The revolving doors of L&Z international turned slowly, the glass gleaming under the morning sun. Xu Meilin stepped through, her heels tapping softly against the marble floor.
The cold air hit her skin.
Not just from the central system, but from the building itself.
A place that never once welcomed her.
She greeted the receptionist with a quiet nod, receiving a polite but distant glance in return. Nothing unusual. No one ever looked at her long. She had learned to exist quietly, unnoticed.
But today, something felt… different.
She couldn't say what it was exactly. A subtle shift in the air. A gaze that lingered a second longer. The way people slightly moved aside as she passed. Like shadows had whispered something behind closed doors before she arrived.
Or maybe it was just her.
Maybe it was her own heartbeat, heavier than usual.
Her ID badge, his name printed across the top, felt heavier too.
She clutched it once, then let go. Pretended not to feel the burn beneath her skin.
The elevator doors opened. She stepped in alone.
As they closed behind her, she caught a glimpse of the security camera in the corner.
Did he see her?
Did he remember?
Her cheeks warmed, not from shyness, but from the ache of pretending. The accident in the car, just a second, just a brush, had stayed with her longer than it should have.
It wasn't a kiss. She reminded herself that again and again.
But it had felt more intimate than one.
It wasn't meant to happen. But something in that fleeting touch made her heart twist, not with hope, but with something lonelier.
He hadn't said a word since, except for."wear your seat belt "
He hadn't looked at her differently.
Of course not.
He was Li Zeyan.
And she was just… the girl he didn't choose.
The elevator dinged. She stepped out into the upper floors, a world of cold chrome and silent gazes. Every step she took echoed like a trespass.
She walked past assistants who stopped talking when she passed.
She heard her name whispered once, low, almost apologetic.
She didn't look back.
Her office was a small corner near the archives, a space no one else wanted. It had a window, though. And sometimes the sun came in, just enough to make her forget.
She set her bag down, sat at her desk, and opened the top drawer.
Inside, the black card still rested.
Untouched.
Unspent.
Unwanted.
She stared at it for a moment, then slowly closed the drawer.
Her eyes shifted to a small note on the corner of her monitor in her own handwriting in shaky ink:
"Live. No matter what."
She leaned back slightly, breathing out through her nose.
She wasn't here to chase anything.
Not his warmth.
Not his attention.
Not even the truth behind the coldness in his eyes.
She was here because she had no other place to go.
Because she refused to vanish quietly.
Because even if the frost beneath her feet threatened to crack, she would keep walking.
Even if her heart remembered that moment…
… she would not let it show.