Whеn Ruаn Siхiаn stерped оut оf thе роlice statiоn, thе sun was alrеady blаzing оutsidе.
Ваi Yаng followеd closely behind, notiсing thе red рatсh оn hеr lеg. "Is yоur lеg оkау?"
"Just a sсrape, it's finе."
Ruаn Sixiаn looked оut and saw Fu Мingyu's cаr раrkеd bу thе rоadside.
Shе hаdn’t eхреctеd Fu Mingуu tо still be therе.
Ruаn Sixiаn walked ovеr and tapреd оn the сar window.
Fu Mingуu rоllеd down thе windоw аnd turnеd his hеаd to lооk at hеr.
"All sеttled?"
Ruan Siхian nоddеd, tinу beаds оf swеаt forming on the tiр of her nose.
Summer hаd arrived abruрtly. Just yеsterdау, pеople on the streets were still wrapped in jackets, but today they had all switched to short sleeves.
She wiped the sweat from her nose and murmured, "The police took care of everything."
Before rolling up the window, Fu Mingyu said, "Get in."
As she opened the car door, the cool breeze from the air conditioner dispelled the stifling heat clinging to her.
She and Fu Mingyu sat at opposite ends of the back seat.
The voice beside her was as cool as the temperature inside the car. "What happened?"
She had already gone through the procedures at the police station, and the situation was clear now.
Perhaps it was because the woman had failed to catch her partner in the act that morning and then suddenly found herself at the police station, but she seemed to have suffered a severe blow. Her words were incoherent, and it took Ruan Sixian a while to grasp the key points.
The woman was Yan An's ex-girlfriend. They hadn’t broken up long ago, and the man with her was her brother.
Yan An, like most men, had a common flaw—during the early stages of a breakup, he would resort to emotional neglect, ignoring calls and avoiding meetings, as if he were constantly swamped with work.
Naturally, the woman assumed he had found someone else. Unable to get answers from him, she and her brother had been staking out Yan An for nearly a month.
As his ex-girlfriend, she knew Yan An occasionally stayed at the Mingchen Apartments, but his recent frequent appearances there raised suspicions.
Later, Yan An had gone straight from the airport to Ruan Sixian’s home last night, giving his ex-girlfriend the illusion that he was keeping a mistress there.
Still, Ruan Sixian couldn’t help but admire the siblings’ skills. They had waited outside the apartment complex all morning and, when they saw an elderly woman returning from grocery shopping, calmly followed her inside by swiping the access card as if they were family.
With talents like that, it was a waste for them to be influencers instead of spies.
"Misunderstanding."
Ruan Sixian kept it brief. "They’d been staking out the place for days. Last night, they saw Yan An come to my place, so they came up this morning looking for evidence."
After she finished speaking, she heard him let out a faint, derisive chuckle.
It felt exactly like when he had appeared that morning and said, "Didn’t you think you could handle it yourself?"
Fu Mingyu looked over.
The sunlight outside the window scattered across his face, making his eyes appear unusually light. Usually dark and intense, they now held a gentle, amber-like warmth.
For a moment, Ruan Sixian thought he looked truly handsome.
"I warned you to be cautious."
"..."
Alright, Ruan Sixian retracted her earlier thought.
Bai Yang, sitting in the front passenger seat, turned around and asked, "Heading back to the apartment?"
Fu Mingyu nodded, and the car pulled away.
Throughout the journey, Ruan Sixian remained silent.
Gazing out the window, she reflected that she probably owed Fu Mingyu a word of thanks.
Even though she was used to living alone, the situation that morning would have been overwhelming for any woman—a stranger suddenly barging in, accompanied by a strong man who immediately resorted to physical restraint without any explanation.
The moment Fu Mingyu appeared, despite his trademark sarcasm, Ruan Sixian’s heart had truly settled.
"President Fu."
Ruan Sixian turned to look at him, her expression serious.But Fu Mingyu leaned back against the seat cushion with his eyes closed, looking as if he were resting.
“Mm.”
“Thank you for today.”
After she spoke, a few seconds passed, and Ruan Sixian blinked.
Give me a reaction, will you?
But the person beside her seemed to have fallen asleep, with only a faint smile slowly spreading across the corner of his mouth.
Ruan Sixian knew full well that this was definitely not a friendly smile, and whatever he was about to say next would certainly not be pleasant.
“I never thought I’d hear those words from you.”
Sure enough.
“I’m genuinely thanking you, and also…”
She paused, then added, “I’m sorry about last night.”
Fu Mingyu opened his eyes, looking at Ruan Sixian with amusement, a smirk tugging at his lips. “So now I’m getting an apology too?”
“Well, do you accept it or not?”
Fu Mingyu slowly turned back, his gaze level with the rearview mirror.
“I’ll accept the thanks, but the apology can be skipped.”
Ruan Sixian pondered for a long time, unable to figure out what he meant.
