Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I checked into a random hotel.

My flight was for tomorrow, so I had to stay in Jing City one more day.

Technically, I could have left today.

It was just that I’d still been holding on to some strange little fantasy about Shi Yan.

So I wanted one last night of passion before I ran.

Before dawn, I booked a car and headed for the airport.

Outside the window, neon lights and mottled shadows of trees flickered past.

But a sour ache kept rising in my chest.

Fine threads of rain fell against the car window.

I sighed.

Just then, a news alert popped up on my phone.

[Heir to Shi Group Makes First Public Appearance.]

I tapped the headline.

The first thing I saw was Shi Yan’s indifferent eyes.

He was dressed in quiet luxury, his aura chilling and imposing.

I swallowed and sat up straighter.

Shi Group…

Fragments of memories pieced themselves together.

I had once gone to the hotel where Shi Yan worked.

I had overheard a few rich young heirs chatting.

“That one from the Shi family still hasn’t gone back?”

The man had smiled suggestively.

“With an illness like that, how could he be cured so quickly? Who told the Crown Prince to have such high moral standards for himself?”

My breath caught.

And then there was the medicine he took.

He was clearly in so much pain, yet he kept enduring it. He would rather take a cold shower than give in.

Shi Yan…

He had that kind of…

addiction.

It felt as if the string in my head snapped completely.

I thought of the note I’d left by his bed out of pity.

“If you’re sick, get treatment.”

Shi Yan was the kind of person who repaid even the smallest slight.

Run.

Run now.

If I didn’t run, he’d catch me and drag me back.

And if he dragged me back, I would be in for hell.

Right now,

I wasn’t just a character on a page anymore.

The piercing roar of the engine mixed with the static from the old radio.

Something went whoosh past us.

The taxi slammed to a stop, cutting off my thoughts.

“What happened?”

The driver said in a trembling voice, “Miss, a Maybach just cut us off.”

Through the fine veil of rain,

the black car looked even more elegant and expensive.

Shi Yan’s face was blurred, one finger tapping lightly against the steering wheel.

The corner of his mouth was clearly curved in a smile.

But there was no emotion in his eyes.

He was angry.

A terrible premonition surged in my heart.

“Keep going. Turn around if you have to!”

As long as I could leave, anything was fine.

The driver sounded helpless too.

“It’s no use. There are more luxury cars behind us. We’re already surrounded.”

I looked back.

Sure enough,

the taxi was practically trembling under the siege of those luxury cars.

Shi Yan opened the door and got out.

A black umbrella unfurled, catching the rain.

His features were sharp, his skin a cold porcelain white.

The headlights threw his silhouette into relief, tall and overwhelmingly oppressive.

I almost turned to stone on the spot.

Shi Yan knocked twice on the car window.

His voice was low.

“Get out.”