Shuyin felt something warm flutter in her chest despite the chaos and complications surrounding them, despite the corpse on the floor and the cleanup team that would arrive soon, and all the questions still unanswered.
"He's protective," she said carefully, choosing words that were accurate without revealing too much. "We were close once, in the past. He's been worried about me for reasons I can't fully explain at the moment. That's all there is to it. Nothing romantic or inappropriate."
"That's all," Lu Yuze echoed, clearly not believing her simplified explanation but perhaps choosing not to push further at this exact moment.
He crossed the room with deliberate steps, standing close enough that Shuyin had to tilt her head back to maintain eye contact, close enough that she could feel heat radiating from his body and smell whatever expensive cologne he wore.
