The weather was freezing, and the streetscape outside was a dazzling display of flowing lights and vibrant colors.
Lu Yao exhaled a cloud of white mist, watching for a long time.
That car was truly unremarkable—an ordinary white vehicle, inexpensive. Inside was a woman she knew very well, though she couldn’t see her through the car window.
She could clearly recall the woman’s eyes, which looked as if they had been dipped in ink.
Dark and deep, they complemented her startlingly pale skin perfectly.
Three years ago, the woman had looked at her with those very eyes and told her not to overthink things.
Lu Yao had controlled the emotions deep in her heart, nodded obediently, and then went to register their marriage together.
Lu Yao never dared to overthink. Sometimes, thoughts would bubble up involuntarily, but she would always suppress them quickly.
She reminded herself: Luo Yueming wouldn’t like that.
Don’t overthink.
Don’t overthink.
Lu Yao repeated this in her heart several times. The tip of her nose was red from the cold, and her eyes followed suit. She shouldn’t be curious about the person in the car; she should act as if nothing was wrong and return to the shop.
Today was a rare busy day in the shop, and even Li Jing had to stay late for overtime.
As the owner, it wasn’t right for her to hide outside and slack off.
She wanted to lift her feet to walk back, but they felt as if they were bound by thousand-pound weights of iron. She gritted her teeth and exerted force, but she still couldn’t lift them.
She couldn’t walk away; her eyes could only look over there, held firmly in a death grip.
A moment later, Li Jing ran out of the shop.
Lu Yao heard her loud voice: “Boss, what are you standing there for? Aren’t you cold?”
It was very cold—the winter was harsh, and the wind was bone-chilling.
But it was more than just that.
Her heart had also fallen into an ice cellar.
Li Jing jogged over and handed Lu Yao a pair of gloves. She knew Lu Yao was sensitive to the cold and always dressed very thickly; it was only because she was thin that she didn’t look bloated.
When their hands touched, Li Jing stuffed the gloves into Lu Yao’s grip: “Look, your hands are freezing.”
Lu Yao didn’t speak. Li Jing continued: “That customer just now was so generous. He left a thousand yuan directly to open a membership card. I told him I just started and didn’t know how to handle it, so I asked him to leave his name and phone number. Boss, you can take care of it later.”
Lu Yao looked at the car and nodded: “Okay.”
She saw the car door open, and a person was walking toward them.
Li Jing didn’t notice and was still talking: “By the way, I gave him a discount. That’s okay, right?”
Lu Yao: “It’s fine.”
“Boss, what are you looking at?” Li Jing followed Lu Yao’s gaze and saw a woman walking toward them.
The woman was very tall, nearly 1.8 meters, with excellent proportions—defined curves and long legs.
Her hair was loosely pinned behind her head with a few strands hanging down, fluttering in the cold wind. That woman didn’t seem to fear the cold; in this kind of weather, she only wore a thin inner layer and a coat.
The coat wasn’t even fastened; it was just left open, despite the wind blowing straight inside.
Her skin was very white, and her hair was very black.
Li Jing was dazed: “Boss, she’s so beautiful.”
Lu Yao lowered her eyes, not wanting to look.
Yes, she was truly beautiful.
The distance from the street wasn’t very far—just a few steps away.
Before she could look up, the person had already reached her. It became even harder to lift her eyes, so she stared intently at the other person’s shoes, becoming lost in thought.
Luo Yueming was also looking at her.
Although Lu Yao’s head was bowed, she could still clearly see her soft features; her lips, which were usually upturned, were now tightly pursed.
Neither of them spoke, and Li Jing went from being talkative to silent.
No matter what, one could sense that something was wrong between them.
People passed by in the surroundings.
The three of them stood together in silence.
Time passed second by second, and no one broke the quiet. Li Jing’s eyes darted between the two of them, and the forced smile on her face gradually vanished.
It was as if they were playing a game of who had more patience.
Li Jing was the first who couldn’t stand it: “A customer is coming.”
