The bathroom door closed tightly in front of her.
She turned around and looked at Huangfu Jue, who was standing in front of her, raising her eyebrows.
"Do you have to be so childish?"
What water in the eyes, what asking her to get a towel... His eyes had water in them, yet he could open them so quickly and walk over here; he was obviously faking!
Ignoring her sarcasm, the man countered.
"Why did you ruin my curtain?"
All the curtains in the bedroom were electric, and such sturdy fabric could not possibly be torn unless cut with scissors!
"I...," she was at a loss for words when he hit the nail on the head, "I... I didn’t do it on purpose!"
Bowing his head, his eyes, slightly reddened by the water, met her gaze as he spoke in a low voice.
"If you want me, it doesn’t have to be so complicated!"
Gan Yuan was speechless, "Duke, you are overthinking it, I don’t have that in mind."
"Good!" Huangfu Jue raised his hand to hold her face, making her look him in the eyes, "Then explain to me, why did you intentionally ruin my curtain and barge into the bathroom?"
She stopped halfway through her sentence.
If she told him the truth, and he asked how she found out, how could she explain that? Was she supposed to come clean about her identity?
"Just..." she pursed her lips, "Just wanted you to sleep closer to me, this... this estate is so large, I... I’m a little... scared!"
The woman who, six years ago, dared to tackle the toughest ski slopes alone, was afraid?
"That reason... is not sufficient."
He teased lightly, his fingers brushing her arm, touching the abrasion, and she instinctively drew her arm away.
Noticing her movement, his gaze swept over her arm, spotting the scabbed wound, and his brows immediately furrowed. "What happened?"
He raised his hand to pull her arm that she was trying to hide, examining it closely. Other places were fine, but there was a scratch on the right side of her arm, as long as a hand’s breadth.
"What exactly happened?"
Knowing she couldn’t hide it, she had to speak up.
"I said, don’t be angry."
"You first promise not to be angry, otherwise I won’t tell."
Unconsciously, her tone was a bit coquettish, a light coquetry, but enough to soften the man’s heart.
"Okay, I won’t be angry, tell me what happened?"
Then, Gan Yuan briefly recounted the incident, of course, omitting the part about Nancy’s arrogance.
Despite this, the man still looked grave.
She shrugged it off lightly, "... it was just a small accident, that’s all."
Frowning, Huangfu Jue looked her up and down with concern, "Are there any other injuries?"
"How is Xiaotang?" he asked again.
"He’s fine too," she reassured him with a smile. "All right, now that I’ve explained everything, I will go to sleep, and you should rest early too."
The man’s palm pressed against the door panel, unmoved.
"Why didn’t you tell me over the phone earlier?"
"It’s all in the past, and nobody was hurt, so there was no need to mention it."
"Foolish woman!" he muttered in annoyance, "Didn’t I say you’re not to handle things alone anymore?"
Though his words seemed to reprimand, they were laced with concern and tenderness.
Feeling the man’s emotions, Gan Yuan’s heart softened as well.
"Can you be extra careful recently?" He was bound to be busy with National Day approaching, and she was truly concerned with him being out and about, "I mean... about the incident at the hotel, have you figured out what happened?"