Chapter 95
The wrap party for the new film was held in the ballroom of a high-end hotel. The atmosphere was bustling with activity and the clinking of glasses. As the second male lead, Ling Yao was naturally the center of attention. He handled the director, producer, and guests with ease, a polite smile plastered on his face, but deep in his eyes lay a lingering lingering anxiety and gloom. His gaze would involuntarily dart towards a corner of the ballroom.
There, Su Rui was holding a camera, intently snapping a commemorative photo of Shen Qingyuan. He was dressed in simple work clothes, his expression focused and professional, as if he were just a photographer getting his work done, completely out of tune with the hustle and bustle around him. He had lost weight, and his profile looked a little too pale under the light from behind the camera.
This was the first time Ling Yao had seen Su Rui since the devastating breakup and the bombardment of messages. She was alive and within reach, yet it felt like there was an invisible, cold glass between them.
Throughout the evening, Ling Yao tried to find an opportunity to get close to Su Rui, even if it was just a simple conversation. But Su Rui was obviously avoiding him, always staying with Shen Qingyuan or the staff, and never making eye contact with him.
The opportunity finally came. Ling Yao saw Su Rui put down the camera, whispered something to the assistant, and then turned and walked towards the bathroom.
Ling Yao's heart skipped a beat. Without any hesitation, he said something perfunctorily to the person next to him and immediately followed.
The corridor was relatively quiet. Just as Su Rui was walking back from the bathroom, the door of an empty private room nearby suddenly flew open! A huge force grabbed his wrist and pulled him in!
With a "bang", the door was quickly locked.
Su Rui looked up in horror and met Ling Yao's bloodshot eyes, which were filled with pain and crazy possessiveness.
"Let me go!" Su Rui reacted and struggled immediately, her voice trembling with fear and anger.
Ling Yao seemed to have lost control, using all his strength to hold him tightly in his arms, his arms like iron clamps, making it almost impossible for Su Rui to breathe. He buried his face deep in the crook of Su Rui's neck, breathing rapidly and hotly.
"Rui Rui... Rui Rui... don't go... don't leave me..." He growled incoherently, his voice hoarse, "I can't live without you... I was wrong, I know I was wrong..."
He began to talk incessantly, from the first time he fell in love in high school, to the hardships of supporting each other as trainees, to the sweetness and anxiety of every secret date after his debut... He counted every step they had taken together, every detail he remembered, trying to use these heavy memories to tie up the person in his arms who wanted to escape.
"We agreed to stay together forever! You promised me! Have you forgotten?" He asked with despair in his tone.
Su Rui stopped struggling in vain, her body stiff as a stone in his arms. After Ling Yao paused for a moment, he spoke softly in a cold and exhausted voice:
"Ling Yao, let me go. Aren't you afraid now? Aren't you afraid that there's a paparazzi next door with a recorder? Aren't you afraid that the business you've worked so hard to build will be ruined?"
These words were like a needle, precisely piercing Ling Yao's emotional balloon. His body suddenly stiffened.
But the next second, he hugged her even tighter, and almost roared in response: "I'm not afraid! I'm not afraid of anything! Compared to those... I'm more afraid of losing you! Ruirui, I can't lose you..."
However, these words were like a key, instantly unlocking all of Su Rui's suppressed anger and despair. He exerted force, broke free from Ling Yao's embrace, stumbled back a step, and raised his head, his eyes filled with unprecedented clarity and pain.
"Stop pretending, Ling Yao." His voice was soft. "I know everything. Those operations that pushed Shen Qingyuan and me out as scapegoats, those methods of manipulating public opinion... How could your company have done such ruthless things without your acquiescence? How could you have been completely unaware of it?"
The pain and madness on Ling Yao's face froze in an instant, as if a basin of ice water was poured on him, and all the blood color faded away.
Su Rui watched his expression change suddenly, and the dull ache in his heart became so sharp that he could almost hear his heart breaking. He looked at the man he had loved for his entire youth and said word by word, "You chose your career and sacrificed me. Now, why bother saying this?"
Ling Yao seemed to have been drained of all his strength. He slowly loosened his grip, staggered back a step, and leaned against the cold door. He looked into Su Rui's eyes, which no longer contained any trace of love or trust. The overwhelming sense of panic and loss finally overwhelmed him.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but found that all words were pale and powerless. In the end, all his emotions turned into a sob, and like a lost child, tears suddenly burst out without warning and slid down his cheeks.
He raised his head and looked at Su Rui with tearful eyes. His voice was broken, with a final trace of struggle and accusation:
"...But you said...that you would be with me forever..."
This sentence, once the sweetest oath, has now become the most pale and powerless kidnapping and the deepest irony.
The private room fell into a dead silence, with only Ling Yao's suppressed sobs as the only sound. Su Rui stood there, watching this once brilliant man break down and cry before her, her heart filled with a desolate calm.
He knew that some things were completely over from the moment Su Rui chose to let go. Tears could not be brought back, and memories could not be kidnapped.
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