Chapter 6 He was a man, and it was early...

The moment the call connected, a soft yet deep male voice came from the other end, like the wind blowing silently into the night: "It's me, Zhou Yue, Sister Yao Yao."

Xia Zhiyao almost didn't react; that voice... was both strange and familiar.

The unfamiliarity lies in the deep, mellow tone of his voice, with the final note steadily pressing down, carrying a sense of adult confidence and self-assurance. What is familiar is the gentle smile in his tone, like when he stood at the door in his youth, a smile playing on his lips, calling her name, his voice clean and stubborn.

She raised an eyebrow, her tone less gentle and more tentatively smiling: "What made you decide to call me?"

There was a half-second pause on the other end, then a laugh broke out. The voice was lazy, yet it carried a long-lost familiarity and ease: "I saw the photos you posted in the alumni group. That girl named Su Yining is my classmate."

“It’s your classmate.” She paused, a hint of sarcasm playing on her lips. “I really have to thank her for giving me such a surprising start to my first night in New York.”

"She didn't even realize she'd taken the wrong suitcase. I just called her, and she still looks completely bewildered."

Xia Zhiyao clicked her tongue, her tone tinged with insincere anger: "Thank goodness you saw it, I was practically begging the project team to come down to my knees."

"I'll have her bring my luggage over." Zhou Yue's tone softened slightly, with a subtle hint of probing. "Where do you live?"

Xia Zhiyao didn't answer, her tone direct: "Let's go find her to exchange them, there are some things in the box that we urgently need."

“Okay.” Zhou Yue agreed readily, as if he had already guessed that she would say this. “Send me the address, I’ll drive over, and we’ll go together.” He paused, then added, “Don’t let this interfere with your business.”

"Alright." She chuckled, brushing a stray hair behind her ear with her finger, her tone still that flamboyant and seductive one, "Then I'll thank you in advance."

Then came his reply, so low it was almost inaudible, yet carrying a remarkably earnest tone: "Sister Yaoyao... wait for me."

Xia Zhiyao called out "Cheng Yue" and strode towards the elevator, too lazy to compose herself, as if she had simply pressed the reset button. She had already dealt with this matter and it wasn't worth wasting her emotions on it.

But as the elevator descended, she looked at her own uncontrollably upturned lips in the mirror and muttered under her breath, "That kid."

Zhou Yue was still standing by the car, his phone still in his hand, not putting it away for a long time. He stared at the words "Call Ended" for a while, and then the corners of his mouth involuntarily turned up, as if he had unexpectedly won a big prize and still couldn't quite believe it.

He chuckled softly, his eyes shining with undisguised brilliance. "She still remembers me, and she's still willing to see me"—it's been a long time since he'd done that. She even let me get a little closer.

He started the car, turned the steering wheel, and chuckled softly, "I accept that you don't miss me at all... but could you wait for me a few more times?"

As night fell, a white Lexus pulled up smoothly in front of the hotel. The window rolled down, and Zhou Yue turned his head, his eyes clear, but his tone leaving no room for doubt: "Sister Yao Yao, get in the car."

Just as Zhou Yue unbuckled his seatbelt, seemingly about to get out of the car, he heard a familiar voice carried on the night breeze, "Don't get out, just open the trunk, we'll put it in ourselves."

He paused slightly, turned his head, and saw Xia Zhiyao carrying her luggage to the car. Her expression was normal, and her tone was calm but contained an unyielding self-control.

Zhou Yue didn't say anything, but simply raised his hand and pressed the button.

"You came pretty quickly," she said casually, opening the passenger door and getting in with a swift, practiced motion.

Cheng Yue got into the back seat. As soon as the car door closed, Xia Zhiyao turned her head and looked at her empty hands, asking calmly, "Did you bring your passport?"

“…Huh?” Cheng Yue was taken aback, then shook her head in a panic, “No…in the room.”

