chapter 1

I saw Jin Ran again four years, seven months, and three days after we broke up.

That night, the film I had been shooting for five months finally wrapped, and I returned to the city from the set.

My best friend Tian Sisi called for the fifteenth time. “Superstar, where are you?”

“At the door.” I got out of the car and headed into the karaoke club.

“I’ll come get you.”

Less than two minutes later, she stepped out of the elevator. I stared at her neon-green hair and burst out laughing. “Did Lin Yuanzhou really cheat on you?”

“Would I lie about that? He admitted it.” She gritted her teeth. “I challenged him to a duel tonight. I even allowed him to bring one friend.”

“That serious?”

“That serious.” She hooked her arm through mine and pulled me into the elevator.

“How many girls did you bring?”

“Not many. Nine besides you.”

“Oh. Sounds fair.”

Several women were already in the private room. I knew most of them, and we quickly fell into conversation.

Before long, Sisi shouted, “Lin Yuanzhou! I thought you were too scared to show up. Where’s the friend you brought?”

“Right here,” Lin Yuanzhou shot back.

I looked up as he entered. The man behind him froze my gaze in place.

He stood beneath the room’s dim lights, tall and straight as a pine, with cropped hair, blade-sharp brows, and a hard, tightly set jaw.

So this was what Jin Ran looked like four years later.

He sensed me watching and turned. When our eyes met, all I found in his dark gaze was a stranger’s cold indifference.

I curved my lips and lowered my eyes.

“Jin Ran?” Sisi’s fury vanished into shock. She stared at Lin Yuanzhou and whispered, “Why did you bring him?”

“Why not?”

She kicked him without mercy and pointed toward me. Only then did he notice me in the corner. He went still, then glanced at Jin Ran.

Expressionless, Jin Ran chose the seat farthest from mine.

Lin Yuanzhou came over with an awkward smile. “Mian, you’re here too.”

“Mm.” I calmly sipped my drink. “I have one question, and then I’m leaving. Did you really betray Sisi?”

“I’ve been framed!” he cried.

I waited for the explanation.

“The company assigned me a female intern. I took her on a two-day business trip, and nothing happened. Sisi decided I slept with her and went to my office to start a fight.”

My temple throbbed. That did sound exactly like Sisi.

She shoved him. “Liar. You admitted you slept with her.”

“Only because you kept making a scene until I snapped!”

They bickered as if no one else existed. The other women were clearly used to it and ignored them.

From the corner of my eye, I saw a woman carry a drink over to Jin Ran. They talked, and her smile turned coy.

I was suddenly restless and irritated.

“I’m leaving.” I drained my glass and stood.

At last, Sisi and Lin Yuanzhou stopped fighting.

“Stay a little longer,” he said, though his eyes kept darting toward Jin Ran.

I shook my head. “I came straight from the set because your girlfriend dragged me here. I’m exhausted.”

“Then I’ll drive you.”

“No need.” I pinched Sisi’s round cheek. “Stop sulking. You only want him to coax you, don’t you? I’ll talk to him.”

Lin Yuanzhou immediately took the hint. “I understand. Sorry you came all this way. I’ll straighten her out.”

For once, Sisi did not argue. “Mianmian, are you sure we shouldn’t take you home?”

Before I could answer, a deep, cold voice cut in. “I’ll take her.”

My heart missed a beat.

Jin Ran was already walking out. The looks Sisi and Lin Yuanzhou gave me turned suggestive.

“I’m off.” I waved and followed.

A black Jeep waited outside. Jin Ran rested one hand on the window and stared ahead as though admiring the street. He was waiting for me, but he made no move to invite me in.

I opened the rear door. “Fifty Jingyuan Road, please.”

The city slid away as we entered the highway, leaving the noise behind. Inside the car, the silence was unnerving.

Jin Ran clearly had no intention of speaking. I sighed inwardly. This man knew how to hold a grudge.

“Sisi said you transferred to a different post.”

He did not answer.

“Working out in the provinces really does transform a man. Even Master Jin has learned restraint.”

The Jin family was powerful, and he was the only heir of his branch. Spoiled by every elder, the Jin Ran I had known was hot-tempered, dazzling, and impossibly arrogant.

Now he was quieter and steadier, every inch of him radiating mature masculinity.

His refusal to acknowledge me only sharpened my competitive streak. I watched his long fingers grip the wheel and slowly smiled.

“You look very… hard.”

The brakes shrieked.

Momentum pitched me forward, but my smile only deepened. Good. I had made him angry.

“Get out,” he said through a rigid jaw.

I checked the window. We were not there yet. With a sigh, I opened the door without protest.

Jin Ran had always meant what he said. He slammed the accelerator and left without hesitation, just as decisively as he had four years ago.

I stood in the winter wind before wandering home. The walk should have taken ten minutes. I dragged it out for more than forty.

The landline was ringing when I entered. I answered barefoot.

“Why did you only just get home? I’ve called you a million times,” Sisi said.

“What’s wrong?”

“Jin Ran called me. You left your phone in his car.”

I searched my bag and found it missing. “Oh.”

Her voice became cautious. “Did you… do that on purpose?”

I raised a brow. “Why would you think that?”

“You’re the most open, unapologetic person I know, but you haven’t mentioned Jin Ran once all these years. It feels like you’re trying too hard to hide something.” Rarely had she sounded so serious. “Mianmian, you remember everything. You never let him go.”

I studied my freshly painted red nails. “Maybe I’m still a little unwilling to accept how it ended.”

I was the one who had broken up with him. What right did I have to be unwilling? Even I did not know.

Sisi sighed. “Go to sleep. Jin Ran told me to collect your phone tomorrow. I’ll bring it over.”

After we hung up, disappointment settled over me.

The doorbell rang just as I emerged from the shower. My hair was still damp when I opened the door.

Jin Ran stood in the dim corridor, turning my phone in one hand.

“Why are you here?”

He lifted his eyes, cold darkness gathered within them. “Wasn’t this your plan?”

So he thought I had done it deliberately too.

I did not defend myself. I smiled. “Want to come in?”

His gaze traveled over me, and one corner of his mouth rose. “This is what you call an invitation?”