CH 279

Wen Qingyou x Jiang Lingwei (12)

She headed out of the room, but as she reached the door, she caught a glimpse of some blue irises sitting on the bed out of the corner of her eye.

Her feet faltered, as stabbed by something, and suddenly stopped on the spot.

In the language of flowers, the iris meant freedom; her favorite flower.

He knew that.

The bouquet of blue iris was quietly placed at the head of the bed. Jiang Lingwei didn’t know why, but her heart suddenly started beating fast.

She stepped forward slowly and picked up the bouquet, but did not find any cards.

‘…Is it left by that guest?’

Jiang Lingwei turned back subconsciously, but she was the only one in the room.

It was hard to say what exactly she was expecting at that moment, but afterward, she felt a deeper loss.

The quicksand passed through her fingers, and eventually not a trace remained.

Jiang Lingwei sobered up from her delusions. She smiled to herself and put the flowers back in their place.

But the moment she put it back, she spotted another thing sitting on the table.

It was a tiny one, crystal and shiny.

Jiang Lingwei was stunned for a few seconds and immediately rushed to the door to ask room service, “Where is the guest who stayed here?”

The other party replied to her, “He did not stay here. He just came to sit for a while and then left.”

“Left? When?”

“About half an hour ago.”

“…”

Jiang Lingwei quickly raced downstairs and searched the entire hotel lobby. She searched everywhere, with people filling her eyes, going back and forth and shuttling in front of her eyes non-stop.

At this moment, it seemed that the whole world was him, but also not him.

Everything that Jiang Lingwei suppressed burst at this moment. She stared blankly at the hotel where people came and went, and for the first time admitted and faced her own heart.

She missed him very much.

‘Every day.’

Jiang Lingwei booked the fastest flight to New York.

The address that she had long memorized in her heart a thousand times, she finally had the courage to take the first step and walk towards him.

She did not know what was waiting for her, but at that moment, just like Zhou Ya said, all thoughts were telling her, ‘Go find him.’

‘Go find him.’

No matter how far away it was.

Jiang Lingwei inadvertently saw Wen Qingyou’s business card at her brother, Jiang Yuhe’s place. At that time, she secretly took a photo.

After countless sleepless nights, she would stare at the address on the business card in a daze.

After being in a trance for a year, now, she was finally standing here.

Jiang Lingwei looked up at the building in front of her, imagining how Wen Qingyou would go in and out of work every day. Feeling as if she had returned to his world, her heart was lit up with a ray of sunshine.

She stood calmly at the entrance of the office building, thinking about the image that might transpire.

Should she say, ‘Long time no see’, and then go forward and hug him warmly?

But as Jiang Lingwei said herself, many things have changed in a year’s time.

The image she imagined did not happen.

She finally waited for Wen Qingyou.

But he wasn’t alone.

There was another woman beside him.

The woman was wearing a plain white dress. Her long hair was soft; her smile was gentle; and her eyes were looking at him, brimming with love.

And he, walking side by side with her, was listening to her quietly, though with minimal expression.

He hasn’t changed. He was still the same, wearing a clean and tidy white shirt, but was more mature and stable than in the past.

In the crowd, Jiang Lingwei felt her heart stop beating for a second, and she began to be ashamed of her impulsive appearance. She wished she were in the middle of nowhere when the two walked in front of her.

She could not retreat.

She could only look at him.

The moment the pairs of eyes collided with each other, time seemed to freeze in this image.

The crowd came and went, but their focus was only for each other.

Wen Qingyou’s expression stiffened there, but there was no emotion in his eyes behind the lens. They seemingly fluctuated for a few seconds, but this was soon drowned in the surrounding noise, making it hard to find any fluctuations.

“Have you come on business?” He took the initiative to speak.

Jiang Lingwei forced a smile. “Yes, what a coincidence.”

“Is your hotel nearby?”

“Yes.”

“Then, I won’t bother you.”

“…Okay.”

Jiang Lingwei watched as Wen Qingyou retracted his sight and finally brushed past her.

‘Is this the result you want?’

She turned away expectantly and helplessly, looking at Wen Qingyou’s back, going further and farther away from herself.

It was as if she had gone back to that night at the bar. Jiang Lingwei did not want to admit it, but had to admit it…

Perhaps some turns were indeed the last.

There would be no turning back.

Jiang Lingwei just stood in the street like that. This time, even if she left, she wanted to see his figure a little more clearly.

But he stopped.

He finally stopped.

The wind from the road blew Jiang Lingwei’s long hair, but she did not dare to move. It was as if she was afraid that if she moved just a little, the image in front of her would disappear like a bubble.

In the crowded street, Wen Qingyou turned around.

He looked at her, across the hustle and bustle, across the mountains and seas, across the insurmountable distance.

In the end, he couldn’t hold back and walked through the crowds and toward her.

He hugged her tightly.

“Why did you appear in front of me again?”

Jiang Lingwei could not speak. She only knew that if this was the last time they hugged…

She would definitely try, with all her strength, to hold him tight.

‘No more letting go.’

On that day, Jiang Lingwei’s heart, which had been in limbo for a whole year, finally sank back down to its original place.

The more she cared, the more she was afraid she would let the other side down.

But at least this time, she was willing to take the initiative to try.

The year after that, Jiang Lingwei found a new job in New York and stayed with her parents.

And stayed with Wen Qingyou.