He spoke with an air of nonchalance.
Yun Wulai gave a small nod and stepped aside to avoid blocking the exit for others.
She found a relatively quiet spot to lean against the wall, lowering her gaze to her phone. She appeared busy, but in truth, she was aimlessly switching between social media apps, opening and closing them in a restless cycle, merely passing the time.
She didn’t want to be this bored.
But if not her phone, what else was there to look at?
As she moved away, Zhu Kaixuan resumed his previous relaxed posture, hunching slightly as he rested his arms on the railing, his hands loosely draped over the handle of her suitcase.
Yun Wulai didn’t deliberately focus on him, but the blurred motion of him idly spinning his phone between his fingers kept intruding at the edges of her vision.
The harder she tried to ignore it, the more it stood out.
Amid the bustling crowd around them, nothing drew her attention quite like his small, inconsequential movements.
The person Zhu Kaixuan was waiting for still hadn’t arrived. After waiting for about ten minutes, Yun Wulai’s patience finally ran out. She put her phone away and raised her head—
Only to meet his gaze.
His expression was faint, as if his eyes had merely wandered in boredom, no different from glancing at the passing crowd. There was no particular focus on her.
It wasn’t until Yun Wulai walked toward him that his gaze settled on her face.
"I have things to do. I’ll take a taxi and go ahead," she said, reaching for her suitcase.
But his wrists were still draped lazily over the handle.
Her hand paused almost imperceptibly mid-air, making a split-second decision to shift downward and grip the vertical bar of the suitcase’s pull rod instead, deftly avoiding physical contact.
Zhu Kaixuan studied her with a hint of scrutiny. Hearing her words, his fingers curled slightly, but in the end, he didn’t stop her, letting her take the suitcase.
The next second, a young woman’s excited voice rang out from the exit: "Kaixuan-gege!"
At the same time, Zhu Kaixuan reached out and pulled the suitcase back, saying to Yun Wulai in an indifferent tone, "She’s here."
Yun Wulai turned to look.
The person calling Zhu Kaixuan was the same female celebrity who had been surrounded by fans earlier, signing autographs and taking photos.
She had a delicate, youthful face but was dressed in overly mature clothing, creating a mismatched effect.
Bouncing over in quick steps, she playfully punched Zhu Kaixuan’s shoulder and repeated, "Kaixuan-gege." Her tone struck the perfect balance between affectionate and not overly sweet, avoiding any hint of cloyingness. "The airplane food was awful! I’m literally starving."
Yun Wulai now understood why Zhu Kaixuan had come to pick up two women today—he had wanted her to see this.
Given how openly he was interacting with the celebrity, they had probably gone public. She just hadn’t kept up with domestic entertainment news while abroad, so she hadn’t known.
Over the past three years, they hadn’t seen or contacted each other. She had considered the possibility that he might have found someone else.
So the scene before her didn’t come as much of a shock. At this moment, she felt relatively calm.
With practiced politeness, she said, "Alright, I’ve seen it. I get it."
There was no way she was sharing a car with them now. Not that she was generous enough to give them space—she just didn’t trust herself not to suddenly yank the steering wheel and send the whole car careening off the road with them inside.
This time, Zhu Kaixuan didn’t let go of her suitcase. His eyes remained fixed on her as he called another woman’s name: "Diandian, introduce yourself."
Deng Diandian blinked in confusion, looking between the two of them before obediently complying: "I’m Deng Diandian, 20 years old, currently a sophomore in the acting program at Jinda University..."
Zhu Kaixuan cut her off. "I meant, tell her who you are to me."
After rambling a bit, Deng Diandian finally got to the point: "Cousin."
Yun Wulai: "..."
Alright then.
The three of them walked toward the airport parking lot. Zhu Kaixuan, ever the gentleman, pushed both suitcases, one in each hand, while the two women trailed a few steps behind.
Deng Diandian, burning with curiosity, sidled up to Yun Wulai and whispered, "Are you my cousin’s girlfriend?"
Yun Wulai didn’t hesitate. "No."
Zhu Kaixuan only caught Yun Wulai’s response, but even without hearing the question, he could guess what Deng Diandian had asked.
Technically, "no" wasn’t a lie—she wasn’t his girlfriend. But her tone made it clear she wanted to sever any connection between them, leaving no room for speculation.
Deng Diandian was the only girl in their extended family, doted on by everyone, including Zhu Kaixuan.
But for the first time in his life, he found her chatter grating.
Before Deng Diandian could strike up further conversation with Yun Wulai, Zhu Kaixuan turned his head and asked, "Did you hire people to take photos of you again? Is that why you took so long?"
