As she began to fall toward him, Fu Shiyan’s pupils contracted sharply. He reached out at once and caught her in his arms.
His movements were careful and gentle, his eyes full of worry.
“Song Tingwan!”
He called her name several times, his voice trembling, only to realize that she had simply fallen asleep.
“……”
Once he was sure she was all right, Fu Shiyan let out a long breath. His gaze lingered on her, clinging and possessive.
It took all his strength to suppress the feelings surging inside him. Gently, he lifted her and carried her back to the room.
Song Tingwan slept straight through until morning. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself back in that unfamiliar room.
Just then, someone knocked on the door.
She turned her head and saw Fu Shiyan standing in the doorway.
He wore a white shirt and black trousers. His neat black hair looked carefully styled, and his shirt was buttoned all the way to the top. No matter how she looked at him, he had the air of a refined scoundrel.
Song Tingwan stared for a moment, then quickly reined in her face-loving instincts. After a brief pause, she asked, “Um… sir, could I borrow your phone?”
At the deliberately distant, unfamiliar form of address, Fu Shiyan’s jaw tightened.
Was she planning to pretend she didn’t know him?
His dark eyes fixed on her for a long moment before he gave a quiet, noncommittal “Mm.”
At Song Residence.
Song Hanzhou had gotten up early and personally made the breakfast she liked. Then he went upstairs to wake her.
“Older Sister, time to get up! I made breakfast. After we eat, I’ll take you shopping for clothes, okay?”
Song Hanzhou waited outside her room for a while, but there wasn’t a sound from inside.
After knocking several more times, Song Hanzhou began to sense that something was wrong. Fear surged through him, and without stopping to think, he opened the door and rushed in.
When Song Hanzhou saw that there was no one in the room, panic seized him. He frantically threw back the covers. “Older Sister! Where are you?!”
Fortunately, Song Tingwan called just then. The moment Song Hanzhou finished the call, he turned and ran downstairs to get the car.
After giving Song Hanzhou her address, Song Tingwan set her face and decided to keep pretending she didn’t know Fu Shiyan.
With an air of distance, she said, “Thank you. Sorry to have bothered you. I’ll wait outside.”
With that, Song Tingwan headed for the door.
Fu Shiyan’s fingers tightened abruptly around the phone. He instinctively reached out, but ultimately forced himself to pull his hand back.
Then he said coolly, “My house is up in the mountains. There seem to be quite a lot of wild animals around here.”
Song Tingwan stopped. “???” He had to be lying!
And once Song Hanzhou arrived, wouldn’t the truth come out anyway?
“It’s fine. I’m not afraid,” Song Tingwan said, still trying to leave.
Then she heard Fu Shiyan say, “Are you sure you want to go out like that?”
Song Tingwan looked down at her thin pajamas. Her eye twitched, and she immediately folded her arms over her chest.
Going out dressed like this really wasn’t a good idea.
But being alone in a room with her ex-boyfriend wasn’t a good idea either.
In the end, Song Tingwan reluctantly stayed.
She had to get back to living a normal life sooner or later. She couldn’t hide from him forever, could she?
In the living room, Song Tingwan sat stiffly on the sofa.
The morning sunlight poured through the glass windows and enveloped her, making her seem strangely unreal.
Fu Shiyan held out a blanket. “Put this on.”
Song Tingwan instinctively wanted to refuse, but realized her pajamas were thin and she had nothing on underneath. Embarrassed, she took the blanket and draped it around herself.
“Thank you.”
Neither of them spoke after that. An odd tension hung in the air.
Fu Shiyan sat not far from her, making no effort to hide how intently he watched the young woman before him.
His gaze seemed to draw her whole being into it. With a hunger he struggled to restrain, he stared at the white moonlight he had been separated from for ten years.
Feeling that gaze almost take physical form, Song Tingwan kept her head down the entire time, not daring to look at Fu Shiyan.
As far as she was concerned, her memories of him stopped on the day they broke up.
When she saw Fu Shiyan then, she had angrily thrown the gift she’d prepared for him into the trash. Then, with cruel finality, she had broken up with him.
And after that, she’d had an accident.
In Song Tingwan’s memory, Fu Shiyan had always been difficult to get along with. He was arrogant, refined, and rigid—a hard, stubborn rock with a foul temper.
But he had been blessed with an exceptionally handsome face, and Song Tingwan was hopelessly face-obsessed. She just loved that face of his.
Throughout high school, aside from studying, Song Tingwan spent almost all her time chasing Fu Shiyan.
Speaking of which, Song Tingwan had to complain: that bastard was impossible to win over!
She had chased him for three whole years, from the first year of high school to the last. To drive away Fu Shiyan’s other admirers, she had even made a very public declaration of her possessiveness—and caused a scene in the discipline office.
Her parents had been summoned, and her elderly grandfather had stood with her in front of the whole school to make a public apology.
Thinking about it now, Song Tingwan wanted to go back and slap her younger self a few times.
Then, just as graduation was approaching, Fu Shiyan had finally relented and agreed to try dating her.
She had been so happy.
But the happier she was at first, the more heartbroken she became later.
It turned out Fu Shiyan hadn’t agreed to date her because he liked her at all.
No one knew how it felt to see those text messages, to have those cutting words stab her in the heart.
Song Tingwan had always been proud, but when it came to pursuing Fu Shiyan, she had set aside her pride and focused on one thing: winning him over.
And what had she gotten for it?
Nothing much.
She could barely remember what she’d said that day. She only remembered that, trying to vent her fury, she had thrown every cruel word she could at him.
