Chapter 24 – The Silent Realization
The summer rain had washed the city clean, leaving the streets glistening under the muted glow of the streetlights. Sang Zhi walked briskly, clutching her umbrella, but her heart was nowhere near as calm as the steady drizzle around her. The meeting with Duan Jia Xu earlier that day kept replaying in her mind—his words, his smile, and, more than anything, the quiet distance he had placed between them.
She told herself it was nothing. Just her overthinking. But every step home felt heavier than the last.
When she reached the apartment, her brother Sang Yan was sprawled on the couch, lazily scrolling through his phone. He barely glanced up when she walked in.
"Why are you drenched? Didn't you bring an umbrella?" he asked, voice tinged with teasing suspicion.
"I did," Sang Zhi muttered, slipping off her shoes. She didn't want to talk. Not to him. Not to anyone.
But Sang Yan was never good at letting things go. "What's wrong with you? Someone upset you?" His tone softened slightly, though his words still carried the typical older-brother bluntness.
She shook her head quickly. "No."
Later that night, lying in bed, she stared at the ceiling, restless. Her phone lit up with a message from a friend, but she ignored it. What she wanted was a message from Duan Jia Xu. Just one word—anything to show he was thinking of her too. But the screen stayed dark.
Across the city, Duan Jia Xu sat in his car, parked outside his apartment complex. His hand lingered on the steering wheel long after the engine had gone quiet. He was thinking about Sang Zhi. About her wide, bright eyes looking at him with a mix of admiration and innocence he didn't feel he deserved.
"She's still young," he whispered to himself, almost as if convincing his own heart. "You can't… you shouldn't…"
Yet even as he said it, he knew how deep he had already fallen. Her presence had become a part of his life as naturally as breathing. And it terrified him.
The next morning, Sang Zhi decided to distract herself by meeting her friends. They laughed over snacks and cold drinks, but every time her phone buzzed, she secretly hoped it would be him. It never was.
When evening came, she walked alone again, this time without an umbrella, letting the drizzle touch her skin. The sky was painted in fading shades of gold and gray. Somewhere in her chest, a quiet ache was forming—an ache she didn't know how to name yet.
On the other side of town, Duan Jia Xu finally picked up his phone, staring at her name in his contacts. He didn't type anything. Didn't call. Just sat there, wrestling with feelings he didn't dare voice.
Two people, thinking of each other, both silent.
The distance between them wasn't measured in streets or miles, but in hesitation and fear.
End of Chapter 24