i prefer you

Chapter 6

Autumn leaves scattered scattered on the sidewalk, Ying'ai held a cup of warm coffee in her hand, but she didn't drink it, she just let the temperature of the coffee penetrate her palm, giving her temporary warmth.

Yes, temporary warmth.

After going abroad for more than two years, I have no sense of stability in Taiwan, let alone in a foreign land.Ying'ai felt that her sense of wandering was getting heavier.

"Why do you look depressed?" Xiao Wen turned and looked at Ying Ai who was sitting beside her. "After getting the degree, it can be said that it is very hot now. Whether you want to be an engineer or continue to do planning work, the company will reuse you, but you look..." What a vicissitudes of life!

The two women held coffee and sat on the sidewalk seats during their working hours, stealing half a day's leisure.Xuan Ying'ai has just returned from the United States. She has not been to Taiwan for more than two years, and she only has occasional contact with Xiaowen.

"No, that's not how I am." Ying'ai responded lightly.As soon as a person returns to Taiwan, many feelings that he had escaped in the past, just like this, have no chance to escape.

"You've changed a lot!" Xiaowen still couldn't get used to such a quiet Ying'ai.

She was wearing a turtleneck sweater, her face was buried in the collar and she looked so small, why did she always feel that she had an unbreakable willpower in the past? !
She has always seemed strong.Including that love affair that everyone thought was a pity, she was able to let go of a man like Xia Xuyong to pursue her own ideals.Perhaps that requires more than just the desire for her own dreams, so she has always followed Ying'ai's request to her at the beginning-don't let Xia Xuyong know about her news.

"Xiaowen..." Yingai's face was filled with a touch of sadness. "Is he... okay?"

His face floated in her heart, and the sudden emotional shock made her have to close her eyes, because the sourness overflowing from the bottom of her heart had already reached her eye sockets.

Xiao Wen turned her head to look at her in surprise, Ying Ai's closed eyes were filled with undeniable pain.

She...hasn't she already forgotten him?

"You mean Xia Xuyong?" Xiaowen asked cautiously.

She nodded, the corners of her eyes were already moist.

Xiaowen covered her mouth.

"you are not……"

"Don't want to mention him?" Ying Ai interjected, and finally opened her eyes, which were even brighter due to the washing of water vapor. "At first I was lying to myself, but later... I dare not mention it, I was afraid that I would... collapse!"

"Yingai!" Xiaowen held her trembling hand. "You still love him?"

Ying'ai bit her lower lip, tears rolled down her face. "It's always been. It's just that I can't admit it, I'm hiding it from you, from everyone, and pretending I can live without him."'

As soon as she left Taiwan, she knew her heart clearly, only the distance of lovesickness can be so far away!

But there was no turning back for her.

Her stubbornness and strength finally pushed her to a point where she couldn't turn back, and missed the only man she ever loved!
"My God! Then why don't you turn around?" Xiaowen asked excitedly. "I met him once or twice later, and he looked really haggard. Later, after the cooperation case between "Yingyuan" and "Guan Yu" ended, there was no new cooperation between the two parties."

"At that time, I felt that I was not ready to have a relationship at all. Xiao Wen, I realized how selfish I was later." Ying Ai said, the melancholy in her eyes slowly drifting into the air.

"Then what are you going to do now? Go find him?" After all, Xiaowen thought more realistically.

"I don't know, I... have to think about it." She didn't know how to face him, after all, she was the one who chose to leave without much explanation.

"Think? No matter how much you think about it, no one knows where it has gone!" Xiaowen said in a muffled voice. "I'm going back to work, when are you going to come into the office?"

"Finally figured it out?"

Ying Ai responded with a light smile.

Soon after Xiaowen left, Ying Ai drank the coffee in three or two gulps and walked aimlessly along the sidewalk.

She really didn't know what to do. After leaving him more than two years ago, she realized how much she loved him, and this love did not disappear with time as she thought.

It's really sad, isn't it?

He took out the mobile phone in his pocket and dialed a group of familiar numbers, but he couldn't dial it out.In fact, she already knew that this number was empty.

