Blossom through the Cloud - Chapter 19

Chapter 19

By the time Ruan Suxian walked out of the police station, the sun was already blazing high in the sky.

Bai Yang followed closely behind her, and noticing the patch of angry red on her leg, he asked, "Are you alright?"

"It's just a scrape, nothing to worry about."

Ruan Suxian looked out and saw Fu Mingyu's car parked by the roadside.

She hadn't expected Fu Mingyu to still be here.

Walking over, she gave the car window a knock.

Fu Mingyu rolled down the window and tilted his head to look at her.

"Is everything sorted out?"

Ruan Suxian nodded, tiny beads of sweat blooming across the bridge of her nose.

Summer arrives without warning; just yesterday people were still wrapped up in jackets, and today everyone had switched over to short sleeves.

Wiping the perspiration from her nose, she muttered, "The police handled everything."

Before rolling up the window, Fu Mingyu dropped a single instruction: "Get in."

Opening the car door, a rush of cool air-conditioning instantly dispersed the heat clinging to Ruan Suxian.

She and Fu Mingyu sat on opposite ends of the backseat.

The voice of the man beside her was as frosty as the cabin temperature: "What happened?"

They had already gone through the official procedures at the police station, so the details of the incident were entirely clear.

Whether it was due to the double blow of failing to catch her cheating husband in the act and suddenly getting dragged into a police station, the woman had suffered a massive psychological shock. Her words came out completely jumbled, and it took Ruan Suxian a good long while to extract the main points.

The woman was Yan An's ex-girlfriend, and they hadn't broken up all that long ago. The man accompanying her was her older brother.

Yan An suffered from a common affliction shared by many men: in the early stages of a breakup, he resorted to cold violence—refusing to answer calls and avoiding face-to-face meetings, acting as though he were perpetually too busy to live.

Naturally, the woman concluded he must have found another woman. Failing to extract answers through questioning, she and her brother had staked out Mingchen Apartments for nearly a month.

As an ex-girlfriend, she naturally knew that Yan An occasionally used to crash at Mingchen Apartments, and seeing him frequenting the place recently convinced her something fishy was going on.

Later, it all culminated in Yan An heading straight to Ruan Suxian's apartment right after stepping off a plane last night, creating the illusion that he was keeping a mistress hidden away.

Still, Ruan Suxian had to hand it to this pair of siblings—waiting outside the complex all morning, they had managed to keep straight faces and tag right behind an elderly woman returning from grocery shopping, swiping a keycard to waltz through the security gate like they were part of the family.

With skills like that, not becoming a spy instead of an internet celebrity was a terrible waste of talent.

"A misunderstanding."

Ruan Suxian gave a concise summary. "They staked the place out for days, saw Yan An come to my place last night, and came up this morning to hunt for evidence."

The moment she finished, she heard him let out a very faint scoff.

The vibe was an exact replica of the remark he had dropped when he first appeared that morning: "Didn't you say you could handle it yourself?"

Fu Mingyu glanced over.

The sunlight filtering through the car window sprinkled sparsely across his face, washing his irises in an extremely pale hue. Those eyes, usually pitch-black, carried a somewhat amber-like warmth in the current light.

For a fleeting second, Ruan Suxian thought to herself how strikingly handsome this man really was.

"I warned you to be cautious early on."

"..."

Fine, Ruan Suxian retracted her previous thought entirely.

Up front, Bai Yang turned around to ask, "Heading back to the apartment?"

Fu Mingyu nodded, and the car pulled away.

Throughout the entire drive, Ruan Suxian remained silent.

Staring out the window, she figured she ought to offer Fu Mingyu a word of thanks.

Accustomed as she was to living alone, any woman would find that morning's scenario unbearable—a stranger bursting in unannounced, followed by a physically imposing man resorting to brute force and paying zero heed to reason.

And the moment Fu Mingyu appeared, although accompanied by his signature sarcastic barbs, Ruan Suxian's racing heart had undeniably settled back into its place.

