“Miss Shiyao, please apologize to Miss Yan. She is a valued guest of our store.” The store manager regarded Shiyao, whose eyes had gone red around the rims, with cool indifference.

Shiyao lowered her gaze, drew a slow breath, and said in a muted voice, “Miss Yan, I’m sorry. I was presumptuous today.”

“Hmm?” Yan Yunning blinked, glanced at He Qingxia, then at the store manager and general manager, and tilted her head with a gentle curve of her brows. “What did she just say? I didn’t quite catch it.”

“I’m sorry, Miss Yan,” Shiyao repeated, raising her voice — and then turned and walked out at a near run.

Shiyu looked at Yan Yunning and He Qingxia, embarrassment written plainly on her face. She gave a small bow. “Miss Yan, Miss He — I’m sorry.”

Yan Yunning’s gaze lingered on Shiyu for a moment. She seemed very well-behaved.

“I’m sorry,” Shiyu said once more, this time with unmistakable sincerity, before hurrying after Shiyao.

“Let’s go.” Now that the spectacle was over, Yan Yunning had no heart left for browsing.

“Alright.” He Qingxia nodded.

The store manager, seeing them off personally, held the door open as the two of them stepped out.

Hospital corridor.

Xie Yan and Xuan Yanyu sat facing each other. After a prolonged staring contest, Xie Yan was the first to concede.

“Yuge, the doctor said himself — he’s in neurology, not psychiatry. After reviewing your CT scan, which came back completely normal, the doctor suggested you go register with the psychiatry department.”

“Get lost.” Xuan Yanyu kicked him.

“Yuge, what are you torturing yourself over?” Xie Yan said, somewhere between exasperation and helplessness. “Before the car accident, there was never anyone or anything that mattered that much to you — and then you got into the accident and spent five months unconscious before waking up. If you ask me, the person you’re looking for is Miss Shi.”

Honestly, that whole story from Master Guo — he didn’t buy a word of it.

“Get lost!!” Xuan Yanyu slapped the freshly printed test results directly onto Xie Yan’s forehead.

Xie Yan: “……”

What?

What had he said wrong?

Yuге had all his memories from before the coma intact. And he had never once mentioned anyone more important to him than his own life.

He slipped into a coma for five months and suddenly woke up convinced there was someone vital he had forgotten. The doctors had a point — Yuге really should register with psychiatry!

“Young CEO Xuan, something’s happened — Miss Shi has been hospitalized again for threatened miscarriage.” Ye Jian ended his call, walked over to Xuan Yanyu, and lowered his voice.

Xuan Yanyu pressed two fingers to his brow. “What happened?”

Ye Jian gave the short version. “Miss Shi brought her younger sister to do some shopping at a boutique, and she ended up harassing two young women. Those two young women weren’t the type to take it lying down — they called their fathers, and the matter was reported up to CEO Xuan. As you know, CEO Xuan has never been satisfied with Miss Shi, so he showed her no leniency. Miss Shi cried herself faint from the distress, and her sister brought her to the hospital.”

“And something rather odd — CEO Xuan rescheduled his afternoon meeting, had his assistant book flights, and went in person to seek forgiveness from those two gentlemen.” Ye An furrowed his brow as he said this.

Their Xuan Group had no reason to go that far. Who on earth were those two gentlemen?

Then again, regardless of who they were — what would compel CEO Xuan to seek forgiveness in person?

Xuan Yanyu looked genuinely surprised. “My dad went to apologize to someone?”

“Yes, Young CEO Xuan. According to CEO Xuan’s assistant, he brought a great many gifts — a very sincere gesture.” Ye An confirmed.

Xuan Yanyu’s lips pulled slightly to one side. “Has the company run into any problems lately? Are we looking for investment?”

“No, the company is operating normally across the board.” That was precisely what had Ye An puzzled.

“Then he’s just bored? What does trouble Shiyao stirs up have to do with him?”

“……” That was not a question Ye An dared to answer.

“Yuge, Uncle must be worried those men will take it out on Miss Shi.” Xie Yan let out a low whistle.

Xuan Yanyu raised an eyebrow. “You’re overthinking it. My dad isn’t that kind-hearted toward Shiyao.”

