chapter 1

chapter 1

I was looking something up on my boyfriend Cheng Huaiyuan’s computer when a WeChat message suddenly popped onto the screen.

“Are you really not coming? I’ve loved you for ten years. I only want to bring this unrequited love of mine to an end.”

The sender’s display name was “Moonlit Longing.”

I froze.

I had seen that very name on Cheng Huaiyuan’s phone the night before.

I had woken in the middle of the night to find him lying with his back to me, staring at his phone. Still half asleep, I caught a glimpse of a Weibo account called “Moonlit Longing.”

“Why are you still awake?” I mumbled.

He seemed startled. He turned off the screen almost reflexively. “Nothing. Just scrolling through Weibo.”

Something about him had felt off.

Before I could think much of it, however, he rolled over and pulled me into his arms. “Why are you awake? Missed me?”

Soft, rustling kisses landed on my lips, sparks racing wild over my skin. Soon enough, the Weibo account slipped from my mind.

Now, seeing the name again, my hand clenched into a fist of its own accord.

I did not know how long I sat there before a reply from my boyfriend appeared in the chat box as if from nowhere.

Where are you? I’ll come find you.

My heart sank, inch by inch.

When Cheng Huaiyuan came into the room, I sat with my back to him and pretended to be tidying up.

He stood behind me for a long time before he finally spoke. “Ranran, I’m sorry. The boss just called everyone in for emergency overtime. I can’t spend tonight with you.”

I turned to look at him.

His expression was slightly unnatural, but he did not avoid my eyes.

Tonight was supposed to be our “surprise” night.

I had always been afraid of marriage, so a month earlier Cheng Huaiyuan had booked a luxury hotel and promised me an unforgettable experience before our formal engagement.

I had been deeply moved.

Even after eight years together, he could still sense every shift in my mood and dissolve my worries in his gentle way.

Just as he had said when he first confessed his feelings to me, “Jiang Ran, I may not be the best of all the men pursuing you, but of all my rivals, I love you the most. Loving you is like eating and drinking to me. It is something I have to do as long as I am alive.”

At the time, I thought it was merely a thoughtless line of romance. Yet he had lived by those words for eight years.

Long enough for me, once a staunch opponent of marriage, to lose my head and plunge straight into its net for him.

As my best friend Taozi put it, “Only Cheng Huaiyuan has the patience and magic to coax the great Goddess Jiang down to earth.”

The surprise he promised had erased my final doubts about marriage.

I had looked forward to our date so eagerly that I even traded shifts with a colleague.

And now, for another woman, he had discarded it without a second thought.

Looking at the man I had loved for eight years, I decided to give both him and myself one last chance.

“Didn’t you say you had a surprise for me?” I asked.

He paused, then quickly stepped closer and tried to put his arms around me. “I’m sorry. You know the project is at a critical stage. It wouldn’t be right for me to take leave now. I’ll make it up to you twice over another day.”

His body against mine was as warm as ever.

Over the past eight years, those arms had wrapped around me countless times, making me believe there was no problem in life that returning to his embrace could not solve.

But now the time had finally come to say goodbye.

I shifted slightly away from his arms. “All right. I understand. Go. Don’t worry about me.”

Cheng Huaiyuan smiled. “I knew my wife was the best.”

Reassured, he left, and the door closed behind him.

I stared at his retreating figure for what felt like an eternity before opening the Weibo account called “Moonlit Longing.”