Standing in a daze by the side of the road holding the mobile phone in a daze, an exclamation broke her meditation.

"Yingai!"

A familiar deep male voice came.

There is no voice in this world, it is so low but so mellow and attractive, except for him!
She looked up, her mind blank.

"Why are you here? You're back? Ying'ai!" Xia Xuyong excitedly held her arm, almost hurting her.

Her face was pale, her eyes were blank, and she couldn't wake up from the shock.How many times has she had such a dream, dreaming that he held her hand, hugged her excitedly, and scolded her for abandoning him, but... is this true?

Her mouth opened and closed.

"I……"

He looked at her passionately.

Her hair has grown a bit longer, and the strands of hair are floating behind her shoulders. It loses the strong and smart feeling and is a little more gentle.The breeze brushed her hair gently, and when the bangs on her forehead were blown, the scar on her hairline was exposed.

"Your head!" His warm hand covered her forehead, gently brushing the hair, with a cautious look as if the wound was still bleeding. "how did you make it?"

When he asked so gently.A fragile plant passed through her body, and she almost shed tears.

"Don't you recognize me?" He held her shoulder as if suddenly thinking of something, and asked excitedly. "Is it because of this injury? Have you lost your memory?" My God!What happened to her in America?

lost memory?

He misunderstood and interpreted her bewilderment as amnesia.

She struggled twice, nodded her head as if she had will of her own will.

"So you don't remember me? Have you forgotten all of them? Or just some?" He asked again.

She let him hold her, thinking helplessly in her mind—how could it be like this?
"Some still remember..." She spit out this sentence.She wondered what he would say about their past.

If he thought she had lost her memory, then she would have a chance to hear him talk about their past, and maybe she could know his mind.Then she can also ask directly without being so embarrassed, and she can know the long-awaited answer.

"But you forgot about me alone?" He let go of her and took a step back with a shocked expression on his face.

Do not!
She regrets it!

She grabs his hand. "I……"

How could I forget you?

Xu Yong hugged her tightly.She sighed silently, letting the hug materialize.

How long?More than two years, more than 700 days without him, full of loneliness and loneliness.What kind of situation did she let herself live in? !Just because she couldn't handle her conflicts about feelings, because of avoidance, she pushed him out of her life.Now she doesn't want to let herself escape anymore, because no matter how far she escapes, her heart is empty, only her body is alive, but her soul is already dying of loneliness!
"How did your head hurt?" He put his arms around her delicate shoulders and lowered his head to ask.Over the years, he tried to forget the existence of this person, not to think about where she was and what she was doing, for fear that the wound in his heart would expand beyond control!

She bit her lower lip. "Not long after I went to the United States, I came home too late once, lost my way, ran into a messy area, was robbed and attacked by a gangster, and was already in the hospital when I woke up. Head injury, and brain injury Shock." Talking about this past event, she still had lingering fear.

This matter is true, but she recovered from her injury and did not lose her memory.

Now this lie seems to be getting more and more outrageous, do you want to tell him?

"Oh my God!" He hugged her pitifully again. "It's okay, I'll help you make up for your lost memory. It doesn't matter if you forget me, I can tell you how we met and how we got together." The pity for her at this moment made him completely forget that he wanted to forget her Wish, can't help being involved with her again.

She wanted to hear him talk, to hear what he had to say about their stories.

"Okay, tell me." Do you still love me?Said we can have another chance to do it all over again?
"Come with me." He took her hand and walked through several alleys.

The night has come quietly, the lights are on, and the misty colors of the night are beginning to be dyed.She shuttled back and forth between the alleys with him, and after walking for an unknown amount of time, she finally arrived at his destination.

"This is……"

She stared at the house glowing with cold blue light, shining like a cold star in the night.It's that store!
She bit her lower lip, and the choked sob almost escaped from her mouth.

That day, when she pushed open the door, he was standing in front of the phone next to the counter. His tall and tall figure was wrapped in a straight suit, but it couldn't cover the impatience and depression in his brows.

That was the first time she saw him.

Memories came flooding back and burst her tears.Warm tears slid down her cold face, she could only stare at the blue light at the door of the store, letting all her emotions emerge from her memory...

