Aloof boss by day, kneeling and calling me Master by night…

Imagine burning incense every night, dreaming that your cold, untouchable CEO kneels at your feet and calls you Master — only to discover the incense was ordinary sandalwood from the supermarket.

Which means nothing about those nights was a dream.

So the real question isn't whether Lily Carter has a wild imagination. It's this: what exactly has Ethan Shaw been doing every single night?

The Incense That Wasn't Magic

Lily Carter is a perfume researcher at a top R&D center, and she is hopeless. Not in the tragic way — in the "I bought a dozen little leather whips for my fantasies" way.

Every night, she burns the sleep incense her best friend sent her and slips into dreams where her terrifying boss, Ethan Shaw, loosens his tie, presses her against the wall, and asks in that low voice:

"Master, how do you want to punish me tonight?"

She indulges shamelessly. His face, his abs, the way he obeys. She wakes up addicted and spends her days pretending she isn't.

Then she calls her best friend to gush about the dreams. The best friend screams so loudly Lily has to hold the phone away from her ear.

That lucid dream formula? It failed testing and was destroyed months ago. What she actually sent was ordinary calming sandalwood incense. From the supermarket.

Ordinary incense. And Lily's blood runs cold.

Because if the formula never worked, then every intimate night with Ethan Shaw actually happened. In real life. With her real, terrifying boss.

By Day, He Destroys Her. By Night, He Kneels.

Here's the whiplash that makes this story impossible to put down.

In the meeting room, Ethan Shaw is a living statue — beautiful, expensive, untouchable. Gold-rimmed glasses, a perfectly tailored suit, shoulders like architecture. He sits at the head of the table, fingers linked under his chin, and looks at Lily like she's a rounding error.

A folder smacks onto the table. The room goes dead silent.

"This is the third basic mistake you've made this month, Lily Carter."

Then, ice cold: "The R&D center doesn't need employees who only know how to daydream. Stay tonight. If you can't get the fragrance right in the lab, don't go home."

He never even looks at her properly. Lily swallows her tears and goes back to her seat — and the worst part is, even humiliated, she still thinks he's devastatingly handsome.

She has been gone for him since day one. She knocked over a stack of documents in the lobby, and Ethan bent down to help her pick them up. That cool scent on him, like pine needles after rain, went straight through her soul. She worked herself half to death to claw her way onto his core team.

Her first attempt at flirting? Catastrophic. A fitted dress, her best "man-killer" perfume, practiced poses in the mirror. Ethan glanced at her twice — her heart soared — then tapped the table and said flatly:

"This is a lab, not a runway. Bare legs aren't safe, and your perfume is interfering with my judgment."

Wash it off. In front of everyone. Suppressed laughter everywhere. Lily wanted the floor to swallow her whole.

And yet, at night, that same man calls her Master.

Running From the Truth — and the Tie That Caught Her

Once Lily realizes the dreams were real, she doesn't confront him. She does the most Lily thing possible: she submits her resignation that same night and prepares to run.

Ethan blocks her in the underground parking garage.

Dim light slides across his sharp face. Possessiveness surges in his eyes. He slowly pulls off his tie and wraps it around his wrist — a small, deliberate movement that says far more than shouting would.

"You think you can tease me for months and run?"

Her legs go weak. He steps closer.

And here's where it gets even messier: an unexpected pregnancy drags the whole hidden truth into the open. Because Ethan Shaw hasn't been tolerating Lily's nighttime visits out of confusion or curiosity. He has loved her silently all along — this cold, rigid man who humiliates her at work and surrenders every shred of his pride only for her.

So what was he thinking, every morning, watching her avoid his eyes across the meeting table? Why did he keep rejecting her proposals and forcing her to stay late? Was it cruelty — or was it the only way he knew to keep her close?

And now that Lily knows the truth, and there's a baby on the way, does she run — or does she finally give the man who kneels for her a chance to stand beside her?

If you love a story where the cold CEO secretly kneels only for her, you need to binge this. Trust me, you'll never look at sandalwood the same way.