Mrs Fox Heinous Revenge: Can You Love A Villainess like Me?
Chapter 232: Ringing Bells

Chapter 232: Ringing Bells

Bai HaiZe didn’t turn when Su HaiTan approached, his presence a mere shadow at his side. Instead, he lifted his glass, watching the amber liquid swirl as if it held the answers he sought. But all he saw was AiLin, her eyes, unwavering, firm in her rejection.

This wasn’t the AiLin he knew.

The AiLin he remembered would have yielded, guilt pressing her into submission. She would have accepted his devotion, even if it was out of obligation. But now? Now, she had changed.

And it was because of that damn stalker.

Su HaiTan studied him in silence, his lips curving into a knowing smirk. He tapped a rhythmic beat against the table, a slow, deliberate sound that grated against Bai HaiZe’s patience.

"You waited for her for six years," Su HaiTan finally said, his voice lilting, almost amused. "And yet, look at you. She still sees you as nothing more than a nice guy, doesn’t she?"

Bai HaiZe’s fingers tightened around his glass. He tilted his head slightly, his expression losing its usual warmth, his gentle eyes sharpening into something cold and unreadable.

"And I doubt AiLin will even remember your existence after tonight," he said smoothly, voice edged with quiet menace. "How embarrassing. You even ask for Elder Hua to offer AiLin’s hand to you yet she still rejects you so coldly."

Su HaiTan chuckled, unbothered. "Touche." He lifted his hands in mock surrender, then leaned in, lowering his voice. "But you know, I’m not here to argue. We’re all suffering the same, aren’t we? The woman we want is firmly in Li ZiChen’s grasp." He exhaled, shaking his head. "Enemies? No. I’d say we’re comrades in misfortune."

Bai HaiZe let out a humorless laugh, swirling his drink before taking a slow sip. His eyes flicked toward Su HaiTan, assessing.

"Comrades?" he murmured. "That depends. Do you plan to sit back and accept your fate?"

Su HaiTan’s smirk widened. "Now, that," he mused, "depends on how far you’re willing to go."

The tension between them was thick, a storm waiting to break. But one thing was clear, neither of them was willing to lose AiLin without a fight.

Turning his head away from Bai HaiZe with a smirk, Su HaiTan then remarked, "I truthfully wouldn’t have cared if AiLin had chosen someone else. Someone other than Li ZiChen that is."

Though he wasn’t going to show anything on his face, Bai HaiZe himself was quickly intrigued by the words Su HaiTan had said. He crossed his arms, muttering, "Seems like rather than AiLin your interest lies on Li ZiChen."

Chuckles left the younger man beside him. Looking back into his eyes he nodded, confirming his guess, "Let’s not call it interest. It’s not that disgusting. I just have unfinished history with him. But it’s also true that I am very fond of AiLin."

When he narrowed his eyes, Su HaiTan shrugged his shoulders, ignoring the displeasure written on his face, "She’s different. She’s similar to the bunny doll I once had when I was a child."

Bai HaiZe let out a small scoff, "I’m not interested in your backstory."

"I know but you’re here to listen to what I have to offer to you so you have to hear this whether you like it or not," he said confidently which caused Bai HaiZe to stare at him with a glare. Pleased with the annoyance, he continued, "I have always been allergic to synthetic fur. But my adorable bunny is made from it. When grandma saw how allergic I had become that I almost lost all my breath and had to be rushed to the ER, she decided to get rid of my bunny all for once. But I wasn’t pleased. Despite her trying to create the same looking bunny, that wasn’t the bunny I want."

Without a look of concern, Bai HaiZe only raised his eyebrows. So what was important about the doll and AiLin?

"I’m not done," he said as if knowing Bai HaiZe’s puzzled look. He pointed his finger upward and continued, "I tried to understand the reason why I like my bunny despite the harm it could cause me. Only after I grew up did I understand that everything has been given to me on golden platter but that’s not fun. I grew bored of it. However, things that are unachievable and things that harm me, they both bring me so much excitement just like AiLin does."