"What do you remember?" He wiped away the pearly teardrops on her face, feeling the same shock in his heart. "This is where we first met. I lost my wallet and cell phone, and when I called for help with the last five dollars I had on me, I dialed the wrong number. I was devastated because I I've never been so embarrassed in my life..."

It was exactly as I guessed!
She burst into laughter.

"But how thankful I was for that wrong call that made me know you—of course I didn't want to admit it at the time! But when you appeared in the store, your face was flushed, your eyes shone with slyness, as if A proud goddess who gave me five dollars." He pouted. "At that time, I was very angry. It was the first time I was so embarrassing, and I was saved by a woman." He smiled and shook his head.

She grinned, and a gentle emotion in her heart was gently pulled.

"It's amazing! Isn't it?" She looked at him, the tears in her eyes had evaporated, replaced by tenderness.His words, the way he described each other's past soothed the pain in her heart and filled the void in her soul over the past few years. "And then?" She wanted to hear more from him.

"Let's go in! You haven't forgotten that you like listening to jazz, have you?" He led her into the store.

Yes!You still remember!

The oncoming music stirred her thoughts, and the two sat down. This was the first time they listened to music and drank coffee together in this store.

Their love affair is too short to share more, but their love is also profound and lasts forever.

That feeling of regret, when revisiting the old place, emerged even more clearly, which made both of them very emotional.

So the two sat at the place where they met for the first time, listening to him talk about their relationship.

"You said that I...suddenly said that I was going to the United States, then you..." Finally, when it came to the important point, which was something they had to face, she asked nervously.

"This feeling is so strange! I seem to regard you as a reliable friend and talk about other people's stories. I have never talked about these things with others..." Xu Yong said.

"Why? Don't you have any friends?" she asked, eager to know what he really thought.

Although she was very speculative, she took advantage of this misunderstanding to deceive him.But how she wanted to know how he thought of her, how she wanted to know how he was doing well!It's not superficial inquires and pretentious packaging, but the real thoughts in the heart!
This temptation made her keep missing every opportunity to clarify the misunderstanding.

"For me, love is a dispensable thing. It was like this before I met you, so I got engaged. Although I didn't get married later, but before I met you, I really thought that the so-called love is just life A small part of it, and later..." His gaze grew farther. "Mind if I smoke?"

She shook her head, looked at his slender hands on the table, watched him take out a cigarette and light it.

When did he start smoking?

"Meeting you was completely out of my plan. I never thought that a woman could attract my attention like this. Seeing you always be strong and brave to live out yourself, I was attracted by you, but I also feel sorry for you. At that time, I thought maybe I was lucky, and I had the opportunity to meet someone who could spark a spark..." He leaned back, his eyes were deep, as if he was still living in the memory.

She never knew, never knew that he thought of her like this.

Just like she didn't know that she was deeply in love with him.

When she lost everything, she suddenly looked back and saw clearly what she had lost.That fact was so embarrassing that it was unbearable - she clearly saw that she was living with that evasive and cowardly attitude when facing the man she loved and desired the most in her life!

This is her sorrow, but also his sorrow.

"But I don't understand... Everything is back to the original point. I seem to have a dream. When I wake up from the dream, life still has to move forward."

"That's not a dream!" she couldn't help but say.

His eyes returned to her. "It was a dream, fleeting like a spark. Maybe I was incapable of keeping the spark burning..." he said sarcastically.

"It's not like that!" Why do you think that? !She squeezed his hand tightly. "That's not just a dream, it's the most important love in my life, the love that I will never forget in my life!" She said, tears came out of her eyes again, running down her face...

He looked like he had been punched.

"You remember." The words squeezed out between the teeth, as if they came from the deepest part of the ice cave.

Her tear-filled eyes froze.

He got it!

"Xu Yong!"

She grabbed his hand in fear and cried out beggingly.

He got up abruptly, shook off her grasping hand, strode towards the counter, paid the money himself, and walked out.

"Xu Yong!"

She chased him out, afraid of really losing track of him.

Xia Xuyong stepped forward with his long legs and quickly opened the distance.

