Chapter 8

Chen Yiyue’s expression stiffened as he stared at me.

Only then did I notice the bloodshot threads in his eyes. It looked as if he hadn’t had one proper night’s sleep.

Nothing like the lazy, roguish, carefree man he used to be.

I looked away, suddenly feeling an unfamiliar ache in my heart.

Just then, my phone rang in my pocket.

The screen read: “Baby.”

Chen Yiyue had long arms. He reached for my phone.

I was quicker and hung up.

“Baby?” Chen Yiyue suddenly looked up at me, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “You found a new man abroad?”

“…”

Actually, it was the housekeeper calling. Her WeChat name really was “Baby.”

“Where’s the child?”

Chen Yiyue stared at the dark screen, his voice low. “I’ll go pick her up.”

I opened my mouth. “She’s my daughter.”

He gritted his teeth and glared at me. “Isn’t she mine too?”

Me: “…”

“You lied to me. I haven’t even settled that with you yet. Didn’t you sleep in my bed that night? When I woke up, I was so happy I nearly went crazy. Then you said the baby wasn’t mine, and I thought I’d just been having a wet dream.

“I made Hao Yuan get checked at the hospital for months. They stuck him with hundreds of needles. He’s completely infertile.

“The baby is mine, Zhang Yumian. From beginning to end, you were carrying my child.”

I had no way to argue.

I stammered, “I… I was afraid you wouldn’t want the baby…”

“Why wouldn’t I want my own child? Do you think I’m an idiot?”

“Well, who knew whether a baby would affect your future marriage? What if your moonlight wasn’t happy? What if you made me get rid of it? That’s why I…”

I knew there was no point stubbornly denying it, so I lowered my head.

“I’m sorry, Chen Yiyue. I shouldn’t have lied to you. I just wanted so badly to keep this baby.”

Chen Yiyue stared at me for a while. I thought he was about to say something, but instead he asked:

“What does ‘moonlight’ mean?”

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Fu Mian! The woman in your heart…”

Chen Yiyue immediately called to the bodyguards outside the door. “Go deal with Fu Mian. Bring her body here.”

I glared at him. “Hey! Chen Yiyue!”

“I don’t like Fu Mian! I never liked her! Zhang Yumian, do you hear me?”

“Then… didn’t you write her a love letter in middle school? You wrote something so cheesy, ‘Yumian…’”

“I wrote ‘Yumian’—the ‘mian’ meaning sleep, not her name! It was about your name, Zhang Yumian! Back then I fell playing basketball and broke my right arm. My handwriting was terrible, and I was afraid you’d make fun of me, so I asked the photocopy-shop owner outside the school gate to type it up. He typed the wrong character and sealed the envelope before I noticed!

“That night you brought Fu Mian home. She thought I liked her too. I made myself clear and told her not to show up in front of you and me again—or I wouldn’t go easy on her.”

Chen Yiyue suddenly stood up, glaring at me through gritted teeth.

“Zhang Yumian, I’ll say it again. I don’t like Fu Mian at all. I like you. Damn it, I love you!

“Even after you left because you didn’t want me, I still loved you. I’m going to cling to you for the rest of my life. As long as I’m alive, don’t even think about marrying someone else!”

When he finished speaking, the living room fell silent.

The bodyguards tactfully filed out and shut the door firmly behind them.

I sat there dumbly, trying to absorb what he’d just said.

Yumian—綿, soft and delicate. Yumian—眠, sleep…

So the person he’d called out that night in bed had been me all along?

Chen Yiyue waited for a while, but when I didn’t respond, he frowned. “…Zhang Yumian, are you deaf?”

“Hey? Zhang Yumian!”

At last he couldn’t hold back. He sat down, lowered his head, and spoke more quietly.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have raised my voice. I know I was wrong.

“I just… I was afraid you’d run away again.

“Zhang Yumian, can you say something? Even if you don’t want me, at least tell me why you’re rejecting me. I…”

Before he could finish, I leaned forward and kissed him.

“I’m not rejecting you.

“Chen Yiyue, I like you too.

“I won’t run away again. Never.

“I was wrong too. Can we stop being angry with each other?”

Chen Yiyue’s whole body trembled. The loneliness in his dark eyes was instantly replaced by light and vitality.

He held the back of my neck and kissed me deeply.

His lips and tongue swept over mine, carrying a longing so intense it felt like an illness.

Then he lifted me into his arms and strode toward the bedroom.

Kissing me as he went.

I whimpered and pushed against him. “Chen Yiyue, I just gave birth! What are you doing…?”

“Mm. You gave birth and then ran around without taking care of yourself. I have to check the breast milk for our daughter.”

“You shameless man! Mmm, how did you know it was a girl…?”

“I like girls. I hope she looks exactly like you, because you’re the only one I love.”

Fine, fine. Whenever men got carried away with passion, sweet words just poured out of them automatically.

15