Chapter 22
A week later, the New York merger was finally finalized, achieving success far exceeding expectations. However, Bai Sinian had no time for celebration, leaving all the follow-up work to his team. Exhausted and with a heart already yearning to return home, he boarded the earliest flight back to China.
During the long flight of over ten hours, he barely slept a wink. His mind kept replaying Lin Xiaotang's last unanswered message, Du Yuanyuan's cold words from her phone, "I won't answer, please leave," and even earlier, her gentle, smiling eyes when she promised to wait for him to return. Anxiety and fear, like cold vines, tightened their grip as the distance between them shortened.
As soon as the plane landed, he rushed out of the gate, shoved his luggage into the hands of his subordinates who had come to pick him up, said "Send everything back to the company," and then headed straight for the parking lot, started the car, and sped off in the direction of "Corner."
The traffic jams along the way made him extremely anxious. He had to see her immediately, he had to find out what had happened, and he had to clear up all the misunderstandings—he naively thought that it might just be a normal quarrel between lovers, or a little tantrum caused by his being out of contact for a few days.
The car finally stopped at the familiar street corner. He practically ran as he pushed open the glass door of "Corner".
The wind chimes tinkled crisply.
The scene inside the shop seemed unchanged. Warm yellow lighting, languid jazz music, and the air filled with the aroma of roasted coffee beans and the warm sweetness of freshly baked desserts. Two or three tables of customers chatted quietly, while Xiao Wei was enthusiastically introducing a plate of sample cookies to a group of young girls.
Everything seemed calm and normal.
Persian's rapid breathing calmed down a little, and his gaze swept eagerly toward the bar.
Lin Xiaotang was there. Her back was to the door, and she was focused on operating the coffee machine. Her figure was slender and familiar, as if his ten-plus days away on business was just a brief dream.
"Xiaotang".
He called out, his voice noticeably hoarse from urgency and the fatigue of the long flight.
The busy figure froze abruptly. All movements ceased. The coffee machine continued to hum and hiss, but she seemed frozen in place, as if a pause button had been pressed.
She didn't turn around.
Time seemed to stretch out at that moment, and all other sounds in the shop faded away, leaving only the noise of the coffee machine and the silent standoff between the two.
Bai Sinian's heart sank. He took a few steps forward, approaching the bar: "Xiaotang? What's wrong? What happened?"
His response was still silence and that stubborn back that refused to turn around.
After what felt like an eternity, Lin Xiaotang's voice finally came through, cold, flat, devoid of any emotional fluctuation, yet piercing like an icicle:
"Go away. I don't want to see you again."
Persian was stunned, completely unprepared for this turn of events. "Why?" he asked urgently, moving around to the side of the bar to see her expression clearly. "What happened? Did I do something wrong? Or..."
"I told you to leave!" Lin Xiaotang abruptly interrupted him, her voice rising sharply with a barely perceptible tremor, but her body remained firmly turned away from him. "Don't you understand?"
"I'm not leaving!" Persian's temper flared up as well, a mixture of his pent-up anxiety and unease from the past few days and the inexplicable resentment he felt at being resisted. "I won't leave until you explain yourself! Weren't we fine before? What happened?!"
"Fine?" Lin Xiaotang let out a very soft, cold laugh, as if she had heard the funniest joke in the world. She took a deep breath, seemingly having exhausted her last bit of patience. "Fine, if you won't leave, I will!"
Before she could finish speaking, she suddenly pulled open the back door next to her, which led to the small kitchen and storage room at the back, and rushed out!
Bai Sinian's expression changed, and without thinking, he chased after him!
Outside the back door was a narrow alleyway piled with several empty boxes. Lin Xiaotang didn't run far, nor did she seem to intend to; she simply stood with her back to him, her shoulders rising and falling slightly.
Bai Sinian rushed over, grabbed her wrist, and forced her to stop. "Lin Xiaotang! Explain yourself!" He was both anxious and angry, and with a forceful pull, he turned her body around to face him. "What exactly..."
His words stopped abruptly the moment he saw Lin Xiaotang's face.
There were no tears, no resentment, no anger as he had expected.
There was only a cold, chilling, disgust, as if looking at a complete stranger...
Those eyes, once brimming with warm smiles and concern, now resemble two bottomless, icy pools, devoid of any light, only exuding a chilling aura that keeps people at a distance.
Persian's heart clenched as he felt a chill run down his spine from that look.
Lin Xiaotang let him hold her wrist without struggling, only staring at him with a gaze that could freeze blood, her voice terrifyingly calm as she asked, word by word:
"Are you so desperate to see her face?"
Bai Sinian was completely stunned, his mind went blank, and he couldn't immediately recognize who "she" was referring to. Several seconds later, a name exploded in his mind like a thunderclap—
Xu Jiaxin!
All the clues connected instantly! The argument that day, his disappearance after his business trip, Du Yuanyuan's setbacks, and Lin Xiaotang's completely different coldness and that piercing question...
His face turned deathly pale instantly, and his lips trembled: "...Xu Jiaxin...she came to see you? Did she? What did she say to you?"
"What she said doesn't matter!" Lin Xiaotang abruptly shook off his hand, as if his touch was something filthy, her voice sharp and cracking for the first time. "What matters is what you did! Bai Sinian, didn't you ask me what happened? Fine! I'll tell you, I saw it! I saw those photos in your precious box! I saw that dead person who looks exactly like me! I saw the heartfelt greeting cards you wrote every May 20th! I saw them all!"
“It’s not what you think!” Persian tried desperately to explain, a huge panic gripping him. He tried to grab her again, “I am… I am you…”
"Enough!" Lin Xiaotang interrupted him sharply, her eyes filled with utter disappointment and mockery. "What are you? Did you approach me because of my face? Or is it because your heart, forever living in the past, needs a cheap substitute for solace? Bai Sinian, I don't have time to play this disgusting cosplay game with you!"
Every word she spoke was like a poisoned knife, piercing deep into Bai Sinian's heart, causing him unbearable pain and leaving all his words of explanation stuck in his throat.
“Now, please leave immediately.” Lin Xiaotang pointed to the alley entrance, her voice regaining its cold calm, yet carrying an undeniable resolve. “Disappear completely from my shop, from my life. Never show your face again. Never.”
After saying that, she resolutely turned around, walked quickly back to the back door, and locked it tightly from the inside with a "bang"!
The heavy door completely separated the inside from the outside world.
Persian stood frozen in the empty back alley, as if his soul had been ripped away, leaving only endless cold and despair. Her last, chilling words echoed repeatedly in his ears.
"...Disgusting cosplay game..."
"...completely disappeared..."
"...Never..."
He slowly squatted down, painfully running his hands through his hair, his shoulders trembling violently.
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