Inside the airport, Yan Nianyi pulled her suitcase with her right hand and held a freshly bought cup of coffee in her left, taking occasional sips.
Leisurely leaning against the luggage handle, she waited for someone to pick her up. The thought of seeing the person she had been missing so much instantly lifted her gloomy mood.
Her phone rang. Without even glancing at the caller ID on the screen, she swiped to answer casually. “Hello.”
“I will be there in two minutes. Do not wander off.”
“Mm.” Yan Nianyi hummed indifferently.
The call ended, and the phone was slipped back into her pocket. She lowered her gaze and took a deep sip from the coffee cup.
A few minutes later, her suitcase was taken from her, and a lightweight jacket was draped over her shoulders. A familiar nagging voice sounded: “It has been dropping in temperature in Honcheng these past few days, and you are just wearing a short-sleeved shirt. Are you not cold?”
As if she had not heard a thing, Yan Nianyi glanced past the man to look behind him. Failing to see the familiar figure she had been picturing in her mind, she blinked and continued waiting, unwilling to give up.
Seeing this, Yan Ping instantly understood her intention. With a helpless sigh, he pushed the suitcase forward. “Stop looking. I am the only one who came to pick you up.”
Yan Nianyi’s grip on the coffee cup tightened. The next second, with a clean, graceful arc, the cup flew into a nearby trash can. The lid popped off the body, leaving a few drops of brown coffee stains on the rim.
“I told Older Sister the time my flight lands,” Yan Nianyi muttered to herself, standing frozen in place. Her exquisite makeup could not conceal the disappointment written all over her face.
She snapped her head up, pulled out her phone, and opened their chat history. The empty screen showed only a single message she had sent several hours ago:
“Older Sister, I will arrive at Honcheng Airport at 4:30.”
Had she really not replied after all this time? Yan Nianyi’s tense posture collapsed. She pressed her lips into a tight line and walked out of the airport in complete silence.
Even with the temperature drop, late April and early May in Honcheng were hardly freezing. She snatched the jacket off her shoulders and threw it back into the man’s chest.
“She is not coming, so why are you taking it out on me?” Yan Ping clicked his tongue, speechlessly folding the jacket and placing it back on top of the suitcase. Looking at someone who had been pampered to the bone since childhood, he let out a soft sigh from the bottom of his heart.
Ding-dong. The phone in his pocket vibrated.
As if sensing something, Yan Nianyi quickly unlocked the screen. Greeting her eyes was a message from the person she had been longing for all this time:
“Okay.” A very simple reply.
“Where is Older Sister right now?” Yan Nianyi stood rooted to the spot, gently biting her lower lip as she typed out a new message.
She waited with furrowed brows for a response from the other end.
This time, the reply came quickly: “Picking up my younger sister, she is on her May Day break.”
“Have a good rest once you are back home.”
Younger sister? Yan Nianyi searched rapidly through her memories.
That must be the younger sister Yueyi protected so fiercely, the one whose face and even name remained a mystery to her.
The lingering frustration was instantly chased away by the next message. Wearing a faint smile, Yan Nianyi tapped out a few words: “Older Sister, can I come see you once I am back?”
“Alright.” Older Sister.
Yan Nianyi stared blankly at the single-word reply, the corners of her mouth pulling up into a satisfied smile.
Even her pace grew noticeably lighter as she walked.
Watching her beam with joy over just a few texts from Yueyi, Yan Ping could not help rolling his eyes. “It is not like I am trying to be mean, but with the Yan family’s status, you can have whatever you want. Why must you hang onto that woman? All these years, I have never seen what is so great about her.”
Thinking of how his usually spoiled-rotten younger sister was always treating someone else with hot face to cold backside, his tone grew even sharper. “What on earth makes her worth treating you like this?”
Hearing Yan Ping’s disdainful tone, the smile on Yan Nianyi’s lips faded bit by bit. She fixed an unblinking stare on the man half a step behind her, narrowing her eyes dangerously. “Older Brother, if you talk about her like that again, I am going to get mad.”
Yan Ping opened his mouth, the words stuck in his throat, before he finally shut it with a helpless sigh.
In front of a solid black mahogany desk, Yueyi’s hand holding the fountain pen trembled slightly. She raised her eyes to sweep across the wall clock, her fingertips brushing over the smooth, rounded barrel of the pen.
With a crisp click, the cap and the body of the pen locked together perfectly. Yueyi picked up the phone resting to the side and pressed the screen awake.
Countless notifications popped up.
She scrolled past them with a blank expression until her gaze caught on one particular message. The contours of her face instantly softened considerably.
With a fluid motion, she pulled open a drawer, retrieved a keychain, dropped it into her suit jacket pocket, and straightened her cuffs before standing up.
“Director Yue.” The voices of employees greeting her rose and fell around her.
“Mm.”
Making her way out of the company and down to the underground parking garage, she pulled open the car door, fastened her seatbelt, spun the car key in her hand, and inserted it into the ignition.
The steering wheel turned in her hands. She glanced at the side mirror, checked the backup camera, and making sure the surrounding area was clear, she stepped on the accelerator and turned the steering wheel to the left.
Driving at a moderate speed down the road, she hit a red light. While waiting, Yueyi curved her left elbow to rest on the closed car window while her right fingertips tapped a rhythmic beat against the steering wheel.
After all this time, I still cannot quite remember the way; I suppose I am a bit of a negligent guardian. Yueyi gave a self-deprecating chuckle, glancing at the car navigation system where the red cursor pulsed steadily.
Beep. The red light turned green. The vehicle behind her honked its horn, the harsh sound piercing her ears and pulling her stray thoughts back to reality.
The car started moving again.
Arriving at her destination, Yueyi replied to Yan Nianyi’s message and put her phone down.
