Chapter 60 Let's Fall in Love

The moonlight was cold and pale, casting long shadows across the dim room.

Being so close, they could clearly see the outline of each other's eyes. Everything else, however, remained shrouded in shadow.

Lin Ting and Shang Moting looked at one another, enveloped by the quiet gloom. Two beating hearts were unconsciously drawing closer and closer with every passing second.

Lin Ting's simple question had left Shang Moting momentarily speechless.

The room fell silent once again.

"An adversarial relationship where we've kissed?" Lin Ting asked.

Shang Moting remained silent.

"If that's the kind of relationship we have... can we still kiss in the future?" Lin Ting asked earnestly.

Shang Moting looked at her, a scrutinizing look deep within his eyes. "When were we ever in an adversarial relationship?"

Lin Ting paused.

"That was always just your own unilateral belief," Shang Moting said.

Lin Ting fell silent.

"How much do you remember from before you fell asleep?" Shang Moting asked. "Do you remember me telling you I like you?"

Lin Ting blinked rapidly several times before looking away, not daring to meet his gaze.

"It seems you do remember."

Lin Ting gave a light cough. "Since when?"

"If I didn't like you, why do you think I kept you by my side?" Shang Moting's voice carried a dangerous edge in the darkness.

"Shang Moting," Lin Ting said, "have you figured out your own feelings? Do you just find me amusing, wanting to keep me around as a source of entertainment, or do you actually want to date me? Have you sorted that out?"

"Do I look like a fool to you? Unable to distinguish my own feelings?" Shang Moting cupped her chin with his thumb and forefinger, forcing her to look at him.

The oppressive weight of his presence leaned heavily toward her.

"When did you even start noticing me?" Lin Ting refused to back down.

Shang Moting chuckled softly, then lowered his head and lightly pecked her lips. "Does that have anything to do with what we're discussing right now?"

Lin Ting's eyes widened in shock. Her fierce and aggressive expression instantly cleared away, replaced by blank astonishment.

Shang Moting adored this little expression of hers.

"You..." Lin Ting's brain, which had been running at high speed preparing for a negotiation, ground to a sudden, jarring halt.

Who on earth kisses people right in the middle of a tense standoff?!

"I what?" Shang Moting asked.

"You..." Lin Ting's brain failed to reboot.

Shang Moting smiled and released her chin.

Lin Ting touched her own lips. "That's playing dirty. Two opposing armies are facing off, and you use a honey trap on the enemy commander! You've completely demoralized our troops!"

"It seems your commander is rather susceptible to temptation," Shang Moting remarked.

"Unfair," Lin Ting protested. "I forgot everything I was going to say!"

"Lin Ting," Shang Moting called out softly. "Let's date."

That brain of hers, which had just barely begun to function again, jammed once more. She stared at him in a daze.

"You think that's out of the question?" he asked.

Lin Ting's eyelashes fluttered twice. She lowered her gaze and whispered, "Yes."

"Suppose... we were a married couple," Shang Moting said.

Lin Ting looked up at him again, wondering why he would bring up such a hypothesis.

"Let's assume we are husband and wife," Shang Moting repeated. "And you discover that what you've been searching for is mine, and the very things you're investigating are my doing. Would you kill me?"

Lin Ting thought about his hypothesis and his question with utmost seriousness.

Shang Moting didn't rush her, giving her all the time she needed to ponder.

After a long while, Lin Ting answered, "Yes."

Shang Moting smiled faintly. "So the end result is the same regardless. Why obsess over the process?"

Lin Ting's heart skipped a beat.

Shang Moting bent one leg, resting his wrist on his knee, and lightly rubbed his fingertips together. "If my fate leads inevitably to death, but before that end arrives, I get to experience an unforgettable romance—I'd still consider myself ahead of the game."

Lin Ting listened to his words, her mind automatically processing them.

The outcome would still be killing him, but before that outcome arrived, following her heart and having a relationship...

"Killing the person you love with your own hands," Lin Ting said softly, "would be agonizing."

"Does refusing to date mean you don't love them?" Shang Moting asked.

Lin Ting slowly curled her fingertips into her palms.

Did it mean she didn't love him?

"If you admit to love, you can still be happy for a while before the end comes. If you refuse to admit it, you'll be miserable forever," Shang Moting said.

Lin Ting kept searching the depths of her heart.

Was she truly devoid of love?

Yet, was this truly love?

"Pain can be addictive too," Shang Moting's gaze seemed to pierce straight through to her soul. "Pain is what makes things unforgettable forever."

Lin Ting found his gaze somewhat terrifying. Sensing her urge to look away, he preemptively gripped her chin, forcing her to hold his gaze. "That way, even if I'm gone, you'll remember me forever."

Lin Ting pulled his hand away and pushed gently against his chest.

Shang Moting looked at the hand pushing him away. "Afraid of me?"

Lin Ting kept pushing him, then turned her head away and sneezed.

Like a little kitten, she gave her head a tiny shake as she sneezed.

Shang Moting's intense, brooding expression vanished instantly.

Lin Ting covered her mouth and sneezed a second time.

Shang Moting pulled two sheets of tissue and handed them to her.

Taking them, Lin Ting muttered, "Thanks. Your air conditioning is set way too low."

Shang Moting reached for the remote and turned the temperature up by two degrees.

They had been chatting for quite a while now. Shang Moting was covered by the quilt, but Lin Ting had been sitting right on top of it.

With one arm around her waist, Shang Moting effortlessly lifted her slightly, pulled the quilt out from underneath her, and draped it over her shoulders instead.

"Isn't this a bit inappropriate?" Lin Ting asked, looking at him.

"We're wrapped in a blanket, just chatting purely. What's inappropriate about that?" Shang Moting lowered his gaze to look at her.

"I suppose you're right." Lin Ting burrowed further into the blanket.

"Still refusing to date?" Shang Moting asked.

"I can't out-argue you," Lin Ting replied. "And I suppose what you said makes sense."

A fleeting look of surprise crossed Shang Moting's eyes, and he raised an eyebrow.

Wrapped in the blanket with only her head sticking out, Lin Ting watched him. In the darkness, her eyes remained bright and sparkling.

"Even though I think you're right," Lin Ting said with a curved-eye smile, "I happen to have a rebellious streak running through every bone in my body."

Shang Moting narrowed his eyes.

"I agree with your logic, but I specifically choose not to follow it," Lin Ting teased impishly. "Happy now?"

"Do I look happy to you?" Shang Moting retorted.

Lin Ting reached out a single finger, pressed it against the corner of his mouth, and pushed it upward into a smile. "I'd say you look quite happy."

Shang Moting caught her hand. Her fingers were ice-cold. He held them in his palm, warming them up.

Lin Ting watched him quietly. After a moment, she inched closer to him, scooting over and over until she was pressed right against his side.

Shang Moting's body radiated a comfortable, inviting warmth. Feeling the chill lingering on her, he simply wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his embrace.

"Doesn't this defeat the purpose? Weren't we supposed to be just *purely* chatting?" Lin Ting asked.

"Mhm," Shang Moting murmured. "So what?"

Lin Ting let out a soft laugh, looked up at him, kissed him lightly on the cheek, and mimicked his tone. "So what?"

With that, she rested her head contentedly against his shoulder.