The living room was filled with golden hues as the morning sun filtered through the curtains in soft slants. "Mama, why is Uncle Zeyan always waiting downstairs when we leave for school?" the boy asked abruptly as Liang Ruoxi was tying Ruiyan's shoelaces.
She stopped.
Every morning at exactly 8:05 a.m., Zeyan was by the gate, feigning to check his phone, but he never came in or called out. It had become a quiet routine. He never asked to walk Ruiyan to school. He made no effort to make it clear at all. Ruiyan, however, saw. She did the same.
Finally, she said, "I think he's just... making sure we're safe."
Ruiyan cocked his head, as though attempting to comprehend something beyond his years. Unlike other uncles, he doesn't smile at me. However, he appears to be waiting for someone who has forgotten something.
Ruoxi's fingers trembled.
She stayed a moment longer on the sidewalk that afternoon as Ruiyan went through the school gate. Zeyan was there as usual, leaning against his car with his sunglasses on and an unreadable expression on his face. Something unsaid flowed between them as their eyes locked. A link they couldn't break but neither of them wanted to admit.
She passed him.
He didn't follow.
—
Later that night, Mei, Ruoxi's longtime best friend and assistant, stopped by her office desk as she was looking through a design pitch.
Mei smiled and said, "You didn't hear from me, but everyone in the office believes you and the enigmatic investor are secretly dating."
Ruoxi raised her head, perplexed. "Who is this enigmatic investor?"
"The person who consistently brings coffee to meetings just for you." tall. Rich. He seems to have stepped out of a soap opera.
Ruoxi furrowed his brows. "You mean Zeyan?"
"Oh, you are familiar with him." Mei grinned. "He is referred to as the 'Boss-in-Law' by the HR girls."
Ruoxi let out a sigh and shook her head, acknowledging it nonetheless.
At that moment, there was a knock on the glass door.
Zeyan was the one.
He entered with a folder in his hand. He looked at Mei and then at Ruoxi before saying, "I apologize for interrupting." "I'm just dropping this off."
Mei's eyebrows shot up in laughter. "I'll let the two of you plan."
Ruoxi squinted at him as she walked away. "You're making things hard."
Zeyan put the folder on her desk and shrugged. They would constantly engage in gossip. We might as well provide them with accurate information.
"True?" she repeated.
He leaned forward a little. "My love for you never faded. That remains true."
She gasped.
She started, "Zeyan," but he was already turning away.
"CEO Liang, see you tomorrow."
—
Ruoxi sat by the window that night, watching the city lights turn into gold and white trails. The apartment was silent, Ruiyan was asleep, and her mind was anything but.
She recalled the day she discovered she was expecting a child.
numbness,The terror. The way she touched her stomach, her fingers shaking. Nevertheless, her entire world changed when the baby kicked for the first time. Love was present. pure. complete. Unquestionable.
But with Zeyan, love wasn't that easy.
Not when, at the time, she had no idea who she was.
Not after losing everything, including her history.
She shut her eyes. The doorbell rang during that silence.
Despite the fact that it hadn't rained, Zeyan was outside holding an umbrella.
He hesitated before saying, "I thought maybe tonight you'd talk to me."
She gazed at him.
Then she widened the door.
She muttered, "Just for a little while."
Not as a former lover or CEO, he stepped in. However, as a man who is still waiting—for her.
For her heart.
for her to recall.
and for her to pick him once more.