The house was silent, the only sound the faint hum of the refrigerator from the kitchen downstairs. Chen Yiting had turned off the television hours ago, after her third glass of wine. She sat alone at the dining table, the empty bottle of Merlot casting a long shadow under the dim pendant light. Her husband, Mai Wanghui, had left that morning for a three-day business trip to Guangzhou, and she had welcomed the solitude at first. But as the evening wore on, the quiet grew heavy, pressing against her chest like a weight she couldn't name.
She finished the last sip, the wine warm and bitter on her tongue. Her head felt light, her limbs loose. She hadn't eaten much dinner—just a few cold dumplings from the freezer—and the alcohol went straight to her head. Slowly, she pushed herself up from the chair and made her way to the master bedroom on the second floor. The stairs blurred slightly under her feet, and she gripped the railing with a soft laugh at her own clumsiness. The bedroom door was ajar, the sheets still rumpled from the morning. She didn't bother to change out of her work clothes—a simple gray blouse and a black pencil skirt, paired with sheer black stockings that ended just below her knees. She kicked off her heels, let herself fall onto the bed, and was asleep within minutes, her face half-buried in the pillow, her skirt riding up just above her thighs.
The grandfather clock in the hallway struck midnight. The house remained still, save for the soft creak of the front door downstairs.
The father-in-law, Mai Qiming, had been waiting. He had watched from his own house across the street, through a sliver in the living room curtains, until the last light in the upstairs bedroom went out. He knew his son was away—Wanghui had mentioned the trip at dinner the previous Sunday, complaining about the early flight. The old man had nodded, feigning disinterest, but his mind had already begun to churn. He waited another hour, chain-smoking in the dark, until the neighborhood settled into deep silence. Then he slipped out, wearing a loose gray tracksuit and soft-soled shoes that made no sound on the pavement. The key to his son's house was still on his ring from the time they had helped with a plumbing issue. He let himself in, his movements practiced and unhurried, and padded up the stairs.
The bedroom door was half open. A sliver of moonlight filtered through the curtains, casting a pale blue glow over the bed. He could see her shape—small, curled on her side, her breath slow and even. The wine lingered in the air, a sweet, fermented scent mixed with her perfume. His pulse quickened, a familiar heat rising from his chest to his groin. He closed the door behind him with a soft click and stood at the foot of the bed, drinking her in. Her skirt had ridden high, exposing the dark nylon of her stockings and the pale skin above. Her blouse had pulled loose from the waistband, revealing a sliver of her stomach. She lay completely vulnerable, unaware.
He took a slow breath, savoring the moment. Then he climbed onto the bed, the mattress dipping under his weight. He positioned himself beside her, his knees pressing against the edge of the mattress, his body leaning over hers. He didn't touch her yet, just let his gaze travel from her ankles up to her calves, then to the curve of her thighs. The black stockings sheathed her legs in a smooth, matte finish, catching the moonlight. He reached out, his fingers trembling slightly with anticipation, and brushed the fabric just above her knee.
The touch was featherlight, but Chen Yiting stirred. A small murmur escaped her lips, a sound caught between sleep and wakefulness. Her leg twitched. The father-in-law froze, waiting. When she settled again, he exhaled and continued.
He let his fingers trace a slow, deliberate path up her thigh, feeling the tension of the nylon against her skin. Then he leaned down, his breath warm through the thin fabric, and pressed his lips to the back of her knee. She didn't stir this time, but her leg seemed to soften, the muscles relaxing. Encouraged, he parted his lips and ran his tongue over the same spot, tasting the salt and the synthetic fibers of the stocking. It was intoxicating. He did it again, slower, wetter, his saliva darkening the fabric.
In her dream, Chen Yiting felt a strange warmth. She was floating, half-aware of a pressure against her skin, a damp, rhythmic motion that sent tiny shivers up her spine. She tried to open her eyes, but her lids were heavy, her mind tangled in the haze of wine and sleep. There was a part of her that knew something was wrong—a distant alarm—but her body refused to respond. Instead, it arched, just slightly, toward the sensation. Her lips parted, and a soft sigh escaped.
The father-in-law heard it and smiled. He moved his mouth upward, dragging his tongue along the inside of her thigh, tracing the seam of the stocking. The nylon grew slick under his ministrations. He reached her skirt, bunched at her hip, and his hand slid the fabric higher, exposing the delicate skin above the stocking top. He paused there, his face hovering over the junction of her thigh and hip, his breath ragged. His hand went to her waist, fingers pressing into the soft flesh through her blouse.
Chen Yiting's consciousness flickered. She felt a hand on her hip, heavy and warm, and the wet slide of something against her leg. She tried to process it through the fog: Is it a dream? A nightmare? Her husband's hands were never this exploratory, never this insistent. But the sensation was pleasant, a deep, aching pleasure she hadn't felt in months. Her hips rocked forward, almost imperceptibly, seeking more.
The father-in-law noticed. His heart hammered. He moved his mouth to her other leg, starting at the ankle this time, his tongue tracing a slow, wet line up the stockinged calf. He drank in the texture of the nylon, the shape of her muscles beneath, the way her breath hitched when he reached the sensitive spot behind her knee. He wanted to taste every inch of her. His hands roamed her waist, her hip, the curve of her ribcage through the blouse.
She was half awake now, suspended in a twilight state. She knew she should open her eyes, push him away, scream. But her limbs were weighted, her will eroded by wine and loneliness and a hunger she had long denied. She told herself it was a dream, that she was still asleep, that she would wake up and laugh about it. But even as she thought it, her body betrayed her, her legs parting just a fraction, inviting him upward.
The old man's fingers found the waistband of her stockings, toying with the elastic. His lips moved to her knee again, then to the sensitive hollow behind it, where he lingered, sucking softly, his tongue lapping at the fabric. Chen Yiting's breathing grew shallow, faster. Her hand, lying limp on the pillow, twitched. A moan—barely audible—escaped her throat.
The father-in-law straightened, looking down at her. Her eyes were still closed, her face flushed, lips parted. She was beautiful in her surrender, small and soft and defenseless. He felt a surge of power, of ownership. He leaned over her, his lips brushing her ear, and whispered, so low it was almost lost in the dark: "Don't wake up..."
She heard it. The words slithered into her dream, dark and persuasive. She didn't resist. She couldn't. She let herself sink deeper into the haze, her body trembling with each slow, wet stroke of his tongue on her thighs, while somewhere in the back of her mind, a door creaked open into a darkness she had never dared to enter.