"Are you okay?" she asked.

  "Yeah. I just want to get back and take a shower," he sighed.

  "But I like you hot and sweaty," she retorted. "It makes me think of having sex with you."

  He looked over at her and a devious smirk spread across his lips. "Using my own dialogue against me? Get your own scriptwriter, baby."

  She blinked innocently. "When did I do that?"

  He laughed and shook his head at her. "Smartass."——

  In her dreams, she is back on the beach with Mo Qingchen. The waves crashed wildly just a feet away from them, reaching towards them. The air was thick and salty and it filled her lungs as she gasped and moaned against her husband's lips. He was over her as they lay on the sand, kissing fiercely. His hands moved over her body in a way that said he owned her, and he did.

  She pulled him closer to her, eager for more from him. He had consumed her in every way possible, but it just didn't seem enough. She always wanted more.

  She wanted him in her. On her. Beside her. She wanted him to be one with her in every way.

  The roar of the waves was suddenly eclipsed by thunder. She wondered if a storm was coming but it was hard to concentrate when Mo Qingchen was touching her. His hands were strong but gentle at the same time. He was dominant but always full of love.

  Until he was not.

  She liked the way he led the kisses and constantly challenged her. But in a fraction of a second, his touch became forceful.

  And he was not the same.

  He was someone different.

  The taste of his lips wasn't the same, but it was still familiar to her. A taste from long ago, another dream that she couldn't forget. It was a taste that made her want to vomit.

  She pulled away, wide-eyed to find Bai Ye Qing's face in front of her. It started to pour. It rained and thundered and she couldn't get up because Bai Ye Qing was on top of her, pinning her down.

  She began to scream hoarsely as he grabbed her.

  "Shut the fuck up," he said in her as her fists pounded against him. She was crying, panic boiling in her stomach.

  "No!" she yelled, tears rolling down her cheek and into her mouth as she screamed. "Stop. Please!"

  "Shut the fuck up," he repeated. "If you act like a bitch, you will be treated like a bitch."

  The words were familiar to her, words she had heard and read before. They seemed to trigger the change that happened next. The shift from her nightmares into a memory.

  Everything was the same. She was dying again.

  It was not a dream. It was just a memory.

  "Stop. You're hurting me!"

  "Qian Meng!" yelled a distant, misplaced voice.

  "Die, bitch!" Bai Ye Qing growled.

  "Please!" she begged.

  "Qian Meng!" the mystery voice rang again.

  "I'm sorry…" she sobbed, not even having the strength to scream any longer.

  "Qian Meng!"

  She jolted away suddenly, startled and confused as to where she was. Mo Qingchen's hands were on her, his expression wild with concern as he looked at her. As soon as she had opened her eyes, tears had escaped and rolled slowly down her cheeks. She wasn't just crying in her dream. She had been crying in her sleep.

  "I—" She couldn't put a sentence together.

  "Are you okay?" Her husband demanded.

  She swallowed thickly as she tried to compose herself. Very slowly, she was starting to be anchored to reality. She wasn't in that world with that monster. She was far away from the nightmare that had plagued her. In every sense, she was safe.

  "Yes," she managed to croak out in response.

  It was obvious that Mo Qingchen had been awake for a while, unsurprisingly. He smelled like himself. Familiar. Safe.

  "You were dreaming about him, weren't you? Bai Ye Qing?"

  "How did you know?" she asked, looking into his eyes.

  "You were talking in your sleep," he explained.

  "I was?" She was horrified. "What did I say?"

  Mo Qingchen looked at her hesitantly. "Enough for me to know what you were dreaming about," he responded eventually, apparently not wanting to give her a clear answer.

  She wiped at the tears on her cheeks as she started to sit up, realizing just how disgusting she felt. Not only did she feel sickened from her dream, but she was a physical mess as well.

  "Hey…" Mo Qingchen whispered, his hands circling her wrists as he stopped her from drifting away in her thoughts. "You didn't say anything I didn't know. I'm not hiding anything from you, okay?" he informed.

  He watched her intently, searching for an answer. She could tell that there was something he wanted to express, or maybe he wanted her to talk. But she just needed space to breathe.

  As her eyes shifted down over her body, she was able to separate herself from her dream a little more. This body wasn't subjected to Bai Ye Qing. He didn't have any power over her anymore. It had ended a long time ago and she had to leave it all in the past. She just had to remind herself of that. This body didn't have anything to do with Bai Ye Qing, and everything to do with Mo Qingchen.

  The beauty in that realization was that Mo Qingchen hadn't taken anything from her. She would willingly give him all of her.

  She wiped the last of her tears from her face. She smiled at him softly, but it didn't reach her eyes.

  In Mo Qingchen's eyes, there seemed to be concern.

  "Come here," he said, beckoning her with the tilt of his head.

  She crawled to him and placed herself firmly at his side.

  "Are you okay?" he asked quietly.

  "I'm okay," she answered. "I just needed a few minutes to clear my head."