Chapter 52: Heading to the Airport

Lin Yiwei lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling, listening to the ticking of the clock on the desk as time slipped away second by second.

This little rabbit-shaped clock was bought by Lin Yiwei to use as a bedside alarm, intended to prevent Xie Bo from being startled awake by the alarm, throwing a temper tantrum, and smashing her phone.

The little rabbit clock had indeed been thrown by him a few times, but fortunately, it was sturdily built and had never broken.

Lin Yiwei pressed her face into the pillow, watching the second hand of the clock tick round and round. It was already eleven o'clock, and her flight was at seven tomorrow morning... There were only a few hours left to sleep.

Clutching her down pillow, she forced herself to close her eyes.

Whether he came back or not, she couldn't let a lack of sleep ruin her flight.

The pillow was filled with his scent. He had a mild obsession with cleanliness and would invariably wash himself until he was thoroughly clean before going to bed every night. Consequently, the pillow always retained the faint fragrance of his shampoo, and over time, that had become his signature scent.

Clean and crisp.

Lin Yiwei had grown accustomed to Xie Bo's scent and had even started using his shampoo, making the aura around them grow so similar.

All sleepiness vanished.

She felt as though a little squirrel was climbing and scratching inside her body—a light, tickling itch that was unbearably uncomfortable.

It was truly strange; she had never felt this way before.

Probably because the daily frequency they shared previously had quickly led to an addiction, she now felt unsettled if she went even a few hours without seeing him.

Lin Yiwei took a small toy out from the drawer, looked at it for a moment, and then put it back.

She knew clearly that this was not what she wanted, not anymore...

She wanted a warm, solid embrace, scorching hot kisses, and the rough pads of his fingers stroking her inch by inch... Ever since she had Xie Bo, she could no longer get used to these substitutes.

There would be a long withdrawal period after leaving, and Lin Yiwei had to adapt to it.

At 1:00 AM, Li Du received a message from Lin Yiwei:

Breeze: "Are you asleep? Is Xie Bo with you? His phone is turned off."

In the private booth of the bar, Li Du frowned, his eyebrows twisting into a high-low asymmetry as he looked at her message, then glanced across at Xie Bo, who was whispering and laughing with Chi Xiyu.

Clearly, Xie Bo was about to launch a fierce offensive against Chi Xiyu.

He had to do this. Recently, his relationship with the Chi family had genuinely frozen to a dangerously critical threshold.

Having bided his time for so many years, how could Xie Bo ever be willing to lose everything? Li Du had been worried before, but now he felt a wave of relief.

After all, he hadn't lost his mind; he understood what course of action was most beneficial to himself.

With tomorrow's flight, Lin Yiwei was leaving anyway. Once their honeymoon period ended, bygones would be bygones, and Xie Bo would go back to being the heartless young master Xie San he once was.

Li Du put his phone back into his pocket without replying.

Lin Yiwei suffered from absolute insomnia that night. Since she couldn't sleep, she simply gave up on trying and mindlessly scrolled through Weibo and her Moments.

A new friend update popped up on her Moments, posted by Chi Xiyu.

Sisi: "There must be a song that makes you think of me at midnight. [Picture]"

The accompanying image showed a glass of mint lemon mojito cocktail under the dim, decadent lighting of a bar, next to which lay Xie Bo's cold, moon-silver, rimless glasses. The filter's tones created a captivating, midnight-tipsy ambiance.

Chi Xiyu's style on Moments was always like this.

She would never openly show affection with Xie Bo because their relationship was ambiguous and hadn't even been officially announced. Instead, she would post ambiguous texts and photos—sometimes capturing the tattoo on his hand, other times his car or his clothes—hinting subtly to create an intimate and sweet atmosphere.

Chi Xiyu had checked into this Moments post, locating it at the Old Captain Bar.

Fine, she could finally close her eyes in peace.

As long as he was alive, that was enough. Who he was with didn't matter, and it was even better if it was Chi Xiyu.

The closer he got to Chi Xiyu, the closer Lin Yiwei would be to freeing herself.

At 3:00 AM, her insomnia finally drove her to sit up tiredly from the bed. After staring blankly for a few seconds, Lin Yiwei got up, changed her clothes, hurried downstairs, and hailed a cab to the Old Captain Bar.

She didn't know why such a crazy thought had popped into her head, let alone why she was putting it into practice.

She couldn't sleep; she would just go take a look. A single glance would bring her peace of mind. Lin Yiwei told herself she was just going to patrol the battlefield, that she wouldn't disturb anyone, and that a single look was all she needed.

A look at what? To see if Xie Bo had successfully completed his task, to see what was truly going on between him and Chi Xiyu, or...

Did she simply want to take one last look at him before leaving?

Walking straight into the Old Captain Bar, Lin Yiwei pulled up the white rabbit-fur hood of her down jacket to conceal her small face, and cautiously made her way to the second floor.

