Chapter 265 Choose to Leave
Luo Xiaoxi had gone through this in her head and had made a decision.
Last night was her last goodbye to Su Yicheng.
She put on a smile and nodded heavily. “I do. But, you have to get me a cool job, or I’ll quit.”
Unexpectedly, Lao Luo didn’t look happy at her agreeing to stay at the company.
“What, isn’t that what Lao Luo always wanted? He should be happy!”
“Xiaoxi, do you forget what I said when I just woke up?” Lao Luo put down the teacup. “I said I wanted you to be happy. Will you really be happy to continue working in Luo Enterprise?”
Luo Xiaoxi chuckled. “Of course I will! I’ve been happy during the past months!”
“Even if you can fool yourself, you can’t fool me.” Lao Luo’s words made Luo Xiaoxi’s smile freeze, and he continued, “Xiaoxi, I know you too well. Are you the kind of person who is used to the nine-to-five daily routine?”
“…”
“I know why you agreed. You were just trying to please me. But Xiaoxi, I’ve thought it through. I can sell Luo Enterprise to others and it won’t matter to me. Worldly possessions are nothing compared to good health and happiness. I don’t want to clip your wings or hold you back.
“Go ahead. Whatever you want to do, do it. Whatever you want, fight for it. As long as you’re happy, I won’t stop you anymore.”
“…”
Luo Xiaoxi lowered her head and let tears fall on her laps, spreading into a small patch of water stain.
Lao Luo held his daughter’s hand affectionately. “Invite Su Yicheng for dinner tonight.”
Luo Xiaoxi shook her head and suddenly cried. “Dad, I don’t know what to do.”
She indeed still loved Su Yicheng.
However, she could not persuade herself.
She feebly lay on her father’s laps and the tears soon wetted her father’s trousers.
Lao Luo stroked his daughter’s back, full of tenderness. “… Xiaoxi, go somewhere new. You’ve been having too much pressure during the past months. Go somewhere to relax. Maybe you’ll meet someone or something that helps you find the answer.”
…
It was on the next day, at the security of the airport.
After hearing her parent out, Luo Xiaoxi hugged Lao Luo and her mother, waving at them. “I’m leaving.”
“Be careful, don’t trust strangers, take care of yourself…” Mrs. Luo said and then couldn’t help laughing. “Did I say that before?”
“It’s fine!” Luo Xiaoxi smiled and hugged her mother again. “I’ll listen to you no matter how many times you’ve said them!”
Mrs. Luo’s eyes reddened. “Remember to take care of yourself.”
“I will! You and Lao Luo just need to wait for me to come back!”
After going through security, Luo Xiaoxi took the descending elevator and her figure slowly faded out of her parent’s view.
Soon, Lao Luo went back with his wife. However, Su Yicheng, who had been standing nearby, hadn’t moved at all. He fixed his gaze at where Luo Xiaoxi had disappeared as if she would come back the next second if he had kept staring long enough.
However, deep down, he knew that Luo Xiaoxi wouldn’t come back in a short time.
He thought the night at the party was the prelude of Luo Xiaoxi and him getting back together, but it turned out to be an epilogue.
Once again, he tasted the feeling he felt when he watched his father die. The most important piece of his heart had been mercilessly ripped off and only pain that was dripping blood remained.
He closed his eyes and when he opened them, he turned to leave. No one saw when his eyes had misted.
It was in the VIP departure lounge.
Luo Xiaoxi sipped the freshly squeezed orange juice the flight attendant served. She found Su Jianan’s number on the phone and called to tell that she was leaving.
“Xiaoxi…” Su Jianan seemed to have many things to say but held back in the end. She just reminded her. “Be careful in places you’ve never been to, take care of yourself.”
Luo Xiaoxi burst into laughter. “Why are you talking like my mom?”
Su Jianan chuckled too. “… When will you come back?”
Luo Xiaoxi paused for a while and answered, “I don’t know. I think I’ll come back when I sort out everything on my mind. You and Lu Boyan stay good. Greet me with good news when I come back!”
The flight attendant came in to inform Luo Xiaoxi that she could board now. She said goodbye to Su Jianan, turned off her phone and boarded on a plane to leave the city she was the most familiar with.
When the plane reached a certain height, the skysc.r.a.pers in this city turned small in her eyes, like a complex miniature. Unconsciously, she started to look for Su Yicheng’s apartment, but how was that possible?
Her heart was wrinkled into a lump, and for a second, she regretted leaving this place.
Nevertheless, she still left.
The person whose heart was also trashed was Su Jianan. She was sure that Su Yicheng must haven known about Luo Xiaoxi’s departure. She called Su Yicheng but never got through.
Though knowing that Su Yicheng wouldn’t act recklessly, she wanted to see him, even if she could only stay by him in silence.
Lu Boyan stopped Su Jianan in time. “At this kind of time, you should give him time to accept reality.”
“But…” Su Jianan wanted to say more but Luo Boyan interrupted.
Lu Boyan said, “At times like this, no man wants others to see what they look like right now.”
Su Jianan trusted Lu Boyan’s words, but her eyes turned suspicious. “Where did you get that experience?”
“This is not experience; it’s a.n.a.lysis.”
“…” Su Jianan couldn’t find a hole in his answer.
…
It was at Su Yicheng’s apartment.
Leaving the airport, Su Yicheng went straight back home.
