The offer was tempting.
For a brief, dangerous second, Xiao Feng felt the pull of it deep in his chest, the urge to make Yuan feel even a fraction of the pain he had caused him.
But even as it surfaced, he knew he couldn't act on it. He wasn't built to hurt Yuan intentionally, not even with all this anger burning inside him.
He told himself there was nothing he could truly do to make Yuan feel it the way he had. The loneliness, the waiting, the unanswered letters, the slow erosion of hope, none of that could be repaid through punishment.
He looked away for the first time since he fell into the bathtub. Every part of him was fighting itself. Yuan's pheromones were starting to get unbearable, they were seeping into him without resistance, slipping past every defense he had left.
They wrapped around him insidiously, coaxing him, softening his resolve.
