Ning Shiyu stood coldly among a group of people. It wasn't until his gaze landed ahead—landed on Lin Nuan—that he subconsciously stopped in his tracks.
Three years, a full three years. Lin Nuan had imagined countless accidental encounters.
Yet she'd never expected, not in a million years, that their meeting would be this sudden—so sudden it caught her completely off guard.
Both palms pressed tightly against her mid-length wool coat, Lin Nuan instinctively rubbed the sweat from her palms.
It felt like their parting had just happened yesterday.
But this person before her now seemed as unfamiliar as if they'd never even met.
Without realizing it, Ning Shiyu had left the others and was now standing in front of her, his eyes lowered, staring at her with unwavering focus.
With nowhere to hide, Lin Nuan gave a small, gentle smile and composed herself to greet him: "How are your parents these days?"
"They're well," Ning Shiyu replied expressionlessly.
"I'll find some time to visit them. I won't keep you from your work any longer."
After speaking, Lin Nuan brushed past the crowd, vanishing from everyone's sight.
Lin Nuan had come back. The woman who had tossed the divorce papers at him and left was back.
Three years without a word, and now, just as unannounced, she'd returned.
"President Ning."
"Mm." Someone beside him called again, and only then did Ning Shiyu recover himself and continue touring the other party's company.
But his thoughts were already disturbed, memories flashing of the moment someone stuffed their wedding ring into his hand.
After work, the first thing Lin Nuan did was pick Lin Shenshen up from daycare.
The little one saw Lin Nuan, and after a whole day of keeping a serious face, finally broke into a smile, grabbing onto Lin Nuan and refusing to let go.
"Lin Shenshen is really well-behaved. At his age, it's rare for kids to feed themselves or go to the restroom alone."
Listening to the teacher's praise, Lin Nuan's heart melted sweetly.
She'd been busy studying abroad, and Lin Shenshen learned early on to be self-sufficient—so well-behaved it made one ache.
Leaving the daycare, mother and son walked hand in hand, buying groceries on the way home to cook dinner.
But fragments of today's unexpected encounter kept surfacing in Lin Nuan's mind, as if it had all just been a dream.
--
Two days later, while Lin Nuan was busy at the office, Su Mubai suddenly called her.
Picking up, Lin Nuan cut straight to the point: "Mubai, is the apartment settled already?"
Su Mubai was Ning Shiyu's cousin, and had known Lin Nuan and Gao Xiaomei for years as classmates.
The three of them were very close back in school—they even called themselves the Three Musketeers.
"Nuannuan, there's something I need to report to you." Then, Su Mubai added, "But you have to promise first—you can't get mad, and especially not at me."
"Okay," Lin Nuan agreed without a second thought.
It was just the apartment—it couldn't be that big a deal. Worst case, the sale didn't go through; nothing to get upset about.
"Nuannuan, when I was handling the paperwork for you today, I found out that you and my cousin never actually got divorced. To buy the place, you need him there, or you need to finalize the divorce, or the purchase won't go through."
On the other end, Su Mubai rattled off a whole string of explanation.
Lin Nuan was completely lost: "Su Mubai, can you slow down? I don't understand a word."
Taking a deep breath, Su Mubai held it in, then announced solemnly, "Nuannuan, my cousin didn't go through with the divorce, so you can't buy the apartment right now."
"Impossible."
Impossible, absolutely impossible.
No one understood how much Ning Shiyu hated that marriage more than she did.
He could forgo anything—food, sleep—but divorce? How could he not go through with that?
But Su Mubai insisted that was the situation now, and to make absolutely sure, he told Lin Nuan to check with the Civil Affairs Bureau herself first.
Frustrated to the extreme, Lin Nuan took leave from work and headed straight to the bureau.
Using her ID to check, the bolded characters read "Married."
Still refusing to believe it, she asked the clerk if anything had been changed.
The receptionist gave her a confused look. "Don't you know if you're married or not? It says married. You registered five years ago."