The familiar mellow voice that rang in her ears made her freeze.
Caihong looked back and solemnly stared at him. She softly said, "Zhiyuan…"
Xinyi tightened her fist, her heart drumming in her chest. Caihong alternated her gaze between them. She gave a firm squeeze as she held her palm and whispered. "Everything will be fine."
Xinyi bit her lip and didn't respond.
She sighed and slowly got up. As she walked past him, she gave a slight nod and went away.
As silence reigned for some time, Zhiyuan quietly stared at her back that he saw mildly trembling. His heart ached to see her pale figure shivering lonely like that.
He took one step ahead and to his shock, Xinyi suddenly got up and staggered to run away from him. He quickly caught her wrist and stopped her. "Xinyi, please stop!"
"No, Zhiyuan! P-please...I don't want to…" she sobbed.
Zhiyuan gently pulled her behind and wrapped his arms around her waist. His chest softly bumped on her back as he hugged her. "I won't ask you anything," he whispered in her ear.
She stiffened.
"Xinyi, I said before. You don't have to answer or explain anything to anyone. I don't have any right to judge you and I will not do that. I don't want you to force yourself. It's okay…"
When he first heard that question from Huang Rong, he was obviously extremely shocked. At first, he thought that she did that to humiliate Xinyi, but when she couldn't deny it, he realized that it was true.
Abortion…
Thinking of how much she loved Siying now, he couldn't fathom why she would want to kill him at one point. He badly wanted to know what she had gone through at that time. What made her take that decision, especially for someone like Xinyi? What was she suffering so much?
There must be a grave reason behind that intention.
But clearly, it was her sore spot that she didn't wish to share with anyone. He saw the fear in her gaze, and so even if he desperately wanted to know the answer, he didn't want to ask her anything and put her in a spot. At this point, it would just feel that he was accusing her.
Zhiyuan slowly tightened his grasp around her and said, "Xinyi, if you think that I am mad at you, then you are definitely wrong! I will never ever be angry at you. No matter what happens. I won't question your decision, trust me."
A tear plopped on his hand, making his chest tighten. His eyes turned misty as the words escaped from his trembling lips. "I am not here to ask you anything because I know that the Xinyi I know would never do this without a serious reason. I came here to... apologize to you…"
Her tearful eyes blinked.
"That time must be really difficult for you, r-right? Yet, I couldn't be there for you…" he bit his tongue, feeling angry at himself. "I don't know what you were going through, but I feel ashamed that as your husband, I couldn't support you. So much happened but you weren't able to share your pain with me. That means, I failed, right? I failed as a good partner and a good husband. You had to bear it all alone, and I had no clue about it. I failed to understand your pain. I failed to be there beside you when you needed me the most. Xinyi, I-I wonder now…"
Even though it pained him to say it, even though he felt his heart crush, he couldn't help but accept the bitter truth.
"Grandpa is right, isn't he? He was always right in saying that I…don't deserve you."
She widened her eyes.
"I don't…" his voice choked, "deserve...I have failed miserably…"
Xinyi suddenly turned and quickly said, "It's not like that!"
As she lifted her gaze, she was stunned to see his eyes glistening in tears as well. Her heart skipped a beat in panic. "You…"
"I am sorry, Xinyi," he slowly rested his head on her shoulder, "I am sorry that you had to suffer all this time…"
"Zhiyuan, please don't apologize," she hugged him and in turn rested her head on his chest. "I-I hid the fact from you. T-Then how will you know?"
"But you couldn't share it with me. It's all my fault that you couldn't depend on me-"
"No," she whispered, "No…Zhiyuan, you are the only person I can depend on with my life. I couldn't share it with you because…"
"Because I cannot hurt you."
---
In the party room, Shuang was ready to jump on Huang Rong and officially murder.
"Okay. I don't care about the consequences, but let me just kill this bitch!"
Huang Rong stumbled back in fear. "Y-you! Stay back! Don't be crazy!"
She sneered. "Ah. You haven't seen my level of insanity yet."
Her phone buzzed and as she quickly threw a glance at it, she turned silent. She clutched the phone in her hand and said, "I will be back in some time.
Huang Rong was puzzled, but she felt secretly relieved.
Zizi thought about it and decided that she will tell all of this to Han Huizhong. Zhiyuan was more than enough to destroy Huang Rong, and Han Huizhong would be overkill if he learned that somebody bullied his granddaughter-in-law. But after what she did to Xinyi, overkill was the best option to deal with her.
She slyly smirked. "Ah Cy. I will be back."
She curiously asked, "What are you cooking in your mind?"
Zizi chuckled. "Overkill. K.O!"
She quickly stepped outside and took out her phone. But to her disappointment, there was no signal.
"Ah damn! Come on, I cannot lose signal at this time…" she grumbled in annoyance.
She raised her arm and moved the phone across in the air, trying to get a signal. From the corner of her eye, she suddenly saw a familiar figure's shadow.
Zizi stiffened.
Was that Yunru…?
She looked ahead, but he was gone. Her heart raced faster.
"That was definitely Yunru, right? But...why would he be here?"
She chomped on her lower lip. Curiosity got the best of her.
Maybe there is a police case here?
She wondered if she should follow him or not for sometime before she finally couldn't help herself. Her soft steps rushed towards the direction he went. As she stepped in another corridor, she widened her eyes and hastily hid behind a pillar.
Yunru...he is really here…
She let out soft but rapid breaths. She craned her head a little while still hiding behind the pillar and saw Yunru standing with a woman.
She rapidly blinked her eyes.
Shuang? Why is she with him?
At their side, there was a moment of silence between them. Shuang kept her eyes fixed on him and said, "You wanted to say something to me?"
Yunru cleared his throat. He felt his blood pumping in his cells. The day was finally here when he would confess his feelings for her. It was nerve-wracking as his heart thumped in his chest, and he already felt like running away at least a hundred times now. But not today.
"Y-you also wanted to meet me, right? You can go ahead."
Till that time, I will prepare my heart, he thought to himself.
"No. You say it first," she quietly said.
Yunru slowly nodded.
"Okay…"
Zizi wondered why he was acting so awkward like that with Shuang.
Yunru clasped his hands together. He slowly reached out and gently held her hand in his.
"Shuang…"
He took a pause and stared straight into her deep black eyes.
"Shuang. We have known each other for a long time now. We were always together in the good and bad times. We have seen a lot together. Our relationship was always that of best friends. I cherish it a lot. Nothing is more precious to me than this."
Yunru slowly took a breath.
"Nothing is more precious to me than you. There is nothing else that I hold dear to my heart but you because... because I really love you Shuang."
Behind the pillar as she stood and heard the conversation, Zizi felt completely numb. She felt paralyzed as she stood rooted to her spot. She trembled as she felt her whole world turned upside down.
Shuang…? The woman Yunru likes is Shuang?
Not only she finally realized the identity of his girlfriend, she even heard Yunru's confession to her. She wanted to run away from this, but inadvertently, she landed to witness the scene that she didn't want the most.
Zizi never thought that the woman she always felt so jealous of would be none other than her good friend. Never did she imagine that the mystery girlfriend would turn out to be her.
Yunru faced her with love, anxiety, nervousness - all mixed feelings gleaming in his gaze. "I love you, Shuang. I have loved you for a long time now. Will you be my girlfriend...for real?"