He had made himself perfectly clear. Even though Ke Bing had a million cautionary words she wanted to say, they were all stuck in her throat now.

Most people hate being lectured, especially by others. Yet, when they find themselves in the other role, they often can’t help but become the very person they despise.

This was exactly Ke Bing’s situation now. She usually hated it when her parents lectured her with their old-fashioned ideas, but weren’t the words she was holding back just the same? She wanted to tell Chen Yuan, ’At your age, it’s so easy to be bewitched by what looks like a beautiful romance. Someone shows you a little kindness, and you can’t help but pour your heart out, dying to announce to the world that you’ve found true love, that you have the best girlfriend in the universe. But the only thing that never changes is that people change. You can’t trust every word spoken in the heat of the moment. Vows of eternal love can’t stand up to the bitter and sweet realities of life. By the time it all falls apart into a trivial mess, it’ll be too late...’

Perhaps in Ke Bing’s eyes, Chen Yuan was just a misguided boy, stubbornly heading for a wall he refused to see.

「On the other end of the line.」

Ke Bing opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

"Rourou, if there’s nothing else, I’m going to—"

"Wait," Ke Bing took a deep breath, adjusting her tone. "Let’s not talk about this for now. As much as I want to convince you, I don’t really have any right to point fingers, do I... I mainly called to mail you your gift. Yuan, can you send me your address in a bit?"

"That’s not necessary, Rourou. A simple ’happy birthday’ is enough," Chen Yuan replied politely but evasively. "I’m already happy that you remembered."

"Yuan... I really want to apologize to you. After you left Sanya last time, I thought a lot, really—"

"Let’s just leave it at that. I have a ton of things to take care of on my end. Rourou, I’m hanging up."

"Yuan—huh?!"

As the BEEP, BEEP, BEEP of the dial tone sounded from the phone, Chen Yuan’s shoulders suddenly slumped. He let out a long, heavy breath.

’Talking to her is exhausting.’

It wasn’t that Chen Yuan was bad at dealing with women. It was that every word he spoke to Ke Bing came with a heavy psychological burden—a mix of the weight of their past, a baffling sense of guilt, and a tangled conflict he didn’t know how to express.

’Thank goodness that’s over with.’

Chen Yuan wiped away a cold sweat, a wave of relief washing over him. He finally sat down in his office chair and began to work, his mind now clear.

...

「Far away in Sanya.」

The clear, azure sky was like a painter’s boundless sapphire canvas, meeting the sea at the horizon. Tall coconut trees lined the streets, and everywhere one looked, people were dressed in light, tropical attire.

Inside a pristine room in an apartment building.

Ke Bing stood frozen, her phone still raised to her ear.

Ke Bing couldn’t believe that Chen Yuan had hung up so easily, refusing to talk any further. She had made the call full of hope, only to be blindsided by his coldness. Her eager heart felt as if it had been cast out into a vast, frozen wasteland.

The pain of it made her unconsciously dig her fingertips into her palm.

Ke Bing pressed her lips together, her expression shifting on her pretty face. She then lowered her head, strands of hair veiling her profile.

On her desk sat a gift box, exquisitely wrapped but not yet mailed. In this context, the gift seemed bitterly ironic.

With her back to the desk, Ke Bing brushed a few stray strands of hair from her face. She still hadn’t recovered from her gloomy mood.

"Sis~"

Suddenly, a cry broke the silence of the suite as the door was pushed open.

A little girl with her hair in a topknot stumbled in, clutching a cloth doll. Blinking her big, innocent eyes, she held the doll up to Ke Bing, her gaze full of excitement.

"Oh, Mengmeng, you’re here!"

Though her heart ached, Ke Bing forced a smile for her adorable little sister. She leaned down and spoke in the gentle, doting voice she always used with children.

"What’s wrong? Let me see. Oh, her little dress is torn again. I guess my stitches weren’t very strong last time. I’ll fix it for you."

"Okay~" the adorable girl replied in a sweet, childish voice, handing over the cloth doll.

「A moment later.」

The sound of hurried footsteps approached.

"Mengmeng, why are you bothering your sister again? Didn’t we agree you’d play in your room for a while? Come on out."

"It’s okay, Mom. The dress I sewed for her doll last time ripped. I’ll just sew it again. It won’t take much effort."

"Sigh, all this fuss over a tattered old doll," Ke Bing’s mother, dressed in an apron and slippers, lamented. "Wouldn’t it be easier to just buy her a new one?"

"You can’t say that. Mengmeng loves this one... right, Mengmeng?"

"No new one. I won’t change it."

Her little sister hugged Ke Bing’s knees tightly, looking up at her, then over at their mother, her eyes filled with defiance.

"Such a stubborn girl! Give it here, I’ll sew it for you. Stop clinging to your sister all the time."

"It’ll only take a couple of minutes. I’ll do it," Ke Bing insisted.

"Fine. I’ve made some soup; I’ll bring you a bowl in a little while," her mother said, taking Mengmeng’s hand. "I’ll come back for the doll later. You go and clean up the mess you made with your toys, you hear me?"

The little girl pouted, fiddling with the hem of her shirt as her mother led her out the door.

Long after they had gone, Ke Bing was still sitting by the bed, a warm smile on her lips. Holding the torn but still-clean doll, she found her mood had lifted considerably.