On the balcony.
Song Yuqing carefully unpacked the bouquet she had brought. With a pair of scissors, she painstakingly trimmed the leaves and stems before placing the flowers, one by one, into a vase.
Ning Zhen watched her for a while. Noticing how distracted she seemed, she reminded her softly, “You can do that later. Be careful not to prick yourself.”
“Mm…” Song Yuqing set down the flowers and scissors and gave her an apologetic smile. “How about we go to the living room and find a movie to watch? I don’t know when they’ll get here, but one movie should take about the right amount of time, shouldn’t it?”
“We can watch a movie anytime.” Ning Zhen stopped her. She took a sip of water, gathering her courage, weighing her words, and reconsidering them again and again. In the end, she gritted her teeth and asked, “Is something bothering you? If you don’t mind, you can tell me. Don’t worry—I’m very good at keeping secrets!”
She hadn’t really wanted to get involved in the relationship between the male and female leads.
But Song Yuqing seemed lost and helpless. Maybe she needed someone to talk to, someone who could help her ease her emotions.
And Ning Zhen seemed like the most suitable person.
She was Song Yuqing’s friend, Meng Jiaran’s friend, and also one of the few people who knew about Meng Jiaran’s unrequited love.
Song Yuqing let out a soft laugh at that. Soon, however, the smile faded, and she frowned slightly. “I don’t know how to put it. I… recently found out something, but it’s so unbelievable that I’m a little—”
She stopped.
Ning Zhen thought for a moment and supplied the word for her. “A little troubled?”
Song Yuqing raised her eyes and immediately shook her head. “No, no.”
Even she didn’t realize how quickly she had denied it.
Deep down, she didn’t consider Meng Jiaran’s feelings a burden at all. In fact, that was already a kind of response.
Ning Zhen sighed inwardly. Thinking about how Meng Jiaran would soon find happiness, she couldn’t help envying his good fortune. The only hardship he had suffered in this life was unrequited love. Sure, he had gotten drunk a few times and even ended up in the hospital, but hadn’t all of that led him to the dawn of victory?
Song Yuqing was simply too softhearted when it came to Meng Jiaran.
“Then what is it?”
“I can’t really explain it either.” Song Yuqing fell silent for a moment before turning her head to look at the sky beyond the balcony. “My mind is a mess. I don’t know how to face it, much less how to deal with it. It’s too hard.”
Ning Zhen rested her chin on one hand and studied her carefully before suddenly bursting into laughter.
Song Yuqing was drawn by the sound and turned toward her. Hesitating, she asked, “What is it?”
“Is this something you have to face and deal with right now?” Without waiting for an answer, Ning Zhen continued, “If it isn’t, then put it aside for now. Why worry about other people? You need to give yourself time to accept it first!”
She refused to believe that Meng Jiaran would dare force Song Yuqing to give him an answer immediately.
If he were the kind of man who would block someone’s path and refuse to let go, like his older brother, would he have spent all these years secretly in love with her?
He had been in love with her for so long. Could he really not wait a little longer at this crucial moment?
Song Yuqing was stunned for a moment, then her eyes curved into a smile. “…Is that really okay?”
Ning Zhen couldn’t help laughing.
…
Five in the afternoon.
Meng Jiaran drove into the underground garage and parked beside Ning Zhen’s white sedan.
From the passenger seat, Meng Xianwen glanced over and said evenly, “Jiaran, you go upstairs first. Have Zhenzhen bring the car keys down. I’ll unload the luggage.”
Meng Jiaran nearly said, “Why unload the luggage now? We can do it after dinner, when we leave.”
But he swallowed the words.
His brother had been away on business for seven or eight days, and the two of them had even argued. He probably wanted a private moment with Zhenzhen now to work things out.
“Okay!”
He agreed at once.
He genuinely hoped his brother and sister-in-law would make up before he went upstairs too.
He and Yuqing had no desire to play peacemaker.
With that thought, he turned off the engine and got out of the car. “Brother, I’ll go get Zhenzhen.”
Meng Jiaran didn’t waste a second. He raced toward the elevator, took it upstairs, and used his fingerprint to enter the apartment. After searching around, he found them on the balcony, taking pictures of each other and posing cheek to cheek.
At that moment, he suddenly stopped feeling so impatient.
He quietly stood to one side, watching Song Yuqing lean against the railing, her hair lifted by the autumn breeze and a faint smile resting on her lips.
After Ning Zhen finished taking Song Yuqing’s pictures, she turned around and saw Meng Jiaran standing behind her.
Without drawing attention to it, she shifted her gaze around. She didn’t see that damn bastard anywhere, so she asked in an affectedly casual tone, “You’re alone?”
Meng Jiaran came back to himself.
His eyes were still fixed on Song Yuqing’s face. The two of them unexpectedly met each other’s gaze, and the tips of his ears grew warm. He answered hurriedly, “My brother’s waiting for you in the garage. He told you to bring the keys down so he can unload the luggage. Don’t dawdle.”
