Qiao Chuchu’s heart skipped a beat!

Pei Che was angry.

She tried to sound casual. “There’s no place for me in this house anymore, so it’s pretty awkward for me to come back now.”

Pei Che pressed on. “And whose fault is it that there’s no place for you in this house?”

Qiao Chuchu was struck by the painful question and fell silent.

Pei Che leaned forward, his imposing presence towering over her, his voice deliberately probing. “Tell me, whose fault is it?”

Qiao Chuchu lowered her head in shame and quickly tried to walk away, avoiding him.

But Pei Che grabbed her wrist!

Qiao Chuchu felt the world spinning, and before she knew it, she was pushed down onto the bed!

She stared at him in shock. “Brother!”

“Don’t call me brother!!”

Pei Che suddenly raised his voice, like an enraged beast. “I’m not your brother anymore! This is all ruined because of you!!!”

Qiao Chuchu’s entire body tensed. She felt as if Pei Che’s strength was like a vice, pressing down on her.

She couldn’t even move her arms.

Fear, like a swarm of insects, crawled over her limbs. She struggled to control herself, her voice quivering with tears. “If you hate me so much, then let me go! Why are you still holding me like this? Are you insane?!”

“I said you’re staying here, so you’ll stay here.”

Pei Che pressed her hand to the top of her head, forcefully straddling her waist, his legs pinning her down. “Qiao Chuchu, don’t forget, even though you call us brothers, we don’t share blood. We aren’t even on the same household registry. Do you know what that means? It means we can be siblings, or we could be a man and a woman. The boundary is defined by our hearts.”

Under the silver moonlight, Qiao Chuchu’s skirt spread out across the bed, making her look extremely disheveled, while Pei Che, in his immaculate suit, remained perfectly composed, glaring down at her. “You said this to me before. Do you remember?”

Qiao Chuchu closed her eyes in humiliation.

Of course, she remembered.

She would never forget the look in Pei Che’s eyes when she said that.

It was a look that made her feel like trash.

Pei Che tightened his grip on her wrist and leaned down close to her. “You ruined the home we built, destroyed the happiness of our family of eight. I don’t care what excuses you have, but now that we have a chance to fix this family, you have to stay with me.”

Qiao Chuchu’s heart almost leapt out of her chest as she spoke in a near whisper. “We can never go back to how things were.”

【I’ve done so many horrible things. How can I pretend they never happened?】

Pei Che’s voice grew louder. “So what!!”

The vein in his forehead bulged, his handsome face contorting with rage. “You tell me, even if you’ve done wrong, so what? Now you have the chance to come back, so why are you still being picky, unwilling to settle down?”

He couldn’t understand. “The person who made the mistake is you, so why is it also you who wants to stay away?!”

Qiao Chuchu’s head buzzed, and in her panic, she retorted, “Can you treat me the way you did before?!”

“I can!!” Pei Che shot back fiercely.

Qiao Chuchu couldn’t hold back her tears. “Then look at what you’re doing now! You’re pinning me down, you’re trapping me on the bed!”

Pei Che froze for a moment, gradually realizing the position they were in.

Qiao Chuchu’s tears started flowing freely. “This is terrifying, second brother!”

Pei Che was stunned, slowly releasing his grip on her.

She sobbed softly, almost pleading. “Just let me go. We can never go back to what we had, but I promise I won’t cling to you like I did before. I’ll find my own way to help you, to make up for everything I’ve done.”

【I’ll use my strength to stop the tragic outcomes for my brothers. I won’t hurt them anymore, I don’t want this… I’m so sorry.】

Pei Che’s heart skipped a beat.

Qiao Chuchu, her eyes blurred with tears, whispered, “Please let me go. I really don’t belong here.”

Pei Che didn’t say a word, his face serious as he looked down at her.

Her curly hair sprawled on the bed, moonlight glinting off it, giving it a beautiful sheen.

Her eyes seemed to hold tiny broken stars, and tears fell in heavy drops, soaking her reddish-brown hair. Her chest heaved from the crying.

He could even hear her breath catching.

Out of nowhere, Pei Che raised his hand and placed it over her carotid artery.

Qiao Chuchu’s fear deepened.

【What’s he going to do? Is he going to strangle me?】

Pei Che seemed oblivious, only feeling the pulse beneath his hand.

Qiao Chuchu was alive.

She hadn’t fallen from the sky, hadn’t been killed by a knife.

She was alive, she could argue, she could be scared, she could even cry in a fight.

He moved his hand up, roughly wiping away her tears.

Qiao Chuchu felt like a kitten being licked by a lion.

Pei Che’s hand was like a storm, wiping away her tears until her eyeliner and mascara smudged into a mess.

She stared up, dazed.

Pei Che had a stern expression, no longer as menacing as before. “Don’t ever say you don’t want to stay here again.”

Qiao Chuchu opened her mouth, but he stopped her.

Pei Che covered her mouth. “Even if you die, you’ll die in this house. Do you hear me?”

She widened her eyes in terror, her body trembling from the reflex.

Pei Che noticed her trembling and smiled wickedly, his lips curling. “Are you afraid of me?”

Qiao Chuchu gritted her teeth, not daring to speak.

【How could I not be afraid, big brother? You have the key to my room, you’re staring at me like that, and you’re sitting on top of me. I’ve never been pinned down like this by a man, and now your malice is heavier than any ghost’s!】

Pei Che let out a soft laugh, leaning down toward her. “Qiao Chuchu, don’t you remember? When you were little, you liked me the most out of the seven brothers.”

Qiao Chuchu, in disbelief, said, “Huh?”

She thought about it slowly, realizing she hadn’t thought that way.

When she was young, she had always liked big brother the most.

Because Pei Yuan was gentle, very much like a mother, though he nagged, it felt like motherly nagging, and he really knew how to take care of people.

Pei Che had always been sinister.

Thinking back, Qiao Chuchu suddenly had an epiphany.

She looked at his wrist, where a deep scar from a suicide attempt was visible.

Pei Che followed her gaze to his wrist. “Remember now?”

Qiao Chuchu felt a chill running up her spine as she realized it.

She remembered now.

After their adoptive parents passed away, each of the brothers had been devastated. Pei Che had tried to slit his wrists.

It was her who had found him in the bathtub, holding him tightly as he bled out.

Pei Che had been drowsy, leaning on her shoulder. “Chuchu, there’s nothing in this world worth staying for. I don’t want to live anymore.”

“You can’t think like that, second brother. You still have me, and the others. If you go, what will happen to us? We can’t be without you.”

Pei Che, weak and sickly, had muttered, “Can’t be without me?”

“Yes, we can’t be without you!” She wiped the blood off his face. “We’re a family, and we have to stay together, forever, never apart.”

That day, Pei Che’s dull eyes had sparked with hope once again.

What else they said, she couldn’t remember.

She only remembered Pei Che saying seriously to her, “From now on, no matter what happens, we’re all living together. We’ll eat together, celebrate New Year’s together, go shopping together, travel together. We won’t neglect our family for love, and we won’t fall apart for money. We can’t hurt each other.”

“We must stay together, forever.”