Lin Yaoyue's phone wouldn't stop vibrating.
She blinked awake to the sound, groggy and disoriented, and reached for it blindly from the nightstand. It was only seven in the morning.
Ten unread messages. Three missed calls. Two voicemails.
Most of them from unknown numbers.
Her stomach dropped.
The first text she opened was from Su Cheng.
"You're trending. Again. This time, not in a good way."
She sat up instantly.
Her fingers fumbled as she clicked through to a social media feed, and there it was, her face. Plastered across multiple gossip accounts. Beside Jiang Zeyan. Standing close on the terrace. Sitting together at dinner. Even a blurred image of her stepping out of the pool in a swimsuit.
Some were taken from a distance, likely by someone with a long lens. Others looked sharper, closer. Private.
The captions varied, but they all implied the same thing:
"Who is the mystery woman by CEO Jiang's side?"
"Luxury romance or strategic stunt? Insiders question Jiang's new 'relationship'"
"Board members caught off guard as photos leak from private retreat"
Yaoyue's heart pounded in her chest. She wasn't just "the girlfriend" anymore.
She was being watched.
Judged.
Speculated about.
She didn't realize she'd gotten out of bed until she was already storming down the hallway toward the living room, barefoot, still in her robe. Her hand slapped the light panel as she entered.
Jiang Zeyan was already awake, already dressed. A cup of black coffee sat untouched in front of him as he read from his phone.
"You saw it?" she asked.
"Yes."
"And you're this calm?"
He set the phone down. "Panicking wouldn't help."
"Someone was spying on us. These weren't taken accidentally."
"I know."
Yaoyue stared at him. "So say something. Do something."
"I've already sent a legal team after the distribution sources. The photos are circulating too fast to stop entirely, but the main posts will be removed by this afternoon."
"That's not enough."
He looked at her then, and something in his eyes had shifted.
"It won't happen again."
His voice was sharp now. Firm in a way she rarely heard.
She crossed her arms. "I know Tang Min's behind this."
"Most likely."
"She's trying to turn the story against us. Paint me as a fake. Or a nobody."
"You're not a nobody."
The words hung in the air. Unexpected. Heavy.
Yaoyue swallowed. "Then why does it feel like she's still two steps ahead?"
"Because she's used to playing long games," he said. "And because she underestimates the one thing she can't control."
Yaoyue frowned. "What's that?"
He held her gaze. "You."
---
Tang Min sat on the edge of her chaise lounge, scrolling through the leaked posts with the kind of smile that looked gentle but wasn't.
Her assistant hovered nervously nearby. "They're scrubbing the posts, but the screenshots are everywhere now."
"Good," she said calmly. "Let them scramble."
She looked at one particular photo , the one with Yaoyue and Zeyan sitting under the terrace lights, too close, too natural.
The smile faded just slightly.
"She's getting comfortable," Tang Min murmured.
"You don't think it's real, do you?" the assistant asked carefully.
"No," she said. "He's not capable of real."
But part of her wasn't so sure anymore.
And that made her furious.
---
Back at the villa, Yaoyue paced the living room.
"What happens if the board thinks I'm a problem?"
Zeyan watched her quietly.
"They won't."
"But what if they do? What if they think you're distracted or making poor decisions?"
He stood slowly, walked toward her, and stopped just close enough that she had to look up to meet his eyes.
"I can handle the board."
"But…"
"You don't have to protect me."
"I'm not," she said quickly, too quickly.
He tilted his head slightly. "Then what are you doing?"
She had no answer.
Because somewhere in the mess of fear and confusion, part of her really was trying to protect him. From the fallout. From Tang Min. From himself.
But he didn't need her.
He had walls higher than most people's expectations.
She took a step back. "I need air."
He let her go.
---
She sat near the pool with her legs pulled to her chest, hair still messy, eyes on the water that shimmered under the morning sun.
The leak had shaken her more than she wanted to admit. Not because of the photos. But because of how intimate they looked. Realer than she remembered.
Maybe that was the scariest part.
They hadn't kissed. Hadn't touched.
But they had felt close.
And if the camera could capture it, maybe she wasn't imagining it.
Maybe the lines were starting to blur.
From inside, Zeyan watched her through the glass.
He didn't move.
Didn't speak.
But something quiet twisted in his chest, foreign, unwelcome, and impossible to ignore.