As Huo Hanshan’s words fell, the office fell into a dead silence.
His gaze burned toward Ming Yan, as if certain that after he had delivered his harsh ultimatum, she would surely lower her head and admit her mistake.
Over the past five years, no matter what happened, she had always unconditionally accommodated him.
He was convinced she wouldn’t really resign.
Anyone else might leave him, but not Ming Yan.
She wouldn’t.
She absolutely wouldn’t.
However, the panicked apology he had imagined from Ming Yan never came. She simply stood there quietly, even a faint curve lifting the corner of her lips.
“I’ve thought it through clearly,” Ming Yan placed the resignation letter on the desk, her voice calm and steady. “Lawyer Huo, if there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave.”
With that, she didn’t even glance at Huo Hanshan again, turning and walking straight toward the office door.
Her movements were crisp and decisive, without a trace of hesitation.
Huo Hanshan was stunned.
He had envisioned countless possibilities, but never this one.
Shouldn’t she be begging him not to make her leave?
Shouldn’t she be frantically explaining that she was just throwing a tantrum?
Shouldn’t she, like countless times before, soften immediately and coax him the moment he got angry?
“Ming Yan!”
As her hand grasped the doorknob, Huo Hanshan almost instinctively roared out, with an urgency and a hint of… panic that even he hadn’t noticed.
He thought she would stop, at least turn back.
But she didn’t.
Ming Yan’s movements didn’t falter in the slightest as she smoothly pulled the door open.
Outside, Han Jin, who had been leaning against the door eavesdropping, stumbled and nearly fell in, his face filled with embarrassment. “Uh… well, I was just about to come in and find Lao Huo…”
Ming Yan’s gaze swept past him, giving only a slight nod as a greeting before she sidestepped past him without pausing, heading directly toward her workstation.
Her back was slender yet straight, carrying an unprecedented resolve.
Huo Hanshan stood frozen in place, watching her leave without a shred of reluctance. His heart felt as if it had been tightly clenched by something, that strange, suffocating sensation surging over him again, stronger than ever before.
Han Jin awkwardly scratched his head, glancing at Ming Yan’s retreating figure and then at Huo Hanshan’s terrifyingly dark expression in the office, trying to lighten the mood. “Ha, well, Lao Huo, I was just about to find you…”
“Shut up!” Huo Hanshan abruptly cut him off, his chest heaving violently.
He had never lost his composure like this before.
Seeing his expression, Han Jin quickly closed the office door, blocking the prying eyes from outside, then hurried forward in a few quick steps. “Lao Huo, can’t you just speak properly? Don’t you know what Ming Yan is like? If she really leaves, how will this law firm keep running?”
Huo Hanshan shot him a cold glance, his tone defensive in a way he himself didn’t realize. “Didn’t you hear just now? She’s the one insisting on resigning!”
Han Jin was left utterly dumbfounded, finding it almost unbelievable.
Resign?
What kind of international joke is that?
How could Ming Yan possibly leave Minghan?
How could she bear to leave Huo Hanshan?
In the entire Minghan Law Firm, anyone else might resign, but not Ming Yan!
“Then why did you have to say it so harshly? ‘Don’t even think about coming back’? Who are you threatening? Little Ming Yan was just angry for a moment—couldn’t you have just coaxed her? Did you really have to make things so tense?”
“Shut up!” Huo Hanshan irritably loosened his tie, only to find that the suffocating feeling hadn’t eased in the slightest.
For the first time, he clearly distinguished a trace of panic within this emotion.
Why?
Hadn’t he always thought Ming Yan was noisy and troublesome?
Hadn’t he always wanted her to be less clingy?
Now that she was doing exactly as he wished, why did he feel… breathless?
…
At her workstation.
Ming Yan looked at this place that had accompanied her through countless days and nights, her mood unusually calm.
She pulled open the drawer, which held many small items.
