Jiang Qiu fell silent.
She had no intention of deceiving Wen Yan, nor did she want to lie to herself. Yet, whenever she pictured Yu Sheng’s face, a heavy, suffocating pressure seized her heart, like a damp chill soaking through her skin to stifle her chest.
A past she was loath to mention had been forced back into her thoughts repeatedly over the last few days.
Cruelly, the more beautiful those memories once were, the deeper Jiang Qiu was cut by Yu Sheng’s cold heartlessness.
As the purple Cullinan crossed the intersection, Jiang Qiu let out what sounded like a deep sigh, her voice dropping very low. “I’ll move on soon.”
Wen Yan looked over at Jiang Qiu. Sensing something amiss, she merely offered a gentle, “Mm.”
Even after they arrived at Chanyue Mingyuan, Jiang Qiu’s expression failed to soften. Seeing that the Alpha intended to head straight home, Wen Yan quickly spoke up, “Can we talk a bit more?”
Jiang Qiu looked at her, thought about it for a moment, and followed her upstairs.
Once inside, Wen Yan grabbed a glass of orange juice from the fridge and handed it to Jiang Qiu. The Alpha sat down on the sofa and asked softly, “Xiao Yan, are you worried that the situation with Yu Sheng will affect our engagement?”
Wen Yan shook her head. “No.”
“Yu Sheng and I are ancient history,” Jiang Qiu added, despite what the Omega had said.
The Omega replied, “I know. And I do trust you.”
Meeting Wen Yan’s gaze, Jiang Qiu said earnestly, “I know there are still lingering feelings from my past in my heart right now, which isn’t fair to you. Even if you think I’m a bad person for it, you wouldn’t be wrong. But I am not tricking you into marriage, nor am I disrespecting you. Becoming partners with you is a decision I made after careful, deep consideration. It has nothing to do with anyone else, and it won’t be influenced by anything.”
The Alpha lowered her eyes, her expression tinged with a sincere, apologetic note. “If you blame me, it’s only natural. I truly owe you an apology for hiding this from you. But, Xiao Yan, I hope you don’t think I’m forcing myself to marry you. I have always chosen my future wife with the utmost gravity, and I have always taken responsibility for my choices.”
“Sister Jiang Qiu…” Wen Yan stepped closer, offering comfort. “I don’t blame you, and I don’t doubt you. You don’t need to apologize to me about what happened between you and Miss Yu. I won’t mind.”
Jiang Qiu let out a soft sigh. She stared at Wen Yan’s gentle expression for a moment before promising, “I will handle my distance and relationship with her properly. Going forward, I won’t let her disturb you with unfriendly intentions like she did today.”
“Actually, you don’t have to do that.” A faint smile graced the corner of Wen Yan’s lips, she truly didn’t care. “I just wanted to say… you don’t have to take this engagement so heavily.”
Hearing this, Jiang Qiu froze, clearly completely caught off guard by the Omega’s words.
“How could I…”
“I know you are serious about marrying me, but I am serious too,” Wen Yan said softly. “I just feel that if you have an unresolved knot in your heart, yet keep placing the pressure of marriage on yourself, it will be very painful for you.”
“I…” For a rare moment, Jiang Qiu found herself at a loss for words under Wen Yan’s gaze.
“I believe you have the ability to solve it, and I don’t want to add to your burdens. You’ve helped me so much, and I have no way to repay you right now. So, the least I can do is ease your worries a little. I think, as long as it keeps you from being caught in a dilemma, I don’t have to be your first choice.”
Wen Yan spoke somewhat slowly, having unraveled her thoughts for a long time before finally laying her mind bare. The Omega rarely expressed her feelings so directly, causing her to stammer slightly here and there, but luckily, her meaning came through perfectly.
She was willing to step back for Yu Sheng.
“No, you can’t,” Jiang Qiu replied, her emotions a tangled mess. “Xiao Yan, with me, you don’t ever have to compromise and wrong yourself like this.”
The Alpha knew that Wen Yan had lived just such a compromised life in New York, and that relying on the hospitality of others was never easy. She did not want the Omega to experience that all over again.
Wen Yan shook her head. “I’ve thought about this very seriously. I’m not wronging myself.”
“Xiao Yan, our marriage is an established fact. There’s no need to make way for anyone.” For a moment, Jiang Qiu didn’t know how to persuade her otherwise.
“If the need arises, I can back out at any time.”
Wen Yan’s words were shocking once again. Caught completely off guard, Jiang Qiu reached out and gripped the Omega’s shoulders with a bit of force. She had never once considered calling off their marriage. “No, there won’t be. There will never be such a need.”
“I just want to say, I’m leaving that right open for you. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine,” Wen Yan was still trying to comfort her.
Jiang Qiu frowned. “Xiao Yan, I don’t need that right, okay?”
“If your thoughts change at any point in the future, just tell me.” Wen Yan’s tone was steadfast. “I don’t mind that you love her now, and even if you still find yourself unable to stop loving Miss Yu in the future, I will understand.”
Jiang Qiu’s tone deepened a fraction. “Xiao Yan, do you have some kind of misunderstanding about me?”
“No. Sister Jiang Qiu, I’ve always thought that if someone has a person they love with all their heart in this lifetime, not missing out on them is an incredibly fortunate thing.”
Compared to her own marriage, she would rather see Jiang Qiu be with the person held deep in her heart.
Wen Yan looked at her, her voice light, yet it felt as if a drum was being struck hard within Jiang Qiu’s heart.
The thumping resounded loudly, leaving the Alpha speechless for a long while.