With a faint chuckle, he continued, "AiLin’s eyes have always been on Li ZiChen. She’s so loyal and no matter what tricks I pull, she would always be there for him, stay with him, linger around him. She’s no different than the moon. I can wish to see it but it could never be mine. Added with the fact that if I touch her, I would be killed by Li ZiChen, it makes it all the more exciting." With flushed cheeks as if he had just seen his first love, Su HaiTan continued to pour his heart out. "I heard a lot about her from Jiang NianNian. So I can’t help but wonder how someone who had been so despised and seen as ugly could love someone so much. If she comes to love me, whatever I do to her, would she remain as loving and loyal?"

"Creep." Bai HaiZe spat the word like poison, his jaw clenched tight, disgust twisting his features.

Su HaiTan arched a brow, utterly unfazed.

"Are you talking about yourself?"

As if on cue, the music in the party hall cut off, plunging the space into an eerie silence. The timing was almost unnatural. Neither of them spoke. Neither of them moved.

For a long moment, they just stared with an unreadable, tension crackling between them like a fraying wire, ready to snap.

"I know what you have done, Bai Hai Ze." Su HaiTan remarked with a chuckle like a child who had just won a guessing game. He stretched both arms and shrugged his shoulders altogether, "I hadn’t talked with Jiang NianNian only about AiLin’s past, you know? She has such a bad habit. Even though usually she’s so tight lipped because she fears someone else spilling out her secret, when she wants to impress someone, she would do anything- even if it means opening her own darkest secret. I didn’t have to do anything before soon she confessed to me about her past mistake. She was overjoyed you know, telling me the story of her best bullying history."

Even though not a single expression changed on Bai HaiZe’s face, Su HaiTan could see with his sharp eyes how Bai HaiZe’s hands had tightened, how his fists trembling with the urge to hit him across the ground.

This is the real Bai HaiZe. Not the saintly man he showed himself to be, the one who is kind, patient and without a desire. His truest self is nothing but a greedy man who despises losing control, someone who could easily destroy something for not going the way he wanted, the man whose lover was his own power and authority.

It wasn’t something that Su HaiTan disliked. He likes good people but he is also fond of people like Bai HaiZe, the one who is true to his desire, unlike Li ZiChen who hides his desire to break people.

"You know," Su HaiTan began, his voice low, almost amused. "I did a little digging into AiLin’s past. And guess what I found?"

Bai HaiZe didn’t respond, but his grip on the champagne glass tightened.

"How touching," Su HaiTan continued, tilting his head. "The noble protector. The only ally she could lean on during her hardest times. The one who shielded her despite the pain she endured. Such a tragic tale, really."

Then he leaned in his hand settling on Bai HaiZe’s left shoulder, a deep chuckle slipping past his lips.

"But wouldn’t it be heartbreaking if AiLin found out that no one was ever truly on her side?"

Bai HaiZe finally turned to face him, his expression unreadable, but his knuckles were white against the glass stem.

"Jiang NianNian told me something interesting," Su HaiTan went on, voice light, almost playful. "That you were the first to set AiLin up for humiliation. That she liked you back in high school, and thought you were worth something because of your wealth. But you weren’t interested, were you? No, you were too busy playing the role of her guardian."

His grip on Bai HaiZe’s shoulder tightened, his smirk widening.

"And when she asked what it would take to win your heart, you told her, didn’t you?" A pause. Then, in a whisper—"That if she wanted a chance, she had to help you break AiLin first."

"So then she helped you, she even introduced you to the other youths who began lending their hands to destroy AiLin," Su HaiTan then snapped his finger, "I remember their names. Wasn’t it just a few weeks ago when one of them was detained by the police? The one who was named OuYang? Do you know that your friend is going through such a difficult time now because of Li ZiChen? You should visit him or help him, after all, he had helped you a lot of times."