In the sleepy quiet of early morning, Ying Shu yawned, then turned to see Yan Zhen surprisingly alert, completely engrossed in her phone. Curious, she leaned closer, causing Yan Zhen to quickly hide the screen. “What?”

“I should be asking you that. You’ve been so strange these past couple of days,” Ying Shu complained. “You usually love to sleep in, but today you were up early enough to go out for breakfast, and you didn’t even wake me.”

“You wouldn’t have gotten up anyway, and besides, I brought you back something,” Yan Zhen replied, averting her gaze.

Of course, she hadn’t been up that early on her own. Chen Huaixu had promised to take her to breakfast, a promise she’d dismissed as a joke. She was proven wrong when he called her from the hotel lobby while she was still sound asleep. She’d mumbled a grumpy refusal, narrowly avoiding him coming upstairs to drag her out of bed.

After breakfast, Chen Huaixu had walked her back to her room, insisting on a proper goodbye. That goodbye had involved a lingering, almost explosive kiss by the door. And yet, he’d be back in Ningchuan in just two days.

The memory of that kiss warmed Yan Zhen’s cheeks. Just then, Ying Shu noticed the cord around her neck. “Yan Zhen! What is that on your neck?! A piece of string? I can’t believe my eyes!”

Yan Zhen covered it with her hand. “What? It’s a gift. I forgot to take it off.”

“Are you serious?” Ying Shu touched her forehead. “The esteemed Miss Yan wearing some cheap braided string? People will think your family’s gone bankrupt! Who gave you this thing? You should be wearing something like that Eros necklace we saw the other day, at the very least.”

Ying Shu’s expression turned serious. “Yan Zhen, be honest with me. Are you tangled up with some freeloader?”

Yan Zhen was speechless.

Seeing her expression, Ying Shu became even more convinced. “I know you’re rich and don’t care about money, but you can’t go for someone so far beneath you. When the gap is that big, they’re not after you, they’re after your money. You understand? Be careful; you could be tricked – emotionally, physically, financially.”

“No,” Yan Zhen whispered. “He’s… well-off.”

She didn’t know Chen Huaixu’s exact net worth, but everyone in their circles spoke highly of him. His venture capital firm seemed to be gaining prominence, so she assumed he must be doing quite well.

Ying Shu, stunned, sat beside her. “Wait, are you actually dating someone?”

Yan Zhen realized she’d just tacitly admitted Chen Huaixu was her boyfriend.

“Not really…” she hesitated. “We’re not… official.”

Ying Shu stared at her incredulously. “Yan Zhen, are you joking? How far have things gone? And you’re not even official? Is he just playing you?”

Panic tightened its grip on Yan Zhen. “I don’t know… he’s never said anything about it.”

Their intimacy had grown without definition, somehow reaching this point.

Ying Shu grabbed her hand, determined to rescue her friend from a potential love trap. “Do I know this guy?” Yan Zhen stammered, unwilling to answer.