Yun Wulai: "..."
Earlier, she had been puzzled by how Deng Diandian could stroll through the airport without attracting any attention, wondering if public attitudes toward celebrities had changed so drastically in her absence.
Deng Diandian dreamed of being a star, but her family disapproved of her entering the entertainment industry. Left to her own devices, she was barely scraping the bottom of the industry ladder, occasionally hiring fake fans or buying trending tags to prop up her image and feed her vanity.
Now, her already pitiful and humiliating efforts were being exposed in public.
Deng Diandian had never expected her usually smooth-talking cousin to humiliate her like this in front of a stranger. Furious, she snapped, "Why would you say that out loud?!"
When they reached the parking lot, Zhu Kaixuan loaded both suitcases into the trunk and got into the car, only to find Yun Wulai already seated in the passenger seat.
She had manners—she knew leaving the front seat empty was disrespectful to the driver.
Three years had changed her in many ways. In the past, she would have stubbornly walked away the moment she saw him, refusing to get in his car, let alone sit beside him so casually.
Maybe it was the wear and tear of the professional world that had smoothed her edges.
Or maybe, when it came to him, she had simply let go.
"Yansen Hotel?" he asked.
Yun Wulai: "Mhm."
Yansen Hotel belonged to Yan Sui’s family. Compared to staying at Yan Sui’s home, Yun Wulai felt more comfortable in a hotel.
After that brief exchange, silence settled over the car.
Deng Diandian sulked in the backseat for a while before leaning forward against the center console to talk to Yun Wulai. "What should I call you?"
As the only girl in the family, Deng Diandian had grown up spoiled, with a bit of a princess complex. Normally, if Zhu Kaixuan upset her like this, she’d stay angry for a long time.
The atmosphere in the car was unbearably stifling. She had no idea how the two people in the front seats managed to remain so composed in such an oppressive environment, but she couldn’t take it anymore. If she didn’t say something to lighten the mood, she’d suffocate.
Yun Wulai wasn’t particularly in the mood for small talk, so she kept her introduction brief: "Yun Wulai."
Deng Diandian pressed on, "Where are you coming back from?"
"Paris."
"Are you there for work or study?"
"Work."
"Oh, working in Paris—that’s nice." The conversation had officially entered awkward territory.
Silence reclaimed the car once more.
Deng Diandian leaned back into her seat, studying the two heads in front of her. It suddenly dawned on her how well-matched they seemed. A stroke of inspiration hit, and she leaned forward again, wedging herself between the driver and passenger seats.
"Wulai-jie, how did you and my cousin meet?"
We met as teenage sweethearts, Yun Wulai thought to herself. Of course, she kept that to herself and gave a much more respectable answer: "We were high school classmates."
"So you two know each other inside out!" Deng Diandian smoothly transitioned into her true agenda, proving herself a natural at matchmaking despite her young age. "Do you have a boyfriend?"
Zhu Kaixuan pretended not to hear, keeping his eyes fixed on the road.
"No," Yun Wulai replied.
Deng Diandian’s tone turned theatrically enthusiastic. "Then maybe you’d like to consider—"
Yun Wulai had no interest in being set up, especially not with Zhu Kaixuan. She cut in swiftly, dousing Deng Diandian’s enthusiasm with a single sentence: "I’m married."
Damn. The conversation was officially dead.
Deng Diandian slumped back into her seat, surrendering to the suffocating silence that once again filled the cramped car.
A fleeting glimmer passed through Zhu Kaixuan’s eyes.
The next thing to break the silence was Yun Wulai’s phone ringing—Yan Sui was calling.
Yun Wulai answered. "Hey, A’Sui."
Yan Sui’s voice was thick with apology. "Hey Wulai, sorry, sorry—I was busy packing the wedding favors and didn’t see your message. Have you already gotten a ride…?"
Yan Sui’s seemingly casual questions hit Yun Wulai with the same shock value as the infamous eye in the door scene from Detective Conan.
At this moment, if there was one idiom that perfectly captured Yun Wulai’s state of mind, it was thunderstruck.
She could feel goosebumps erupting all over her body, her hair practically standing on end. It was as if she could hear her own blood freezing solid in her veins.
She wished she could just drop dead on the spot.
All the puzzling details she hadn’t dwelled on earlier suddenly became crystal clear.
Yan Sui had explicitly promised to pick her up personally because there was a last-minute alteration needed for the main wedding dress. Even if Yan Sui had asked Zhu Kaixuan to fetch her, there was no reason for him to show up at the airport a full hour and a half early.
