Chapter 130 Confession
Moonlight Island.
At the edge of the cliff, the sea breeze howled, whipping up salty waves that tirelessly pounded against the jagged black rocks.
The sky remained a deep, inky blue, and the sea breeze carried cool raindrops.
The line where the sea meets the sky is blurred, and the whole world is immersed in a chaotic silence.
Huo Yanzhi stood alone, his back to the gray sky and earth, and it was unclear how long he had been standing there.
He didn't use an umbrella, letting the cold rain soak his expensive black trench coat, seep into his hair, and slide down his sharply defined jawline.
He knew that Ruan Yao had woken up.
He could almost picture her expression when she discovered she had left without saying goodbye.
She must have been very angry, and she must have been very scared.
He lied to her.
He knew all along that she was also reborn, but he remained calm and played the role of a perfectly gentle and considerate husband in front of her, completely unaware of the truth.
He despicably exploited her guilt over her past life, enjoying her unreserved love and tolerance, and comfortably woven her into the cage he built with lies.
Ruan Yao is so smart.
She must have pieced all the pieces back together by now.
Huo Yanzhi closed his eyes, a bitter smile curving his lips.
What will Ruan Yao think of him?
fear?
disgust?
Or should we treat him as a complete madman, just like in our past life?
Then, she would turn around without hesitation and leave.
Having experienced the ultimate warmth and then being abandoned is a million times more painful than being in the dead of winter from the start.
On the sea level, the boundary began to become clear, revealing a faint sliver of pale white light.
It was almost dawn.
And his world is about to be plunged into eternal night.
Huo Yanzhi slowly opened his eyes.
Behind me, I heard a very light sound of footsteps, almost drowned out by the wind.
From far to near.
The footsteps were familiar, stepping on his heartbeat, one step at a time, getting closer and closer.
Huo Yanzhi's back tensed up instantly.
He didn't need to turn around to know who was coming.
"Huo Yanzhi".
The sound was very soft, coming from not far behind him, piercing through the whistling wind and reaching his ears clearly.
Huo Yanzhi closed his eyes, his Adam's apple bobbing with difficulty, but he did not turn around.
He dared not.
He was afraid that if he turned around, he would see the disgust and coldness in her eyes.
Ruan Yao walked over step by step until only a few steps remained between them.
"Are you hiding here because you're afraid to face me?"
The sea breeze whistled past his ears, carrying with it his cool, refreshing scent.
Finally, a hoarse, broken syllable was squeezed out of his throat with difficulty.
"……sorry."
Ruan Yao did not respond to his apology.
She simply asked calmly, "When did you find out that I was back too?"
Huo Yanzhi's Adam's apple bobbed. "When you made your move against the Zhou family."
"So, when I went to great lengths to pursue you, all your repeated rejections were just an act?"
"No," Huo Yanzhi's voice was even lower, "I'm afraid of repeating the same mistakes."
"Then why did you agree later?"
Huo Yanzhi remained silent.
He couldn't answer.
Because he couldn't control himself, because he was greedy, because he simply couldn't bear the thought of her being away from him for even a second.
Ruan Yao's tone remained calm.
"That watch with the locator wasn't for protecting against any business rivals at all; it was for monitoring me 24/7, wasn't it?"
"..."
"And those two times you got drunk, were those also faked?" Ruan Yao took a step forward, her voice getting closer, "And Moonlight Island..."
Ruan Yao's voice seemed to be right next to his ear, "Those perfectly timed tourists on the beach, the clown who gave us the seashell ring, the ninety-ninth lucky guest at the seaside restaurant, and that pianist who only played the pieces I liked... weren't they all actors you arranged?"
One sentence after another, one sound after another.
Her words were like the sharpest knife in the world, peeling away his perfectly disguised exterior piece by piece to reveal the dark, despicable, and repulsive soul beneath.
Like a public trial, it laid bare all his despicable thoughts in broad daylight, leaving him nowhere to hide.
When she finally stopped questioning him, he slowly twitched the corners of his mouth, revealing a smile that was more like a grimace.
"Yes, I did it all."
“Every time I lie to you, I think about what I will do if you find out.”
"I never expected this day to come so soon."
As dawn broke, the light and shadow divided Huo Yanzhi's face into two halves.
All the composure and pretense on his face had faded, leaving only a fragile vulnerability that was almost broken.
"Yes, I am such a despicable person."
"After I was reborn, I originally wanted to let you go and let myself go too."
"I told myself to stay away from you and not to disturb your life anymore."
"But why did you have to barge in?"
His words contained no blame, only endless confusion and pain.
"You come closer and closer, and I want to run away, but I can't live without you."
“I know you didn’t like the way I used to be, so I tried my best to become the person you liked, even…”
He paused, then revealed the secret that even he found shameful: "I imitated Shen Yu, learning to be as gentle and considerate as him, because I knew you liked that kind of person."
"I thought that as long as I acted well enough, I could keep you by my side."
Huo Yanzhi's lips curled into a sorrowful smile. "I thought this was God's compensation to me, allowing me to have you with a clear conscience, to give you a perfect life, and to enjoy your passionate love."
"Until I found out that you were back too."
In that instant, all his self-deception became the most ridiculous one-man show.
Ruan Yao's heart skipped a beat. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Huo Yanzhi's voice carried an almost pleading vulnerability, "In our previous life, our ending was too tragic. I didn't dare let you know that I was there too, because I was afraid that if you knew, you wouldn't know how to face me."
"I can't tell whether your kindness to me is love, guilt, or compensation."
"I dare not ask, for fear that if I do, this hard-won, stolen dream will shatter."
"So I can only pretend I don't know anything, and keep lying to you, and to myself. I think, as long as I act well enough, and act like this for a lifetime, will you stay by my side forever...?"
Ruan Yao's tears finally streamed down her face uncontrollably.
She shook her head, her voice choked with sobs: "You're wrong... Huo Yanzhi, you're completely wrong..."
Huo Yanzhi smiled bitterly, as if he had already accepted his fate. "These past two days, I've been hiding here, thinking about a lot of things."
“The beautiful dream you create will eventually end, and the happiness you steal will have to be returned sooner or later.”
He took a deep breath, as if using all his strength.
"If you want to... annul the engagement, I... I will cooperate."
He paused, his voice filled with a final, desperate plea.
"Could you give me one more day?"
Just one day.
Let him have her for one more day.
Then, he will disappear completely from her world.
Time seemed to stand still at that moment.
The raindrops grew denser.
Ruan Yao, standing behind him, remained silent.
Time passed by, second by second.
Huo Yanzhi's heart sank little by little into an abyss.
Was she unwilling to give him even on his last day?
That's right, she must hate him so much now, that liar, that she doesn't want to be with him for even a second longer.
Just as he resigned himself to his fate and was about to turn away from the suffocating cliff,
Suddenly, a shadow appeared in front of me.
A completely black umbrella, adorned with daisies, passed over him and steadily sheltered him from the wind and rain.
Huo Yanzhi was completely stunned.
He looked at the black umbrella that almost completely enveloped him, and then looked up along the slender wrist that held the umbrella.
Ruan Yao had walked up to him without him noticing.
She didn't use an umbrella; the sea breeze tousled her long hair, and fine raindrops dampened her cheeks and eyelashes, making her doe-like eyes appear even more moist and clear.
"Can't."
She stared at him intently.
His eyes, however, were no longer that unsettling emptiness they had just held.
There, emotions he couldn't understand surged.
"I don't want to call off the engagement."
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