CHAPTER 21

The top floor of Xinhe Tower, CEO’s office.

Xu Yi ended an unfamiliar call and placed his phone face down on the desk. He continued reading the documents in his hand. Less than a minute later, his phone chimed with a message notification.

He ignored it, focusing instead on finishing the documents in front of him.

After stretching his neck, he set down his pen and finally picked up his phone. There were several unread messages, and he skimmed through them absentmindedly—until his gaze froze on one particular message that mentioned his name.

He tapped on it.

“Xu Yi, it’s Wen Yang. I’m in the lobby of your company. I need to talk to you.”

His mind went blank. For a long moment, he remained still before standing up, outwardly composed but moving like a restless ghost as he left his office.

He took the elevator down to the first floor.

Meanwhile, Wen Yang was running out of patience. The child in the stroller was pouting for some unknown reason, his tiny mouth trembling, on the verge of crying but holding back. His scrunched-up little face looked truly ugly.

Wen Yang tried patting his small shoulders. “Don’t cry, okay? Wait until your uncle gets here, then you can cry. I can’t do anything to help you.”

Speak of the devil—Xu Yi arrived.

He scanned the lobby, searching for Wen Yang. He wasn’t sure if the message was some kind of prank, but her name alone was enough to shake him. Seven years had passed, yet he still couldn’t let go of her. That was an undeniable fact.

From afar, Wen Yang saw him. Their eyes met across the distance. For some inexplicable reason, she felt a brief moment of guilt. She remained standing, waiting for him to approach.

Xu Yi walked toward her, trying to maintain an air of cool detachment. I’m a high and mighty CEO now, he told himself. But, clearly, Wen Yang embodied that persona even better than he did.

Without any greetings or pleasantries, the first thing she did was complain, “What took you so long?”

At that moment, the little child could no longer hold back his cries and started whimpering. Both of them instinctively turned their attention to him.

“Don’t cry, don’t cry,” Wen Yang tried patting his shoulders again, but it didn’t work. She switched to patting his thigh instead.

Xu Yi finally noticed the child in the stroller and the way Wen Yang was helplessly trying to soothe him. A terrible thought struck him, one that made his heart clench painfully.

His eyes turned red with fury, filled with a desperate rage, as if he were ready to fight against fate itself. His chest burned with a wild, unspoken agony. “Whose child is this?” he asked hoarsely.

Wen Yang glanced at him as if he had lost his mind, then turned back to the crying baby. “Your sister’s.”

Xu Yi wasn’t in the mood for jokes. A grown man, yet he was on the verge of being driven to tears by a woman. “Wen Yang, speak properly.”

“It really is your sister’s.” Wen Yang was getting increasingly frustrated with the child’s cries. She straightened up and looked at Xu Yi. “You take over.”

Xu Yi hesitated. If he was willing to accept a child because he loved her, wasn’t that proof enough that this was real love?

Taking a step forward, he finally held the woman he had longed for day and night in his arms. His chin rested against the top of her head. “Mm, let’s raise him together. I’ll treat him well.” Realizing his words might not be convincing enough, he added, “I’ll treat him as my own son.”

“You’re insane.” Wen Yang shoved him away. “Who said I’d raise a child with you? I’m going home.”

“This child has nothing to do with me. He’s Xiao Yan and Qi Chen’s son. You’re just his uncle.”

With that, Wen Yang turned to leave. She was in a hurry to get home, and no one was going to stop her.

Xu Yi was still processing her words. He had been too fixated on finally seeing her again to fully grasp what she had said. Reacting instinctively, he strode forward, grabbed her arm, and pulled her into his embrace.

Wen Yang lowered her voice in warning. “Xu Yi, do you not understand human language?”

She hated making a scene in public. She had a reputation to maintain.

“Security, bring the stroller,” she instructed.

But Xu Yi didn’t care about appearances. He carried Wen Yang straight into the elevator.

At the front desk, the receptionist, an avid gossip enthusiast, was watching everything unfold. Was the CEO’s girlfriend bringing a child to force his hand? Or was this a case of the domineering CEO taking what he wanted? Was it a runaway love child from a one-night stand at a banquet?

She immediately pulled out her phone and dropped the explosive gossip into the company’s chat group.

Yaoyao: Breaking news! The CEO just carried a woman into the elevator—while pushing a baby stroller!

Waiwai Carrot: Really? Really?!

Highly Flammable: Is the CEO’s girlfriend pretty?

Eddie: Yeah, is she?

Yaoyao: Side profile looks good. Didn’t see the front.

Bootlicker: How old is the child?

Yaoyao: Still in a stroller, probably less than a year old.

The group chat was ablaze with speculation. Within minutes, the entire company knew about it.

—

Top floor, CEO’s office.

The child had cried himself to sleep and was now lying in the stroller, breathing softly.

“You said he’s Xiao Yan’s son?”

“Yes. Xiao Yan and Qi Chen’s child.”

Xu Yi rubbed his burning face. Looking back, he realized he had probably overreacted earlier. Would this affect the way Wen Yang saw him?

He gazed at her eagerly. “Would you like some water? Let’s talk more about this child.”