Ning Zhen’s brows shot up. “He said I was dawdling?”
Meng Jiaran nodded perfunctorily. His eyes kept drifting toward Song Yuqing.
Ning Zhen pursed her lips, picked up her phone, and headed out. As she passed the sofa, she found the keys in her bag. Still feeling a little sulky, she deliberately slowed her pace more and more as she left.
Once inside the elevator, she surreptitiously glanced at her reflection in the mirrored wall and lifted a hand to smooth her wind-tousled hair.
The elevator descended to the underground garage.
When the doors opened, she met his calm gaze.
Her heart began to pound. She hadn’t expected him to be waiting right outside the elevator. Before she could recover, he stepped forward, slipped one long arm around her, and pulled her into his embrace.
“Lost your mind?” he asked, looking down at her with amusement in his eyes.
“You’re the one who’s lost it.” She glared at him. “Were you trying to scare me to death by standing right outside the elevator?”
Meng Xianwen ignored her completely.
He glanced up at the elevator as the car rose smoothly, estimating that someone might come down soon. Without saying a word, he half-carried and half-guided her over to the car. He looked at her intently, then loosened one arm, took the keys she was clutching tightly, and unlocked the doors with the sensor.
Ning Zhen was practically pushed into the back seat.
The car door shut.
His presence swept over her, enveloping her completely, and then his kiss descended.
Since they had gotten together, they had never been apart for this long. Her life hadn’t been affected at all; she had gone on being happy and lazy as usual. But for some reason, he hadn’t been able to adjust. That feeling had reached its peak last night after he left the dinner gathering.
No matter whether his business trip was finished or not, he would come back today.
If it wasn’t over, he would still return, stay the night whenever he found a spare moment, and leave again afterward.
She was the one who had turned him into this person.
He didn’t hide his anger at all—anger toward her, and toward himself. His kisses were forceful, almost destructive, moving from her lips to her earlobe and then down to her vulnerable neck.
In a low voice, he asked, “Have you been happy these past few days?”
Ning Zhen’s chest rose and fell.
She knew exactly what answer he wanted to hear, but she simply didn’t want to give it.
“Happy!”
The moment the word left her mouth, he sealed it with another kiss.
He didn’t stop until he had heard the answer he wanted.
Ning Zhen was breathless, practically unable to breathe. She had never seen anyone so unreasonable. If she hadn’t been worried that things would continue until her car was no longer an innocent Rolls-Royce, she never would have said what he wanted to hear.
Meng Xianwen looked satisfied. As though he had only just remembered the things he had forced her to say and done to her the night before, he offered an apology that was hardly sincere.
“I drank too much yesterday. It won’t happen again.”
“…”
Of all the things he could have brought up, he had to mention that one!
Ning Zhen glared at him and clapped a hand over his mouth. “Shut up!”
Did he look like he was drunk? Clearly, he was simply showing his true colors. She had long ago realized he was a pervert, but she hadn’t expected him to be this bad. She’d still underestimated him.
“Fine. I won’t say anything.” Meng Xianwen caught her wrist and gazed at her for a moment. Then, as she wished, he changed the subject. “Let’s go home.”
Had he forgotten that his younger brother and future sister-in-law were waiting upstairs for their housewarming dinner?
Ning Zhen stared at him in disbelief. “Yuqing and Jiaran are still upstairs waiting for us. If you want to go home, go ahead. I’m going upstairs to eat!”
Without waiting to see his reaction, she pushed him away and got out of the car. After walking a few steps, she realized that not only had he failed to follow her, he hadn’t even gotten out of the car.
She was about to turn around and go back to scold him for taking so long when a thought suddenly flashed through her mind. She broke into a gleeful smile, decided not to bother with him, and strode toward the elevator.
The doorbell rang.
Meng Jiaran went to the door. He glanced at the video monitor first, then raised his brows in surprise when he opened it. Looking past Ning Zhen into the entryway, he asked, “Why are you the only one here? Where’s my brother?”
Without batting an eye, Ning Zhen lied, “He has some work to take care of. He’ll probably be a while, so don’t worry about him.”
“You two made up?” he asked nosily.
“We never had a fight!”
Meng Jiaran was speechless. “If you didn’t fight, why didn’t you come down to get him with me? You should’ve seen how disappointed he was when he found out I was the only one there to meet him. I don’t even want to talk about it.”
“Really?”
No wonder he’d gone crazy the moment he got back.
They didn’t chat for long at the door. Meng Jiaran still had to help in the kitchen, so he hurried off.
It was nearly dinnertime when Meng Xianwen finally came upstairs. Ning Zhen exchanged a hurried glance with him, then looked away and picked up her glass to drink, concealing the smile tugging at her lips.
There was an extra bottle of wine on the table.
Meng Jiaran took out four glasses with practiced ease. But when he began pouring, Meng Xianwen reached out and covered the rim of his glass. “I’m not drinking. I’ll be driving later.”
