I had always thought silence was something you could control.
But in that moment—frozen by the door, Liang Yunmei's voice hanging in the air like smoke—silence became a weapon. One that sliced through me before I could even think of defending myself.
Zihan stepped forward first calm, composed, controlled.
"Yunmei," he said, his voice cool. "You shouldn't be here."
"Oh, I'm sure I shouldn't," she said sweetly, stepping further inside. "But the door was unlocked. And curiosity is such a powerful thing."
I clenched the bedsheet tighter around me.
I wasn't even undressed, but the invasion made me feel exposed in a way no silk dress ever could.
"You have no right to barge in here," I said quietly.
She turned her eyes on me, smiling with venomous grace. "Oh? I was just worried. You left the gathering early. I wanted to be sure Zihan's… wife was feeling well."
"I'm fine."
"Hm. You certainly look comfortable."
Zihan stepped between us, his tone suddenly sharper. "Leave. Now."
For a moment, I thought she might listen.
But she didn't move. Instead, her gaze lingered on him like she was trying to remind him of something only they knew.
"I wonder," she said, voice almost a whisper, "how long you'll keep pretending this is real."
He didn't answer.
But I saw something shift in his eyes something torn between loyalty and fury.
Yunmei smiled, satisfied, and left without another word.
When the door clicked shut, I realized I was shaking.
Zihan turned to me. "Are you okay?"
I nodded, but I was lying. "She's trying to get in your head."
"She's already in mine," he admitted. "She always has been."
That hurt more than it should have.
I didn't ask what he meant. I didn't want to know if he still cared about her. I didn't want to know what history lingered between them like a shadow we couldn't shake.
Instead, I turned away. "Maybe we should end this."
The words felt like betrayal on my tongue.
"What?"
"This agreement, the marriage, the pretending. Maybe it's gone far enough."
Zihan walked to me slowly, like he wasn't sure if I'd bolt. "Are you saying you want out?"
"I'm saying I don't know what we're doing anymore."
He reached for me, then stopped, hand hanging between us. "You said you wanted the truth. So here it is: I didn't think this would go this far. I didn't plan on… feeling anything."
I looked at him. "But you do?"
He didn't say yes but he didn't say no, either.
"I can't compete with her, Zihan."
"You're not supposed to."
"Then why is she always around? Why does it feel like you still owe her something?"
He looked away, jaw clenched. "Because my family wants me to owe her something."
"And what do you want?"
He met my eyes, and for the first time, there was no coldness in them.
"I want you to stay."
We didn't speak again that night but he didn't leave my side.
He sat in the armchair across from the bed, watching the moonlight filter through the curtains like he was guarding the space between us and maybe… guarding me.
The next morning, we left the countryside estate. No more banquets, no more relatives, no more forced smiles.
But as soon as we returned to the city, the silence between us returned too.
It wasn't cold, it was loaded.
Zihan buried himself in work again. Conference calls, back-to-back meetings, numbers and mergers and international partners. It was like slipping back into the life he knew best.
I returned to my job at the gallery. But everything felt dimmer, quieter, like I was walking through a fog no one else could see.
Until the day the flowers arrived.
A massive bouquet of white peonies and calla lilies—pristine, elegant, and expensive—arrived at the gallery addressed to Mrs. Wu.
There was no note.
Just a single jade pendant, tied delicately to the ribbon.
I knew immediately who it was from.
And I knew exactly what it meant.
"You're sending me jewelry now?" I asked that night, tossing the pendant onto the counter.
Zihan looked up from his tablet, a ghost of a smile on his lips. "Is that a complaint?"
"It's a bribe."
"Did it work?"
I rolled my eyes. "What do you want from me?"
His voice softened. "To stay."
I hated how easily he said it like it was simple, like it didn't cost me anything.
"Why are you doing this?" I asked. "Really?"
Zihan stood and walked toward me. Slowly. Deliberately.
He stopped just inches away.
"Because I made a mistake," he said. "I thought I could separate my emotions from the deal. I thought I could have both control and distance. But then you walked into my life and proved me wrong."
My breath caught.
"I don't want a fake wife anymore, Li Xue."
The words hung in the air like a vow.
But before I could respond before I could even breathe his phone rang.
He didn't answer it but the name flashing on the screen made my stomach drop.
Liang Yunmei.