It was as if she wanted to burn every bridge, leaving herself no chance to regret it or turn back.
Bitterness welled up in Song Tingwan.
Maybe, for Fu Shiyan, the breakup had happened ten years ago.
But for her, it had only been a day.
She was still furious enough to rush at him and smash his head in.
The doorbell interrupted her thoughts.
Song Tingwan stood up at once and set the blanket on the sofa. “That should be my family. I’ll go.”
Before Fu Shiyan could say anything, she headed for the door barefoot.
A large hand caught her by the wrist.
Song Tingwan jerked free as if on instinct and looked at him warily. “What?”
A sharp pain pierced Fu Shiyan’s chest. He lowered his gaze to her feet, his Adam’s apple bobbing before he said evenly, “I’ll get the door.”
At the front door, Song Hanzhou was frantic.
When he found Song Tingwan wasn’t in her room, he had thought Older Sister’s return had been nothing but a dream, and had completely fallen apart.
Fortunately, she had called in time. Otherwise, who knew how frantic he might have become?
After waiting a full minute without anyone opening the door, he ran out of patience and rang the bell several more times.
At last, Fu Shiyan opened the door.
The moment Song Hanzhou saw him, his brow furrowed. He glanced at the house number, suspicious, then confirmed he had the right place.
“Your Older Sister’s inside.” Fu Shiyan stood aside, one hand in his pocket.
At that, Song Hanzhou flew into a rage and lunged forward, grabbing Fu Shiyan by the collar. “You again! What did you do to my Older Sister? Why is she at your house? Did you climb through her window in the middle of the night and steal her away?!”
Fu Shiyan frowned, brushed Song Hanzhou’s hand aside, and gave him a look that said he was an idiot.
Honestly, if this kid weren’t Song Tingwan’s younger brother, Fu Shiyan wouldn’t want to talk to him at all.
He never thought before he spoke.
No—he never thought before he acted, either.
It was a miracle that Song Residence’s company had lasted ten years in his hands.
“I asked you a question!”
Song Hanzhou had never thought much of Fu Shiyan.
On the day Song Tingwan had the accident, she’d had a falling-out with Fu Shiyan. That was why she changed her plans and came back early—and ended up caught in the landslide.
All these years, Song Hanzhou had believed that Fu Shiyan bore an inescapable share of the blame for his Older Sister’s death.
Fu Shiyan closed his eyes briefly and answered with what patience he could muster. “Are you going to take her home or not?”
He looked at Song Hanzhou with cool indifference. The corner of his mouth lifted in the faintest hint of a smile as he continued, “If not, I can let her stay here.”
Then she would belong to him alone.
“Not a chance!” Song Hanzhou was so provoked that his back teeth nearly ground to dust. He gave a cold snort and turned to run inside.
Only when he saw Song Tingwan sitting on the sofa did the tight knot of worry in his chest finally loosen.
“Older Sister, you nearly scared me to death.”
Song Tingwan gave him a rueful smile.
As if you’re the only one who nearly died of fright—I’m about to, too!
“Xiaozhou, let’s go home.” Song Tingwan felt she couldn’t stay here any longer.
If she did, she really might lose control and hit Fu Shiyan.
And there was something strange about the way he looked at her. It sent a chill down her spine.
Song Tingwan was worried he might take revenge on her.
Song Hanzhou nodded, then took off his jacket and draped it over her.
“Put on some shoes before you go.” Fu Shiyan came over carrying a new pair of men’s slippers and set them by her feet.
Song Tingwan refused at once. “No.”
But Fu Shiyan stood there like a wall, his dark eyes fixed on her. “Even if I am the ex-boyfriend you dumped, there’s no need to be so formal with me, is there?”
Song Tingwan: “…” I knew he recognized me!
Damn it!
You really hold a grudge!
It’s been ten years. You still can’t let it go?
With her face set, she angrily shoved her feet into the slippers. “There. Happy now?”
Fu Shiyan seemed satisfied. His features softened as he added, “They’re a loan. Remember to return them.”
Song Tingwan: “…”
Song Hanzhou: “???”
He thought it was ridiculous. “Really? The chairman of the Fu Corporation, and you’re worried about one pair of cheap slippers?”
Fu Shiyan raised an eyebrow and gave him a cool look. “Can’t help it. I have thousands of people at the company to support. It’s not like you—you can casually spend half a billion yuan on a birthday party for a female celebrity.”
“?!” That was playing dirty!
Song Hanzhou fell silent at once and shot Song Tingwan a guilty glance.
“Older Sister, let’s hurry home. I made breakfast, and it’s still warming in the pot.”
Song Hanzhou stopped arguing with Fu Shiyan about the slippers and led Song Tingwan away.
After watching the Older Sister and her younger brother leave, Fu Shiyan silently picked up the blanket Song Tingwan had just worn and carried it upstairs.
He’d been in such a hurry to bring her the blanket that he hadn’t even noticed his bed.
Only now did he see the covers thrown into disarray and the sheets creased, clearly showing that someone had lain there.
Fu Shiyan stood by the bed, staring for a while. Then he went to the window and watched from afar as the car traveled along the winding mountain road.
He clenched the blanket in his hands and slowly brought it to the tip of his nose, breathing in the faint trace of her scent still lingering on it.
His dark eyes brimmed with an intense, surging, and deeply unhealthy love.
He murmured:
“Wanwan…”
“Whether you’re human or a ghost… this time, I won’t give you another chance to get rid of me.”