*Chapter 9: Masks of Laughter*
The weekend crept in quietly, but the penthouse was anything but silent. Zhao Liang's two friends had come over unannounced, sprawling across his living room as though they owned the place. Their voices echoed against the marble floors, sharp with sarcasm and playful insults.
"Your face alone could ruin a wedding," one sneered, sipping wine with exaggerated elegance.
The other snorted. "Says the man whose last date left before the appetizers arrived. Face it — you're hopeless."
Li Xue sat quietly near the window, hands wrapped around a glass of water. Their bickering should have felt intrusive, but instead, it was oddly comforting. The lightheartedness they carried into the suffocating air was something she had almost forgotten existed.
Her lips curved in a faint smile when one friend dramatically clutched his chest. "Hopeless? Please. Women chase me. I just… let them think they can keep up."
The laughter was genuine, warm, but when her eyes shifted toward Zhao Liang, the warmth fled her chest. He sat apart, his long fingers wrapped around a glass of whiskey, eyes lowered as though the laughter around him belonged to a world he wasn't part of.
The mischievous friend caught Li Xue's smile and leaned closer, stage-whispering just loud enough for Zhao Liang to hear, "If your husband doesn't want you, maybe I should take over his role. What do you say, Mrs. Zhao?"
The room went still for a fraction of a second. Li Xue's cheeks flamed, words tangled in her throat.
Zhao Liang's eyes lifted slowly, and though his lips curved, it wasn't with amusement. "She won't. She's too bound to her contract."
His voice cut sharper than any blade, and the silence that followed was suffocating. One friend shifted uncomfortably, the other cleared his throat, but no joke could recover the atmosphere.
Li Xue lowered her gaze, the sting of humiliation pressing hot against her skin. She wanted to disappear, to dissolve into the glass in her hands.
Later that night, when the friends had finally left, she stood by the balcony, gazing at the city lights. Zhao Liang's voice slid through the darkness, low and deliberate.
"Don't let their nonsense fool you. Whatever you're imagining—don't."
Her chest tightened. "Why do you always twist everything into cruelty?"
His reply was quiet, but it burned. "Because kindness will only give you hope. And hope, Li Xue, is the cruelest lie of all."
She pressed her hand to her mouth to stop the sob that threatened to escape. The city stretched endlessly before her, but in that moment, she had never felt more trapped