Why are you even asking that...?

Like I care about him that much...

The moment the words left Xia Jiuli's mouth, she regretted it. She and Chen Dao were both the type to have nothing to do with romance. And she knew he had always resisted the idea of dating.

So asking that question was only for the sake of her tiny bit of pride, and because she wanted to provoke Chen Dao, or throw him off balance.

After all, he'd chased all the way here for a girl. If it wasn't because he liked her, then what else could it be?

But then—

"Dating? Even dogs don't do that."

Clean and direct. Not the slightest attempt to hide or dodge it.

Chen Dao still wore that awkward expression from the biting cold. He looked completely unaffected.

Xia Jiuli had thought she wouldn't feel anything at all. But unexpectedly, she felt a little cold.

The clothes were thick. There was even a whole extra set inside that Chen Dao couldn't wear. She shouldn't have felt cold.

"You don't happen to like me, do you? Ehh~ how embarrassing~"

Suddenly, he cupped his face and started acting all shy and bashful.

He was good at being a menace in serious situations. He could joke around without actually making people angry. That was how he kept the mood light, so neither side had to feel too stiff.

"Give me a break. I'm leaving. Hurry up and go back."

Xia Jiuli thought to herself that Chen Dao really was firm about this. But that was fine too. He wouldn't have to worry about her, and before dying, she wouldn't feel like she owed him anything.

"Mm. Take care."

Chen Dao kept both hands in his pockets. In his left hand, he held paper and a pen. In his right, a hand warmer.

He was planning to wait until Xia Jiuli stopped blowing bubbles, then rush out and pull her up.

In his previous life, after he started working, Chen Dao had once run into a woman trying to jump into a river. She kept muttering that some scumbag had cheated her out of both money and her body, so she didn't want to live anymore.

But once she got in the water, she still struggled like crazy. Two big guys who were excellent swimmers jumped in after her, and one of them even got kicked. All three had almost drowned.

That was why Chen Dao chose to wait until Xia Jiuli choked on water and passed out before rushing in to save her.

He wasn't a professional, after all. There was no need to interrupt this process of her "falling asleep."

Xia Jiuli stared at Chen Dao and thought, This guy really is watching me without taking a single step away—

Does he seriously want to "while it's still warm" that badly?

Forget it, forget it. She'd just treat it as him having some weird nasty hobby.

While grumbling inwardly, she started taking off her down jacket.

The black down jacket looked bulky, but once it came off, the slender waist and graceful figure revealed underneath were the real kind that made people swallow hard.

But Chen Dao was so cold his lips had gone pale. He had no attention to spare for any of that.

She had wanted to toss it straight onto the ground, but then felt that wasn't very good, so she threw it to Chen Dao instead.

"I bought size 2XL. It should fit you just right."

"Bad luck. Also, why are you taking it off?"

Even though he complained, Chen Dao still caught it very quickly and pulled it on.

It carried the scent of Xia Jiuli's body wash, her lingering warmth, and a tiny trace of sweat.

"I don't want to pollute the ocean. And if the clothes get wet, they'll be too heavy. It won't be good for you... for you to... while it's still warm..."

She could still keep up her cold expression through the first half of that sentence. But when she got to the real reason, she started shrinking back a little.

Still, what she said wasn't wrong. Once those clothes got soaked, they'd probably be hard to grab even on flat ground, let alone in the water.

"You really do know how not to make trouble for me... Did it ever occur to you that the best way is for you not to go at all?"

"Mm. But I can't. If I keep living like this, I'll die."

She gave a bitter smile and shook her head.

No one can step into the same river twice, just as she couldn't go through the same kind of pain and dampness twice.

In her previous life, her parents left, then her grandparents left. She felt like her life was full of torrential rain, smashing apart the dike she had worked so hard to build, over and over again, then urging her to build it again.

As if heaven had its eye on her tiny little dike, and just liked watching it get destroyed again and again.

But in this reborn life, it felt more like an endless dampness instead. Only that one day counted as a storm. After that, it was just dampness that stayed with her until death.

It was always there. Not as painful. But right before it rained, it hurt so much she wanted to die. Afterward, it would lie low for a while, then prick at her from time to time, before slowly spreading and expanding.

Right now, she was trapped in that dampness. She couldn't break free, and she couldn't turn back.

If there was anything stupid about her previous life, it was that her suicide hadn't been thorough enough. If there was anything stupid about this life, it was that she shouldn't have called Chen Dao back then.

Even now, Xia Jiuli still didn't understand what exactly had made her ask Chen Dao for help.

"Aren't you scared?"

As Chen Dao asked that, he caught the track pants she had taken off, then the white long-sleeved top.

"How could I not be?"

She didn't dare take off the underwear she had left. She felt a little embarrassed.

What was there to care about for someone about to die?

She tried to persuade herself. But in the end, so that her unsightly body wouldn't leave Chen Dao with some bad impression, she decided to go in just like this.

She turned around and lifted one foot. First, she tested the icy seawater with her toes. Only after making sure she wouldn't step into empty space did she fully put her foot down.

In truth, there was still a long way from the beach to the part deep enough to actually drown in. But it was her first time seeing the sea, and she somehow felt like if she stepped wrong, she'd fall straight down to Bikini Bottom.

With her back to Chen Dao and the fierce sea wind in her face, Xia Jiuli's thin body trembled slightly. She looked so frail she might break in the wind.

Her beautiful figure was overly blurred in the darkness. Facing that boundless sea, she finally made up her mind.

Then she took another step forward. This one was even more hesitant, even more probing.

With every step after that, she needed more time than before to test the ground. The seawater gradually climbed past her calves and reached her knees.

"Xia Jiuli, are you sick in the head?!"

The shout from behind her was probably the biggest reaction Xia Jiuli had heard all day.

It startled her. She had just turned to look back at Chen Dao when she felt the ground under her feet go strangely empty. She stepped onto a smooth rock, slipped, and fell straight down.

Xia Jiuli spat out the seawater in her mouth, then lifted her head and glanced at the calm sea in the distance. She suddenly realized she was still very far from the spot where she'd estimated she could drown.

She heard splashing from behind her, fierce and fast. By the time she came back to herself, there was already a pair of feet beside her.

The freezing seawater made her whole body feel burning hot. And Chen Dao, stripped down to nothing but his briefs, stood there staring at her without a word.

Their eyes met, and Xia Jiuli sucked in a sharp breath.

Chen Dao's brows were tightly furrowed. The corners of his mouth twitched. His expression was twisted, and in his eyes there was still deep regret and anger.

He really is stubborn with his words...

And so am I. I clearly caused him so much trouble, yet I keep saying I don't owe him anything.

"Pfft—so salty!"