’s heart clench hard.

He reached out and gently pressed his hand to her cheek, wanting to wipe away the tears.

“I know that compared to me, you prefer Lin Aoxue. But I don’t want to give up. I’m actively chasing the happiness that should belong to me — isn’t that what I’m doing?”

“I’m not asking to be the only one in your heart. I just hope that in that wide, open space inside you, there might be a small corner for me. Is that really too much to ask?”

Flashing through Qin Yueran’s mind was the image of the first time Su Rui had come to her private rooftop. He had played “We Have No Tomorrow” on the piano, and it had struck a deep chord in the fourth young miss of the Qin family. Perhaps it was right then that Qin Yueran had slowly begun to fall for him.

Then at the engagement banquet, Su Rui had shown up with twelve helicopters and stormed the Qin family estate, pulling off the most flamboyant bride-snatching imaginable. Any woman alive would have a fairy-tale fantasy buried somewhere in her heart, and Su Rui had fulfilled Qin Yueran’s perfectly.

He had done things like that again and again. How could she possibly not be moved?

Watching the tears on Qin Yueran’s face and listening to every word that came straight from her heart, Su Rui felt as though something had slammed into his chest, leaving him breathless with pain.

“Su Rui, if you truly don’t like me — if everything I’ve done only makes you feel disgusted — then I’ll disappear from your side right now, and never appear before you again.”

Qin Yueran’s gaze held a stubborn resolve. She drew a deep breath, her face glistening with tears.

She was a normal woman. She had taken the initiative again and again and again. Even an angel would grow tired.

And more than that — she had given Su Rui the most precious thing she had kept safe for years. Something a person only has once. Having given it to him meant she had chosen him.

She had chosen him. And yet he was still running from her.

What was the point of going on like this.

Su Rui’s throat bobbed up and down a few times. He said, “Yueran, it’s not that I don’t like you, and it’s definitely not that I find you annoying. It’s just that my feelings are a mess right now — I can’t sort them out myself, so I…”

“Have I been pushing you too hard?”

Qin Yueran gave a bitter smile through her tears, gently wiping them away with the back of her hand. “If I’ve been pushing you too hard, then I’m willing to give you time and space. If you need a year to sort things out, I’ll wait a year. If you need five years, I’ll wait five years. And if you can never sort it out, I’ll just find someone to marry.”

With that, Qin Yueran gave Su Rui one long look, then stepped around him, her finger moving toward the fingerprint lock on the elevator panel.

One press, and the elevator doors would open. Qin Yueran would stop chasing Su Rui for good.

Somehow, hearing Qin Yueran’s confession — especially that last line, “I’ll just find someone to marry” — a deep, fierce crimson flooded into Su Rui’s eyes.

“You can’t marry someone else!”

Su Rui let out a low growl and grabbed Qin Yueran’s wrist.

If he had been even one second slower, her finger would have pressed the lock open.

“You don’t want me, but you won’t let me get married either. Is there anyone in the world as overbearing as you?” Watching Su Rui stare her down with such intensity, Qin Yueran couldn’t help but feel a little surprised.

In truth, she had never once imagined that Su Rui — who had been dodging her all this time — would do something like this.

“I’m not letting you marry anyone. Whoever you marry, I’ll kill.” Su Rui’s voice was thick with dominance as he growled, “Qin Yueran, from the day you drugged me, you were already my woman!”

In truth, for someone like Su Rui, that line probably should have been delivered in a much softer, more sheepish tone — something like: from the day I fell for your love potion, I became your man.

Of course, while the meaning is the same either way, saying it in that more literal fashion at a moment like this would have rather killed the mood.

Listening to Su Rui’s words, Qin Yueran wiped her tears, and a faint sweetness welled up in her heart.

This jerk — was he finally willing to face his own feelings?

“You’re willing to take responsibility for me? You don’t hate me anymore?” Qin Yueran asked.

“I never hated you to begin with!”

According to the classic playbook of legendary romantics, when a woman is about to argue with you — no matter how worked up or furious she gets — don’t say a word. Just pin her against the wall and press your lips to hers in a deep, lingering kiss. She’ll melt under the force of your boldness, go weak all over, and naturally won’t have the energy to give you any more trouble. Problem solved.

Su Rui had no idea where he’d picked up that move, but after being provoked by Qin Yueran’s words one too many times, he had no desire to answer any more questions.

Looking at this beautiful woman who had given everything for him — boldly, recklessly, without a second thought — the feelings inside Su Rui finally erupted. He wrapped one arm around Qin Yueran’s slender waist, cupped her face with his other hand, and kissed her deeply.

Qin Yueran struggled for a moment at first, but under Su Rui’s relentless and unreasonable assault, her heart gradually opened.

She had always been the bold one to begin with. Seeing Su Rui come at her with such force, she naturally wasn’t about to back down — she kissed him back with equal passion.

The two of them shared a deep, lingering kiss that lasted a full five minutes.

Those five minutes felt so long, and yet so fleeting. The feelings between them were almost ready to burst wide open entirely.

Su Rui held Qin Yueran’s face in both hands, caught his breath with a few ragged gasps, then leaned in to kiss her again.

But his lips didn’t reach hers — a slender hand stopped him.

Gazing at the man before her, Qin Yueran’s eyes were soft as water, and she was nearly lost in the moment.

“Su Rui, I fell in love with you a long time ago.” She said softly, and the tears broke free again.

Su Rui nodded frantically, his mouth trying to nudge her hand out of the way.

“Even though you’re like this right now, that doesn’t guarantee you’ll still feel this way toward me in the future.” Qin Yueran, though barely holding herself together, still tried to keep a clear head. “I don’t need your promises. I just want you to know — if you ever grow tired of me one day, I’ll leave quietly. I won’t keep making you feel like I’m a burden.”

Part on good terms.

Su Rui could already see the resolve in Qin Yueran’s eyes. But in this moment, he had to show even more certainty than she had.

With a low growl, Su Rui wrapped Qin Yueran’s legs around his waist and tore open her qipao.