Jiang Qiu recalled that day in the pouring rain. The streets had been teeming with heavy traffic, with cars and all kinds of strangers constantly passing her by. Her surroundings had been deafeningly loud, yet only one sentence remained ringing in her ears.
“Our mutual convenience has come to an end.”
A bleak, rain-soaked wind had swept past her. Jiang Qiu couldn’t remember how long she had stood frozen on that spot, she only knew that her heart had gone entirely cold, her vision blurring until she could no longer see Yu Sheng’s figure.
What else had Yu Sheng said?
It must have been…
“Thank you for your infatuation.”
How utterly ridiculous.
A sudden chill crept into her fingertips, and her eyelashes trembled slightly. Forcing her racing heart to calm down, Jiang Qiu’s voice turned a bit raspy. “Yu Sheng and I didn’t ‘miss out’ on each other. It was just the end of my one sided, pathetic throwing myself at her.”
“Could there be some kind of…”
“Xiao Yan, let’s not talk about this anymore.” A hint of unyielding hardness slipped into Jiang Qiu’s tone, and her words became somewhat cold. “I will never need that right. In the future, please don’t bring it up again, okay?”
Wen Yan bit back her words. Seeing how terrible Jiang Qiu’s expression had become, she parted her lips slightly, realizing she had said the wrong thing.
She had simply assumed the Alpha still loved Yu Sheng.
Because having one’s emotions stirred up by someone, whether through joy or anger, usually meant that person still cared.
Or perhaps, she was just overthinking it.
Jiang Qiu covered her face to steady herself, realizing she had lost her composure yet again. Her chest heaved heavily, unable to return to a normal rhythm for a long while. She compressed her lips tightly, feeling deeply annoyed by her own lack of rationality.
The Alpha simply didn’t want to admit that such a farcical, foolish past was nothing more than her own unrequited wishful thinking all along.
She was absolutely certain she didn’t have a masochistic streak, she had just been plain stupid, still unable to completely shake off the very first flutter of her heart from two years ago.
She loved Yu Sheng, and she regretted ever loving Yu Sheng.
“It’s very late. Get some good rest.” Jiang Qiu stood up, deliberately softening her voice. “Let’s just pretend everything we discussed just now was never said.”
Before she could leave, Wen Yan spoke up anxiously in a low voice from behind her:
“I’m sorry. I overstepped my bounds. I thought I was looking out for you, but I was just being self-righteous. After all, I don’t know the full story of what happened between you and Miss Yu, yet I still tried to advise you like that. It was my fault.”
“It’s not your fault, don’t blame yourself. Don’t worry, I’m not angry. There’s no need to apologize,” Jiang Qiu let out a soft sigh, turning back to flash a comforting smile.
As Jiang Qiu pushed open the door and left, Wen Yan pursed her lips and clenched her fingers tightly, hanging her head in a wave of low spirits, unable to keep from feeling a bout of self-blame.
If I had known, I wouldn’t have said anything.
Jiang Qiu spent several days pondering over the fact that she and Yu Sheng were still “entangled.” She figured the only remaining thread connecting them at the moment was the information on the board directors.
Therefore, Jiang Qiu decided to find a way to deliver the files to Yu Sheng as quickly as possible, to spare them any further unnecessary contact.
On Monday of the new week, Jiang Qiu finally made an appearance after several days of absence.
Her office had already been rearranged. For convenience, Yu Sheng had been working directly inside her office anyway, since Jiang Qiu rarely came in. The employees of the Research and Development department were somewhat surprised to see her arrive, after all, this VP had only shown her face once since taking office days ago, leading them to think she might never show up again.
Especially since Jiang Qiu’s workload was essentially being handled by Yu Sheng, the staff genuinely had no idea what other arrangements Jiang Qiu had left to do.
Ignoring their stares, Jiang Qiu pushed open the office door. Yu Sheng stood up immediately, her gaze instinctively darting away due to the unpleasantness of their last encounter.
“President Jiang.”
Jiang Qiu gave a brief nod in acknowledgment, offering no further eye contact.
The Alpha placed the folder in her hand onto the desk and flipped it open. Inside were the company’s operational profits and product manufacturing status from the past three months, interspersed “accidentally” with brief profiles of the board members.
“In two hours, several directors will be arriving for the end of month meeting to deliberate on the main production direction for the first half of next year.” Jiang Qiu handed the documents over to Yu Sheng. “Based on these past records, analyze the most suitable projected production targets and present them during the meeting later.”
“Understood,” Yu Sheng replied, taking the folder.
Jiang Qiu had no intention of sitting down. Keeping her distance from Yu Sheng, she glanced at her phone and added, “I have something to attend to, so I’ll be arriving half an hour late to the meeting. Go ahead and report the specific details of the past three months to the directors first.”
Yu Sheng nodded. “Understood.”
“Get back to work then.” Leaving it at that, Jiang Qiu turned on her heel to leave, unwilling to linger for a second longer.
Yu Sheng stared blankly at her retreating figure, her fingertips tightening around the folder. A stomach full of words found absolutely no opportunity to be voiced.
Jiang Qiu took the elevator to the top floor, where Yu Kunian’s assistant had already been waiting for her for quite some time.
“President Jiang.” The assistant handed Jiang Qiu an express courier package. “This is for the Annual Enterprise Awards Ceremony. President Yu said that you will be attending on his behalf this year.”
Jiang Qiu opened it to find two invitation cards inside.
She glanced over them, noticing the words “Plus One/Escort Required” written on them. “Are there any specific requirements for the dance partner?”
“President Yu instructed that your assistant will be your dance partner for this occasion.”