The moment her gaze landed on Yubing, her composure shattered. A sound, half-sob, half-gasp, tore from her throat. She didn't walk. She ran.
Gone was the noble matriarch of the Su family, a woman known for her unshakable grace. In her place was just a mother, her refined silks rustling as she sprinted across the polished stone, all decorum forgotten in a torrent of desperate relief.
"Yubing!" she cried, her voice breaking on the single word, a sound filled with a year's worth of sleepless nights and silent fears.
Yubing's own icy calm, a shield she had painstakingly forged over the past year, finally cracked. She met her mother halfway, and Lady Su crashed into her, her arms wrapping around her with a strength that seemed impossible for her slender frame. She buried her face in her daughter's shoulder, her body shaking with silent, wracking sobs that spoke of a dam of anxiety finally breaking.