Xia Zhiyao nodded, her tone still calm: "Then go back and get it. Your name is on the box, so it will be easier to hand it over."

“I thought it was you who came…” Cheng Yue said softly.

“Of course I can,” Xia Zhiyao glanced at her, “but I also want you to experience these kinds of situations more often. It’s okay, go ahead.”

Cheng Yue breathed a sigh of relief and nodded in agreement, "Okay, I'll go get it right away." She pushed open the door, got out of the car, and ran away, her skirt billowing in the wind.

After Cheng Yue left, the car fell into a brief silence. Xia Zhiyao glanced at Zhou Yue and asked, "Are you secretly laughing at me?"

Zhou Yue shrugged, his hands on the steering wheel, and turned to look at her, his expression calm but serious: "How could I dare? But from your conversation, I guess... she put some important documents in her checked luggage, and took the wrong one?"

"Hmm." She nodded, her voice calm and unhurried. "Actually, I can't really say anything to her. She didn't do it on purpose; she was just being lazy at most."

After saying this, she turned her head to look out the window. "But..." she said softly, her tone without blame, only a long-lost sigh, "Back then, if we made a mistake, we would just walk away. Nobody would talk to you about emotional value."

Zhou Yue didn't interrupt her, but simply gave a soft "hmm," as if he was listening attentively to what she had to say.

“Young people today… live at a fast pace, have many opportunities, and are more confident. Sometimes they are also more willing to express themselves.” She paused, her tone gentle, “However, there are still some bottom lines that should be upheld, otherwise they will stumble sooner or later.”

When she said this, she didn't emphasize it deliberately, nor did she adopt the posture of a "senior." She just sounded like someone who had fallen, endured, and understood things.

“I don’t want her to be spoiled,” she said softly, “but I also don’t want her to be hit too hard by the world from the very beginning.”

Zhou Yue chuckled softly, his voice low: "You're still the same, sharp tongue but soft heart."

Xia Zhiyao didn't answer, but leaned back in her chair to catch her breath, and then casually chuckled, "You're so good at talking, how many girlfriends have you had?"

Zhou Yue gripped the steering wheel, not expecting her to ask that. He gave a soft hum and said, "You know better than I do about the academic pressure at Columbia University, right? I don't have time for that. My life revolves around studying. Playing soccer and video games are just filling in the gaps."

She paused, then added with a hint of teasing: "Don't be too late to mature, or your parents will get worried."

Zhou Yue's gaze never left her; she was sitting right next to him. The wind blew in through the car window, ruffling her hair, which gently brushed against her face. He saw her lowered eyelashes and the calm light of the night in her eyes.

He suddenly realized that the person he had longed for since childhood and had kept in his dreams was sitting right next to him, completely unsuspecting.

He even started to wonder what would happen if he locked the car doors now, trapped her in the cramped back seat, and whispered "Don't move" in her ear.

Will she be shocked? Will she struggle? Or will she calmly frown, grit her teeth, and curse him, "Are you crazy?"

Or perhaps, like in a late-night dream, her eyelashes trembled slightly, but she didn't push him away; she simply closed her eyes quietly and let him kiss her.

He pictured her breathless from the kiss, her eyes red, her fingers clutching the hem of her clothes, yet she refused to say "no."

He knew this thought was morbid, a loss of control under restraint, like an addiction he knew was incurable.

But he didn't move.

He just stared intently at her, his eyes calm, gloomy, yet burning with desire.

It was an obsession that had been suppressed for many years, a loneliness and desire that he had repeatedly honed during the years she was absent.

He knew he was no longer that innocent and transparent boy. No matter how gentle and refined his smile was, a stubborn and obsessive inner demon had long since grown in his bones.

He thought that one day she would be his, bowing her head in his arms, breathing in his ear, trembling in his palm, belonging only to him.

The car slowly drove through the streets of New York in the early morning. The sky was tinged with the golden hues of light, and the streetlights lit up one by one, casting dappled, fragmented halos of light on the car windows. The car stopped briefly at a red light.

