Chapter 2 He simply reached out and grabbed it...
Panic began to spread in his chest. He dared not think the worst, yet he couldn't help but let his mind wander.
The snowmelt turned the streets into a muddy mess, splashing mud onto his usually neat suit trousers. Cars sped by, and snowmelt and dirty water exploded at the street corner. He let the snowflakes hit his face, and the ice crystals clung to his skin, stinging his tightly clenched nerves little by little.
The streetlights blurred in the snow, orange and cold white intermingling. The neon lights were blurred by the snow curtain, red, blue, and green, like distorted images, swaying back and forth in front of him, all seeming unreal, like a nightmare he couldn't wake up from.
Zhou Yue stood in front of the Hilton in the central district, his coat soaked with snow and clinging heavily to his body.
He took out his phone; below the three characters "Xia Zhiyao" on the screen was a string of conspicuous red missed calls. His fingertips trembled slightly in the snowy night, whether from the cold or fear, he didn't know.
Only one thought echoed in my mind: Where is she?
Was he really drunk and collapsed in some corner?
Or did she change her mind at the last minute and try to avoid him? Or perhaps something happened that he dared not even think about?
He opened her last WeChat message:
Let's just find a place to eat and drink something.
A simple sentence, without location or prompts, seemingly a casual remark, became his only compass in the entire city at that moment.
He started searching.
He went through the bars she had mentioned in casual conversation, one by one. Those places she had said were "okay," "not bad," and had "a good atmosphere" were now the only landmark memories he could recall.
Fifth Avenue, SoHo alleyways, East Village live houses, hidden bars near the High Line Park... He was like a pilgrim carrying a tattered map, searching for her traces little by little along the torn edges of memory in the snowy night.
Every time he pushed open a door, he would quickly scan the entire area: the bar, the booths, the corners, the restroom entrances, the dance floor... nothing.
He immediately turned around and ran to the next place.
The snow fell heavier and heavier, and the night wind whipped at his face like a knife. His hands were so frozen he could barely hold the phone, yet he dialed her number again and again.
No one answered the phone.
Once, twice, three times... no one answered. He didn't give up and kept calling.
The moment Zhou Yue pushed open the door of the first bar, a wave of heat mixed with sweat, alcohol, and cheap perfume hit him, almost suffocating him.
The crowd surged and swayed, the light bulbs spun, the air was damp and noisy. He glanced around, saw nothing, turned, and rushed back into the snowy night.
The second bar was as dark as the deep sea; the faces at the counter were blurry, and no one noticed him. He moved through the crowd like a ghost, his eyes never stopping, but still nothing.
At the third door, a drunkard was huddled in a corner, beer bottles shattered on the ground. He practically burst through the door, his gaze like a knife, quickly sweeping over every bowed head and every figure shrouded in shadow.
The fourth, the fifth—still none; the sixth, the seventh, the eighth…
The door was pushed open again and again, but each time my gaze met nothing.
He dared not think further, yet the fear seeped deeper and deeper, like ice water seeping into his bones, chilling him to the bone, slowly freezing him in place. With each step, the water in his shoes seeped between his toes. His suit clung to his body, heavy as iron, yet he didn't even have the urge to stop.
He turned into a secluded alley, at the end of which a small bar, almost buried in snow, was faintly visible. He stood in the snow, staring at the inconspicuous door, his heart pounding wildly.
At this moment, he was no longer the VP of Blackcastle, nor the youngest trader on Wall Street.
He was just a man on the verge of madness, searching for someone in the midst of a heavy snowfall.
Maybe she wasn't even here. Maybe she had already gone back to the hotel, or maybe he had come all night for nothing. But he still walked up, raised his hand, and pushed the door open.
Xia Zhiyao sat at the bar.
Her features remained exquisite, her brows and eyes naturally possessing a cool and aloof quality. She wasn't gentle or sweet, yet she had an irresistible allure. With just a slight curve of her lips, that unapproachable distance would instantly soften, revealing a hint of unexpected innocence—a contradiction that was captivating.
But now, she is no longer the spirited and domineering Xia Zhiyao she once was.
She dyed her hair pink, which shimmered unnaturally under the dim fluorescent light, like expired candy wrappers, faded and wrinkled, as if a gust of wind would shatter it.
