"After you left, I worked hard to live how you hoped I would. I did it because it felt like you were still with me..."
He Jichen's fingers by his sides gently curled and tightly clenched into his palms.
He didn't say a thing as the woman glued to his back cried violently and quickly drenched a big patch of his shirt.
She loosened her grip around his waist then placed her face even closer to his body. "I really do like you. I didn't develop feelings for you just because of all the things you did for me."
"I realized I liked you when I found out that everything you did for me that night, two years ago at the television awards, was just to help me attack Qian Ge."
"I didn't dare tell you because I married Yuguang Ge and I didn't want to be a thorn between you two brothers..."
"But He Jichen, did you know? I liked you before I even knew it. Maybe I knew the moment we watched fireworks together two Chinese New Years ago; or maybe I knew even before that, when you told me that without YC, I'd still have you; or maybe even earlier than that, when you fired director Lin for me, or when we took that evening stroll by West Lake during the shoot for 'Three Thousand Lunatics'."
"I didn't know you were the one who arranged the sky full of lanterns that evening, not Yuguang Ge. If I knew you were pretending to be Yuguang Ge and that the one typing on the phone all along was you, I never would've rejected you!"
"You told me to believe you, and I do. You've really been with me throughout my comeback and you've also helped me get back everything bit by bit. The annual television awards will be held again in a few days' time. I'm nominated for the best actress and I might get the best leading female award for last year's popular release of 'Jiuchong Palace.' For the past year, my career has gone smoothly and I've been living a glamorous life every day. It's just as you said before about how I would reach the peak of success, but I'm not happy in the slightest. I feel like the whole world is shrouded in darkness because you, who brought me to my brightest heights step by step, weren't by my side. For the past year, even when I was well off, I would think back to my days with you. Although I wasn't famous, and although Qian Ge also bullied me back then, that was when I was happiest..."
"Everyone says that 'Jiuchong Palace' is a drama I should be most proud of, but they don't know about the pain I ignored for the past year or so."
As Ji Yi said this, the sound of a broken sob escaped her mouth. "He Jichen, do you know why I tricked you into coming here today?"
"I wanted to propose to you..."
Propose... He Jichen's body swayed slightly.
Ji Yi didn't say anything more as silence encircled the two of them once again.
After who knew how much time passed, Ji Yi said with a quiet murmur, "He Jichen, do you really not plan on being with me anymore?"
Ji Yi didn't wait for He Jichen to speak and continued to go on.
"But I know you still love me. At Lilac, you were stunned to see me. At your apartment, when I grabbed on and wouldn't let you go see Xia Yuan out, you caved in. Even just now, when you saw me fighting someone, your first reaction was to call Chen Bai and order him to do a bunch of things just like before..."
"So, He Jichen... you still want to be with me, right?"