Xie Bo had brought her to this bar once before to hang out with the DS racing drivers. He had even shown off Lin Yiwei's hit-and-run-level driving skills to them, proudly claiming he had trained her himself, leaving the others smiling awkwardly without daring to comment.

Their private booth was always the same one—at the end of the second-floor hallway, near the garden terrace.

The moment she reached the doorway, Lin Yiwei regretted it.

She shouldn't have been so impulsive.

If Chi Xiyu saw her, it certainly wouldn't end well. If Chi Xiyu humiliated her in public, would Xie Bo help her or not?

She couldn't put him in a dilemma or mess up his plan to save Lin Xie...

Gritting her teeth, Lin Yiwei turned to leave. However, as she passed the edge of the terrace, she caught sight of two familiar figures sitting on the garden chairs.

Chi Xiyu was wearing a dainty little winter dress, the laces of her knee-high boots winding up her calves. Her straight, slender legs were neatly angled toward Xie Bo's side beneath her skirt, and her moist, almond-shaped eyes gazed infatuatedly at him.

Few men could resist such a devoted, admiring, and adoring gaze from a girl.

Did Xie Bo need a girl to adore him? Lin Yiwei had never shown any sign of that. Apart from his performance in bed, she had truly never praised him for anything else.

Even though he was now capable of independently earning a fortune she could never hope to reach, even though his racing trophies filled an entire floor-to-ceiling cabinet, and even though his high intelligence effortlessly won him scholarships year after year...

Lin Yiwei had never expressed admiration for him.

The only person she had ever truly idolized was one.

And yet, to a girl with standards as high as Chi Xiyu's, a man like Xie Bo was unquestionably an object of deep devotion and love.

He was dressed lightly, a thin black sweater outlining his tall and well-proportioned upper body. With the midnight neon lights as his backdrop, his peach-blossom eyes rippled with alluring charm. He curved his lips into a smile at her, and it was visibly evident that Chi Xiyu couldn't resist such a smile; her cheeks flushed as she looked at him with shy timidity.

The two chatted intimately for a while by the romantic terrace garden chairs, and Xie Bo handed her a small gift he had prepared—

A Cartier 18K rose gold round necklace set with pavé diamonds, sparkling brilliantly under the garden's night lights.

"I love it!" Chi Xiyu's fingertips traced the necklace. "I really love it."

Her dressing table was stuffed with necklaces like this; they could practically be sold by the pound.

Yet because it was a gift from Xie Bo, it felt exceptionally precious and dear.

Gently brushing back her long hair, Xie Bo fastened the necklace around her slender neck, asking with a playful tone, "Would you like to be my girlfriend?"

Chi Xiyu's heartbeat skipped a beat. She turned her head to look at him in astonishment, her eyes shimmering with disbelieving joy. "Are you sure, Xie Bo?"

"Of course. Making you wait this long, I feel quite guilty. We should have been together long ago. I used to be quite playful, so I hope you won't hold the past against me."

Hearing this, Lin Yiwei genuinely wanted to laugh—not with sarcasm or mockery, but the kind of laughter born from being truly amused by him.

To be able to admit to being a scumbag so candidly...

He was truly a talent.

Joyfully, Chi Xiyu wrapped her arms around his neck. Xie Bo immediately tilted his head back, instinctively shifting to the side, though he still let her embrace him.

His expression remained cold. His hands hovered in the air for a few uncomfortably stiff seconds before dropping back down.

Chi Xiyu remained utterly oblivious to the underlying meaning of his movements and micro-expressions. Clinging tightly to him, she was intoxicated by this sudden burst of happiness: "It doesn't matter, Xie Bo, it really doesn't. I knew this day would come sooner or later, and I was willing to wait."

Xie Bo tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

Chi Xiyu closed her eyes, her lips pressed together in a hopeful, smiling arc.

He leaned in closer.

From Lin Yiwei's perspective, they were indeed kissing.

It felt as though her eyes had been pricked by a needle, and her heart felt like a tattered bellows, leaking wind in ragged gasps.

At that exact moment, she felt a surge of intense jealousy—just like the time in the orphanage when another girl had snatched away her favorite little bear plush toy. Lin Yiwei still remembered that feeling vividly to this day.

Yet Xie Bo... had never been her plush toy to begin with.

The emotional wave lasted only a few seconds. Lin Yiwei pulled back her gaze, refusing to look any further or cause a scene, and turned to walk toward the stairs at the end of the hallway.

She let out a long breath. Fortunately, Xie Bo and Chi Xiyu's relationship had finally taken a massive leap forward. Given Chi Xiyu's romantic obsession, as long as Xie Bo was willing to push things forward, their feelings would heat up rapidly.

He would quickly find out Lin Xie's whereabouts; he would help her.

