CEO’s Little Wife 20
Almost in an instant, Shen Yan’s blood and bones went cold.
His heart pounded wildly, and Shen Yan’s pupils shrank slightly as if he still couldn’t understand how Qiao Yu knew.
“You… you know?”
The moment Qiao Yu nodded, all of Shen Yan’s sense of grievance and hostility vanished at once, leaving only helplessness and panicked unease.
“I…”
Suddenly, Shen Yan no longer felt wronged. Instead, his heart began to ache faintly, and he started trying to put himself in Qiao Yu’s place.
If Qiao Yu had known all along, if Qiao Yu had even liked him just a little…
Then what kind of feelings had he been carrying every time he stayed by his side?
Shen Yan didn’t dare think about it, because the moment he did, his heart would begin to throb with dull pain.
So what right did he have to feel wronged? It was clearly his grandfather who had insisted that he marry Qiao Yu. He had felt wronged, but hadn’t Qiao Yu been wronged too?
Qiao Yu had lost all his family. During that time, how had he gotten through it? Had he been living alone in that empty house, in the place Shen Yan had forgotten all about?
When it was time for the marriage registration, he hadn’t shown up. There hadn’t even been a wedding. Qiao Yu had waited alone at home, day after day, from sunrise to sunset, and even on their wedding day, what he had waited for was news of a divorce.
Clearly, he had been the last person in the world connected to Qiao Yu.
So what had Qiao Yu been feeling back then?
Shen Yan couldn’t imagine it. He even felt like he was about to go crazy.
Qiao Yu, whom he had carefully cared for, was already living such a difficult life. During those days when no one looked after him, if he got sick or hurt, did he only have sleep to help him slowly endure it?
So what exactly was he feeling wronged about?
Because another man had appeared, because he had been jealous, he had thought he was the one who had suffered so much harm.
Then what about Qiao Yu? Who would speak up for him?
Inside the dim car, Qiao Yu could see that from behind Shen Yan’s hand covering his face, a tear seemed to slip quietly out, landing on his leg with a soft pat and darkening a small patch of his suit pants.
“I’m sorry.”
“I made you upset. That was my fault.”
Shen Yan, who had been full of hostility and rage just moments before, suddenly seemed to collapse into tears. Qiao Yu truly didn’t understand why.
Qiao Yu had no idea that Shen Yan had just gone through a thorough round of self-persuasion. Hearing him speak, he only shook his head to indicate that he wasn’t upset at all.
But in Shen Yan’s eyes, that looked like either unforgivable rejection or, at best, I don’t blame you.
He reached out with a trembling forearm and slowly but firmly pulled Qiao Yu into his arms. Shen Yan’s movement was too forceful, and Qiao Yu was still strapped in with a seatbelt, so he was being pulled tight from both sides. He instantly felt like he was about to suffocate.
Was the protagonist about to start tormenting me?
“Shen… Mr. Shen…”
Qiao Yu struggled to push at Shen Yan with what little strength he had. When the seatbelt tightened, it pressed hard against his chest and lower abdomen, and Shen Yan’s forceful grip locked his shoulders in place. He was truly trapped, unable even to unfasten the seatbelt.
Qiao Yu felt like he was seeing stars. His delicate skin also began to ache faintly, already showing a pale bruise-like discoloration.
“Little Fish, I’m sorry…”
Shen Yan’s voice was faintly choked with emotion, as if he were suppressing his own sorrow. It sounded low and broken.
But Qiao Yu felt no pity at all. He pitied himself even more, because if Shen Yan didn’t let go soon, he was really going to fall apart!
“Too tight… let go!”
Qiao Yu struggled to push Shen Yan away. Sensing his resistance, Shen Yan looked up in confusion and saw Qiao Yu’s body stretched rigidly as he was forced to fight against the seatbelt.
Shen Yan was stunned. He let go in alarm, and with the counterforce gone, Qiao Yu was instantly yanked back by the tightened seatbelt, slamming heavily into the soft backrest with stars spinning before his eyes.
No wonder he was the male lead. He could kill someone without even raising a hand.
“Little Fish! Are you okay?”
Shen Yan’s tense voice rang in his ear, followed by a light shake of his shoulder, which helped the dizziness in his head ease a little.
“Little Fish?”
Shen Yan kept calling him. Even if Qiao Yu didn’t want to answer, he couldn’t ignore it. He could only force out a weak sound from his throat.
Through the cochlear implant, Qiao Yu faintly heard a sigh that seemed both relieved and worried. Shen Yan seemed to have returned to his cold, elegant self, as though the violent, hostile person from moments ago had nothing to do with him.
“Little Fish…”
Shen Yan’s face was already turned toward the windshield. His dimly lit profile looked somewhat quiet at that moment. It seemed like he wanted to say something else, but even after opening his mouth, no words came out.
For a moment, Qiao Yu even had the illusion that his cochlear implant had broken. He instinctively pressed it, then opened his mouth and cautiously asked,
“What?”
Since he could hear sound, the cochlear implant clearly wasn’t broken. It was just that Shen Yan hadn’t said anything.
“Nothing.”
He started the car, and the high-end luxury vehicle immediately continued forward smoothly.
On the way back, the afterglow of the setting sun had already spread a sheet of gold across the ground. The car moved through the shadows, breaking free of the gloom.
Qiao Yu leaned listlessly against the window, staring absentmindedly at his reflection and counting his eyelashes in the blurry image.
When the car stopped in the villa courtyard, he could just see the pear tree with its half-open blossoms, white and lightly pink, shy as a couple in the first flush of love.
At that instant, his hand seemed to be covered by a larger, warmer palm. Before Qiao Yu could even turn around, he heard Shen Yan’s voice quietly drift to his ear.
“I may be eight years older than you, but this is also my first time dating.”
Qiao Yu blinked, apparently not understanding what he meant, but Shen Yan seemed not to need a response. He kept speaking on his own.
“I’m not really a very good person, and I have a lot of flaws. I admit that when we first met, I went there with the idea of divorcing you.”
“But the moment I saw you, I had already rejected that idea. I admit that I was overbearing and impulsive, and I’m willing to pay the price for what I did. Even though I don’t know whether you heard those words, I still want to apologize to you.”
“Qiao Yu, if possible, I want to take care of you for the rest of my life.”
Shen Yan’s voice was low and slightly hoarse, with a faint, lingering softness to it. It was gentle and sincere. When he finished speaking, his eyes looked seriously toward Qiao Yu, gazing at Qiao Yu’s eyes reflected in the car window, as if they were looking at each other through a thin pane of glass.
Outside the window, the pear tree and the soft spring breeze could not compare to the tenderness in Shen Yan’s eyes at that moment. When his smile spread, early spring seemed to turn into midsummer, and in that instant, blossoms opened in breathtaking splendor.