Chapter 61: I came back for you.

Chapter 61

Xiao Chen made his way down the mountain and returned to his car. He took out his phone and checked, but Yu Na hadn't replied.

His heart sank instantly.

But then he thought, maybe she hadn't seen the message. After all, she had to take care of dozens of students and couldn't be looking at her phone all the time.

Or maybe she had fallen asleep.

Those were the only two comforting explanations he could come up with.

He started the car and drove out of the scenic area.

Since it was a weekday, there were very few cars on the road from the scenic area to the city, especially on the highway section.

His red sports car was the only one speeding away in the fiery evening sky.

With his phone lying aside, Xiao Chen occasionally glanced at it. But there was still no response after sending the message. It was as quiet as a black brick.

"..."

He let out a deep sigh and then parked at the service area ahead.

Xiao Chen picked up his phone, opened the chat interface with Yu Na, and stared at that message.

There was no "Typing..." line that would make one's heart race in the remarks section.

He scrolled through the chat history—

He hadn't replied to Yu Na's message of "Thank you" either.

So, was she angry because he didn't reply?

Xiao Chen's lips tightened as he typed in the input box: [Don't say thank you to me anymore. I don't want to hear it.]

Just before he was about to send it, he paused.

Was the tone too harsh? If he wanted to confess his feelings, saying such harsh words beforehand, wouldn't that be setting himself up for trouble?

Xiao Chen deleted that sentence and pondered, deleting and revising.

He had never lost a battle of words with someone before, but at this moment, at this critical moment, the chain was about to drop down the well.

Finally, he edited it to: [Something came up just now, didn't have time to check my phone.]

He sent it.

As for what happened...

Of course, it was... something that fulfilled her wish.

But Yu Na still didn't reply.

Before Xiao Chen continued driving, he couldn't help but send another message—

[Are you angry?]

He also sent a message to Qiao Rui: [What is she doing?]

The sky gradually darkened.

Xiao Chen accelerated, fortunately, there were few cars on the road, so he reached the city faster than he had imagined.

Xiao Chen asked in a hoarse voice, "Why didn't you reply to my messages?"

"Ah?" Her heart trembled, and she quickly took out her phone, long-pressing the power button, sincerely explaining, "The weather was too cold, and my phone automatically shut down."

Xiao Chen lowered his head and only then noticed that the screen of her phone was cracked.

"What happened?"

Yu Na hid her phone behind her back. "The phone doesn't have a screen protector. It's nothing," she said, then asked, "Why did you come back? Weren't you supposed to come back tomorrow?"

"I wanted to see you."

Four words, each carrying an invisible weight.

Car horns blared incessantly on the street, and people on the sidewalk were chatting and laughing.

She filtered out all the background noise, and only these four words penetrated her ears and reached deep into her heart.

They stood in the center of the crowd, gazing affectionately at each other, their gazes completely occupied.

Yu Na struggled to find words for a moment. "You—"

Xiao Chen cast his eyes downward, like a lost child unable to find the way home. "I sent you a WeChat message, but you ignored me."

"That's not true." Yu Na had just casually explained earlier, but upon hearing Xiao Chen's heavy tone and desolate expression, she panicked.

She explained incoherently, "I don't know what happened either. My phone has been draining battery unusually fast lately. It went from fifty percent to ten percent, and then it shut down. I didn't bring a charger. I thought there wasn't anything important, so I didn't borrow a charger. I planned to charge it at home."

Xiao Chen nodded gently. "I understand."

Yu Na suddenly approached him, her voice soft, with a barely noticeable tremor. "Are you angry?"

"No," he said, "Will you go somewhere with me? Is that alright?"

"Okay."

She followed Xiao Chen back to the car.

Xiao Chen leaned over and helped her fasten the seatbelt.

Yu Na's heart raced, unsure of what was going on with him.

"By the way," she tried to break the inexplicable atmosphere, "Qiao Rui and Song Yan left together, saying they'll play for a while before going home."

Xiao Chen responded nonchalantly, seemingly unconcerned about his cousin's whereabouts.

She probed again, "Should I let him know that you're back?"

"No need," Xiao Chen turned his head to look at her, his words calmer than before. "I came back because of you."

Silence filled the car.

Yu Na nervously fidgeted with her seat belt.

She really wanted to cast aside all her worries and ask him, "Do you like me?"

But the words lingered on her tongue, swallowed back forcefully.

Instead, she asked, "Where are you taking me?"

Xiao Chen replied, "You'll find out soon enough."