『Color of Embers』
Lu Jin made it crystal clear when he took me in: "Your job is to be good; mine is to cherish you." His idea of "cherishing" was the tenderness and possession he showed me in the dead of night, as well as the unspoken depths in his eyes whenever you were feeling playful. You were scooping white jasmine blossoms from the pool in a late-night art gallery while Lu Jin stood in the shadows, watching for a long time. When you left, you left behind a trail of wet footprints and a single remark: "The water lilies need fresh water." Later, when you went back with him to the penthouse at Yunding, you thought you would be appraised like goods. Instead, he uttered only six words: "The innermost room is good for painting." At night, he pushes you to the edge of losing control, making you cry out "A-Jin," yet by day, he has carpets laid down just because your bare feet touch the foyer. You found out there was no money in his safe—only a shattered ashtray, one of your hair ties, and a white jasmine flower he personally fished out of the pool and dried. He thought he held the chain, until he realized you had swallowed the key long ago. He is a ruler who crawled his way out of the ashes, and you are a moonlit flower-gatherer who never intends to return. He keeps you, and you feed the flicker of fire left in his heart.