The rain hadn't stopped.
It fell in soft, persistent threads, like the sky itself had grown tired of pretending to shine. The streets were slick with puddles, reflecting a thousand city lights, each one flickering like a lie. Xu Meilin stepped off the bus, hugging her thin coat around her as a gust of wind swept through her bones.
She didn't mind the cold. It reminded her she was still alive.
Umbrellas bobbed around her like jellyfish, people rushing past, too busy to care who they brushed shoulders with. That was the thing about this city, it was full of people, and yet, so good at making you feel invisible.
Her phone buzzed. A message from her manager: "Don't be late again."
She checked the time. 8:02 AM.
She started running.
By the time she reached the luxury hotel lobby, her shoes were soaked and her bangs clung to her forehead. She gave herself two seconds to breathe, pulled out a napkin to blot her cheeks, then plastered on the same soft, obedient smile she wore every day.
A bellboy sneered as she passed. "Trying to model the drowned-rat look today, Xu?"
She didn't reply.
There was no point.
Her manager, Liu Jie, spotted her the second she clocked in.
"Late," he barked.
"I'm sorry—"
"You're always sorry," he snapped, waving his hand dismissively. "Fix your appearance. This isn't a roadside motel."
Meilin bowed her head. "Yes, sir."
She tucked her wet hair behind her ears and straightened her uniform jacket. Behind the concierge desk, she took her place. Welcoming guests. Checking passports. Handing out room keys with a perfect, quiet grace.
Hours passed.
She didn't complain when a rude guest slammed his ID on the desk. Didn't flinch when a wealthy woman looked her up and down and asked to speak to "someone more professional." She simply smiled, nodded, bowed.
The pain was familiar. It didn't bleed anymore.
Then, during her short lunch break, her phone buzzed again.
"Mom"
Her heart jumped before it could stop itself.
She stared at the screen. Her thumb trembled over the answer button. She hadn't received a call from home in over six months ,not even when she had moved into her tiny apartment, not when she had been hospitalized with the flu last winter, not even yesterday on her birthday.
She pressed "Answer."
"Hello?"
"Meilin," her mother's voice snapped immediately. "Why didn't you show up for Yueran's brand photoshoot yesterday?"
There was no greeting. No concern.
Just that familiar irritation. That exhaustion, as if Meilin's very existence was an inconvenience.
"I didn't know about it," she said quietly.
"You should have. It's your responsibility to be available when we need you. Honestly, how can someone raised in our family still turn out so useless?"
The words stabbed with the same dull ache she'd carried since childhood.
"I'm sorry," she said. Always the same words.
"Sorry doesn't make you competent," her mother scoffed. "Your father's furious. He says if you want to live on your own and play pretend at being 'independent,' then don't expect us to clean up your mistakes."
Then she hung up.
Meilin stared at her phone until the screen went black.
She had no tears left. Only silence.
And a strange kind of emptiness that wrapped around her chest like a winter scarf,tight, suffocating, invisible to everyone else.
When her break ended, she returned to the lobby with that same soft smile. The one she had perfected. The one that hid everything.
It was around 3 PM when the lobby fell quiet.
The doors opened, and something shifted in the air.
A man stepped in, dressed in black. His steps were measured, almost soundless. His eyes swept over the room like he already owned it, cold, unreadable, sharp.
He didn't wait at the counter.
He didn't glance at anyone.
He simply walked up to her desk and spoke one word:
"Key."
His voice was like metal. Smooth. Icy. Authoritative.
Meilin blinked. "Um… may I have your name for the reservation?"
He looked at her then.
Really looked.
As if he hadn't expected the voice behind the desk to belong to someone like her. As if, for a brief second, he saw through the smile, and paused.
"Li Zeyan."
The name echoed like thunder inside her chest.
She had heard it before. Whispers in the news. Rumors through staff halls. The CEO of Li Group. Ruthless. Heartless. Untouchable. The kind of man who shut down entire companies without blinking.
Her fingers scrambled over the keyboard. "Yes, Mr. Li. Just a moment…"
She handed him the key card with both hands, bowing slightly.
Their fingers touched.
Just for a second.
And yet, she felt it, a jolt, like ice meeting fire.
He paused again, eyes narrowing ever so slightly.
"Are you new?" he asked, his voice quieter now. Measured.
Meilin shook her head. "No, sir. I've always… been here."
Something passed through his expression. A flicker. Almost curiosity.
But it was gone before she could name it.
He turned and walked away.
No smile. No goodbye. Just silence and shadow in his wake.
The elevator doors closed behind him.
And Xu Meilin, still clutching the edge of the desk, let herself exhale, finally, finally,not