The bar was too noisy. The men at another table were bragging loudly, and the music, voices, alcohol, and perfume mingled in the air. She, on the other hand, sat quietly in the corner, like a forgotten shadow of the world.
Everyone was spinning, making noise, talking, and clinking glasses, but she was still, excessively still. She was as lonely as a black and white negative that had been caught in a colorful misexposure.
Zhou Yue stood at the door, speechless. His running, despair, and loss of control all vanished the moment he saw her.
She seemed to sense something, slowly turned around, and saw him.
There was a kind of confusion in her eyes that he had never seen before. That bewilderment, helplessness, and almost transparent emotion made her look less like Xia Zhiyao and more like a child who had been lost in a blizzard for too long, finally seeing a familiar figure, but unsure if it was an illusion.
They stood facing each other five steps apart, neither of them making the first move.
Zhou Yue dared not move. He didn't even dare to blink. His black overcoat reflected a damp sheen under the neon lights, his shoulders were still covered with unmelted snow, his hair was disheveled by the wind, and his cheeks were bright and dark in the alternating red and blue lights, like frames of a movie.
But his eyes were clear and burning, filled with a longing that had not been extinguished for three years, mixed with a barely restrained, almost desperate plea.
It's been three years.
He had imagined countless times what it would be like to meet her again: a chance encounter, eye contact, or passing by, but he never thought that she would look at him like this.
The next second, he practically lunged forward. All the restraint he had been holding back burst forth at that moment. He reached out and grasped her hand. It was icy cold, and his heart clenched.
"Sister Zhiyao." He called her softly, his voice hoarse, carrying all the longing, resentment, and fear he had felt over the past three years.
She slowly raised her head, glanced at him blankly, as if trying to confirm that he was real, and then she suddenly smiled.
A faint, slightly drunken laugh, yet tinged with a sense of helpless relaxation: "What a coincidence..." She blinked, her voice as soft as a feather, "I never thought I'd run into you here."
Zhou Yue closed his eyes, trying to suppress the emotions that were about to burst out. He gritted his teeth and said, word by word, "Coincidence my ass... Do you know how many bars I searched before I finally found you?"
He glanced down at the table in front of her; there was an empty wine glass, and nothing else.
"Where are your things?" His voice turned somber. "Where's your coat? Where's your phone?"
"Just throw it away..." she said softly, her tone light and airy, as if she were talking about someone else's business.
Her eyes were downcast, and she was still mechanically swirling the empty glass. Zhou Yue's heart clenched. He reached out, pressed her trembling fingers, gently pulled the empty glass out, and pushed it to the other side of the table, his voice low and steady: "Don't drink it."
She didn't resist, not even struggle, she just gave a soft "hmm", as if she was exhausted.
He sat beside her, one hand resting on the back of the bar stool. She leaned against his shoulder, occasionally mumbling a few drunken words, most of which were unintelligible, but every word felt like a needle piercing his heart.
Suddenly, she mumbled something indistinctly: "Go back to sleep..."
"Okay, I'll take you back." He immediately got up and hurried to the bar to pay the bill, afraid that she would disappear at any moment.
When he turned back with his change, he saw her struggling to get down from the high bar stool, her foot slipped, and she lost her balance.
"Zhiyao!" He rushed over almost instinctively, caught her, and hugged her tightly. She fell into his arms, and his arms tightened in that instant, as if he wanted to meld her into his body.
"Let's go, I'll take you home."
Xia Zhiyao didn't move. She tilted her head to look at him, her voice hoarse like a leaf dried by the autumn wind, carrying a hint of drunkenness and a light, deliberate provocation: "Where are we going back to?"
She seemed to be testing his limits, seeing how long he could endure it.
Zhou Yue's patience, which he had built up all night, completely broke down in that second.
He abruptly reached out and pulled her up from the bar stool. He strode out, as if dragging her away from this absurd noise, just as he was dragging himself along.
"Do you even know how many bars I've checked?" he gritted his teeth, his voice trembling as he nearly roared, his tone suppressed. "Nobody's at the hotel, they don't answer the phone, they don't reply to WeChat messages..."
Her breathing became increasingly rapid, as if she were about to collapse. "Do you know how much I thought something had happened to you? How much I thought I would never see you again?"
