Tianyi checked his phone as he took her away, only to find it had automatically shut down due to a dead battery.
A car was waiting for them outside the bar. Tianyi, enduring his annoyance and disgust, shoved Sophie into the car first, then sat beside her and ordered the driver to go.
Sophie was heavily intoxicated but still held a sliver of consciousness. She leaned towards him again, "Tianyi, Tianyi... I really want to call you that. I, I've fallen for you, fallen in love with you, the kind of love that's so deep, do you know?"
"Yes, I know," Tianyi sat rigidly, his voice frigid.
Sophie's heart leaped in shock, "You know? How could you know?"
"I only found out not long ago," Tianyi's expression remained blank, despite feeling dizzy from the alcohol.
Sophie cautiously asked, "Then do you like me?"
Tianyi didn't answer her. Instead, he quickly kissed her forehead.
Sophie was utterly captivated. She closed her eyes and murmured into his embrace, "You like me too, right... If I'd known earlier, I wouldn't have had to kill Chen Ma... letting you know about my love for you sooner wouldn't have been a big deal..."
"What did you say?" Tianyi jolted awake as if struck, pushing her away and demanding, "What did you say about killing Chen Ma?"
Without Tianyi's support, Sophie slumped to the other side of the car, completely passed out from drunkenness.
"Answer me, you can't sleep!" Tianyi grabbed her entire body, shaking her violently.
But all she could manage were grunts; she was too drunk to utter another word.
Tianyi finally let her go, deciding to follow the original plan and lock her in the basement of the Qin family's old mansion.
After Sophie succumbed to her drunken slumber, she had a beautiful dream...
Her surroundings suddenly became incredibly bright. Pushing aside the mist before her, she found herself in a luxurious hotel suite.
Tianyi appeared before her, holding a large bouquet of flowers, gazing at her affectionately, "I know you like me, will you marry me?"
Her heart pounded like a drum. Before she could answer, he pulled her into his arms, lowered his head, and kissed her lips with overwhelming passion, leaving her no room to resist.
The kiss made Sophie feel weak and pliant. Shyly, she stammered, "Don't do this, I haven't agreed yet."
"Whether you agree or not, you are destined to be my wife," Tianyi said, producing a diamond ring from the bouquet and placing it on her finger.
The happiness was beyond words...
When she awoke, she instinctively glanced at the ring finger of her left hand, only to find it bare. There was no wedding ring, it had only been a dream.
"You're awake."
She sat up and saw Qin Tianyi sitting in a high-backed chair not far from the bed, staring at her with eyes devoid of warmth.
Sophie looked around. It was a room without windows, with a dilapidated fireplace. The European-style wallpaper on the walls was yellowed. This did not resemble a luxurious hotel suite.
The bed she was sitting on was hard, just an ordinary single bed covered with a thick blanket.
"Tianyi, what is this place? Is it a room in a love hotel?" Sophie asked, a hint of panic in her voice.
"Shut up! You are not worthy of calling me that."
Sophie immediately got off the bed and tried to approach him, asking, "Tian... what's wrong? You were fine when we were drinking together... I remember after we got in the car, you said you knew I liked you, and you even, you even kissed me..."
Before she could finish, Tianyi stood up with a terrifying expression, reached out, and forcefully gripped her neck, asking coldly, "What were you saying in the car last night about killing Chen Ma? How did Chen Ma really die?"
Sophie was forced to look directly into his eyes. She saw a murderous intent there.
"I don't know, I never mentioned Chen Ma," Sophie said, afraid to look at him any longer. "Chen Ma accidentally fell down the stairs. I don't know anything, nothing..."
"That's not right." Tianyi, still gripping her neck, shoved her against the wall. "Chen Ma's death is definitely related to you. The bloodstains on the dumbbell in your room match Chen Ma's DNA. How did she die? Tell me, tell me!"
Sophie, like a startled fawn, struggled to breathe. She stubbornly refused to admit, "I don't know, I really don't know what you're talking about."
Tianyi's eyes turned bloodshot. He released her neck and said hatefully, "You're sick, you're a lunatic! You killed Chen Ma, you did! It's because Chen Ma discovered you entered our bedroom and stole my clothes, so you took her life!"
Sophie leaned against the wall, clutching her hair in distress, and slid down, curling into a fetal position. "I didn't kill anyone, I'm not sick, I'm not crazy."
She couldn't understand why things had turned out this way. Unable to accept reality, she kept telling herself that everyone in the world was sick, and she herself was not.
Tianyi looked down at Sophie, who was murmuring to herself, curled up on the floor. He was truly driven to the brink. This woman had become a complete madwoman, and he wished he could kill her on the spot!
However, regarding Chen Ma's cause of death, it was only his speculation. He still needed Sophie to reveal the specifics, but there was no doubt she was involved!
Tianyi forced himself to calm down and said, "I truly regret meeting you, and I regret agreeing to Su Su letting you stay at our house! You're sick, and even if the law can't punish you, I will make you pay!"
With that, he didn't want to face this lunatic anymore. He turned, opened the door, and just wanted to go upstairs for some fresh air.
Sophie suddenly rushed forward and hugged him tightly from behind. "No, I'm not sick. I just fell in love with you and wanted to get a little bit of your love from Su Su. Why do you love her so much even though she's been with other men? Why can't you give me just a little bit of love? You still have feelings for me, don't you? Otherwise, you wouldn't have drunk with me, wouldn't have kissed my forehead... and proposed to me, gave me a diamond ring..."
In her confusion, she had blended reality with her dream.
Tianyi roughly shook her off, saying with disgust, "When I learned about the things you did behind my back, I was only shocked and disgusted. I was merely enduring my hatred for you and playing along. A proposal, a diamond ring? What a dream, you're seriously ill!"
"You lied to me, you're deliberately deceiving me?" Sophie looked at his heartless expression in disbelief. So, he had never had even a shred of feeling for her.
Tianyi didn't want to waste any more words with her. He warned her, "You'd better confess all the bad things you've done, or I won't even give you a sip of water, and you'll stay in this dark, dismal place forever!"
After shaking her off, Tianyi walked out of the basement, slammed the door shut, and locked it.
When he learned that morning that the bloodstains on the dumbbell matched Chen Ma's, coupled with what Sophie had said while drunk last night about killing Chen Ma, he had deduced the circumstances of Chen Ma's death with a sinking heart.
But Sophie was unwilling to admit it now, and likely wouldn't.
Although she was a lunatic, she wasn't foolish. Thinking back, she had cleverly hidden her misdeeds from everyone, making her more intelligent and terrifying than anyone else.