Ying'ai trotted after him, he was getting faster and faster, she was chasing hard. "Xu Yong, listen to me!" she yelled.

He stopped abruptly, she couldn't catch up, and crashed into his arms, then fell to the ground.

"Aren't you going to say it?" He looked coldly at her who fell to the ground, a look of unbearableness flashed in his eyes, but Ying'ai didn't see it at all.When she struggled to get up from the ground, what she saw was the cold anger in his eyes.

"I..." She murmured, but she couldn't say a word in his eyes that were colder than the air.

He gave her a cold look. "Playing with me, are you proud?"

"No!" She hurriedly explained. "I am... just so you... I just..." How should I put it?

But after that heartbreak, the embarrassment of being played turned into anger again, making him not want to say anything to her anymore. "That's all for now, we have nothing more to say."

"Don't! Xu Yong, don't go!" She grabbed his sleeve, but he turned around and easily shook her off.

She caught up with his leaving footsteps and called him again. "Listen to me, I didn't mean to lie to you!"

But Xu Yong, like a deaf person, even started to run, determined to get rid of her.

She chased nervously, but the shadows on the sidewalk, the tree shadows and the sound of the cold wind made her nervous.His figure is getting smaller and smaller, but the shadow of the tree and the sound of the wind are getting bigger and bigger.

Just like she was running wildly in the dark alley that day, the man with the stick was chasing her closely. The night was very deep and dark, and the cold wind passing through her ears was so piercing.So thorny!She ran until her lungs were about to explode, but she still couldn't escape the sound of footsteps that followed closely.

She ran, and ran, until her legs had no strength left.Her hair was pulled, and then the sticks kept falling. She hugged herself and shrunk, the purse had been pulled away, but the falling sticks didn't stop!

There was a trace of dampness and heat on her hairline, her stomach hurt so badly, and her whole bone seemed to be cracked...

"Hmm..." she whimpered, and she didn't even have the strength to moan.

"Ai Ying! Ai Ying!"

Far away, there seemed to be a voice calling her name from a far away place, so anxious and familiar.

"It's okay, wake up. You're okay, wake up!"

A pair of firm hands patted her cold cheeks, she opened her eyes in a daze, and saw his worried face enlarged in front of her eyes.

"Xu Yong!" She called silently, as if she was paralyzed and lost all strength.

Xu Yong hurriedly picked her up. "I'll take you to the hospital!"

She leaned weakly against his chest, feeling her strength slowly return. "I'm fine, just let me rest."

This succubus is not the first time it has appeared.

It's just that it's usually a nightmare, and when it's severe, it's trembling and sweating in a dark place, but it's the first time it's like that just now.

He looked at her face again anxiously. "Can you do this?"

"It's okay, anyway, it's not the first time, every time you sweat, you'll be fine, don't worry." She couldn't bear to see his brow furrowed deeply.

"Not the first time?" His brows frowned even deeper. "Is this how you take care of yourself?!" he asked angrily.

She was scolded speechless.

"What if I didn't come back just now?" He asked aggressively again without letting her go. "You just let yourself like this, is this how you have treated yourself for more than two years?"

"You came back to find me?" But she only heard her own point, and hooked his neck happily. "I knew you wouldn't abandon me! I knew..." She cried as she spoke, as if the miserable woman had just returned.

Her cries softened his temper completely.

His heart softened again.

He was always too soft-hearted towards her.

He sighed softly, more surrender than helplessness.

"You really don't need to go to the hospital?" He put her on a chair by the road and touched her forehead.

Losing his embrace made her feel cold, and she hugged her arms to make up for the empty coldness. "No, I'm really fine."

He stared at the way she was stroking his arm, as if he was going to get angry again.She stopped in a daze, afraid that he would get angry again.

Unexpectedly, he took off his suit jacket and covered her body. "I'll take you home." Then he turned around and walked away.

She was stunned for a moment, and hurried to catch up, and stretched out her hand to hold the slender hand, using his warmth to warm the coldness in her hand.

This cold winter was the coldest and warmest winter in her life.

(End of this chapter)