After saying that, she slipped away and ran back, leaving the two of them—one looking down at the ground, the other looking down at the top of the other’s head.
In this game, Luo Yueming was destined to be the winner.
Lu Yao had thought of countless ways to phrase things in her heart, but she still spoke clumsily: “What are you doing here?”
Luo Yueming’s eyes inadvertently swept over Lu Yao’s pale fingertips and the gloves she was clutching.
“I heard about it,” Luo Yueming said. “Chen Ming took you to a bar and introduced you to a bunch of irrelevant people. I came to say I’m sorry.”
Lu Yao’s shoulders slowly relaxed, and her fingers twitched. Aside from this, there probably wasn’t a better reason.
“Chen Ming deleted me.”
“I know. I told him to delete you.”
“…Thank you.”
Lu Yao was as clumsy as ever; after saying it, she felt it wasn’t right.
Coming specifically to apologize—this was very much in line with Luo Yueming’s personality.
Luo Yueming rarely did anything wrong, but once she did, even if it was just a small matter, she would apologize.
Grandmother said that doing so would prevent people from having anything to use against her.
Lu Yao couldn’t quite figure it out; it was fine to be like that in the workplace, but why bother being like that with her as well?
Could she really have any influence on Luo Yueming?
Regardless, the words of apology and thanks had already been spoken, and Lu Yao didn’t think further on it.
“Then, I’ll go back first.”
Lu Yao turned around, but after just two steps, Luo Yueming followed along.
Lu Yao looked over strangely, and Luo Yueming said: “I want to buy a bouquet of flowers.”
With those few short words, Lu Yao frowned and took another look at Luo Yueming, truly unable to understand her thoughts.
Buying a bouquet of flowers for Christmas made sense, but this was Luo Yueming.
She wouldn’t buy flowers for herself, nor would she buy them for others.
Lu Yao’s eyelid twitched, and her heart suddenly tightened.
Luo Yueming had been so anxious to send the fountain pen back; could it be that the house had a new owner?
She shouldn’t—and had no standing to—think about these things, but she couldn’t control it.
The fear that had been scattered by the cold wind surged up again. She suddenly wanted to drive Luo Yueming away; an unprecedented sense of dread made Lu Yao’s heart race.
Entering the shop, the chill gradually faded.
The light inside the shop was more sufficient. Lu Yao set down her gloves, and only after looking up did she see the exhaustion under Luo Yueming’s eyes; it seemed she hadn’t rested well for a long time.
No wonder Luo Yueming’s voice had been so soft just now.
Lu Yao watched for a moment, then withdrew her gaze and let Li Jing attend to her.
Li Jing pointed to her own nose in surprise, then looked at Luo Yueming, slowly shuffling over: “What kind of flowers does the customer need?”
Luo Yueming obviously hadn’t bought them before and didn’t know.
Li Jing took a deep breath: “Is it a gift or for decoration at home?”
Luo Yueming thought for a while: “A gift.”
And so Li Jing began the introduction. The flowers sent for Christmas were nothing more than those: red roses, red gerberas, hypericum berries…
Most people bought roses, which were suitable for girlfriends and lovers.
Seeing that Luo Yueming was alone, Li Jing skipped the red roses and wrapped up some hypericum berries.
The bright, fiery red fruits, set off by meticulously groomed green leaves, were incredibly cute and had a great Christmas atmosphere.
With some added decorations, it became a dazzling red in the winter.
Of course, these bouquets were prepared by Lu Yao; it was still difficult for Li Jing to arrange them so beautifully.
She handed the flowers to Luo Yueming. Luo Yueming took them with one hand and took out her phone to pay.
Lu Yao went upstairs.
Luo Yueming looked up at her retreating back. After the notification sound for a successful payment rang out, she turned and left the flower shop.
On the second floor, Lu Yao watched Luo Yueming get into the car with the flowers and drive away.
Yet, she felt a pain deeper than when she had made the decision to divorce.