And then her phone rang, interrupting her train of thought at the worst possible moment.
It was Yan An calling.
“President Yan?”
It was very noisy on Yan An’s end—clearly, he had just gotten off a plane.
He had only just found out about the incident and immediately called to ask about the situation.
“Did they do anything to you? What’s the situation now? Should I send someone to help you?”
“No need, it’s already been resolved.” Ruan Sixian thought for a moment, then decided to share what she had just learned. “The two of them have been detained for ten days. Your ex-girlfriend is crying and making a scene inside.”
After all, she was an influencer, and news of her detention would definitely leak.
They weren’t like celebrities with professional PR teams—even if they had one, they lacked the strong fanbase of a star. So if it got out that she had illegally trespassed and been detained for ten days, her public image would be completely ruined.
Upon hearing this, Yan An fell silent for a while before saying, “I’m really sorry about this. I didn’t handle it well. I just got off the plane and will be back tomorrow. I’ll apologize to you in person.”
“Really, there’s no need, President Yan.” Ruan Sixian remembered something and added, “Also, the gift you gave me last night was far too expensive. I’ll return it to you.”
“No, no, please don’t. If you didn’t want to accept it last night, that’s fine, but today you must keep it as my apology.”
“A verbal apology is enough, President Yan, really. I’ve said this matter is over, and I won’t dwell on it. I’m not a petty person, so you really don’t need to worry about it so much.”
As Ruan Sixian said this, she didn’t notice Fu Mingyu glancing at her from the side.
—A look of utter disbelief.
“Really, you don’t need to give me this, President Yan…” Ruan Sixian was starting to lose patience. “Besides, I don’t even like these kinds of things.”
—“Then what do you like?”
Hearing this, Ruan Sixian froze.
She covered her phone and looked at Fu Mingyu.
Fu Mingyu was looking back at her.
So she hadn’t misheard—he and Yan An had really asked the same question at the same time.
The phone was connected to Yan An, but Ruan Sixian stared at Fu Mingyu in confusion, enunciating each word clearly.
“I like airplanes.”
“The Airbus A380, the double-decker jumbo jet.”
Both the phone call and the car fell silent for a moment.
Their eyes met, and it was Fu Mingyu who first looked away, turning his face aside, his expression tinged with exasperation.As for Yan An, although he knew it was a joke, the topic couldn’t continue any further. He left with a remark, "I’ll talk about it when I get back to Jiangcheng."
After hanging up, the car fell into silence once again.
Ruan Sixian quietly gazed out the window.
Reflected in the glass was Fu Mingyu’s face.
She wondered why Fu Mingyu had suddenly asked her what she liked earlier.
People’s words are always driven by motives. For example, Yan An asked what she liked because he wanted to give her a gift as an apology.
But what about Fu Mingyu?
Did he also want to give her a gift?
That didn’t fit his character at all.
Ruan Sixian couldn’t figure it out no matter how hard she thought. Almost as if possessed, she turned her head to catch a glimpse of his expression.
—And then she unexpectedly met his gaze.
"..."
"..."
Both of them tactfully averted their eyes, fell into a tacit silence, and pretended as if nothing had happened.
The air in the car seemed to flow slowly, and it was unusually quiet, so much so that even the sound of breathing was clearly audible.
The entire morning was practically ruined. Ruan Sixian took a nap after lunch, and even after waking up, she didn’t feel like going to the gym.
Lying in bed with nothing to do, she called Bian Xuan to talk about the matter.
Bian Xuan rolled her eyes several times on the other end of the line.
"Really? I thought he was a decent guy when I last saw him."
"To be fair, he is a decent person, but this aspect is just too frustrating. Nothing has even happened between us yet, and something like this occurs. If things were to progress further, wouldn’t his ex-girlfriends give me a hard time?"
"Exactly. This kind of man is fine as a friend, but definitely not as a boyfriend. So, how do you plan to handle your relationship with him?"
"What else can I do? Make it clear as soon as possible and leave on the next train."
Ruan Sixian believed that dragging things out was the worst approach in such situations. The sooner things were clarified, the better, keeping the relationship strictly at the friend level to avoid unnecessary complications.
The next evening, Ruan Sixian met Yan An at the same restaurant where they had dined last time.
The atmosphere during the meal was natural enough, as both parties were aware of each other’s intentions beforehand.
She knew Yan An wanted to apologize, and Yan An knew she wanted to cut her losses in time.
However, since Yan An had never explicitly used the word "pursuit," Ruan Sixian wouldn’t explicitly say "I reject you." Instead, she subtly conveyed that their relationship should remain at the "friends" level going forward.
Yan An wasn’t foolish—her words had already spared him considerable face.
As for returning the gift, he no longer had any reason to refuse.
The meal could barely be described as harmonious.
At least that’s what Ruan Sixian thought.
