She stared at the person in front of her. They hadn"t seen each other in so long, yet here they stood, silent, the only sound being the soft sound of their breathing.The person before her didn"t blink, afraid that she was only a mirage. An illusion. His dark eyes took in every one of her details, astonished that she had changed so much.
"Yunhua..." He murmured, his hand subconsciously going to touch her face to make sure she was real. The more that he leaned forward, the more that she began to realize the reality that she was facing.
She quickly dodged and slapped his hand away, giving him a fierce glare. "Zhou Feng!"
Hearing his name escape from her lips, Zhou Feng was startled. Not because she had spoken his name, but because she spoke it venomously. Hatred was evident, this much he could see in her now-honey-colored eyes.
"Yunhua... you"re..." He was speechless. He had meant to come visit Qiang Luo since the old man had been a faithful butler to the Zhou household for so long, even before he was born.
Yet here stood the woman that he thought died. Here stood the woman that he had tried so hard to forget. Even going as far as agreeing on his engagement with Kang Yiyi despite disliking the girl for her haughty att.i.tude.
He had a.s.sumed that the reason that neither he nor his brother could find Xiahu Yunhua was due to the fact that she had been proclaimed dead. Yet his brother persisted and didn"t believe any rumors while he had given up.
In his mind, at that time, he had known that even if she was alive, she would be with his brother and wouldn"t be his.
Yet two weeks ago, his brother had appeared with a completely different temperament. His playful personality had been replaced with an aura much colder than his. With an att.i.tude so bitter and frigid, it surprised Zhou Feng completely.
Zhou Lang had changed...
And Zhou Feng was sure that it was all due to this woman in front of him. Speaking of the woman in front of him, she had certainly lost weight. But despite being skinnier and looking different, he still couldn"t deny that his cold heart began to thump rapidly at the sight of her.
He ached to hug her, embrace her, tell her that he missed her...
But all his fantasies were placed on hold when she slapped his hand away.
"Yunhua..." his cold voice was laced with the slightest bit of hurt. After not seeing each other for so long, this was the way that she treated him.
Nonetheless, he was still a Zhou young master. He cleared his throat and said, "How have you been?"
Xiao Yunhua wanted to tsk at his behavior, but she managed to push away the feelings of repulse and coldly smiled. "I"m doing perfectly fine, Zhou young master."
Seeing her refer to him so coldly despite blurting out his name earlier, the hurt he felt intensified.
Why was she acting so unfamiliar?
"After what happened..." He hesitated, but she understood. Even though he didn"t know that it was partially his fault for causing her accident, Xiao Yunhua was still angry.
She bluntly replied, "I"m fine. My accident has nothing to do with you."
"What do you mean?" Zhou Feng asked her, clenching his fists at his sides. "I care for you—"
"I don"t need your care."
"Xiahu Yunhua!" Zhou Feng felt disrespected. Her lack of attention and lack of desire hurt his pride.
"Don"t call me that name." Xiao Yunhua calmly replied, knowing that it wasn"t the real her.
But to Zhou Feng, he had misinterpreted her statement as her despising him calling her name. He clenched his fists harder, opened his mouth to reply, but she had turned around and already left.
He slumped down and called Zhou Lang to inform him about what he knew.
Zhou Lang didn"t pick up the first couple of times until Zhou Feng"s persistence forced him to answer.
But before Zhou Lang could yell at his brother for bothering him, Zhou Feng stunned him by quickly saying, "Xiahu Yunhua is alive! She"s in the SX Hospital."
Silence met with his words.
"Zhou Lang?"
"...I know."
"Why do you sound so pessimistic?"
Zhou Lang took a few minutes to answer, but he finally did. "We broke up." Then he hung up.
And suddenly, the reason for his brother"s odd behavior these past two weeks made sense.
Xiahu Yunhua had broken up with him...
A new feeling began to fill Zhou Feng; subconsciously feeling relief. If his brother and Xiahu Yunhua had broken it off... did that mean that he had a chance?