But she couldn’t bring herself to smile at him either. Offering undeserved warmth to someone giving her the cold shoulder wasn’t something she could stoop to.
"Are you... still hurting?" Huo Yi stared intently at Ye Ranran’s face.
"No, it doesn’t hurt anymore." In her heart and on her face, there was no pain.
Because she knew, the moment she showcased her pain, someone would ache for her.
After answering, Ye Ranran turned around to leave.
Huo Yi grabbed her arm.
"What are you doing?" A frosty look appeared on Ye Ranran’s face.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony was over not long ago and media reporters hadn’t left yet. He was Jun Mochan’s brother, and she was Jun Mochan’s wife.
If someone saw them tugging and pulling at each other, they would surely make headlines tomorrow.
"I heard everything you said, was it true?" The color drained from Huo Yi’s face.
He had fallen for Xu Zi only because he felt Ye Ranran didn’t like him.
During that period, Xu Zi started expressing affection for him gradually because she cared about him.
But now someone was telling him, that wasn’t the case at all.
He had misunderstood.
How could he accept this?
"So what if it’s true? What if it’s not? So much time has passed. I’m married now, and you’re with someone you like. Isn’t that a perfect ending?"
She didn’t want to nitpick about who was right and who was wrong in the past.
All she wanted was to stand by Jun Mochan and spend her life with him.
"But I need to know." Huo Yi persisted.
"Know what? How I braved the snowstorm to get soup from your favorite restaurant? Or how I managed to save money to buy the soup for you? Or do you want to know how I worked to save money to buy you gifts?"
Does it even matter whether he knew or not?
"It’s all in the past, Huo Yi, we can’t go back." Ye Ranran’s eyes were calm, devoid of love.
She thought she would become very upset when mentioning these things again, but now she realized that she wasn’t upset anymore.
"If possible, I prefer you let go of me and call me your ’younger sister’. If there is any semblance of old affection left, I hope you won’t trouble me anymore out of respect for the foolish past." There was a pleading tone to Ye Ranran’s words.
Youth is a time of foolishness, which everyone goes through, right?
"No matter what I did or whom I hurt, I’ve paid my dues. So I hope you won’t dwell on it and you will let me go." Ye Ranran struggled a bit, trying to shake off Huo Yi’s hand, but he gripped her even tighter.
"I’m sorry." Huo Yi apologized in a low voice.
He didn’t know what else to say or do, but to apologize.
Seeing his remorse, Ye Ranran felt no satisfaction.
Revenge is the most exhausting task in the world and even when successful, it brings no pleasure.
She never wanted to waste time plotting against someone, she just wanted to live a pure life.
But fate didn’t allow it.
"I accept your apology, but please control your wife. I don’t want any more trouble in the future."
Huo Yi’s lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but then a commotion suddenly arose from the side.
Ye Ranran turned and the sight that met her eyes became her nightmare once again.
Through the swirling dust and flying glass, the freshly built building was visible, crumbling at a visible pace.
In an instant, it had turned into ruins.
Huo Yi watched as Ye Ranran’s pupils dilated, filled with disbelief and fear, until her body started to tremble slightly.
It was as if she had seen something horrifying.