A dozen breaths passed.
Ning Xi waited, straining her ears, thinking that perhaps Lin Feng hadn't heard her at all, that he was already asleep, indifferent to the questions and emotions swirling within her.
Then, just as her resolve began to falter, his calm, steady voice broke the silence.
"Why what?"
Her heart skipped a beat. Hearing him speak, so soft yet firm, sent a shiver down her spine.
She hesitated only briefly, then poured out the question that had been burning inside her.
"Why aren't you like other men?" she asked, her voice soft, almost trembling with a mixture of awe and confusion.
"Other men would have easily taken me and Teacher Ye Jian tonight without even blinking. And yet you… you continue to keep your distance, to hold your boundaries."
She waited, her chest tight, her gaze fixed on a shadowed corner of the ceiling.
The room fell silent again, the only sound the gentle rise and fall of Ye Jian's breathing beside her.