“What’s the big deal? Just have the driver come pick us up.”
“It has nothing to do with that.” Meng Xianwen draped one arm over the back of Ning Zhen’s chair and said succinctly, “I’ve had a lot of business dinners lately and drunk more than enough. I’m not touching alcohol for a while. You two drink.”
Ning Zhen pressed her lips together to keep from laughing.
The three of them raised their glasses at the table. Meng Xianwen didn’t have much of an appetite. Most of the time, he simply glanced sideways at Ning Zhen, watching her eat happily.
“Hey.” After taking a few sips of red wine, Meng Jiaran finally opened the floodgates, sounding somewhat aggrieved. “Brother, I was doing perfectly well at Hengxing. Why did you have to send me to a branch office? And it’s in the neighboring city—it’s so far away.”
He had accepted the assignment entirely against his will.
“Two or three hundred kilometers, and you call that far?”
“W-Well… of course it’s far!”
Ning Zhen quietly raised her eyes toward Song Yuqing across the table. She saw Yuqing pause in the middle of peeling a shrimp. A few seconds later, she lowered her head, her cheeks faintly flushed.
“Once you get there, learn everything you can from Xu Lai.”
Meng Xianwen looked just as unimpressed by his brother’s lack of ambition.
“Exactly!” Ning Zhen nodded in agreement. “Senior Xu is patient, capable, and has an impeccable character. But don’t take advantage of his gentle nature and cause him trouble—”
She had finally found a chance to give Meng Jiaran a proper lecture.
Before she could launch into a long speech about how she had thrived in the workplace after Xu Lai brought her into the company, a peeled shrimp appeared at her lips. She turned her head and met Meng Xianwen’s eyes, which held a faint smile.
In a gentle voice, he said, “I’ll peel them for you. Eat more.”
Ning Zhen tried not to laugh, then opened her mouth and took the shrimp.
“…”
“…”
Song Yuqing and Meng Jiaran exchanged a look. In perfect unspoken agreement, they clinked their glasses and lowered their heads to drink, pretending they hadn’t seen a thing.
It was nine o’clock before Ning Zhen could take it any longer. Meng Xianwen had been messaging her every ten minutes, urging her to come home. She set down the cards, looped her arm through his, and said goodbye to Song Yuqing before leaving with him.
“Actually, you’ve been pretty invested in Jiaran and Yuqing’s relationship.”
After getting into the car and fastening her seat belt, she turned toward Meng Xianwen in the driver’s seat and said thoughtfully, “When Jiaran was injured and in the hospital, did you already figure that Yuqing would find out about his feelings sooner or later? Was that why you arranged for him to transfer to the branch office? Keeping them apart for a while might be a good thing.”
Just like now. Two or three hundred kilometers wasn’t that far, but no matter how close it was, Meng Jiaran couldn’t commute back and forth every day.
If he had stayed in Beicheng, Song Yuqing might never have been able to calm down and think carefully about whether what she felt was merely friendship—or whether she was ready to take the next step and turn it into love.
The car left the brightly lit parking garage and emerged onto the street.
Under the dim yellow streetlights, shadows from the trees fell across the road. The inside of the car was half-lit and half in darkness.
Meng Xianwen glanced at her, his expression unreadable. “More or less.”
Ning Zhen lowered the window and stretched, utterly content. She was slightly tipsy from the wine, the night breeze blowing against her face, the music she loved playing inside the car. Beside her was her boyfriend, whom she hadn’t seen in several days, and they were on their way back to her home.
At that moment, the word happiness took on a tangible form.
When they reached the apartment complex, the man who had been urging her to leave ever since dinner suddenly seemed in no hurry to go upstairs. Instead, he took her hand and led her out of the complex toward the park for a walk.
After they had walked for a while, Ning Zhen began to feel cold.
She hugged her arms and glanced at him, but he seemed completely oblivious.
What kind of man was he?
Why had she ended up with someone like this?
Did she really have to spell it out for him? The moment they got out of the car, he should have taken off his coat and draped it over her shoulders!
Unable to stand it any longer, she stopped.
Meng Xianwen walked a few more steps before turning back. “What now?”
They stood nearly two meters apart. Ning Zhen called out loudly, “Can’t you see that I’m cold?”
Meng Xianwen considered this for several seconds before asking slowly, “What did you do when you felt cold on walks before?”
“That was before!” She wished she could stab holes in him with her eyes. At a moment like this, he still couldn’t resist teasing her.
“What’s different now?”
“You tell me.”
“Is it better now, or was it better before?” He walked toward her one step at a time, his gaze focused. He wasn’t trying to argue with her; he simply wanted an answer.
“Now is better, all right!”
As she said it, she couldn’t help smiling. What an immature man.
Only then did Meng Xianwen seem satisfied. He took off his coat and draped it over her shoulders, then pulled her into his arms with a sigh.
“I think so too.”