In the quiet gap, Xia Zhiyao suddenly raised her hand and gently patted his head, just like when they were children. The movement was extremely light, like petting a docile puppy.

He almost exploded, his scalp tingled, and a jolt of electricity ran down his spine. He held his breath, suppressing his reaction, afraid of losing control.

"It's been years," she suddenly smiled, her voice soft and gentle, like a night breeze rippling across a lake, "and you've grown so handsome."

That casual remark, though spoken offhand, was like a spark that landed in his long-dried-up heart. The neon lights reflected in her pupils, creating a hazy, colorful shimmer.

She turned her head to look at him, a hint of teasing in her eyes: "I remember you just came to New York last year to pursue your master's degree, in financial engineering? In the engineering school?"

"Hmm." Zhou Yue gripped the steering wheel firmly with both hands, his eyes focused on the road ahead. "I'm currently working on a research project, and I plan to do an internship on Wall Street this summer, specializing in quantitative finance."

"It's so easy to find a job in your engineering department," Xia Zhiyao sighed softly, her tone as if it were a casual remark.

Zhou Yue laughed, "You graduated from Columbia Business School, and you still envy us engineering students?" His tone was relaxed, but unconsciously carried a hint of undisguised seriousness. "You worked so hard back then, how could you possibly have any regrets?"

She didn't reply, but just smiled again. The streetlights outside swept across the car window, casting dappled shadows in her eyes. "If only I had stayed in New York..."

She suddenly spoke, her tone as soft as a sigh, "Perhaps life will be different." Her voice sounded as if she were talking to herself, without resentment, without complaint, and without even emotional fluctuation.

But Zhou Yue heard it. It wasn't just a casual remark. It contained another side of her life that she never wanted to show anyone. He could tell that it was a "what if" that she had never spoken aloud and kept to herself.

He subconsciously glanced at her, but only saw her gazing out the window, her expression calm. He suddenly wanted to ask her, "Do you regret coming back to China?" Or to be more direct, "Are you not doing well?"

Before he could finish speaking, he caught a glimpse of Cheng Yue in the back seat, who was looking down at her phone. He paused, but ultimately didn't say what he was about to say.

He simply swallowed that sudden feeling of annoyance. Along with all the questions and impulses he had wanted to ask but never dared to over the years, he buried them deep in his heart, silently.

The car swayed slightly before coming to a stop. Zhou Yue got out of the car first, and the night breeze that rushed into the car seemed to sweep away the suppressed emotions from before.

Zhou Yue stood against the light, his figure tall and straight, his silhouette stretched long by the last rays of the sky. He looked like a dark sketch cut out from the dim sunlight, his eyebrows and eyes were divided by light and shadow, making them exceptionally three-dimensional, his features clean, and his aura restrained to the point of being sharp.

His gold-rimmed glasses gleamed slightly under the light, like a sharp edge hidden in his bones, fleeting in an instant. He stood in the wind, the hem of his white shirt fluttering slightly, his hair disheveled but not disheveled, instead adding a touch of unapproachable coldness.

He wasn't the kind of person who would be stunning at first glance. His features were rather cold, with well-defined brow bones, and his single eyelids were surprisingly beautiful—long, narrow, and deep. The restraint and composure of a mature man coexisted with the innocence of a boy he hadn't completely lost. This contradiction, however, didn't clash; instead, it created a unique attraction.

She looked at him subconsciously, and suddenly felt a little dazed. Despite her height, she had, for the first time, the illusion that she was being silently enveloped by him.

The boy who always followed her around calling her "Sister Yaoyao" seems to be really gone. In his place is a man who is both strange and familiar. He stands quietly under the streetlight, exuding a restrained sharpness and unspoken emotions.