"President Fu."

Ruan Suxian turned to look at him, her expression solemn.

Yet Fu Mingyu simply closed his eyes and leaned back against the headrest, looking entirely inclined to rest his eyes.

"Mhm."

"Thank you for today."

When a few seconds ticked by with no reply, Ruan Suxian blinked.

Could you at least give some kind of reaction?

Meanwhile, the man beside her looked fast asleep, though a slow smirk was gradually creeping up the corner of his lips.

Ruan Suxian knew for a fact that this was by no means a well-intentioned smile, and whatever he was about to say next was guaranteed not to be pleasant.

"I never thought I'd actually live to hear those words come out of your mouth."

Predictably.

"I'm expressing my sincere gratitude here, and also..."

Pausing for a moment, she added, "I'm sorry about last night."

Fu Mingyu opened his eyes, casting an amused look at Ruan Suxian with a teasing curl to his lips. "So now I've even received an apology?"

"Are you going to accept it or not?"

Strolling his gaze leisurely back to the front, Fu Mingyu kept his eyes fixed on the rearview mirror.

"I'll accept the thanks, but you can skip the apology."

Ruan Suxian pondered that for ages without figuring out what he meant.

Before she could puzzle it out further, a poorly timed phone ringtone interrupted her train of thought.

It was a call from Yan An.

"President Yan?"

The background noise on Yan An's end was deafening; clearly, he had just stepped off a plane.

He had only just learned about the incident and immediately called to check on the situation.

"Did they give you any trouble? What's the current situation? Should I send some people over to help you out?"

"No need, it's already sorted." Ruan Suxian paused, then decided to fill him in on what she had learned. "The two of them got ten days of administrative detention. Your ex-girlfriend is currently in there crying her eyes out."

Being an internet celebrity, news of her detention was bound to leak.

Unlike professional stars who had dedicated PR teams—and even if they didn't, possessed a massive fan base to fall back on—if she got exposed for illegally trespassing into a private residence and landing a ten-day detention, her public reputation would be utterly shot.

Hearing this, Yan An fell silent for a moment before saying, "I am truly sorry for dragging you into this. It's my fault for not handling things properly. I just landed and I'll be back tomorrow, so I'll come apologize to you in person."

"Really, there's no need for that, President Yan." Recalling something, Ruan Suxian added, "And as for the gift you sent over last night, it's far too valuable. I'll be returning it to you."

"No, no, no, please don't give it back. If you refused to take it last night, you have to accept it today as my way of apologizing."

"A verbal apology is more than enough, President Yan. Really, like I said, the matter is already behind me and I'm not holding onto it. I'm not a petty person, so you really don't need to stress over it."

As Ruan Suxian spoke, she failed to notice Fu Mingyu sparing her a sideways glance.

—A gaze that communicated profound disbelief.

"You really don't need to send me things like that, President Yan..." Ruan Suxian was losing her patience. "Besides, I don't even like those kinds of things."

——"Then what do you like?"

Hearing that question, Ruan Suxian froze.

Covering her phone receiver, she looked over at Fu Mingyu.

Fu Mingyu was looking right back at her.

So she hadn't misheard earlier; both he and Yan An had truly asked the exact same question in unison.

Though her phone was connected to Yan An, Ruan Suxian stared blankly at Fu Mingyu, enunciating every single syllable clearly.

"I like airplanes."

"Airbus A380, the big double-decker ones."

An absolute stillness blanketed both the other end of the phone call and the interior of the car.

As their eyes locked, Fu Mingyu was the first to break contact, looking away with a faint trace of speechlessness written across his features.

As for Yan An, realizing the conversation had devolved into an obvious joke that couldn't go any further, he dropped a parting line: "Let's talk when I get back to Jiangcheng," and hung up.

With the call ended, silence reclaimed the car once more.

Ruan Suxian quietly gazed out the side window.

Fu Mingyu's reflection was etched clearly against the glass.

