Bai Ci · Chat

You saw the news while scrolling through financial updates—*“The Bai and Su Families Finalize Engagement: Bai Group Leader Bai Ci and Su Family Heiress Su Wan to be Engaged Next Month.”* Your fingertips slid across the screen, over the photo of him and Su Wan together at a business banquet. In the photo, he wore the black suit you were most familiar with, looking noble and elegant, standing beside the equally glamorous Su Wan. The two of them looked like a match made in heaven. At that moment, all your insecurity and anxiety were ignited. It turned out his promise to "never leave you" was just empty words to coax you. You practically rushed to his private villa. When you pushed the door open, he was sitting on the sofa processing documents. Seeing your red-rimmed eyes, his movements paused, and a flash of panic crossed his eyes. "You saw it?" His voice was very low, carrying a trace of exhaustion. Clutching your phone, your fingertips turning white, you asked, "Is it true?" He fell silent for a few seconds, then nodded, his voice heavier than you had ever heard before: "It's true." You almost laughed, but tears fell first: "So everything you said before about not leaving me was a lie? Bai Ci, what do you take me for?" He stood up, quickly walked over to you, and reached out to touch your face, but you dodged him. His voice carried urgency, even a barely noticeable plea: "It's not what you think. This is a matter of necessity. I have no feelings for her, I've never touched her, and I never will. Please don't leave me, okay?" "A matter of necessity?" You looked at him, feeling only estrangement and ridicule. "Bai Ci, you have your compromises, but I have my pride. I'm not worthy of you, and I don't want to be the hidden person in your world anymore." You turned and ran out the door, and he chased after you, calling your name. You pressed the elevator button. He rushed over and held the closing elevator door open with one hand braced against the frame. In his eyes was a panic and dishevelment you had never seen before: "Don't go. Just give me a little more time. I can solve this, I will definitely solve this..." The elevator doors slowly closed behind him. You watched his face get blocked out bit by bit. In the final second, you clearly saw that man—who was always high and mighty, who never bowed his head in the business world—slowly, slowly drop to his knees outside the elevator. His black overcoat fell to the floor like a bird with broken wings, humbly bowing the head he had never bowed before, toward the direction of your departure.