She stood unsteadily, her wrist still tightly gripped by him, but she didn't struggle. She looked up at him, her voice so light it was almost weightless: "I'm perfectly fine, aren't I? I'm not missing any limbs, and I haven't been robbed or assaulted. What are you worried about?"
Stepping out of the bar's glass doors, a blast of wind and snow hit me.
Zhou Yue finally released her hand slowly, but did not take a step back. He took off his black wool coat, which was still warm from his body, and gently draped it over her shoulder.
"Put it on." His voice was deep, but his tone left no room for refusal. "It's so cold outside, why are you dressed like this?"
"No." She lowered her eyes, her voice soft but unwavering.
Zhou Yue frowned, draped the coat back over her shoulders, and raised his hand to button it: "Be good."
The next second, she suddenly yanked, throwing her coat onto the snow, splashing snow everywhere. "I said, I don't want it."
"Xia Zhiyao!" he shouted angrily, his face darkening instantly. He instinctively reached out to grab her, but she nimbly dodged him.
She didn't look back, but stepped directly into the swirling snow. She laughed, laughed like a madwoman, "You know what?" She opened her arms, tilted her head back to face the snowflakes, "It would be better if they were all lost."
Snowflakes pelted her pale face, but she seemed oblivious, letting the cold lash her skin: "It's all gone... so no one will know who I am anymore. That way I won't have to try anymore... I won't have to please anyone anymore, I won't disappoint anyone anymore, how free I am."
Her eyes slowly opened, her gaze piercing through the snowy night and looking into the vast distance. "No one will care what I become."
She said softly, but her smile grew increasingly bitter, "How wonderful it would be if I could disappear, completely, as if I had never existed."
At that moment, all Zhou Yue could hear was the sound of the wind and her words echoing in his ears, as if a thousand arrows were being fired, each one piercing into every nerve in his body.
He suddenly realized that he had always thought he was chasing her, but in fact she had been heading towards the abyss for a long time. He was just too slow to catch up, so slow that he only realized now that she had been collapsing all along.
Zhou Yue bent down and picked up the coat that was soaked by the snow. He didn't even have time to shake off the snow before he staggered to her and hugged her tightly with trembling arms.
The movements were rapid and almost violent, with a desperate force, as if trying to snatch her back from this snowy night that was trying to devour everything.
He haphazardly wrapped his wet coat around her, his voice hoarse and trembling: "Please don't do this... I beg you."
"If something really happens to you..." he gritted his teeth, his voice breaking in the wind, "what am I supposed to do?"
Xia Zhiyao suddenly hugged him, like a person about to be swallowed by the waves grabbing onto a piece of driftwood at the last second.
She buried her forehead between his neck and shoulders, gripping the fabric of his clothes tightly, as if she would shatter into dust if she loosened her grip even an inch.
Zhou Yue stood in the swirling snow of the night, still chilled by the lingering snow. His hands hovered behind her for a few seconds, trembling and hesitant, before suddenly tightening.
He wanted to meld her into his body, to stick to his very bones, to never let her escape again. She was his only weakness, and now he was willing to take off all his armor and embrace her with only his naked body.
Xia Zhiyao suddenly looked up at him. His eyes, which were always calm and composed, were now clear and transparent, yet filled with an unguarded weariness. She tilted her head slightly, her voice as soft as if it came from a distant dream: "This is the first time I've seen you so angry."
Her eyes were somewhat unfocused, as if she hadn't fully woken up from her drunkenness, but in the next moment, she suddenly stared at him intently.
"You were in such a hurry just now," she whispered, "...do you like me?"
These words were like a spark ignited in the snowy night, illuminating all the silence and speculation she had once pretended not to know.
She looked at him, her gaze finally clearing as if all the fog had been cleared, and for the first time she could truly see him clearly. She smiled and said almost inaudibly, "You hid it so well... but I still saw through you."
At that moment, Zhou Yue felt his world collapse. All the carefully constructed defenses, all the last bit of self-control and rationality crumbled in an instant, turning into ruins, along with the love he had carefully hidden for many years, all of which was exposed.
He approached her step by step, staring into her eyes, his gaze like an undercurrent that could not be suppressed in the wind and snow, calm and resolute.
Without warning or hesitation, he suddenly reached out and grabbed the back of her head, then leaned down and kissed her fiercely.
A note from the author:
----------------------
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
