Yichen sat at her desk, the dormitory cloaked in the familiar hush of late evening. Outside, the breeze whispered through tree branches, casting fluttering shadows against the windowpane. Inside, the faint hum of the fan created a dull rhythm, occasionally interrupted by the distant shuffle of footsteps echoing down the hall.
Her fingers hovered above a worn leather-bound journal, the one with old, yellowing pages curling at the corners like parchment too weary to hold its secrets.
She had read the line before, but she read it again now, more slowly, as though the words might change:
"A storm is only dangerous to those without shelter. Consider this a roof, Lin Yichen."
— J.M.
Her breath hitched.
J.M.
The initials taunted her with their mystery. The message, brief yet strangely comforting, nestled in her chest like a flicker of warmth.
Who was J.M.?
---
The whispers hadn't stopped.
If anything, they'd grown more dangerous...evolved into something uglier. Once contained to sly glances and passing comments, they had now expanded into full-blown speculation, saturating chat groups, study corners, and lecture halls. Hallways became battlegrounds of murmured judgment. Anonymous forums lit up with her name, twisting truth into salacious fiction.
Lin Yichen had become the center of a storm she never asked for—and couldn't quite outrun.
But while she was learning to endure the cold sting of rumor and humiliation… someone else had begun to stoke a fire.
Chen Wei.
He wasn't a man who gave in to speculation. His world was built on facts, contracts, and control. But this wasn't just petty gossip. It was personal. It was coordinated. And Lin Yichen had become the bulls-eye.
In his Hangzhou office, with its polished obsidian floors and panoramic skyline view, Chen Wei stood at the floor-to-ceiling window. The distant city lights cast elongated shadows across the room. His phone vibrated again—yet another forwarded message, another cheap shot cloaked in passive aggression.
He didn't need to read it. He already knew the tone.
Enough.
He hit speed dial.
"Zhang. Now. And bring the audit files."
His voice was clipped. Final. There was no room for hesitation.
Fifteen minutes later, Zhang Ming appeared, breath slightly short, suit a little wrinkled from rushing. His face was tight with worry.
"You're seriously planning to confront the board? Isn't this too much for your sister's friend?"
Chen Wei didn't glance up from the report he was reviewing.
"No." He said
"Besides I'm confronting the one spreading poison beneath them."
Zhang hesitated. "This could spiral. Faculty politics are delicate. The media will sniff this out. Donors might..."
"I'm not here to coddle anyone's politics," Chen Wei said, eyes narrowing. "I'm here to protect her. She earned her position through merit, not manipulation. She shouldn't have to drown in someone else's mud."
---
By the time Chen Wei entered the university faculty lounge, silence fell like a curtain. The warm lighting did nothing to soften the air's tension.
Professor Min's porcelain teacup paused halfway to his lips.
"Mr. Chen," he said stiffly.
"I'm not here as an investor," Chen Wei replied without breaking stride. "I'm here to uncover the truth."
Min set the cup down, fingers tight around its rim. "The university is handling this matter internally. There's no need..."
"Not good enough."
Chen Wei's words sliced through the room like frost.
"You'll release a public statement clearing Lin Yichen's name. Or I'll release the financial discrepancies I've found from your last five years in office...the ones that conveniently reroute departmental funds through your wife's so-called consulting firm."
Min's face blanched. "Mr..."
Chen Wei didn't blink. "Try me."
---
Across campus, in a forgotten corner of the university library, Lin Yichen sat alone between two dusty shelves, the smell of old paper and silence wrapping around her like a second skin.
She straightened quickly at the sound of approaching footsteps. Familiar ones.
Chei Wei and Aaliyah.
"You found her," Aaliyah said gently, her eyes scanning Yichen's tired face.
"I'm fine," Yichen whispered.
"No, you're not," Aaliyah replied softly, reaching for her hand and squeezing it with firm reassurance. "And that's okay."
Before Yichen could respond, a delivery boy peered awkwardly into the alcove.
"Lin Yichen?"
She blinked. "Yes?"