Xie Yan: “……”

“Young CEO Xuan, Miss Shi is your person — who would dare give her trouble?” Ye Chen added lazily.

Xie Yan: “……”

Ye Chen had a point, too!

“Young CEO Xuan, would you like to go visit Miss Shi?” Ye Jian ventured carefully. “Her mood is rather poor.”

“No. Let’s go find Jingzhi.”

“I’ll come along — I haven’t been to Jingzhi’s place in ages.” With that, Xie Yan pulled out his phone to check in with Nan Chu, and while he was at it, took a photo with Ye Jian — the one standing closest to him — and sent it to her.

The reason he picked Ye Jian instead of Xuan Yanyu, who was even closer? Simply because Xuan Yanyu would have shoved him away.

“Do you really have to check in everywhere you go?” Xuan Yanyu asked lazily.

Xie Yan held up his phone, clicking his tongue. “Has Yuге ever checked in with Miss Shi? Doesn’t she look at your phone? Doesn’t she ever ask where you’re going?”

Xuan Yanyu raised an eyebrow with leisurely disinterest. “Why would I check in with her? My phone is full of sensitive documents — why would I let her go through it? And what business is it of hers where I go? Why would she ask?”

Xie Yan choked on a response, then bumped Xuan Yanyu’s arm with a grin full of barely concealed meaning. “Yuge — prepare to eat those words.”

Xuan Yanyu gave a light scoff. “Relax. That will never happen.”

Xie Yan clicked his tongue twice. “Still not deep enough. When you truly fall for someone, everything you just said will count for nothing.”

Xuan Yanyu’s eyes held nothing but cool disdain as he let out a quiet, “Not going to happen.”

“Impossible.”

Xuan Yanyu strode forward, leaving Xie Yan still muttering behind him. Did he not know himself well enough? He had said it wouldn’t happen — so it wouldn’t!

West City Villa.

Yan Jingzhi was sprawled on the sofa with his legs crossed, deep in a game, when he looked up and saw Xuan Yanyu and Xie Yan walking toward him. He blinked hard. How many days had it been? Yuге had come to his house twice in a row?

“Gentlemen, please have a seat. I’ll go prepare some tea.” The housekeeper showed Xuan Yanyu and Xie Yan to the main hall and stepped away with a smile to brew tea.

Xuan Yanyu’s gaze swept the room without expression, and he settled into the beanbag chair beside Yan Jingzhi.

Yan Jingzhi scratched his head. “Yuge, come sit over here.”

Anyone with eyes who noticed the plush stuffed animals, the pink blanket, and the several bags of chips on that beanbag chair would have chosen any other seat — wouldn’t they?

“Why?” Xuan Yanyu accepted the teacup from the housekeeper with a faint, barely-there smile.

“It’s a bit cluttered over there.”

Xuan Yanyu curved his lips faintly. “It’s fine — I don’t mind.”

Yan Jingzhi pursed his lips: “……”

Before he could stop himself, he watched Xuan Yanyu pick up the pink blanket Yan Yunning had left there that morning. Something in him snapped, and he cried out, “Don’t touch that — if it gets dirty, my sister will give me hell. That’s not— Yuge, I’m not saying your hands are dirty— it’s just— that blanket gets dirty really easily.”

Yan Jingzhi bit the tip of his tongue and pressed his eyes shut in frustration.

It wasn’t even that the blanket got dirty easily. It was just that this was the blanket Ningning would curl up with on the beanbag chair when she was on her phone — and having some other person, some strange man, handling it in his hands just didn’t feel right.

Ranran would beat him senseless for this.

The sofa was enormous. Who could have guessed Yuге would walk past every other seat and pick that particular beanbag chair?

What kind of guest chose to sit in the messy beanbag chair?

The man raised an eyebrow, his voice unhurried and even. “Where’s your sister? I’d like to apologize to her.”

“Huh?” Yan Jingzhi met Xuan Yanyu’s deep, subtly amused gaze and felt a peculiar unease take root.

Xie Yan studied Xuan Yanyu with mounting suspicion. The longer he looked, the more deliberate it seemed. Under ordinary circumstances, even if someone paid him to sit in that messy, chaotic beanbag chair, Yuge wouldn’t have gone near it — so what had possessed him to willingly plant himself there this time?