He hadn’t come for her at all—he was there to pick up his cousin.
That was why he had looked so stunned when he saw her.
Everything made sense now.
From start to finish, she was the one who had misread the situation, the one whose brain had turned to mush.
And most of all… she was the one who had been deluding herself.
As for Zhu Kaixuan? He had known all along—he just hadn’t called her out on it.
Screw his entire family tree. Yun Wulai mustered every ounce of self-restraint she possessed to keep that curse from slipping out.
Playing it cool was a skill every adult mastered without needing lessons—it was the bare minimum for preserving dignity.
Suppressing the storm raging inside her, she replied calmly, "Yeah, I’m already in a car."
Unaware of the situation, Yan Sui assumed Yun Wulai had hailed a taxi. She apologized profusely. "You must be starving. Tell the driver to bring you to the restaurant—I’ll send you the location. Let’s grab a bite together."
After hanging up, the car endured a few excruciatingly awkward seconds before Yun Wulai spoke again. "Pull over somewhere, please."
"Which restaurant?" Zhu Kaixuan remained unruffled. "I’ll take you."
The car had been dead silent—he had heard every word Yan Sui said.
"No need. I’ll just take a cab." The adult playbook didn’t cover how to shamelessly keep riding in someone’s car after such a colossal misunderstanding.
The car showed no signs of slowing down.
Without so much as glancing at her, Zhu Kaixuan explained, "You can’t stop on Shixin Road."
The entire stretch of Shixin Road was under strict traffic control—no stopping except at designated bus stops.
The Bentley cruised steadily forward for a long while. Just as Yun Wulai was seriously calculating her odds of surviving a door-leap escape, the car finally came to a halt at a red light.
The heavens haven’t abandoned me. She mentally thanked the glowing red orb above her eight hundred times before swiftly unbuckling her seatbelt, stepping out, and shutting the door behind her. Summoning the last shreds of her adult dignity, she muttered a quick "Thanks" to Zhu Kaixuan.
To an outsider, Yun Wulai’s gait would have appeared perfectly composed. Thanks to her work’s close ties to the modeling industry, her posture and stride carried an effortless elegance.
Only she knew the truth—she was running for her life.
Deng Diandian, completely lost, watched Yun Wulai weave through multiple lanes of traffic toward the bike lane before turning to her cousin. "She just… left?"
Zhu Kaixuan’s gaze lingered for a fraction of a second before returning to the road. He responded with a faint, "Mm."
"But her suitcase is still in your trunk?" Deng Diandian pointed out the obvious, rolling down her window to call Yun Wulai back.
A line of text flashed on the traffic light display, signaling that straight lanes could now enter the waiting zone.
Entering the waiting zone wasn’t mandatory—enforcement was lax, and none of the surrounding cars were moving. But Zhu Kaixuan floored the accelerator, surging forward.
The sudden acceleration slammed Deng Diandian back into her seat. "Ow!" she yelped.
Zhu Kaixuan took the opportunity to raise the window she had lowered and lock all the controls—now, only the driver could adjust them.
He stopped only when the car was at the very front of the waiting zone. Deng Diandian, barely recovered from the sudden acceleration, was now thrown forward by the abrupt brake, nearly face-planting into the front seat. "OW!" she cried again, barely avoiding a fall.
The car stabilized after the hard stop.
Deng Diandian clutched her nearly-broken nose, panting as she straightened up.
The moment the light turned green, Zhu Kaixuan sped off, leaving the rest of the traffic far behind.
This time, Deng Diandian was prepared—she clung to the door handle, sparing herself a third assault. Once the car steadied, she looked back, but all she saw was a sea of headlights stretching across the wide road. Yun Wulai was long gone.
Even someone as oblivious as Deng Diandian could see the truth now—her cousin had no intention of returning that suitcase.
The reason for not wanting to return the suitcase was simple—either to keep it for oneself or to pave the way for another legitimate meeting.
After a long silence, she asked Zhu Kaixuan a thought-provoking question: "Brother Kaixuan, forgive me for being blunt, but are you interested in the suitcase… or the person?"
Zhu Kaixuan: "……"
Deng Diandian figured that, given her cousin’s family’s financial situation, he couldn’t possibly be after a mere suitcase. That left only one possibility.
Her cousin was interested in the person.
Deng Diandian panicked. Slapping the seat in distress, she cried out, "But she’s already married!!! Brother Kaixuan, wake up! Do you really want to drive Aunt and Uncle to their graves?!"
