There was a brief silence on the other end of the phone.
It lasted only two or three seconds, but it was like a handful of crushed ice had been scattered over a flickering flame.
All warmth vanished, leaving behind only a wisp of white smoke scrambling away in disarray.
A shadow passed through Qiao Yimian’s eyes, but before she could say anything, Shi Yan’s confident assurance came through the phone again.
“It won’t come to that! I’m my parents’ only son. Of course they’ll put my feelings first! As long as I stand firm, they’ll agree eventually! It’s only a matter of time!”
Whether he was simply too confident in himself or knew his parents too well, his answer conveniently skirted the real issue.
But Qiao Yimian no longer wanted to waste her energy on him or his family.
“I’m tired. Stop.”
“Yimian…” Shi Yan still wanted to plead his case, but Qiao Yimian had completely run out of patience.
“I don’t have time to play out this kind of tragic love story with you, and you’re not worth wasting my time over. I’ve made up my mind. Don’t call me again.”
Just before she hung up, she seemed to hear Shi Yan blurt out, “How can you be so cold-blooded…?”
Qiao Yimian tossed her phone aside, her emotions rising and falling restlessly, difficult to calm.
Was she really cold-blooded?
Perhaps.
That was probably why it had taken her two years to finally agree to date the “good man” everyone talked about, despite his persistent pursuit.
The room was quiet, and no more calls came.
Qiao Yimian slowly made her way to the window.
At some point, snow had begun falling again, drifting thickly through the air.
Streetlights came on one after another, outlining the dim, lonely night.
Shi Yan had transferred to their university during his junior year.
Transferring universities was generally difficult, but there were always exceptions.
Qiao Yimian had no idea how the Shi family had pulled it off. She had only heard that on the day he reported to the school, a luxury car had driven straight to the administrative building, where the university president personally came out to receive his family.
And the young master of the Shi family, who had instantly become the center of attention, became a campus celebrity the moment he arrived.
Not only did he effortlessly claim the title of the School of Economics and Management’s most handsome student, but after running into her at a club activity, he suddenly began pursuing her—with remarkable fanfare.
The handsome prince of the School of Economics and Management falling for the campus beauty of the School of Journalism. What a perfect match.
It would be an exaggeration to say the entire university knew about it, but at least most people knew about his “devotion” to her.
Every morning, he would wait outside the women’s dormitory and bring her breakfast in a different form each day, even though she never accepted anything he brought her.
Whenever he had no classes in the School of Economics and Management, he would deliberately go to the School of Journalism to sit in on her classes, taking a seat right behind her even though she never looked at him once throughout the entire class.
On every holiday, he would send her flowers and gifts, even though she had never accepted a single one.
He even became close with her classmates and roommates, buying snacks and milk tea and treating them to meals, all in the hope that they would look after her a little more when he wasn’t around.
He made it painfully obvious that he loved her, and he was so humble in his pursuit that it bordered on devotion. Eventually, many people were more than happy to become his wingmen.
During that period, Qiao Yimian had explicitly told him several times, “I don’t like you, and I don’t want a relationship.”
But Shi Yan had simply replied with complete sincerity, “Qiao Yimian, I really do like you. I’ll wait until the day you want to be in a relationship. If you still don’t like me then, I won’t bother you anymore.”
She had said everything that needed to be said, yet he remained stubbornly persistent.
Qiao Yimian couldn’t bring herself to slap him and drive him away, either. In the end, there was nothing she could do about him except let him carry on.
Fortunately, that only lasted a year.
Soon, she was a senior.
She left campus and began an internship at a newspaper.
She had thought that once they were farther apart, Shi Yan’s feelings for her would gradually fade.
Instead, he actually followed her to the newspaper and resumed his relentless attentiveness.
Not only did he frequently wait outside the newspaper office to pick her up after work, he also continued doing what he had done in college, regularly treating her entire department to afternoon tea.
He was handsome, good-natured, and had a witty sense of humor. It was easy for people to develop a favorable impression of him.
As time went on, he somehow became friends with her coworkers.
Even her usually stern and old-fashioned editor-in-chief made a rare attempt to speak on his behalf.
