The next morning, the moment the doorbell rang, I started toward the door, but Zuo Zuo sprinted past me with lightning speed.

“I got it! Let me get it, Mommy!”

I stood still, watching him stand on tiptoes to turn the handle. The second the door swung open, his sweet voice chimed out:

“Daddy!”

Chi You stepped inside and scooped Zuo Zuo up into his arms, a childishly bright grin on his face. “Zuo Zuo, look what Daddy brought you.”

When his eyes met mine, a strange mix of emotions welled up in my chest. I clenched my fists at my sides, my voice barely a whisper. “You’re here.”

Chi You patted our son’s head, then walked over to where I stood. “Can we eat together today?”

I was still hesitating when Zuo Zuo cheered, “Yay! Mommy and Daddy can take me to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival together!”

Faced with our son’s pure excitement, I couldn’t bring myself to say no.

“Should we go out for dinner tonight to celebrate?” I asked.

“Hooray!”

Zuo Zuo practically bounced off the walls with joy. I turned my head away, avoiding Chi You’s gaze, desperate not to let any of my vulnerability show.

On our way downstairs, Chi You opened the front passenger door for me. Instead, I climbed into the back with Zuo Zuo in my arms.

He paused, scratching his nose with an awkward laugh. “Right, my bad. Kids aren’t supposed to sit in the front.”

When we arrived at the restaurant, I realized it was one of his family’s high-end venues. The moment we stepped out of the car, Zuo Zuo hurried over to the driver’s side. As soon as Chi You got out, the little guy shut the door with a quick click and reached his arms out:

“Daddy, carry me!”

Chi You smiled fondly and scooped him up. Watching the father and son clinging to each other, a sharp ache pierced my heart. I had poured my heart into raising Zuo Zuo on my own for four long years, yet in less than three months, he had grown this close to his father.

血-thicker-than-water was truly something you could never deny.

As we walked inside, the manager stepped forward to greet us. “Mr. Chi, the private room is all prepared for the young master.”

Chi You raised an eyebrow, asking casually, “How do you know he’s my son?”

The manager offered an awkward smile, wisely keeping quiet.

During the meal, Zuo Zuo stood up on his chair and clumsily reached across the table with his chopsticks, dropping a piece of food into Chi You’s bowl.

“Daddy, eat this!”

It was a piece of celery. In my memory, Chi You never touched celery. By pure instinct, I picked up the celery from his bowl and popped it into my mouth. By the time I realized what I had done, it was too late.

Zuo Zuo pouted, his lower lip sticking out. “I gave that to Daddy!”

Chi You broke into a quiet laugh, his voice smooth and reassuring. “Give Daddy a piece of bamboo shoot instead, okay?”

The little guy excitedly obliged, his temporary disappointment instantly forgotten.

The rest of the meal passed peacefully, but inside, my mind was a chaotic storm of anxiety. If Chi You and I ever got into another bitter fight and he tried to take Zuo Zuo away from me, what was I supposed to do?

That night, Zuo Zuo adamantly insisted on dragging both Chi You and me into bed to read him comic books until he fell asleep. It wasn’t until the moon sat high in the night sky that he finally drifted off into a deep slumber.

Chi You and I crept off the bed as quietly as humanly possible, carefully closing the bedroom door behind us. The living room was dimly lit, soft shadows pooling in the corners. I stood there awkwardly, waiting for him to break the heavy silence.

Instead, he said nothing. After a silence that stretched on for what felt like an eternity, he suddenly took a step forward and pulled me into a tight embrace.

My immediate reflex was to push him away, but memories of two years ago flooded my mind… along with the image of Zuo Zuo’s radiant, happy face throughout the entire day.

My body gradually went slack in his arms. I felt him take a deep, shaky breath, his warm air brushing against my ear.

He let out a long sigh, his voice deep and heavy, as if releasing a burden he had carried for far too long.

“Yao Yao… today marks five full years that I’ve been waiting for you.”

I froze. It turned out that Mid-Autumn Festival five years ago was the exact day I had quietly packed my bags and vanished without a word.

“I kept asking myself why you left. We were so good together—why did you throw me away? When I finally tracked down a lead on where you were, I told myself you’d come back to me eventually. That’s why I purposely crossed paths with you at that mother-and-baby store.”

He swallowed hard, his grip tightening around me. “I used to hate you so much. I hated how ruthlessly you walked away. There were times I even thought about doing terrible things—like snatching Zuo Zuo away from you just to make you feel the agony of losing someone you love. But in the end, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I thought, if this is really what you want, I’ll play along.”

“Then I saw you with Jiang Ran, and I lost my mind. I said those awful things just to hurt you back. For the record, there was never anything going on between Song Li and me. We only bumped into each other at a few social gatherings. I only acted like that at the party to make you jealous.”

I stayed silent, but tears kept spilling down my cheeks, hot and unstoppable.

Chi You leaned back slightly, pressing a tender kiss against my forehead. His deep voice carried a raw warmth mixed with gentle accusation:

“Yao Yao, the things you were worrying about were never actual problems. Why couldn’t you just wait a little longer? Why couldn’t you wait for me to fix everything before running away?”

Trembling, I clutched at his shirt, hanging onto his words like a drowning person reaching for a lifeline. “Because the gap between us was too wide! Your world, your family… And your family business was in trouble back then. If I hadn’t left, Song Li would never have helped you out.”

The moment the words left my mouth, Chi You scooped me up into his arms and set me down on the sofa. He locked his gaze onto mine, his voice ringing with absolute certainty:

“There is no such thing as ‘matching social status’ with me. If I want to marry you, no one on this earth can stop me.”

I stared at him in disbelief. Reflected in his fiercely resolute eyes was my own completely flustered face.

He leaned down, pressing a hot, searing kiss against my cheek before slowly moving to my lips. His voice trembled softly against my skin:

“Yao Yao, that night… I really believed that once we gave ourselves to each other, you’d never leave me. How could you be so cruel?”

My lips went numb as his teeth grazed gently over them, his gaze threatening to drown every last drop of my resistance. He whispered against my mouth, every word a vow carved into stone:

“I am never letting you go again.”