With the window rolled halfway down, she leaned back against the black leather seat, tiredly rubbing her shoulders. Staying in the same position for too long always took a toll on her body.
Turning her head, she saw the bold characters Yuelan High School mounted on the stone pillars flanking the school gates.
On the large LED screen in the center of the pillars, the college entrance examination results of the previous year’s outstanding graduates scrolled past, with the top two spots belonging to the children of the Wen and Zhou families.
Yueyi withdrew her gaze indifferently. It had been some time since senior classes let out for the day, so it should be about time.
With that thought, the front passenger door was pulled open.
“Sis.” Yueling climbed in unceremoniously, clicked her seatbelt into place, tossed a shopping bag into the back seat, and said, “Let us go.”
“How many days off?” Yueyi turned the steering wheel.
“Three days.” Yueling opened the mini car fridge, grabbed a bottle of beverage, twisted the cap off, and took a large, gulping swallow. Wiping her mouth, she continued, “We art students have it a bit better. The academic track students only seem to get a single day off.”
Yueyi smiled and handed her a tissue. “That is good.”
This younger sister of hers had never given her anything to worry about when it came to her studies from childhood until now. She never pressured Yueling too much either, just do your best, and she would carry the rest.
“Do you have any plans for these three days?” Yueyi reached out to ruffle Yueling’s hair, only to have her duck away to the side.
Knowing Yueling hated having her head patted, she withdrew her hand without forcing the issue.
“Tutoring at Senior Sister Zhou’s place for the next couple of days. As for the last day, probably just sleeping,” Yueling answered simply.
“Mm.” Yueyi nodded.
The car came to a smooth halt. Yueling pushed the door open, spun around to pull a face, and dashed off in a flash, leaving behind a sentence that faded into the air: “See ya, old sis!”
“This child.” Yueyi shook her head with an amused smile before letting her posture relax.
Having been caught up in work lately, she had not spent any alone time with Yueling in a long time, to the point where they almost lacked topics to talk about.
Watching the lights inside the house turn on, she waited a few more moments before driving away.
On her way back to the company, the phone screen tucked into the side slot lit up. Catching it in her peripheral vision and confirming the road ahead was clear, she slid a hand out to check the screen.
“Older Sister, I have booked a private room. Are you coming?” Yan Nianyi.
Followed by an address.
Yueyi typed back: “You just got back to the country. Spend some quality time with your family.”
“Just the two of us.” Yan Nianyi.
Fearing Yueyi might overthink it, Yan Nianyi quickly added another line: “My family is busy with something, so it is just me right now. Can Older Sister come keep me company for dinner?”
Yueyi had felt a bit strange reading the first text, but seeing the second one, she fell silent for a moment before using voice-to-text input: “I am heading over now.”
Rerouting through the navigation, the traffic around her thinned out considerably.
Inside the private room on the other end, the voice message was replayed countless times. Yan Nianyi’s throat bobbed as her slender fingers dug into the desk pad, leaving faint indentations.
The emotion in her dark eyes gradually receded. Her fingers relaxed, and the pad slowly and sluggishly returned to its original shape.
Tapping the voice clip once more, Yan Nianyi steadied her breathing and murmured softly in a clear, cold tone: “Older Sister.”
She took a deep breath. Long-pressing the audio clip to save it, Yan Nianyi licked her upper lip and closed her eyes in tight self-restraint.
Before long, the crisp sound of high heels clicking against the floor echoed outside the door, sounding almost like drumbeats striking her spine. Yan Nianyi stood up abruptly. Just as she eagerly pulled out a chair, the private room door was pushed open.
The woman’s slender silhouette paused in the doorway for a few seconds. Bathed in the bright white incandescent light, carrying the cool crispness of the outside world, she stood quietly and gazed at the person inside the room.
The hands Yan Nianyi kept behind her back trembled slightly. Clenching her palms tight, she fought back the surge of deep emotion in her chest. Looking at the person standing within arm’s reach, the feelings in her eyes threatened to overflow.
“Nianyi, long time no see.” The woman curved her lips.
As if trying to escape, Yan Nianyi lowered her head, her voice carrying a slight hoarseness. “Older Sister.”
Yueyi acknowledged her with a soft hum, her high heels clicking rhythmically against the floor as she walked over and sat down beside her.
Various dishes were already neatly arranged across the table, a uniform sea of red.
They looked fiery and spicy.
“It has been almost two months, has it not?” After taking a seat, Yueyi did a rough mental calculation. It had been around that long.
“Fifty-three days,” Yan Nianyi whispered.
“Fifty-three days, huh? You remember very clearly,” Yueyi said warmly.
“Mm.” Yan Nianyi nodded.
How could she not remember? She had been counting down the time every single day.
If she had not been forbidden from returning immediately right after going abroad, she probably would have booked a flight back the very next day.
“How long are you planning to stay?” Yueyi held a glass filled with juice.
“I am not going back.” Yan Nianyi bit her lower lip. “I do not fit in over there.”
Yueyi raised an eyebrow in surprise, though she did not say much else.
When it came to the Yan family’s affairs, she had neither the reason nor the qualification to pry.
A pair of serving chopsticks crossed her field of vision, depositing a mouthful of food into her bowl. Yueyi instinctively raised a hand to block it.
“Older Sister.” Yan Nianyi’s hand froze mid-air, looking wronged.
Yueyi snapped back to reality, realizing that the person beside her was not a client from the business world, and proactively pushed her bowl a little closer to her companion.
“Why are you not eating?” Noticing that the person beside her had not touched her own chopsticks except to serve her food, Yueyi could not help feeling curious.
Yan Nianyi, who had been dazed while gazing at Yueyi’s profile, heard the question and instinctively replied, “I want to look at Older Sister a little longer.”