A somewhat faded movie ticket stub from their first date, though Huo Hanshan had spent the entire time on his phone handling work…
An ordinary metal bookmark he had casually tossed to her after a business trip, saying a client had given it to him…
A box of chocolate that had melted and deformed, from last Valentine’s Day when he had his assistant buy gifts for all the female employees—she had received one too…
And a piece of fruit candy with worn-out wrapping paper, from long ago when she had a stomachache and low blood sugar, and he had frowned, pulled it from his pocket, and shoved it into her hand…
Each item, she had once treasured like a precious gem, carefully collecting them.
Now, looking at them, she only felt ridiculous.
Ming Yan tugged at the corner of her lips, grabbed everything inside, and threw it all into the trash bin.
A soft rustle echoed, especially jarring in the silent office.
The colleagues around her watched silently, not daring to make a sound.
Ming Yan packed the last of her personal belongings into a small cardboard box, picked it up, and glanced around at this place where she had poured so much of her heart and soul.
Most of the law firm’s honor certificates hanging on the wall were from cases she had participated in;
The potted plants at each workstation were all carefully selected and tended by her;
Even the coffee machine in the break room was chosen by her based on everyone’s preferences.
This place had held five years of her youth and affection, and now, it was time to say goodbye.
Without the slightest hesitation, she turned and left, her figure soon disappearing at the elevator entrance.
The elevator doors slowly closed, cutting off all the following gazes.
…
In the CEO’s office.
Huo Hanshan stood before the floor-to-ceiling window, his back straight yet rigid.
He was supposed to be handling an urgent email, but his gaze kept drifting toward the office door, his attention completely unfocused.
The stone in his heart seemed to grow heavier and heavier, pressing down on him until he could barely breathe.
Han Jin sighed and walked over. “I told you, old Huo, you’ve really gone too far this time. I think Little Ming Yan is serious this time.”
Huo Hanshan frowned tightly, forcing a mocking smile to mask his inner unease. “She’s just throwing a tantrum! How could she really leave me?”
“That was before—this time it’s the wedding, man!” Han Jin was practically speechless. “What woman could stand being abandoned at her own wedding? And from the way I saw her packing up just now, she wasn’t fooling around. She gave everything away, like she’s cutting ties for good.”
Huo Hanshan pressed his lips together, the image of Ming Yan’s calm, unruffled eyes flashing through his mind. The sense of panic in his heart grew more and more pronounced.
He tried to recall the last time Ming Yan had truly been angry with him, only to realize that in his memory, she had always forgiven him quickly, no matter what he did.
“She wouldn’t really be angry with me…” he said, as if trying to convince Han Jin, or perhaps himself. “Everyone else might leave me, but Ming Yan never would…”
Han Jin rolled his eyes. “That was before! People have hearts of flesh and blood. After being worn down by you time and again, even the warmest heart would turn cold! Listen to me, you should go pick out a gift right now, apologize sincerely, and there might still be a chance.”
Huo Hanshan fell silent.
Apologize? He had never done such a thing.
And what should he buy?
He rubbed his temples irritably. “I don’t know what to buy. You go buy it for me.”
Han Jin: “…Huo Hanshan! You have to buy it yourself for it to be sincere… You…”
But before he could finish, Huo Hanshan’s phone suddenly rang.
He immediately raised a hand to signal Han Jin to be quiet and answered the call, his tone instantly returning to its usual calm and professionalism. “Hello, Mr. Li…”
Han Jin watched him like this and shook his head helplessly.
He glanced out the window just as Ming Yan walked out of the building carrying a cardboard box. Her slender figure blended into the crowd on the street without a hint of hesitation, disappearing from sight in moments.
Han Jin’s heart sank.
Somehow, he suddenly had a strong premonition—this time, Ming Yan might truly never look back.
Inside the office, Huo Hanshan was still talking confidently with the client on the phone, his voice steady and assured, as if the earlier panic had never happened.
But Han Jin noticed that his other hand was unconsciously clenching and unclenching, over and over again…