The boardroom still buzzed with whispers as executives filed out. Xu Jianyu lounged against the doorframe, still grinning despite the tea stain on his trousers.
"Don't forget my fan club, Miss Jiang," he teased, flashing her a wink.
Jiang Yue pressed her temples, mortified, why was he suddenly so different from the guy she saw and knew before..
Before she could respond, Li Zhenkai stepped closer, his presence commanding yet subtle like a shadow that wrapped around her. His gaze lingered a second too long on Xu Jianyu before resting firmly on her.
"She doesn't need a fan club," he said smoothly, voice low enough that only they heard. "She already has someone."
Jiang Yue blinked up at him, startled, her lips parting but he was already walking past her, as though the words had slipped out casually.
Xu Jianyu raised a brow, amused. "Oho… possessive much?"
Li Zhenkai didn't reply. His silence was sharper than any retort.
Later that evening, Jiang Yue left the publishing house alone. The fluorescent lights in the lobby buzzed faintly, and her heels clicked against the marble floor as she entered the elevator.
It was quiet, too quiet.
The doors slid shut. She pressed the button for the ground floor.
The elevator jolted violently. Lights flickered. Then, with a sharp bang, it began to drop.
Her stomach flipped. Panic clawed at her throat, but her hands moved instinctively for her phone. Not to call for help. Not to scream. But to open her Notes app.
If these were her last moments, she wanted her final words to be poetry.
Her fingers trembled, typing in rhythm:
> "If the world falls, let me fall too
but may my words outlive me."
The elevator shuddered, grinding, dropping another floor.
Upstairs, Li Zhenkai was in the middle of a heated call with his PR team when a security guard rushed to him, pale-faced.
"President Li, the elevator, Miss Jiang is !!"
He didn't wait for the rest. His phone clattered onto the table as he bolted, his usually controlled demeanor shattered.
"Where?!"
"North wing, sir! It's stuck between "
He was already running, his long strides devouring the distance, each slam of his shoes against the concrete stairs echoing like a heartbeat.
Floor after floor blurred past. His chest burned, sweat dampening his shirt, but he didn't stop. Couldn't.
Not when she was in there.
Inside, the elevator jerked violently again, making Jiang Yue stumble. Her phone slipped from her grip, but she caught it, clutching it like a lifeline.
She whispered the lines aloud, voice unsteady but firm, as though anchoring herself with her own poetry.
"If death is waiting, I'll greet it with verses "
"Don't you dare!"
Her head snapped up just as the doors were pried open from above.
Li Zhenkai's face appeared, strained with effort, sweat glistening against his temple. His eyes blazed with something raw and unguarded.
He reached down, muscles taut. "Give me your hand."
She hesitated, then thrust her hand up. His grip was iron, unyielding, dragging her upward with a force that nearly pulled her shoulder out of its socket.
The elevator groaned beneath her feet, the cables whining ominously. But just as it jolted again, he yanked her out, tumbling backward onto the floor with her in his arms.
The elevator plummeted seconds later, the crash reverberating up the shaft like thunder.
They lay on the cold tiles, breathing hard. Jiang Yue clutched her phone to her chest, heart pounding like a war drum.
Li Zhenkai pressed his forehead briefly to hers, his breaths ragged.
"You were writing?" His voice was rough, half incredulous, half furious.
She managed a shaky laugh.
"It was… poetic timing."
He pulled back just enough to look her in the eyes, his expression torn between exasperation and admiration.
"You're insane."
Her lips curved faintly. "You chose me, didn't you?" Besides since she couldn't help herself inside the elevator she was calm knowing he was in the building and they would help her out so why waste that perfectly poetic adrenaline..
But of course, she won't tell him that.
For a fleeting second, something unguarded flickered across his face, possession, fear, relief all in one. He didn't answer. Instead, he simply held her tighter, as though daring fate itself to try again.