Chapter 101: Shattered
The rich and fresh soup, mixed with the fragrance of meat, gently brushed past his nose. Under the warm light, the girl came out with a bowl of hot soup that had just been taken from the pot. The kitchen was very hot, and there were still a few beads of sweat on her smooth forehead. Her dark eye makeup was also a little smudged by the steam of the fireworks.
It was not strange for a girl like her to be held in someone’s hand and cherished as a treasure for a lifetime, instead of being busy in a kitchen that couldn’t even accommodate two people, wearing an apron that was full of greasy smoke.
“Hmm… it’s quite fragrant. Come and have a taste.”
Su Yu took the bowl of soup from Xia Qiange’s hand. His nose twitched, and the hot water vapor made his eyes hot.
The girl smiled sweetly in front of him, but he was not moved. He felt a baseless difficulty in breathing. The smile was like a moon shadow floating on the clear water. No matter how full it was, it was only for a moment. With a gentle touch, it would be shattered.
“You?”
Xia Qiange noticed his strangeness. Her eyes searched around and found that her phone, which had been on the table, was gone. It was held tightly in Su Yu’s hand. The smile on her face suddenly fell, and a stiff and gloomy face was revealed. She asked Su Yu with a blank expression, “Did you look at my phone?”
“Are you leaving? Is this what you didn’t want to tell me?”
“I was going to tell you later. I didn’t mean to hide it from you.”
Xia Qiange took a few steps closer, her toes facing Su Yu. Her dark and gloomy pupils reflected his restless appearance.
“What’s there to hide from me? I’m not that fragile. I was living a good life before I met you. No one can’t live without anyone else.”
Su Yu deliberately kept a distance from her. He messed up his neatly trimmed black hair, and his fingertips were in his messy hair. His whole person was in the shadow that was cut out by the light above his head. His voice was around him, like a calm sea. The darkness below was rolling and roaring with a terrifying vortex, and it was pulling him down bit by bit.
He took a deep breath, and his whole person suddenly became silent. The blue veins on the back of his hand, which was behind him, were bulging, like a few deadly poisonous snakes swimming under his skin.
He finally curled his lips, and his stiff facial muscles squeezed out a decent smile. The tense atmosphere was instantly relieved by his concession.
“Nothing. I was just asking. I thought you were just here for a temporary case. It’s not strange.”
Yes, he should have thought of it a long time ago. But he would always be forcefully pulled to another track when his thoughts were about to turn to the right answer. He had seen the scenery that had made him linger on it. Countless happiness and joy had drowned him, and when he looked back, he could no longer find the way back.
“Yeah, I’ve been in Lin’an for too long for this case. I really have to go back to the capital. I have to go back before the New Year. But I’ll be staying here for a few more days.”
Xia Qiange just nodded, her tone without any warmth, as if she were describing a story that had nothing to do with her. The sentence was cut into pieces by her, and she simply informed him.
Is it over?
Just like that… is it over?
Su Yu was as if he had been struck by lightning and was stunned on the spot. Such a simple notification made him unable to digest it for a long time. On the one hand, he pretended to be indifferent to make himself look not so embarrassed. On the other hand, he was shouting in a corner of his heart, hoping that the other party could comfort him. A single word would be fine. How could he keep his broken heart in order?
“Let’s eat. It’s cold. Otherwise, the food will get cold.”
Xia Qiange lowered her eyelashes and didn’t even bother to explain too much. She turned and went back to the kitchen with a blank expression. He stood there with his hands clenched, like a balloon that had been pricked by a sharp needle. His hysterical negative emotions were whistling and leaving his body, leaving only a pathetic mess that he couldn’t get rid of.
A most sumptuous dinner since the two of them had met. The atmosphere was unprecedentedly strange. The two of them ended everything in silence.
The person who didn’t cook washed the dishes, so Xia Qiange left earlier than usual today. The sky outside was completely dark, and only a few scattered lights were flickering in the darkness.
Xia Qiange was the first to take a step into the elevator, and Su Yu followed closely behind. Usually, he would take her upstairs before he turned back.
The elevator in the old neighborhood was old, and it was covered with large and small advertising stickers. The elevator door creaked and slowly closed. The slight shaking feeling always aroused a certain fear in the narrow air.
They were locked in an enclosed and cramped space, and the atmosphere gradually became viscous. The light from the top of the elevator was shining down, and there was a very subtle distance between them. A soft murmur could not be heard by the other party. To hold the other party’s wrist, one would have to take another one or two steps forward.
This was a distance that required someone to take the initiative first.
The numbers on the elevator were still slowly descending, and time was rushing behind them. Su Yu’s palm was full of wet and sticky sweat. He secretly looked at the woman on the other side.
She was leaning against the metallic wall in silence. The gentle smile that was always on her lips was gone. The reflective wall was reflecting the other side of her gentle and beautiful face. Her expression was dim, with a sickly and haggard look.
The red ribbon that was hanging on the vent in the upper left corner of the elevator was fluttering in the air without any support. The coldness that was hidden in the wind after nightfall was drilling into his bone marrow through his pores.
Xia Qiange was very tired and was hugging her arms, and her whole body was curled up. Her forehead was against the wall, and her eyes were half-closed, and her eyelids were heavy, as if she didn’t even have the strength to speak.
The elevator was about to reach the first floor. Xia Qiange silently glanced at the still-motionless person. She could clearly hear the other person’s rapid but suppressed breathing in the narrow space.
A faint halo of light fell from the white incandescent light. She saw the dark and shiny eyes under his drooping bangs, which were embedded in his gentle and charming eyebrows. They were as beautiful as a perfect work of art. The pure and clean pupils were as if a whole cylinder of thick ink had been poured in. The long and neat, dark and dense eyelashes were like the dark wings of a butterfly, and they were trembling with some unease in the air.
He seemed to be very nervous.
Just like that, he was a little out of sorts, and the mental defense he had built up had collapsed. He was like a little lamb that had lost its guard and was walking on an open grassland. He had stepped over the low bushes around him and had slowly fallen into the trap that the hunter had carefully laid.
She had sharpened her claws and fangs, and her hunting desire was already stirring restlessly.
“Ding-dong!”
A crisp and clear sound tore through the silence of the room. The elevator slowly stopped on the first floor, and a dizzying feeling of weightlessness arose.
The elevator door creaked and opened again. The cold wind from the corridor rushed in. She curled her lips in excitement, so fast that it was imperceptible.
“Goodbye…”
“Goodbye.”
It was just a short farewell.
The woman walked out of the elevator without any mercy.
