Chapter 1: Reborn
At seven in the evening, Yang Zihao pushed open the door. The room was pitch black. He turned on the light, and after a crackling sound of electric current, Nie Qiu’s gentle voice rang out, “You’re back.”
He turned his head. Nie Qiu was sitting on the sofa facing the floor-to-ceiling window, only a small part of her head showing over the backrest. Her freshly washed hair looked even softer under the light.
Yang Zihao smiled and strode over, squeezing himself onto the single sofa. Nie Qiu’s body was half-pushed out of it, suspended in the air. He wrapped his long arm around her and let out a comfortable sigh.
“You’ve been drinking again,” Nie Qiu said faintly, leaning against his chest. “Your stomach isn’t good, drink less from now on.”
“The weather forecast says it will rain tomorrow. Remember to wear more clothes when you get up in the morning and bring an umbrella when you go out. Although you drive to the company, there’s still some distance between the parking lot and the studio. I’ve washed all your clothes. The ironed shirts are in the third compartment of the left cabinet, the trousers in the fourth, the underwear in the fifth, and the coats are in the right cabinet. The dishes in the refrigerator are what I made, and they should last about a week. Just heat them up in the microwave. For some dishes, I’ve already prepared the side dishes and seasonings. You can just put them in a pot, stir-fry them, and they’ll be ready to eat. I’ll say it again, your stomach isn’t good, don’t go hungry.”
Yang Zihao listened and felt something was increasingly wrong. Nie Qiu kept looking out the window, her expression unreadable. “Hey, hey, you’re not really going to that seminar in Germany, are you?”
Nie Qiu shook her head, turned back, her face calm, only her eyes held a deep weariness. “I’m not going to Germany, I’m leaving you.”
“You… what did you say?”
“I’m leaving you.”
There was a sudden upheaval. Nie Qiu was pushed onto the sofa. The person holding her was now pressing down on her, tightening his grip as if to embed her into his body. His face was ashen, his eyes venomous. “…Say that again.”
Nie Qiu closed her eyes for a moment. In the light, her eyelashes cast a small, warm shadow beneath her eyes. “You didn’t take your mobile phone with you today…”
Yang Zihao’s body stiffened instantly. He stared at Nie Qiu stiffly, then stiffly released her and sat on the sofa opposite her.
“A young woman called, and I accidentally answered…” Nie Qiu stood up, smoothed the wrinkles on her clothes, and glanced at Yang Zihao indifferently. “What you needed to know, you know now…”
Her hand was suddenly grabbed. Yang Zihao, who had been sitting on the sofa, half-knelt. “Nie Qiu, listen to my explanation… I’m already thirty years old, and you don’t want to get married… My mother’s high blood pressure has been high again recently, and the doctor said if it continues, she’ll have a stroke. I can’t stimulate her anymore… That woman was found by my father. I… it was only once, Nie Qiu, please give me one chance…” As he spoke, Yang Zihao stood up and hugged Nie Qiu from behind.
Nie Qiu sighed. “Yang Zihao, do you remember what I said when I agreed to be with you?”
Yang Zihao trembled violently, instinctively tightening his arms, squeezing her tightly like iron bars. He was sure the slender body in his embrace couldn’t fly away, yet his heart was still in turmoil. His throat felt dry and sore, and he couldn’t speak.
He remembered. How could he not remember?
“If you want to be with me, you can, but Yang Zihao, you have to promise me you will never betray me. If you want to be with another girl, please tell me first.”
What had he answered then? He had said, “In this life, I will only love you.”
