Guarding you in the fleeting years

  The bowls and chopsticks have been washed and put away, his hands still have soap bubbles on them, the water in the faucet is flowing gurglingly, just like rain, the sparkling water reflects fragmented lights and shadows, on the clean wall, the shadows of two people are overlapping, warm and cozy to an unbearable degree.

  Her face was tightly pressed against his back, her arms wrapped around his waist with her hands clasped together, her finger bones faintly white, she just held him, seemingly very tense, not daring to move.

  A faint voice with a hint of pleading, "Just for a moment, just one moment is fine."

  She thought to herself that she was strong enough, having endured for six years. She could go against her own heart and push him far away, as long as he remained in a place where she could see him, as long as she knew he was doing well.

  But, Yiheng, why are you always so close to me? Close enough that if I just stretch out my hand a bit, I can feel your warmth. Close enough that if I'm just a little braver, a little more reckless, and a little thicker-skinned, I can tightly hug you, just like now.

  You shouldn't be so close to me, what if I become more greedy? What if I can't leave you?

  What a pity, I am not her.

  In the end, you will still leave me far away.

  So at this moment, I'm grasping onto this brief warmth that doesn't belong to me, for what?

  He relaxed his grip, and as he turned around, he was suddenly grabbed by the wrist. His hand was still dripping with water, but it felt warm to the touch. Nie Zhiyan hastily looked away, not wanting him to see the misty eyes.

  "Lu Yiheng, let go."

  He didn't let go, his deep eyes staring at her, using his free hand to untie the apron around his waist and throw it aside, pulling Nie Zhiyan into the living room.

  She bit her lip tightly and didn't resist, as if waiting for him to get angry, waiting for him to interrogate, waiting for everything she didn't want to face to come rushing at her.

  She is no longer a teenage girl, if she did something wrong, she has to bear the consequences.

  But no matter how strong Ren Nai's mental preparation was, it was all shattered by Lu Yiheng's question, just like all her disguises and pretenses over the years had turned to ashes because of that one hug.

  He asked: "Nie Zhiyan, tell me, have you fallen for me?"

  The night wind blew gently through the window, and the white curtains fluttered in the air like a maiden's elegant dance. Her long hair flew about under the bright light, stirring every nerve of his.

  Nie Zhiyan looked up at him with a blank mind and buzzing ears, as if he hadn't understood what he was asking.

  Past memories are like the tide, flooding out, memories from seven years ago, memories from seven years later, so many fragments, each one indispensable with its own shadow, joyful, sorrowful, helpless, warm, just like a silent film replaying in my mind.

  Those secret crushes in the early years, those moments etched in my heart, bit by bit, like being carved with a knife on my heart, countless times waking her up in midnight dreams, and then there was the piercing pain.

  If she hadn't met Qin Zihan today, she wouldn't know how to answer this seemingly simple question. But life doesn't have ifs, and hypothetical things don't exist after all.