"How are you feeling?" Wang Yaowan asked her the moment that she stepped inside of the car.
Xiao Yunhua smiled, "Relieved that I can finally get out of the hospital and walk freely anywhere I want." Wang Yaowan nodded and he began to drive, an awkward silence filling the car.
Xiao Yunhua didn't mind and turned her head, her eyes taking in everything they drove by from the passenger seat window. Occasionally, they would blur by, but sometimes, Wang Yaowan drove slowly and she could see and admire the gaze of the city decorated in Christmas decor. Trees, lights, everything was perfect. Xiao Yunhua saw how people walked around, still shopping at the last minute. She saw how people smiled and bundled with their winter gear.
It was really a time of year that brought everyone together. Unfortunately, she hadn't spent this time of year with Han Mi in so long. Luckily, she did have her benefactors and Mrs. Bao to spend the holidays with.
Thinking of her adoptive grandmother, Xiao Yunhua felt her eyes subconsciously fill with tears. In her coma, she had missed her grandmother's death anniversary. Every year, she would go and pay some type of respect to the grave that Xiao Taotao and the system had arranged for Han Mi.
Unfortunately, she didn't have the opportunity to do this year. Despite being late, Xiao Yunhua promised herself to go and pay her respects later.
"Yunhua," Wang Yaowan suddenly said, breaking the silence in the car when he stopped at a traffic light. She turned around and glanced at the abnormally handsome man with long, silver hair. His cold eyes were filled with an unfamiliar type of warmth as he spoke with her, almost like he treated her with extra care. Like she was too fragile. He pulled something out and Xiao Yunhua immediately recognized it as her phone. The same phone that had been shut off for the past three months almost four. "I thought you'd want this."
She extended her hand and took it from his, their hands brushing for a few seconds. She quickly looked away and ignored him, while he seemed mainly unaffected as well.
Neither spoke much afterwards as Wang Yaowan drove, leaving Xiao Yunhua to deal with her phone. When she turned it on, she was astonished by the number of notifications, missed calls, and texts that flooded the phone.
Many of them were from either Zhou Lang or Zhou Feng. But some were from other people. She opened the texts from Zhou Lang and felt so guilty when she saw how much concern he was showing.
She opened Zhou Feng's texts and saw many words that one would've never expected from the infamously cold young master. Throughout all the things he had sent, the last one had stood out.
'I'm sorry.'
Xiao Yunhua dryly chuckled. Her guilt that she felt earlier had dissipated and in its place was anger. All these problems, and he could only utter two words—that greatly harmed his pride—and everything would be fixed.
Did he really think that she would forgive him? She was no saint nor an unrealistically angelic Mary Sue. She was a human being that had gone through so much, from a picture perfect life with her grandmother to a shunned so-called 'slut'. For all these grievances, she wasn't going to accept two words that were most likely sputtered in the heat of the moment.
She ignored Zhou Feng and dialed Zhou Lang. She expected that he would pick up, but surprisingly, he didn't answer. Seeing as her call didn't go through, she sent a text instead. 'We need to talk.' And then she put her phone away.
Meanwhile, a young man that was passed out in an unfamiliar place slowly began to awaken when he heard his phone ring. Not bothering with the dumb device and expecting it to be his family nagging at him like always, he ignored the call and stood up.
Staggering out, Zhou Lang panicked when he realized that he didn't know where he was at. The stench of alcohol roamed in the air as well as slight vomit. He had a massive headache but was slowly returning to his senses. He looked around to see quite a lot of people passed out like him, all either waking up slowly or sleeping without a care.
From what Zhou Lang could remember, he had been glumly drinking at Riverside like he had done in the past few months without Xiahu Yunhua. Then, a friend of his had asked him to come to a party, and his drunk mind had agreed.
Then he was in this mess. Zhou Lang didn't waste any more time in the place and grabbed his phone. Once he found his car, he began to drive despite being hungover. His headache was overwhelming and Zhou Lang quickly dug around in his car for some medicine. Finding some relief a few minutes later, he drove home without any more worries.
As he parked his car, he finally decided to check his phone to see who was bothering him earlier.
Seeing the name 'Xiahu Yunhua' on the screen, Zhou Lang nearly dropped his phone in shock. He rubbed his eyes, fearing it was a hallucination, but no matter what he did, the name didn't disappear. Hope bloomed in his dead heart after so long. But after seeing her text, a sense of fear filled him.
What did she want to talk about?