He Jichen thought about it and repeated himself: "Do you want to walk with me around the park in the afternoon?"
"Or how about we go shopping? Where do you want to go? Shin Kong Palace?"
"Or we could go Houhai. It's so hot - how about we find a bar to sit in?"
He Jichen asked her one question after another with an open, delicate voice. After having had a break from crying for so long in the canteen earlier, Ji Yi's tears suddenly fell again.
Sometimes, women were strange like that. Even after feeling enormously wronged, Ji Yi only held her tongue, clenched her teeth and endured it silently. However, the tears she forced back suddenly broke out in soundless sobs after she received words of comfort.
She wasn't actually that weak or that delicate. Three years ago, she didn't even shed a tear when she faced Qian Ge's betrayal or when she woke up to realize that Qian Ge sabotaged her while in cahoots with their mutual enemy.
Yesterday, she didn't cry when her ankle hurt so bad that it was hard for her to breathe after falling from the platform.
Back home, she didn't cry either when she received a call from Qian Ge to show off and provoke her.
Even this morning in the conference room, she never thought about crying when she felt so hurt from director Lin acting so cruel towards her.
In the afternoon, she didn't want to cry in the slightest even when she felt uneasy after seeing He Jichen so concerned and guilty rather than depressed over the YC employees talking about her and misunderstanding her in the canteen...
But after he appeared, she didn't know what was wrong with her. She became unbelievably emotional.
He Jichen, standing by Ji Yi's side, saw her tears fall. His compelling voice suddenly sounded worried: "Why're you crying again?"
"Don't cry, it's in the past. I already resolved what needs to be resolved. It's fine now..."
She wasn't crying because of what happened; she was crying because of him.
Did he know that she probably wouldn't have cried if he blamed her, complained to her, or even lectured her like director Lin? It was just that him acting like this now made her heart feel the worst pain.
"... Really, it's nothing. It's in the past now..."
The more He Jichen tried to cheer her up, the fiercer Ji Yi's throat seized up. She raised her hand and wiped away the tears on her face as she said with a trembling voice, "Don't say anything. I beg you. Stop talking..."
She was afraid that if he continued to speak, she would lose it and start to cry like she did in the canteen.
"Okay, okay, I won't talk. I won't talk anymore." He Jichen really did shut up.
The office instantly slipped into silence again.
She suppressed the surging emotions in her chest and stared at the bright sunshine outside the window.
He stood to one side, staring at her, silently accompanying her through the pain and sadness.
At that very moment, time seemed to quietly stop.
After a long, long time, the sun descended behind the mountains and night came. Neon lights started to light up, one after the other. Ji Yi's gaze withdrew from the window and fell on the man beside her, who had silently stayed with her all afternoon.
His patience and indulgence for her emotional states completely softened her heart. She stared at him for some time then remembered that she hadn't eaten lunch yet. Since he stayed by her side, He Jichen hadn't eaten either, so Ji Yi said, "I'm hungry."
Those two simple words were as beautiful as the sounds of nature for He Jichen. "What would you like to eat?" he asked immediately.