Volume One, Chapter 21: Do You Know What Love Is?

Su Yu was dragged outside by Si Yan, her whole body leaning against his shoulder, her voice full of anger and shame. “You’re shameless!”

“Si Yan, you’re such a bastard!”

“I never said I would marry you. How can you say such things in front of Han Yan?”

Han Yan—always Han Yan.

Si Yan’s fury flared instantly. He suddenly threw her onto the bed.

“You go on and on about Han Yan every day!” he said, looking down at her, his chest rising and falling violently. “What exactly am I to you?”

“Besides Han Yan, what else can you say?” His eyes reddened slightly, clearly pushed to his limit, his voice trembling with suppressed grievance and rage.

“Yes, of course there is!” she shot back.

“I won’t marry you!” Su Yu sat up abruptly, locking eyes with Si Yan’s reddened gaze, her tone unwavering and resolute.

“Do you know what kind of people get married?” She took a deep breath, enunciating each word carefully. “Only those who love each other wholeheartedly are willing to step into the altar of marriage.”

Meeting his gaze without flinching, she pointed at him and then at herself. “You and I have no emotional foundation whatsoever. I don’t love you, and I never will marry you!”

She nearly shouted the last sentence, full of finality, as if pouring out every ounce of resistance in her heart.

“If not me, then who would you marry?”

“Han Yan?”

The man’s eyes darkened, as if the moment she uttered that name, he would do whatever it took to end it immediately.

Yun Jin gave no answer. She only stiffened her neck and stubbornly said, “Anyway… it’s not you. I don’t love you!”

---

“Baby, do you even know what love is?” Si Yan suddenly wrapped his arms around her waist, his warm breath brushing her ear, his voice low and intoxicating.

“Of course I do! Only a madman like you wouldn’t know what love is!” Su Yu struggled fiercely, trying to break free from his embrace, her tone dripping with disdain.

“Is that so?” Si Yan chuckled darkly, tightening his hold around her. “But this madman’s love is all for you.”

His fingertips traced her skin, his voice brimming with unwavering confidence. “Baby, your body already belongs to me, and soon your heart will be mine as well.”

He gazed at her flushed profile, a gleam of determination flashing in his eyes—

He would give her the grandest wedding, making her wholly his.

Little Bitter Melon would only know happiness from now on.

Su Yu felt they were speaking two different languages. He spoke his, she spoke hers—there was no meeting ground.

“Si Yan, where I come from, marriage means a lifetime shared between two people.”

Su Yu looked at him, her eyes sincere, her tone softening.

“Two people in love who get a marriage certificate are committing to be lifelong partners, to cherish and support each other.”

She took a deep breath and continued her earnest plea. “But I don’t like you, and maybe you don’t truly love me either.”

“What you feel for me now may just be a passing interest. Maybe tomorrow you’ll be disgusted. That kind of feeling isn’t love, and it’s not enough to carry us into marriage.”

She stared steadily at him and asked quietly, “Can you understand that?”

No, it was she who couldn’t understand.

---

Si Yan knew all too well that what he felt for her was an extreme, possessive desire to control.

When she cried, he softened and felt pain alongside her—that was love.

When he was on a business trip for days, he thought of her every moment, wanted to hear her voice, to kiss her lips, to hold her—that was love.

When little baby was sick, he blamed himself for not taking better care—that was love.

When she was close to that Han Yan, he felt a heavy stone pressing on his heart—jealousy, yes, but also love.

Except for when he was rough with her in bed, he always indulged her otherwise—that was love.

He admitted he was extreme and harsh, but every dog has its own chain.

This madman only needed to guard her.

“Baby, one day you will love me.”

Si Yan’s voice was firm and unyielding. He suddenly pressed her into his embrace, lowering his head to kiss her fiercely, with an aggressive determination.

Su Yu struggled desperately, pushing him away with all her might, her hands pressing against his chest, but inside she screamed silently: That day will never come. Never.

She squeezed her eyes shut, her teeth clenched tight, refusing to respond to this suffocating kiss.

Who could ever fall in love with such a monster?