She wondered why Fu Mingyu had suddenly asked her what she liked just moments ago.

Everything people say is driven by an underlying motive; take Yan An, for instance, asking her preferences because he wanted to buy her a gift to make amends.

What about Fu Mingyu?

Did he want to buy her a gift too?

That didn't fit his character profile at all.

Unable to puzzle it out no matter how hard she tried, Ruan Suxian felt an irrepressible urge to turn around and check his expression.

—And promptly crashed head-on into his gaze.

"..."

"..."

With tacit mutual understanding, both of them instantly looked away, maintained a unified silence, and pretended as though nothing whatsoever had happened.

The air inside the vehicle drifted sluggishly, unnaturally quiet, to the point where even the sound of their breathing was distinctly audible.

Her entire morning had essentially been ruined, so Ruan Suxian took a long afternoon nap and woke up with zero desire to hit the gym.

Lying in bed with nothing to do, she gave Bian Xuan a call to chat about the whole ordeal.

Listening on the other end of the line, Bian Xuan rolled her eyes repeatedly.

"Are you serious? When I met him last time, I actually thought he seemed like a decent guy."

"As a person, he's fine, I suppose. It's just that this particular aspect of his life is an absolute nightmare. We haven't even started anything and I'm already dealing with this kind of fallout; if we actually made any real progress, his ex-girlfriends would probably give me a lifetime's worth of grief."

"True. A guy like that is fine as a friend, but absolutely out of the question as a boyfriend. So, how do you plan to handle things with him?"

"How else? Time to make things crystal clear and buy a one-way ticket out of here before nightfall."

Ruan Suxian believed that dragging things out was the worst possible approach when dealing with such matters. The sooner boundaries were drawn, the better—freezing their relationship firmly at the level of "friends" to prevent any further complications.

The following evening, Ruan Suxian met up with Yan An at the same restaurant where they had dined previously.

The atmosphere during the meal was surprisingly natural, seeing as both parties walked in fully aware of the other's intentions.

She knew Yan An wanted to apologize, and Yan An knew she wanted to draw a firm line.

However, since Yan An had never explicitly uttered the words "pursuing you," Ruan Suxian didn't need to issue a blunt "I reject you." Instead, she wove her words carefully to ensure their future relationship remained strictly categorized under "friends."

Yan An wasn't a fool; she had phrased things with more than enough consideration for his pride.

And when Ruan Suxian insisted on returning his gift, he no longer had any grounds to refuse.

The dinner could be considered passably harmonious.

Or so Ruan Suxian thought.

At least Yan An hadn't pushed the issue, even though a trace of lingering regret was visible in his eyes.

Once they finished eating and stepped outside, Yan An glanced up at the sky, which looked as though a downpour might be brewing.

Because his father had flown into a rage over the ex-girlfriend scandal and his mother was deeply displeased as well, Yan An had spent his recent nights staying at the villa in Star Bay No. 1 to smooth things over with his family and demonstrate remorse.

"Let me drive you back."

Yan An offered naturally.

Under the impression that he still permanently resided at Mingchen Apartments, Ruan Suxian didn't decline; it was all on the way anyway.

Yan An drove himself tonight.

The two of them exchanged very few words along the drive.

No matter what, Yan An knew he had just been rejected tonight, so forcing a bright, cheerful front was a bit much to ask.

He pulled the car to a stop right outside the residential building where Ruan Suxian lived, letting out a heavy sigh.

"We're here. Get some rest early."

Ruan Suxian nodded, unbuckling her seatbelt. As she prepared to step out, she said, "Mhm, you get some rest early too."

Yan An's gaze lingered on her the entire time. Just as she was about to step into the lobby, he couldn't help himself and called out her name.

She turned back around, seeing that he still looked like he had something more to say, and walked back over.

Yan An rolled the car window all the way down.

Ruan Suxian leaned in, peering inside. "What is it?"

It was the first time Yan An looked at Ruan Suxian with such intense solemnity. After a long silence, he finally spoke: "If I manage to clean up all that mess... would I still stand a chance?"