He handed her a small, neatly wrapped parcel before retreating in silence. The paper was worn, the handwriting meticulous. She peeled back the tape with care.
Inside was a rare business journal—one she'd longed for, one she could never afford.
Between its pages was a note.
"A storm is only dangerous to those without shelter. Consider this a roof, Lin Yichen."
— J.M.
Again.
Her hands trembled.
She flipped to the final page. A card fell out.
Dr. Jian Mazhir
Senior Faculty Advisor – Economics Department
Her professor.
The man who had once said to her during a post-seminar conversation, "Shelter is something we build for others, not ourselves."
The truth sank in slowly.
She gripped the journal to her chest. Her heartbeat roared in her ears.
Behind her, Chei Wei's jaw tightened.
Because this… this wasn't just about rumors anymore.
This was war. A quiet war of intentions, reputations, and hearts.
And maybe,just maybe—of something else too.
Secrets.
Sharp-edged truths wrapped in fragile paper.
---
Sunlight filtered gently through the expansive windows of the East Wing conference hall. The room;typically a place for corporate briefings and international visitors, was nearly empty today. Just three people stood beneath its soaring ceiling.
Lin Yichen stood near the long table's edge, looking calm on the outside, but her inner walls were buckling. Her fingers curled into the hem of her sleeve, her spine rigid from strain.
The air crackled with unsaid words.
The rumors had mutated, spreading beyond campus corridors into media forums and whisper networks. Faculty whispered. Students speculated. Anonymous posts surfaced accusing her of impropriety, special treatment, seduction. The pressure was relentless.
Chen Wei stood like a sentinel; unmoved, unreadable, immaculately dressed. His silence alone felt like a challenge.
"I can end this," he said finally. "I can sue the bloggers, blacklist the students spreading this filth, pull all corporate funding from the university. I'll have the board replaced if I have to."
"You don't need to do that," Yichen said, voice trembling but firm.
"I want to."
She stared at him. Her heart pounded. Was it fear? Or something more dangerous?
Then came his offer—low and deliberate:
"Or… we can end the rumors the simplest way."
Yichen blinked. "How?"
He took a breath.
"I will marry you."
Aaliyah gasped, visibly choking on her surprise. "What?!"
Chen Wei didn't flinch.
Yichen stepped back, her face blanching. "You're not joking?"
"Once we're married, no one questions my actions. No one questions your place. You'll be protected...for good."
She shook her head. "That's not protection, Chei Wei. That's… that's a gilded cage."
"It's a shield," he countered. "And I'm not asking for your love. I'm asking for your safety."
But she was already backing away.
"This isn't the way I want to be saved."
And just then...the door opened.
Professor Jian Mazhir stepped in, flanked by two officials from the university's ethics board.
He was composed. Controlled. But the air shifted the moment he walked in.
"Mr. Chei Wei," Jian said coolly. "Your family may own half this institution, but you do not own its integrity."
Everyone stilled.
Jian turned to Yichen, his gaze unreadable; and then back to Chen Wei.
"If marriage is your way of covering this, allow me to offer a more transparent route."
He pulled a folded document from his coat pocket and handed it to the nearest board member.
"For university records...and the press, if necessary."
Yichen unfolded it. Her breath stopped in her throat.
Petition to suspend Lin Yichen pending investigation into unethical student-benefactor engagement.
Filed by: Professor Jian Mazhir
Her knees buckled. Chen Wei moved forward on instinct.
But Jian was already speaking again.
"This isn't about one woman's scandal," he said. "It's about what this institution condones in silence."
And in that moment; in that agonizing silence...Yichen realized something bone-deep.
She no longer knew who her shelter was.
Not anymore.
---
Teaser for Chapter Five:
He was supposed to protect her.
Instead, Jian Mazhir watched the rumors burn her name to the ground.
But Aaliyah? She's not standing by.
And when she corners him in his private office...without caring that his secretary is not too far away... late, and locked away from the campus chaos—there are no titles, no shields. Just raw fury… and secrets ready to split open.
"Tell me the truth," she hisses.
"Was it jealousy… or something worse?"
What Jian says next?
It changes everything.