As she walked downstairs, Lin Yiwei's steps were slightly unsteady, and her heartbeat was out of rhythm.

He smiled so gently.

Like a hopeless romantic; that was truly the biggest joke in the world.

She couldn't help but let out a soft laugh. How happy she was, really.

Accidentally bumping into someone's chest, Lin Yiwei muttered continuous apologies, only to look up and find herself staring into Li Du's face.

Seeing her, Li Du was utterly astonished and deeply panicked: "Why are you here!"

"The dawn flight. Just coming to catch a last glimpse of him." Lin Yiwei pointed at her watch, smiling as she said, "Goodbye then, Li Du. Say goodbye to Master Bo for me too."

With that, Lin Yiwei walked out of the Old Captain Bar, hailed a taxi, and rushed back to pack her luggage.

Holding Chi Xiyu's face, at the very fraction of a second before his kiss was about to land on her lips, Xie Bo tilted his head away.

He stood up and said gently to Chi Xiyu, "You should head back now. It's very late."

Not getting the kiss left Chi Xiyu a little disappointed: "I want to stay with you, and besides, it's fine if I don't go back tonight. No one's managing me."

Xie Bo stroked her head: "You're different from the women out there. Go home early, be a good girl."

This sentence made Chi Xiyu acutely aware of her heavy weight in Xie Bo's heart. She nodded in satisfaction: "Alright then, I'll head back first. You go back early too."

With that, she called her driver to bring the car to the front of the bar.

Xie Bo saw her into the car. Clinging affectionately to his neck, Chi Xiyu said, "I'm heading back now, bye-bye!"

"Mm, goodbye."

Chi Xiyu got into the car, rolled down the window to wave at Xie Bo, and flashed a sweet smile: "Brother Xie Bo, I'll tell my dad about us. My dad will be very happy! I'm sure Uncle Xie will be happy too!"

Xie Bo nodded, watching the sedan vanish into the pale light of dawn.

He checked the time on his phone. The screen displayed several missed calls from Lin Yiwei, received at nine, ten, and one in the morning.

A wildfire swept through Xie Bo's world, burning it clean to the ground. Without even waiting for his driver, he flagged down a taxi on the street.

Li Du hurried over and said to Xie Bo, "She's already gone. I'm afraid it's too late."

Xie Bo frowned and turned back.

"She was just here. She didn't even realize what a mess she was—crying her eyes out while forcing a fake smile." Li Du paused for a moment, hesitating before adding, "She left and told me to say goodbye to you."

Staring at the indigo twilight of dawn on the distant horizon, Xie Bo's heart grew cold by degrees. He climbed into a taxi without wasting a single second and rushed back to Lamont Apartment.

The apartment was empty. He pulled open the drawers and the wardrobe; all of her belongings—clothes, hats, shoes, socks, and even her undergarments—had been entirely taken away.

Xie Bo had forgotten to tell her that she didn't need to take all these clothes with her, that she could buy new ones over there, and that the ones at home could still be worn when she came back, or replaced if she found them out of style.

He had forgotten to say it—there were still so many things he had forgotten to say.

Xie Bo wandered around the apartment. Everything of hers was gone, save for the two potted lemon saplings on the balcony that couldn't be packed away. They were the only lingering ties she had left behind, and attached to a lemon branch was a sticky note in her delicate, elegant handwriting:

"—Water every five days, water thoroughly, plenty of sunlight. —Yi."

That was the only message she had left for him.

Xie Bo stood frozen for a few seconds, then bolted downstairs like a madman, hailing a cab to Qinggang Airport.

He wanted to see her one last time.

The airport was bustling with crowds. Xie Bo searched around like a headless fly; his mind blanking out initially as he headed to T2 before realizing it was domestic departures, then taking the shuttle bus over to the T1 international departures terminal, anxiously calling her phone from the main hall.

A moment later, the call connected.

"I've arrived. Haven't you left yet? Let's meet, please."

"I've passed ticket check and I'm boarding, Master Bo."

"Wait for me at the boarding gate. I'm coming to find you."

"You can't get in."

"If I want to, I can." Xie Bo strode with long strides toward the security checkpoint.

"Actually, I've thought about it. Since you've officially confirmed your relationship with Chi Xiyu and are together, I don't think we should see each other anymore." The young girl's voice was slightly husky, low yet gentle, "This is for your future, and also for my brother's sake."

A fierce edge edged into Xie Bo's voice: "Lin Yiwei, you don't get to decide that. Don't forget you promised me you'd stay with me for the rest of my life."

Over the phone, Lin Yiwei let out a faint, dry laugh: "Do you really want me to continue being your mistress, living out my life as a disgraceful homewrecker?"

This question struck like a thunderous blow, catching Xie Bo completely off guard and leaving him rooted to the spot.

Desire is taking, possessing, and plundering.

Love is pity, gentleness, endurance, and letting go.