I was so absorbed in my phone that I didn’t even hear someone calling my name.

“Little Tranh.”

My aunt nudged me lightly with her elbow. “They’re talking to you.”

Startled, I snapped my head up. The conversation at the dining table had already shifted to picking bridesmaids for Fu Sinian’s future wedding.

I’d never been in a relationship, and I was decent-looking enough… basically the ideal candidate for a bridesmaid.

Someone chuckled playfully. “When Sinian finally gets married, we should definitely have Little Tranh as a bridesmaid.”

Laughter erupted around the table, short of actual applause. I forced a faint smile, neither nodding nor shaking my head, only stealing a quick glance at him.

For a fraction of a second, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, his brows seemed to knit together in a flash of subtle irritation.

But in the blink of an eye, he reverted to his usual detached composure.

My heart sank. Did he really dislike me so much that he couldn’t even stand the thought of me being a bridesmaid at his wedding?

Then again, it made sense. I had been a total nightmare in the past, confessing my feelings over and over, only becoming more stubborn every time he turned me down.

Even during those four years abroad, news about him was everywhere. Every time the media speculated about which heiress he might marry, my mind would spiral into complete chaos.

I poured myself a glass of red wine, downed it in a single gulp, and quietly slipped away from the table out onto the balcony.

The moonlight spilled clear and bright, matched by the crisp night air. I unclasped the silver bracelet from my wrist and held it up toward the sky.

The pink diamond caught the moonlight, shimmering like the fiery, unrestrained heart of my eighteen-year-old self.

A simple mention that “Fu Sinian is getting married” was all it took to leave me suffocating.

He was the one who had given me this bracelet four years ago, at my coming-of-age party.

His gaze that night had been so intense, so dead serious, that for a fleeting moment, I had mistakenly believed he was telling me: You belong to me.

And yet, look how it turned out… I ended up fleeing to the other side of the world for four long years.

My memories of that night were fragmented, leaving behind only the ghost of his heavy, ragged breath against the back of my neck.

When I woke up the next morning, I knew with absolute certainty, it was a mistake born entirely of my own one-sided delusion.

So, I ran. I even blocked him on WeChat, terrified that a single message from him would break my resolve.

And yet… he never brought that night up again.

The rare texts he sent over the years were strictly about Grandpa.

I didn’t even know whether I was disappointed or relieved.

As the cold wind swept across the balcony, my phone vibrated again with another text from Meng Xiao:

Just as I was about to reply, I heard movement behind me.

Fu Sinian stepped out onto the balcony, coming to a stop right beside me.

I hurriedly darkened my screen. Silence settled between us, so thick that only our breathing remained.

Memories from four years ago surged back, a bittersweet rush flooding my senses.

He spoke first. “Don’t pay any mind to what your aunt said earlier.”

It took me a second to realize he was referring to the bridesmaid comment.

“…Right.”

The wind tousled my hair, and he reached out, gently tucking a few stray locks behind my ear.

“Little Tranh, you’ve grown up.”

Of all the things he could have said after four years… he chose that.

I looked up to meet his eyes under the moonlight. They were as deep and unfathomable as ever, yet carrying an unmistakable trace of tenderness.

My heart instantly skipped a beat.

His eyes were so clearly trying to tell me something.

Yet I couldn’t decipher a single word.