The next morning, the air was brisk, the office colder than usual, or maybe it was just Li Zeyan.
He walked past her desk without pause. No nod. No glance. No mention of last night.
Like he hadn't walked out of the bathroom with a towel hanging low on his hips.
Like he hadn't smirked at her flushed face and dodged pillow.
Like none of it existed.
Xu Meilin only smiled to herself, faint and bitter.
She should've known.
Men like Li Zeyan knew how to disarm you with silence more than words.
The day trudged on. Meetings. Emails. Coffee runs. Stares.
But during lunch, while seated in the quiet staff lounge with a sandwich she didn't really want, Meilin reached into her bag and pulled out her phone. The one with her new SIM card. Her hand trembled as she tapped a number she remembered by heart, though she hadn't dialed it in years.
Her brother's number.
Her real family.
She expected a long ring. Maybe voicemail. Maybe nothing.
Instead...
> "Hello?"
She froze.
> "Hello? Who's this?"
Her breath caught. Her eyes filled. The voice hadn't changed.
Still warm. Still calm. Still his.But deeper and more mature.
"Gege…" she whispered.
A pause. Then—
> "Mei-Mei?!"
The way he said her name cracked something deep inside her.
Tears fell instantly, rolling down her cheeks as a choked sob slipped past her lips. The sandwich lay forgotten beside her. The lounge around her faded.
> "Mei-Mei, is it really you? I've been trying to reach you for years. What happened? Where did you go?"
"I didn't go anywhere," she whispered through her tears. "They… they said you left. That you forgot me."
> "What? No, Meilin, they told me you were gone. That you didn't want to talk to me. Then later, they said you were… dead."
Her sob escaped this time, sharp and small.
> "I sent letters. Gifts. Every birthday. Every festival. They all came back or disappeared. I begged to come home, they said no. They said you were a 'bad influence.' I didn't believe them."
"I thought you forgot me…"
> "Never. Not for a second."
They stayed on the call for a long time. Her brother talked about his life abroad. His heartbreak. How he had tried everything to stay connected. How their parents twisted everything. He apologized,again and again, though it wasn't his fault.
Meilin cried silently until she couldn't anymore.
By the time the day ended, her eyes were red and puffy.
—
That evening, the ride to the Moon Pavilion was quiet again, but different.
Li Zeyan's eyes flicked toward her once they were on the road.
"You're quiet," he said, voice low.
"So are you," she replied without looking at him.
Another glance. Then:
"Your eyes," he said. "They're swollen."
She blinked. "It's nothing."
"Clearly," he muttered, but his grip on the wheel tightened slightly.
Meilin looked out the window, then down at her lap, fingers tangled together.
"I… I spoke to my brother today," she said quietly. "For the first time in years."
Li Zeyan didn't interrupt.
"They sent him away. Said I was a distraction. And when he tried to send me thingsletters, gifts, they never reached me." She paused. Her voice softened. "I thought he gave up on me. But… he didn't."
Silence.
"And my parents,my sister,they always hated me, I knew they hated me from the day I was born. I tried not to believe it, but…"
Her voice cracked.
She didn't finish.
She didn't have to.
The car slowed gently at a red light. Li Zeyan didn't look at her. But he didn't look away from the road either.
"You're not who they say you are," he said simply.
Meilin blinked. "You don't even know who I am."
"I know they're wrong," he said, his voice quieter now. "That's enough."
The light turned green.
The car moved forward.
And for the first time, Meilin didn't feel entirely alone in it.