Disguised as a Man, She Has Eight Men Fighting Over Her - Chapter 68 - Nine Minutes, Forty-Seven Seconds

The incident left Lin Cheng subdued and distracted all morning.

Music filled the rehearsal room.

Even now, standing at the back of the formation, she was staring blankly at Jiang Si’s black fingerless gloves.

“Lin Chen?” Jiang Si raised a brow. “Have you got it?”

The other five immediately turned to look at her.

“Huh?” She snapped back to the present, her tongue tangling. “Y-yes… I think?”

The last two words were so guilty and quiet they were barely audible.

Pei Jinye snorted.

“That ‘I think’ is doing a lot of work. Been out rustling cattle all night? Your soul’s still missing.”

Jiang Si looked at the visibly distracted Lin Cheng. “Fifteen-minute break.”

He started toward her.

But Shi Yu spoke up beside him, curious. “Brother Si, why the gloves all of a sudden?”

He was about to offer a casual excuse when he saw Lin Cheng slip over to Shen Qingrang, say something softly, and then actually lead him out of the rehearsal room.

At the other end of the hall, Shen Qingrang had barely had time to react before Lin Cheng pulled him into an unused dance studio.

The lights were off. Daylight entered through a single narrow window.

“What is it, sweetheart?”

Leaning against the barre by the door, he asked gently.

“Qingrang, do you know anything about the captain’s family?”

Her voice shook a little. She swallowed nervously.

He studied her anxious face with deep eyes and said nothing.

His silence only made her more frantic.

“Qin Rang! Say something!”

Realizing she had lost her composure, she hesitated, then told him what had happened the night before.

“I’m—I’m just afraid of getting him into trouble. He did it because of me, and this morning Hanzhou…”

She spoke faster and faster, consumed by worry for another man. She hadn’t even noticed that she was alone with a man in a dark room.

Much less that the gentleness surrounding Shen Qingrang was slowly receding.

“You’re that worried about him? Hmm?”

His gaze weighed on her. Black eyes fixed on her anxious ones, he swallowed slightly and took off his glasses.

Now Lin Cheng sensed the danger too. She stammered an explanation.

“H-he did do it for me, after all…”

Her voice dwindled as he kept advancing.

Their shadows slowly merged.

Clack.

Her heel struck something. She fell backward.

“Oof!”

Old springs squeaked beneath her as she landed on a small sofa, sending up a fine cloud of dust.

Shen Qingrang lifted a long leg and straddled her thighs. Before she could react, he cupped her face and kissed her.

The position reversed the roles one might have expected, yet he showed no awkwardness at all. Somehow, that made it all the more sensual.

Caught off guard, Lin Cheng felt his mouth gently open hers, his tongue brushing softly inside.

He kissed her deeply. She could only keep leaning back as he explored every part of her mouth with care, pressing closer step by step, his faint pine scent spreading around her.

“Cough—cough…”

She choked on her own saliva, bringing the kiss to an abrupt end.

“Sweetheart.” He wiped the moisture from the corner of his mouth with a knuckle of his left hand. His eyes were dangerous. “Are you close to him too?”

She jerked her head up and met that bottomless gaze, momentarily speechless.

Why was everyone obsessed with asking whether she was close to someone?

Besides, Jiang Si knew her secret and had been hurt protecting her. That counted as fairly close, didn’t it?

Could she say that? No.

Lin Cheng shook her head.

Without the shelter of his lenses, Shen Qingrang’s eyes were so sharp in the dimness that there was nowhere to hide.

“Ha. Not close? You dragged one man into a dark room to ask him about another man you aren’t close to?”

“Um, get up first…” She turned her face away. “You’re h-heavy.”

In fact, his weight was just right. She only wanted to break this strange tension.

“All right. As you wish.”

His strong arms circled her waist. With one effortless movement, he reversed their positions.

By the time she caught up, he had settled her on his thighs.

The balance of control had shifted subtly.

Shen Qingrang had already taken out his phone and set a countdown.

“Nine minutes, forty-seven seconds.” He showed her the screen, then put it aside. “That’s how much break time we have left.”

His voice was languid and dangerous. One arm rested casually around her waist; his long fingers curled once, quickly, then relaxed.

“Sweetheart, answer properly. Are you close to him?”

Tick. Tick.

An inaudible second hand moved steadily on.

In a flash of inspiration, Lin Cheng blurted, “I’m closest to you!”

Shen Qingrang raised his eyebrows, a dangerous smile spreading across his lips.

“Clever sweetheart,” he praised softly, his voice rough.

The hand at her waist drifted down, almost imperceptibly, to grip her slender middle beneath the loose T-shirt. Then he drew her closer.

“But that’s not enough.”

He pulled her all the way forward, until she was almost flush against his lower abdomen.

“Kiss me.”

“What?” His bluntness startled her.

He arched one eyebrow, his eyes narrowing.

“Were you lying about being close?”

One kiss led to familiarity, after all, and Lin Cheng wasn’t one to make a fuss.

She gave him a light peck, drawing away the moment their lips touched.

He was clearly dissatisfied with the token effort.

Of course she noticed. Embarrassed, she covered her eyes with a hand and swallowed quietly.

“I don’t know how to do that.”

Her shy, flustered manner plainly pleased him.

He laughed low and kissed the rim of her ear. “That’s all right. I’ll teach you, sweetheart. Okay?”

Shen Qingrang drew her hand away. Gentle kisses fell on her forehead, her lashes, her cheeks.

When his lips brushed the corner of her mouth, he paused.

“Sweetheart.” His words were muffled against her lips, his voice low and beguiling. “Be good. Open your mouth.”

Like a patient teacher, he brushed her lips lightly, showing her how to breathe when they parted and how to respond boldly when his tongue slipped inside.

Gradually, Lin Cheng opened her eyes. Through a watery haze, she saw his fine lashes and heard the wet sounds of their kisses.

She couldn’t help looping her arms around his neck and pressing against him.

Absorbed in kissing her, he still missed none of her responses. He held her tighter.

She had no idea how long they kissed before he finally let her go.

“Such a good student.”

Lin Cheng drew a deep breath. Her fingers slipped down from his neck, and she spoke hesitantly.

“Um… Can you tell me about the captain now…?”

Her voice grew smaller and smaller.