“Shi Yan seems like a pretty good young man. I heard he’s been pursuing you for more than a year. If you don’t actually dislike him that much, why not give dating him a try? Consider it giving him a chance—and giving yourself a chance, too.”
Dislike him?
Qiao Yimian asked herself honestly.
She supposed she didn’t dislike him that much.
At the very least, he was undeniably handsome. It wasn’t as though she had fallen for him, but seeing him never annoyed her, either.
Shi Yan had striking features and a flawless celebrity-like face. He was also easygoing and pleasant, which always earned him a few extra points in her book.
Besides, although he pursued her quite openly, he understood boundaries and never crossed her bottom line.
He often came to pick her up after work, but he never made her uncomfortable.
When there were other people around, he would simply wave and greet everyone, then flash her a goofy smile.
Only when she was alone would he come forward with flowers, asking after her and fussing over whether she was tired. And after receiving a few cold remarks from her, he would silently put the flowers away and wave goodbye to her with a hopeful look in his eyes.
He was like a huge dog waiting at all times for its owner to call.
All it took was one smile from her, and he would immediately grin and come bounding over happily, his tail practically spinning like a propeller.
Perhaps that was how the walls around her heart had slowly been worn down, leaving a tiny opening through which a little light could shine.
And their relationship finally reached a turning point a year ago.
That day, Shi Yan had drunk too much. Taking advantage of the alcohol, he went to the building where she lived and called her.
The snow was falling heavily that night too, fluttering down until his entire shoulders were covered in white.
Through the window, she saw him crouching beneath the dim streetlight on that windblown, snowy night, looking like an abandoned stray dog.
He rambled on over the phone, his voice thick with tears.
“Qiao Yimian, why are you so impossible to win over…?”
“Am I really that terrible? Why don’t you like me…?”
“No, that’s not it. You just never really noticed me…”
The snow was so heavy that everything had turned white, almost completely obscuring her view.
Qiao Yimian could barely make out his figure, but his voice came clearly through the phone, every word falling into her ears.
“Just look at me, okay? I really like you. I like you so, so much…”
“I know I’m probably annoying. You must be sick of me by now, right?”
“I’ve thought about giving up on pursuing you. It’s really exhausting…”
“But whenever I think about what would happen if I really gave up, I feel like I’ll never find anyone else I want in this lifetime. It would make everything meaningless, like someone had torn my heart right out of my chest…”
He had never said these things to her before.
If he hadn’t been drunk, he probably wouldn’t have dared to say them to her face, either.
Perhaps the wind and snow had blurred her senses.
That night, for once, she felt a pang of sympathy for him.
She took an umbrella and went downstairs. When she reached the man who was almost completely covered in snow, she bent down and gently brushed the snow from his head.
“Shi Yan, let’s give dating each other a try.”
Qiao Yimian would always remember the way his eyes suddenly lit up in the midst of the snowstorm.
They were so bright, so clear and pure, beautiful as flawless, translucent gemstones. The sight made her heartstrings tremble ever so slightly.
After staring at her blankly for a few seconds, he practically leaped to his feet and threw his arms around her.
He held her tightly, so tightly that the umbrella in her hand was knocked to the ground. His voice was choked with emotion.
“Qiao Yimian, thank you! From now on, I’ll spend my whole life loving you…”
Strangely enough, that night, the swirling snowflakes struck her face, yet she didn’t feel cold at all.
Unlike the previous night, when the chill seemed to seep straight into her bones, freezing even her organs until they trembled.
And the man who had once said he would love her as though she were his life had, on the next bitterly cold snowy night, held another woman in his warm embrace and personally slipped an engagement ring onto her finger…
Three years.
Three whole years had passed since the day he entered her world.
Day after day, tirelessly and relentlessly, he had knocked against the walls surrounding her closed-off heart.
He had been like a bonfire in winter, burning recklessly, with both sincerity and passion.
In the end, the ice melted, and she opened her heart to him.
But just when she had accepted him and wanted to overcome every obstacle with him and stay together until the very end, he had personally closed that door.
The heavy door slammed shut with a deafening finality.
The dust settled, and everything returned to silence.
Yet there was one corner that could never again recover its former peace.
Only ashes remained.
If he could never give her a future, why had he disrupted her world in the first place?