After sitting upright on the sofa for an hour, he finally seemed to have realized something and walked to the photo wall.
The ancient town, Luo Xiaoxi, her smile…
Remembering them now, he found the short stay in the town was the happiest one in the time Luo Xiaoxi and he spent together.
Staring at the wall for a long time, Su Yicheng found that it wouldn’t do.
He even found air to be heavy. He couldn’t use his brain or feel his body. He felt a rock pressing on the top of her head and at the same time, millions of needles stabbing all over him…
How could he carry on like this?
He returned to the bedroom and lay on the bed Luo Xiaoxi and he used to sleep on together. Suddenly, he got hit by a patch of whiteness, and the temperature of his eyes soared.
The phone rang nonstop in the living room, but he ignored it like he had been in another world.
Half a day, he just needed half a day.
When it got dark outside, Su Yicheng closed his eyes and drifted off.
Since the accident of Luo Xiaoxi’s parents, he hadn’t slept well even with the help of sleeping pills. Now, boundless darkness shrouded him and he was not thinking of anyone or anything. All he wanted was to sleep.
Luo Xiaoix used to tell him that everything would be fine when he woke up.
It was a full night of sleep, and it was already the next day when Su Yicheng woke up. He involuntarily felt the sheet beside him but only felt emptiness and coldness. Luo Xiaoxi’s sleepy face was out of sight.
She was gone.
It was Monday.
He got up.
In the past, to save time, Su Yicheng usually wouldn’t make breakfast himself. However, at some point during the past months, he started enjoying making two breakfasts himself.
Today, he made two sandwiches, ground coffee beans to brew two lattes, and then made a fruit salad.
Luo Xiaoxi said that her day wouldn’t feel complete without fruit.
The housekeeping auntie came to do the cleaning and saw him serving two breakfasts. She thought Luo Xiaoxi, who hadn’t visited for a long time, would come today. However, the other breakfast remained on the dining table until the very end. Su Yicheng slowly ate his breakfast and looked so calm that even the aunt got confused.
When he was about to leave, the auntie finally couldn’t help asking, “Mr. Su, do I need to… get rid of the other breakfast?”
Su Yicheng frowned and rarely, he looked displeased with her. “Why do you have to do that?”
He had been gentlemanly and treated people in all walks of life politely, thus, even the housekeeping auntie got startled by him and only blankly said, “No one wants it… so I have to trash it. Otherwise, it’ll rot.”
Su Yicheng got dazed.
“No one wants it…
“Indeed, no one wants it anymore.”
The auntie couldn’t tell if his face softened or darkened, and she heard him. “Throw away then.”
This strange phenomenon continued. Su Yicheng kept making two breakfasts every morning. He would have one of them while the housekeeping auntie disposed of the other.
The auntie highly respected her employer, Su Yicheng. He was rich, but he was never arrogant and even treated her, a blue-collar worker, very politely. Therefore, she called Su Jianan and mentioned this strange matter to the latter.
“It’s fine. You don’t have to worry about him,” said Su Jianan, “Just… don’t ask if someone’s going to have the other breakfast.”
The housekeeping auntie vaguely guessed something, and she could do nothing but sigh.
Staff at Cheng An Group also noticed Su Yicheng’s abnormality. On the surface, he was still like before, a bit of a workaholic, both a strict and tolerant boss. However, sometimes, he would strike people as downbeat, even though he still ran the company perfectly fine.
The weirdest part was that he had wholly given up Su Enterprise’s acquisition and handed it over to Lu Boyan.
Only Lu Boyan dared to ask him why and he answered with three words. “In no mood.”
Winter came just like that.
On this day, Su Yicheng got off work and received a call from Luo Enterprise’s president’s office. Lao Luo wanted to meet with him.
They arranged to meet in a private club, a good place for people to relax. When Su Yicheng arrived, Lao Luo was already there, sipping on his tea. Su Yicheng apologetically sat down. “I’m sorry. We got caught up in the evening rush hour traffic.”
“It’s fine. You’re not late.” Lao Luo poured a cup of tea for Su Yicheng, who felt somewhat flattered and then darted a suspicious glance at Lao Luo.
Lao Luo pushed the nearly-full teacup to the front of Su Yicheng. “I didn’t know the entire thing until today. You hid it from Xiaoxi because of Lao Zhang.”
“…”
“And, the UK company’s director slipped out, so it was you who made the deal. After I got off work, I met with Manager Zhou. It turns out that he’s your friend. You must have arranged for him to work in our company to help Xiaoxi, right?” Lao Luo looked at Su Yicheng. “After all you’ve done, why didn’t you tell her?”
Su Yicheng lifted the teacup and at the same time, slightly lowered his head. “There’s no need to.”
Plus, at that time, Luo Xiaoxi had hated him to the fullest extent. If she had known about this, she would definitely decline his help.
Lao Luo sighed heavily and placed his phone in front of Su Yicheng. “She’s currently in Turkey, and this is the photo she sent to us yesterday. This wicked girl is crueler than me, calling us once a week. Her phone was always off, and we couldn’t reach her at all.”
Su Yicheng just stared at Luo Xiaoxi in the photo.
Behind her was Hagia Sophia. She was wearing a long coat and a pair of sungla.s.ses. She stretched her arms in front of the camera, smiling sweetly and brightly.
She grew thinner, but she looked fine.
He was perfectly fine with it.