“There’s nothing to talk about. Just take care of him until Xiao Yan returns. That’s it.”

“Fine, then let’s not talk about the child.” Xu Yi took a deep breath. His expression darkened. “Let’s talk about why you left back then. Why did you go looking for your parents without saying a word to me? Why did you lie to me? Why did you promise me—” He hesitated for a second before continuing, “You promised we’d go to the same university together. Why did you break your word? You even considered that pig back at home, yet you didn’t hesitate to deceive me.”

As he spoke, his emotions intensified. He braced his hands against the wall, trapping her in place. “In your heart, am I really worth less than a pig? Did you hate me that much? You didn’t leave a single word about me in your letter.”

Wen Yang faced him, their faces nearly touching. Her eyes did not evade nor waver. “Lying to you was my fault, but we are not meant to walk the same path. Sooner or later, I would have left. I will never be with you.”

She thought her words were cold enough, yet Xu Yi leaned in another inch. Their noses brushed, and their breaths intertwined. A tingling sensation spread across her philtrum, and her heart pounded wildly with that mere centimeter of movement.

He had crossed her boundary.

A crack appeared in Wen Yang’s indifferent expression. She turned her face away and pushed him forcefully. “Where’s the restroom?”

Xu Yi felt that his closeness had once again upset her, but no matter what, he would never let her escape again. Even if she was just going to the restroom, he had to stay close.

Wen Yang entered the restroom. In those few seconds of walking, she couldn’t think of any proper farewell words. Before shutting the door, she simply said, “Goodbye.”

Bang!

Wen Yang: 006, get me out of here, now!

That single word—”goodbye”—instantly pulled Xu Yi back to their last farewell at the airport, a memory that haunted him with fear.

He began pounding on the door.

The system hesitated for a moment but knew it could no longer avoid the truth.

Amidst the violent pounding, the system spoke, word by word:
Host, you can’t go back. Your physical body in the real world has already been buried.

The system continued mercilessly:
From the moment you used fast-forward, preparations for your funeral began. The real Wen Yang has been dead for seven years.

The words had barely landed when Xu Yi broke down the door.

Yet, the bloody escape he had envisioned did not occur.

Having heard the system’s words, Wen Yang didn’t even have the energy to curse. Her expression remained cold, barely shifting.

“Why can’t I go back?”

Xu Yi frowned. “Go back where?”

System: This was a mistake on headquarters’ part. We sincerely apologize. The fast-forward sequence was initiated before you had the chance to return.

“…Are you messing with me?”

“What are you talking about?”

Xu Yi worried that his anger had driven Wen Yang to madness. He didn’t dare act rashly. “Let’s step outside first.”

Wen Yang glanced at the broken door, then at the child outside, who had started crying again. She walked over silently, leaning down over the stroller.

“I’ll find your parents for you, okay?”

The system panicked: Host, what are you planning?!

Wen Yang gently touched the baby’s barely formed nose: Revenge. Consider it compensation for my mental suffering.

System: Let’s talk this through. We can resolve this peacefully.

Wen Yang: I’m already dead. You want to negotiate with a ghost?

Xu Yi returned after a phone call and sat beside Wen Yang, staring at her.

“Stop looking at me,” she muttered, unwilling to deal with anyone.

“I miss you.”

“Shut up.”

“I love you.”

“You’re annoying.”

“I want to marry you.”

“Are you looking to die?!”

Wen Yang shot to her feet. She wanted to leave—leave this place, leave the witness to her failure.

But before she could take a few steps, Xu Yi pulled her back by the waist.

“You’re sick in the head!” Her brows knitted tightly.

Their bodies were pressed together. Xu Yi could feel the rapid rise and fall of her chest—she was fuming.

“Loving you isn’t a sickness.”

Xu Yi lowered his head, pressing his forehead against hers, nervous yet hesitant. His arms around her waist trembled slightly. Slowly, he leaned closer to her lips.

Instead of dodging, Wen Yang tilted her head up to meet him.

Xu Yi’s hands trembled even more. The only way to steady himself was to hold her tighter.

Wen Yang, however, had no such thoughts. The fire in her chest, the frustration with nowhere to vent, made her reckless. She crashed into him, teeth colliding. The first sensation was pain. The second—intoxicating excitement.

She bit him without restraint, venting her emotions.

A long-buried desire surged up within Xu Yi. Their hearts pounded wildly, beating out of sync.

He welcomed her aggression, numb to the pain on his lips.

His stiff lips moved slightly. His heart was about to explode.

In that instant, Wen Yang realized something was wrong. She wanted to withdraw—but it was too late.

Xu Yi deepened the kiss, seizing control.

The overwhelming sensation was intoxicating.

A sheen of sweat formed on Wen Yang’s nose. She wanted to clear her mind, but he pulled her deeper into this abyss. She could almost see a version of herself from the past, sneering at her current state.

Her past self… but hadn’t she already died? Seven years ago, before she even had the chance to truly live?

At that thought, Wen Yang chose to surrender.

She lifted her arms, wrapped them around Xu Yi’s neck, and pulled herself even closer. She abandoned all restraint, recklessly losing herself in him.

She wanted to shatter herself completely—to dissolve into this abyss without a trace.