The door clicked shut behind her.
Soft. Final.
But the sound echoed louder in his chest than it did in the room.
Li Zeyan stood frozen by the window, unmoving. Outside, the city buzzed, taxis honking, people rushing, glass towers catching the light, but in here, the silence clung to him like smoke.
She was gone. Again.
And this time, she didn't look back.
He let out a slow breath he hadn't realized he was holding, one hand loosening in his pocket. The other reached for the edge of the desk, gripping it just enough to ground himself.
"The driver didn't mean for it to happen."
His own words mocked him now. It was her fault anyway.
Weak. Insufficient.
A man like him didn't make excuses. But in front of her, his armor never quite fit right.
He looked toward the door, but she was long gone.
Not a trace left. Not even her scent.
Just the untouched files on his desk.
She had walked in carrying a storm inside her, and yet she bowed like nothing hurt. No accusation. No anger. Just that faint, gentle look, as if she saw right through him and still chose silence.
He hated it.
He hated that she didn't fight him.
Didn't demand answers.
Didn't try to interpret the tension that pulsed between them like a second heartbeat.
Because that meant she wasn't hoping for anything.
And that...
That felt worse than hate.
He sat slowly, his body heavy with a kind of fatigue no sleep could cure.
The room felt colder now. Not because the temperature changed, but because she had changed it by leaving.
Her presence had shifted something in him, and the absence carved out its echo.
He leaned back, closing his eyes for a moment.
Her words floated back to him.
"I know."
A quiet truth.
And yet it hit him like glass breaking.
Because in that single sentence, she accepted what happened.
But not him.
Not his confusion. Not his fear. Not his struggle.
Just the moment, clean and sharp and irreversible.
He opened his eyes, jaw tightening.
No one had ever looked at him the way she did.
Not like a threat.
Not like a king.
Not like a project to fix.
Just… like a man.
She never begged. Never tried to please. Never manipulated his moods like so many others had done.
She just existed.
Bravely.
Softly.
Unapologetically.
And he hated how much that mattered to him.
His phone buzzed again, the screen lit up with a string of names and numbers. Meetings. Deadlines. People waiting for his voice to make or break fortunes.
But all he could think about was the way she stood in front of him, steady and small, telling him that the moment between them was real, whether he meant it or not.
He pushed the phone aside.
Today, he couldn't pretend.
He stood, walked to the window again, and looked down at the city.
Somewhere down there, she was walking back to her floor. Back to her quiet desk. Back to being unseen.
And yet, she haunted him more than any enemy ever had.
He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated.
He wanted to pull her into this room again.
Ask her what she felt.
Demand to know why her silence cut deeper than any insult.
But he wouldn't.
Because Li Zeyan did not chase.
He conquered. Controlled. Endured.
But now, for the first time in years, he felt the crack of something old and buried surfacing again.
Longing.
Real. Raw. Dangerous.
And it bore her name.
Xu Meilin.
The girl who didn't flinch.
The girl who didn't fall.
The girl who smiled at his darkness…
And walked away.