By the third day of the deal, rumors had stopped feeling like rumors.
XinYue and Lin Jue didn't hide it anymore.
They didn't need to.
"Let's go out," Lin Jue said one afternoon, spinning his keys.
"Somewhere loud. Somewhere public."
She raised an eyebrow.
"This is still fake."
"Exactly," he replied. "So let's make it convincing."
They ended up at the amusement park.
XinYue laughed more than she expected to—wind in her hair, noise everywhere, colors too bright to think. Lin Jue bought snacks, teased her for screaming on rides, pretended not to care when she clung to his arm.
It felt easy.
That was the problem.
Across the park, Li Hanyan saw them.
He hadn't planned to be there.
He definitely hadn't planned to see her like that.
Her smile wasn't polite.
It wasn't guarded.
It was real.
He watched Lin Jue lean closer, heard her laugh again, saw the way people assumed they belonged together.
Something snapped.
Li Hanyan turned away, jaw tight, chest burning with something he couldn't name fast enough.
Jealousy didn't arrive quietly.
It crashed.
Later, when the crowd thinned, Lin Jue noticed it too.
XinYue wasn't just playing along anymore.
"You're enjoying this," he said, half-smiling, half-serious.
She didn't deny it.
"Lin… this is still a deal."
"I know," he said.
But his voice wasn't casual now.
Because pretending had lines—and he'd crossed one.
That evening, Li Hanyan stood on the court long after everyone else left.
He replayed the scene over and over.
The laughter.
The closeness.
The fact that she never once looked his way.
For the first time, he admitted it.
He wasn't irritated.
He was jealous.
And it scared him how deep it went.
One week was supposed to end quietly.
But feelings don't follow schedules.
And none of them were ready for what would happen when the deal ended.