Chapter 1: The Return

“Well, well. Finally built up the courage to face your uncle, huh?”

I was sitting in the airport lounge, surrounded by the hum of bustling passengers, but even the noise couldn’t drown out the sheer amusement in Tran An’s voice. He was my childhood best friend, and currently, a pain in my ass. I rolled my eyes in silence. “My dear friend, you’re taking way too much joy in my misery. I’m coming back because I graduated. Besides… Hua Rang has no idea what happened back then. What do I have to be afraid of?”

“You literally hit it and quit it, then bolted across the globe. If you weren’t scared, why didn’t you step foot in the country for three whole years?”

“I… I just thought the flight was too long!”

“Right. Keep telling yourself that, guilty conscience.”

Taking a deep breath, I gritted my teeth and hissed into the mic, “Tran An, this secret stays between heaven, earth, you, and me. If your big mouth leaks a single word to a third party, I swear I’ll haunt you for the rest of your life.”

“Relax, my lips are sealed,” he chuckled playfully before his tone softened. “Though… right after you left, Hua Rang actually came looking for me. Man, he looked terrifying back then—like he thought I’d kidnapped you or something.”

My heart skipped a beat. “What did he want?”

“Just asked where you went. I said I didn’t know, and he didn’t push it.”

“…Good. That’s good.”

“So, real talk,” Tran An asked softly. “Have you actually moved on from him?”

In that split second, a flood of memories rushed back—vivid, overwhelming, and utterly suffocating. I forced them down immediately. Clutching my phone tightly, I curled my lips into a careless smile. “Not into him anymore. Honestly, after sleeping with him, I realized… it was pretty average. I was just obsessed with the idea of him back then.”

“That’s our heiress of the Shen family, cool-headed as ever. Glad to hear it, though.” He paused, his tone shifting abruptly. “Hua Rang is about to get engaged to the heiress of the Zhou family. I was honestly worried you’d lose your mind and crash the wedding.”

A sharp ring buzzed in my ears. The background noise around me faded into a distant murmur. So… he was getting married.

“Shen Luo? You still there?”

“My flight’s boarding. Gotta go.”

The moment I hung up, I realized my hands were trembling.

—

The flight lasted nearly seventeen hours. By the time the plane touched down, night had already fallen. With my parents tied up at work, I had no choice but to call Tran An to rescue me from the airport. He arrived smelling faintly of alcohol, a smirk still plastered on his face.

“If anything happens to you, your uncle is going to skin me alive.”

When my face fell, Tran An immediately shut his mouth. “Hey, if it bums you out… we don’t have to talk about him.”

Leaning back against the leather seat, I watched the city lights blur past the window and forced a light tone. “It’s fine. Talk about him all you want. He’s just my uncle, not some monster. The past… is truly in the past.”

“Truly in the past?”

I nodded like a bird pecking at grain. “Truly. Cross my heart. Completely over it.”

Buckling his seatbelt, Tran An asked, “So, have you thought about what you’ll say when you see him?”

I cleared my throat and put on my most fake, pleasant voice. “‘Uncle… long time no see.'”

The moment the words left my mouth, I cringed at my own insincerity. I clicked my tongue and added, “Not like I’ll run into him anytime soon anyway. Mom said he went on a business trip out of town and won’t be back for another month.”

See? Even when I finally mustered the courage to return, he just happened to be out of the country. Heaven was clearly sending me a message: Some ties are meant to be broken.

When we arrived at the house, Tran An started helping me with my luggage, but before he could pull my suitcase out, a slender hand reached from behind and took it smoothly.

“I’ll take it.”

That voice was so intimately familiar it froze me in my tracks. My body went rigid as I slowly turned around. “…Uncle.”

Hua Rang. The man who was supposed to be a thousand miles away.

His eyes—now clear and restored—flickered slightly as he heard me call him. He offered a slight nod and uttered a soft, “Mm.”

After setting my luggage aside, he turned his gaze onto Tran An. The icy look in his eyes made my friend look like he was ready to draft his final will on the spot. “Care to come in for a bit?”

Tran An visibly shuddered. Hua Rang had always viewed him as the “bad influence” dragging me down the wrong path. Waving his hands frantically, Tran An backed away. “No, no need! I… I just remembered I have a major emergency at home!”

With that, he bolted, tossing a pitying glance over his shoulder: Good luck surviving this.

The yard fell dead silent. Just the two of us. Just me, forced to face the scene of my past crime.

“Stop staring. He’s already gone,” Hua Rang rasped softly, clearing his throat.

“Ah… right.”

Standing before him again, my palms grew drenched in sweat, my heart hammering against my ribs. On the way inside, he didn’t ask a single question about the last three years. No probing, no concern… or was he just waiting for me to confess?

Just as I stepped onto the stairs to escape to my room, a hand caught my wrist.

“Is something wrong?” I squeaked, startled.

Hua Rang looked down at me, his voice dangerously low and husky. “Luo Luo… don’t you have anything to say to me?”

It didn’t sound like an interrogation. It sounded… almost like a plea.

I hesitated. “What… what do you want me to say, Uncle?”

He paused, a faint flush creeping up his high cheekbones. “Three years ago… between us…”

My heart nearly leapt out of my throat. Dammit, he knows!

Panic surging through me, I pulled a sharp, desperate verbal U-turn. “Oh, right! Tran An mentioned… you’re getting engaged to the Zhou family heiress?”

I forced the sweetest, most polite smile I could muster, though it probably looked more like a painful grimace. “Uncle… congratulations on your upcoming wedding.”

The grip on my wrist loosened instantly.

A long, heavy silence stretched between us as his expression went completely dark. “Shen Luo… you’re really something.”

Without another word, he turned on his heel and strode away, leaving me standing there bewildered. Wait… did I say something wrong?

—

It was nearly eleven by the time I finished my shower. I was lying in bed, trying to pretend I was totally unbothered by the interaction, when loud commotions echoed from downstairs. I crept down to check, only to find a strange man supporting a heavily intoxicated Hua Rang through the front door.

The moment the man spotted me, his eyes lit up as if he’d found a savior. “Sister-in-law!”

“…Huh?” I stared at him, baffled.

“Sister-in-law, thank God you’re back! Rang is completely wasted. With you here, I can finally make my exit!”

Before I could process his words, he practically handed Hua Rang over to me and vanished out the door.

A heavy wave of heat and the thick scent of alcohol crashed over me. Hua Rang stumbled, losing his balance, and collapsed straight into my arms. I froze on the spot, supporting a tall, muscular man in my arms, my brain completely short-circuiting.

What in the absolute hell is going on here?