At the very least, Yan An showed no intention of clinging on, even though there was regret in his eyes.
After finishing their meal, they walked outside. Yan An looked up at the sky—it seemed like rain was on the way.
His father had been furious over the incident with his ex-girlfriend, and his mother was also deeply upset. To ease tensions at home and show his remorse, Yan An had been staying at the villa in Xingwan Yihao every night recently.
"Let me drive you back."
Yan An said it naturally.
Ruan Sixian still believed he usually lived in Mingchen Apartments, so she didn’t refuse. After all, it was on the way.
Yan An had driven himself today.
They didn’t talk much during the ride.
No matter what, Yan An knew he had been rejected today, and forcing a cheerful demeanor was a bit difficult.
He pulled up outside the building where Ruan Sixian lived, stepped on the brake, and sighed.
"We’re here. Get some rest early."Ruan Sixian nodded, unfastened her seatbelt, and as she got out of the car, she said, "Mm, you should rest early too."
Yan An's gaze remained fixed on her until she was almost at the entrance of the lobby. Unable to hold back, he called out her name.
She turned around and, seeing that he seemed to have something to say, walked back.
Yan An rolled down the car window completely.
Ruan Sixian leaned in, bending over. "What's wrong?"
For the first time, Yan An looked at Ruan Sixian so seriously. After a long while, he finally said, "If I handle all those matters properly, will I still have a chance?"
They hadn’t spoken openly about it all evening, so Ruan Sixian thought the matter was over.
She hadn’t expected him to bring it up at the last second.
If Yan An hadn’t been involved in these incidents, or if he promised to resolve them properly…
Would she truly want to be with him?
Ruan Sixian thought about it carefully in her heart.
It seemed… maybe… not really.
She didn’t know if it was because she’d never felt a strong impulse toward him or if yesterday’s events had extinguished that impulse.
In any case, this was the most direct thought in Ruan Sixian’s mind at the moment.
Even the impulse wasn’t strong, let alone this being just a hypothetical.
Ruan Sixian smiled. "President Yan, let’s just leave it. I think we’re fine as friends."
Yan An said nothing more.
Someone like him wouldn’t show a defeated expression even after being rejected.
Sitting in his luxury car, he gave a light wave and drove away.
Ruan Sixian watched him leave, lost in thought for a moment.
The flowers he’d given her, the jewelry, the luxury car—they all stirred up memories she’d rather not recall.
Memories she’d buried for over a decade—
Only when Yan An’s car disappeared from sight did Ruan Sixian turn and enter the lobby.
Head lowered, she rummaged through her bag for her phone, walking briskly forward until she reached the elevator doors and looked up.
"President Fu?"
Fu Mingyu stood with one hand in his pocket, the other holding his phone.
He glanced at Ruan Sixian for a second before casually returning his attention to his phone.
Just as Ruan Sixian thought she was being ignored, he spoke up. "What is it?"
"…?"
Ruan Sixian was a bit confused.
She’d just been greeting him—a simple response would have sufficed. What could she possibly want?
But with his question, Ruan Sixian did recall something.
Why had Fu Mingyu suddenly appeared yesterday morning?
Although they lived in the same building, the elevator went directly to their floors. Unless Fu Mingyu had some odd preference for taking the stairs, there was no reason for him to be there.
But before Ruan Sixian could ask, Fu Mingyu suddenly stepped in front of her and said, "I’m curious about something."
"Hmm?"
Standing face to face, the overhead light cast a glow that made Fu Mingyu’s eyes particularly bright.
Yet they felt somewhat aggressive.
Ruan Sixian remembered yesterday morning, when she’d been momentarily captivated by the gentleness in those eyes.
But now…
Fu Mingyu didn’t seem eager to broach the topic, impatience evident in his brow, and his tone naturally carried a hint of arrogance.
"If you like Northern Airlines so much, why did you come to World Airlines?"
"?"
Ruan Sixian was taken aback, thinking, Didn’t you practically beg me to come?
Seeing her silent, Fu Mingyu pressed on, "If you wanted double the salary, couldn’t you just ask Yan An? Would he refuse?"
The elevator had actually arrived just then, its doors slowly opening and then closing again.Ruan Sixian didn't know what had suddenly come over Fu Mingyu. He had been perfectly normal yesterday, so why was he being so sarcastic today?
The two of them remained motionless, standing face-to-face at the doorway, creating a somewhat confrontational atmosphere.
"Of course," Ruan Sixian said, looking up. "He'd agree even if I asked for four times my annual salary."
As soon as she finished speaking, Ruan Sixian suddenly realized.
Had Fu Mingyu seen it just now?
Did he think she was physically at World Airlines but her heart was with North Airlines?
Upon hearing this, Fu Mingyu let out a cold snort through his nose and flashed his signature Fu family smirk.
"Then why did you come to World Airlines? For me?"
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