Xia Zhiyao narrowed her eyes, took a few steps closer, and suddenly raised her hand to compare the two of them. The corners of her lips were slightly raised, with a faint smile: "You've grown taller again? How tall are you now?" Her tone was casual, but it revealed a hint of deliberate teasing intimacy, as if it had brought back some kind of tacit understanding from their youth.

Zhou Yue looked down at her, her single-eyelid eyes gleaming softly in the slanted light. A slight smile played on his lips, his voice low, as if hiding a hint of understated smugness, or perhaps the lingering arrogance of a young man: "1.84 meters tall."

Xia Zhiyao frowned, but couldn't help it, a slight smile appearing in her eyes: "Sure enough, once a man is over 1.8 meters tall, he can't wait to tell the whole world how tall he is."

Zhou Yue chuckled softly, his voice deep and husky with a touch of magnetic raspiness, "Didn't you ask me that?"

His smile hadn't faded, but a very faint ripple flickered in his eyes, like some emotion flashing by, which he quickly suppressed and hid in the calm gaze behind his glasses.

He stood in the wind, still looking calm, but only he knew that he had used almost all his strength to prevent himself from completely losing control when she got close.

Xia Zhiyao looked at him and said, "Let's go." Her voice was devoid of emotion, crisp and decisive, as if she was used to giving herself an outlet before her emotions could ferment.

She turned, her footsteps landing with a clear rhythm, the sound of her heels striking the ground particularly distinct in the evening breeze. It was as if Xia Zhiyao, who always left without a second thought and never looked back, had returned.

Zhou Yue stood there, watching her shadow grow longer and longer under the streetlights, his expression unchanged. He silently thought to himself that she was still walking so fast, as if she would never wait for him.

When Su Yining opened the door, she was still wearing her home clothes. Her face was clean and pretty. When she saw Zhou Yue, her eyes lit up noticeably.

"Zhou Yue!" she called out lightly, her voice clear and filled with undisguised intimacy. The familiar tone, almost intimate, was like a light that suddenly turned on in the dead of night, warm and direct.

Xia Zhiyao stood a few steps away, his gaze sweeping lightly across the girl's face. He didn't smile, but it was as if he saw right through her. The way the girl looked at Zhou Yue was all too familiar, like staring at a personal item with a name on it, labeled "mine."

When Su Yining took the suitcase, she paused slightly, only then noticing Xia Zhiyao's presence.

She paused for a moment, her smile fading slightly, but quickly regained its polite and appropriate expression: "Hello, thank you, I'm so sorry."

"What a coincidence." Xia Zhiyao nodded, her tone indifferent. "If my younger brother hadn't been your classmate, we wouldn't have been able to find our luggage so quickly." She emphasized the word "younger brother" very clearly, as if it were mentioned unintentionally, or as if she was intentionally leaving it unsaid.

In that instant, Su Yining's somewhat wary expression immediately changed. "It's so kind of you to bring it over, sister. You've gone to so much trouble."

Zhou Yue, who was looking down to open the trunk, suddenly froze for half a second, his brow furrowing slightly.

"My younger brother."

She still had that familiar posture, looking at him as if he were a child she had grown up with, a "little kid" who needed care and guidance, a character who only deserved to have her head patted and be told "good boy/girl" with a smile.

But he wasn't. He hadn't been for a long time. He wanted to bite her lips, to pinch her waist. He wanted her to know that he wasn't the child who stood there looking up at her.

He was a man, a man who had wanted her for a long time.

He lowered his head to close the trunk, not daring to use too much force, afraid that he wouldn't be able to control his emotions in that instant. Desire, anger, and grievances all stuck in his chest, burning him with a stuffy, feverish feeling, but his peripheral vision was fixed on her.

She was talking to Cheng Yue, her expression calm and composed, her tone crisp, without glancing at him once, as if she had completely excluded him from her world.

He tried his best to keep himself silent, even though he forced a smile and walked over, even though he pretended nothing had happened, that word "brother" would remain there, nailed and painful.

Remind him, again and again: She has never seen you as a man.

A note from the author:

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