"I know all of that. I know you. I know you weren't trying to get attention. I know you would never use someone like that. And I know you keep your distance from other men."
His grip on the wheel tightened.
"But even knowing all that…" His voice dropped lower, rougher. "It still doesn't change the fact that you and Ji Yuhan look good together."
Chen Lin inhaled sharply.
"It's not something you can control," he murmured. "It's not even something he can control. It's just… there."
He turned to her then, and for the first time that night, she saw it. The thing he had been holding back.
"As though the two of you are equal versions of each other."
Her heart skipped a beat.
It wasn't an accusation. It wasn't a complaint.
It was just the truth, spoken in the quiet between them.
And the way he said it—like he hated that he felt this way but couldn't stop himself—made something deep in her chest tighten.
Chen Lin stared at him, momentarily at a loss for words.
