Shen Su had always respected her, but today he didn't listen to her. "Don't you want to try a different place? Let's do something different, be good, it won't hurt you."
Before Ji Tong could object, Shen Su had already picked her up.
He lay down directly on the carpet, letting her sit on him. He clasped her waist with both hands, their bodies pressed tightly together.
Ji Tong's face turned even redder, her eyes moist, tears almost falling.
Shen Su: "Don't be afraid."
Ji Tong: "I don't want to do this."
She wanted to stand up, but her waist was trapped by him, making it impossible.
Shen Su: "Try it, you'll like it too."
Ji Tong bit her lip, her expression somewhat conflicted. It wasn't that she was feigning innocence, but she was genuinely uncomfortable. They had never tried this before.
"Can we... try something else?" Ji Tong said, "I'm not ready yet, can you give me some time?"
After she spoke, she nervously licked her lips again.
Shen Su's gaze fell on Ji Tong's lips, and his fingers traced them. "Then how about here? Hmm?"
He released her waist, one hand threaded through her hair, his fingertips pressing against the back of her head.
Ji Tong naturally understood what he wanted to do, but this time, Shen Su didn't give her a chance to refuse.
Half an hour later, Ji Tong was kneeling on the carpet, retching violently, her face streaked with tears, her eyes bloodshot.
In this state, she looked as if she had been abused.
Shen Su approached and raised his arms to embrace her, but she flinched away as if startled.
Shen Su said helplessly, "Let me carry you to wash up."
"I can do it myself," Ji Tong's voice was hoarse. She pushed herself up from the floor and ran barefoot to the bathroom.
Shen Su could see Ji Tong's resistance. Throughout the entire process, she had been trying to hold back, and he hadn't exactly enjoyed it either.
In relationships, he disliked forcing others, especially in matters like this, which required both parties to be uninhibited to feel anything. Ji Tong was not yet capable of that.
Given her current state, Shen Su couldn't imagine her being proactive in the future. As he was contemplating this, the sound of dry retching came from the bathroom downstairs again.
Shen Su pinched the bridge of his nose and walked towards the bathroom. He stopped, knocked on the door, and asked softly, "Are you still not feeling well?"
"I'm fine," Ji Tong's voice was still weak, with a hint of crying.
Shen Su's hand reached for the doorknob. "Can I come in?"
Ji Tong: "No need, I'll come out when I'm done washing."
Shen Su: "Okay, I'll wait for you."
He didn't force his way in. She probably needed some time alone now.
Shen Su returned to the sofa, waiting for her quietly.
As Ji Tong showered, the scenes from earlier kept replaying in her mind. Shen Su had been too rough. It was the first time he had disrespected her like this, ignoring her wishes and forcing her to do such a thing.
The metallic taste in her mouth had not yet dissipated, and the impact on her senses and heart was too great. It wasn't that she couldn't accept it, but she needed time, not to be forced like this.
Beyond the physical discomfort, what troubled Ji Tong the most was the shattering of Shen Su's image of gentleness and thoughtfulness in her heart.
After her shower, Ji Tong emerged wearing a bathrobe. As soon as she reached the sofa, Shen Su took her wrist and pulled her into his arms. He touched her chapped lips and resumed his usual gentle demeanor, asking, "Did I scare you?"
Ji Tong, with her eyes red, asked him, "Why did you do that?"
Her tone suggested she found the situation unacceptable.
Shen Su stroked her face, his voice tinged with helplessness. "Men like this."
Ji Tong: "But you can't force me, I don't like it."
Shen Su: "Yes, it was my fault. Are you still uncomfortable?"
Ji Tong nodded. Not only her face felt sore, but her throat was also uncomfortable, dry and itchy. Of course, her heart felt even more uncomfortable.
Ji Tong: "I thought you would never force anyone."
Shen Su smiled helplessly. "That was the first time."
Before, it had never come to him forcing anyone. Even when Feng Feng had done this for him, she had been willing. It was merely a matter of intimacy between a man and a woman, nothing unacceptable.
Ji Tong, being clever, caught the implied meaning. "Were your previous girlfriends all very proactive?"
Shen Su: "You are the shyest one."
Ji Tong suddenly smiled. "And probably the most boring one, which is why you wanted to do that just now."
Her words sounded a bit sharp. Ji Tong had never spoken to him in this tone before, and Shen Su naturally sensed something was amiss.
"You are the only one among my girlfriends who has no dating experience," Shen Su explained to her. "I was inconsiderate about what happened just now. Next time, it will be when you are willing."
Ji Tong fell silent. She closed her eyes and leaned tiredly against Shen Su's shoulder.
Shen Su raised his hand and gently patted her back. "Are you tired? I'll carry you to bed."
Ji Tong neither refused nor agreed, but Shen Su eventually carried her back to the bedroom, taking her phone with him.
Ji Tong was indeed tired and fell asleep shortly after going upstairs. Shen Su covered her with the quilt and then went to take a shower himself.
When he got into bed after his shower, he saw Ji Tong's phone light up with a WeChat message, from her mother.
Shen Su unlocked the phone and navigated to the WeChat interface to read the message.
【Quit your job as soon as possible. A man who can abandon his own flesh and blood, do you expect him to show you mercy?】
After reading the message, Shen Su put the phone aside and focused his gaze on Ji Tong's face.
No wonder he had felt her mood was off when he picked her up today. Now he knew why.
Shen Su hadn't expected her parents to have investigated this matter so thoroughly.
He had indeed forced a former girlfriend to have an abortion before. When she came to him, she was already over three months pregnant. That was the time he had been most severely manipulated. The woman wanted to use the child to climb the social ladder, and she had tampered with the contraception, specifically waiting until she was more than three months pregnant to approach him.
But he hated being threatened more than anything. Since she was an ex-girlfriend he had already broken up with, he naturally showed no mercy. He directly took her to the hospital for an induced abortion, leaving her with nothing but money.
Not many people knew about this incident. He hadn't expected it to reach Ji Tong's parents' ears, which explained their firm stance.
The next morning, when Ji Tong woke up, Shen Su was nowhere to be seen beside her.
She looked down and saw that her bathrobe had been replaced with pajamas. He must have changed her after she fell asleep last night. He was always so adept at such things.
Ji Tong stared blankly for a few minutes before getting up to wash. While brushing her teeth and washing her face, she looked in the mirror and remembered the scene from the previous night.
When Ji Tong came out after washing up, she happened to run into Shen Su returning to the bedroom. He was still as gentle towards her as always, smiling and saying, "Breakfast is ready. Go down to eat after you've washed up."
Looking at his considerate demeanor, Ji Tong couldn't connect him with the person from last night.
If not for the vividness of her memory, she would have doubted if she had hallucinated.
He was supposed to be this gentle.