Throughout the entire evening, nothing had been stated so explicitly; she had assumed the matter was smoothly wrapped up.

She hadn't anticipated that right at the final second, he would still choose to break the window paper.

If Yan An hadn't run into this whole mess—or rather, if he could guarantee he would keep those messes permanently at bay—

Would she actually want to be with him?

Ruan Suxian seriously considered the question in her mind.

It seemed... roughly... like she didn't really want it all that much.

Whether it was because she had never felt much of a romantic spark toward him to begin with, or because yesterday's chaos had snuffed out any remaining impulses.

In any case, that was her most immediate, intuitive feeling right now.

Her impulses weren't even strong to begin with, let alone when dealing with a mere hypothetical.

Ruan Suxian offered a light smile. "Forget it, President Yan. I think we're doing just fine as friends."

Yan An didn't press further.

A man of his standing wouldn't wear a defeated expression when rejected.

Sitting inside his luxury car, he offered a casual wave of his hand and drove off into the night.

Watching his car fade from view, Ruan Suxian stood lost in thought for a moment.

The flowers he had sent, the jewelry he had given, the luxury car he drove—all of it dredged up memories she preferred to leave buried.

Those recollections she had spent more than a decade sealing away—

Once Yan An's car vanished entirely, Ruan Suxian turned and stepped into the lobby.

With her head lowered as she fished around in her bag for her phone, she hurried forward and didn't lift her gaze until she reached the elevator bank.

"President Fu?"

Fu Mingyu stood with one hand tucked in his pocket and his phone in the other.

He raised his eyes to look at Ruan Suxian for a single second before nonchalantly returning his attention to his screen.

Just as Ruan Suxian began to suspect she was being ignored entirely, he spoke up: "What business do you have?"

"......?"

Ruan Suxian was slightly dazed.

She had merely been offering a greeting; all he needed to do was acknowledge it. What business could she possibly have with him?

Yet prompted by that question, Ruan Suxian did recall one thing she was curious about.

Why had Fu Mingyu suddenly materialized out of nowhere yesterday morning?

Even though they lived in the same building, the elevators went directly up. Unless Fu Mingyu had a screw loose and harbored a sudden fondness for taking the stairs, there was no logical way he should have appeared there.

Before Ruan Suxian could voice the question, however, Fu Mingyu suddenly stepped right up to her and said, "There's something I'm very curious about."

"Hmm?"

The two of them stood face-to-face, the overhead lobby lights casting a glow that made Fu Mingyu's eyes exceptionally bright.

And somewhat aggressive.

Recalling yesterday morning, Ruan Suxian remembered how she had briefly gotten lost in the warmth reflected in those very eyes.

And now...

Fu Mingyu didn't seem particularly eager to broach the topic; his brow furrowed with irritation, and his tone carried an inherent, overbearing arrogance.

"Since you love Air China so much, why did you come to World Aviation?"

"?"

Ruan Suxian blinked in bewilderment, thinking: Wasn't it you who practically begged me to come?

Seeing her stay silent, Fu Mingyu pressed on: "If you wanted a double salary, would Yan An have turned you down if you asked him?"

The elevator doors chimed and slid open, only to slide shut again a moment later.

Ruan Suxian had no idea what had crawled up Fu Mingyu's backside today. He had been acting perfectly normal yesterday, so why was he back to talking in riddles and dripping with passive-aggressiveness today?

The two of them remained frozen in place, standing face-to-face by the elevators in a tense, confrontational standoff.

"He definitely would," Ruan Suxian raised her chin and replied. "He'd agree even if I asked for four times my annual salary."

The moment she said it, realization dawned on her.

Had Fu Mingyu seen that interaction just now?

Did he think her body was at World Aviation while her heart belonged to Air China?

Hearing her response, Fu Mingyu let out a cold huff from his nose, flashing his signature sarcastic sneer.

"Then why on earth did you come to World Aviation? Was it for me?"