"So busy, Mom, I've missed you so much." Su Yue deliberately softened her tone.
If it weren't for Su Minghua, she would have gone home the moment she returned to the country.
"You can still say something nice, just wait, Mom will come to your place to see you." Jiang Ling chuckled on the other end.
She already knew Su Yue's address; she had visited when the house was being renovated back then.
But she knew her daughter disliked Su Minghua, and she was caught in the middle, making things difficult.
Often, when she wanted to see her daughter, she was afraid her daughter would be reminded of Su Minghua and become unhappy.
Su Yue was a little surprised, knowing her mother wouldn't bring Su Minghua, so she agreed and hung up the phone.
She opened WeChat again, her gaze sweeping over the contact pinned to the top, with an avatar of a fierce-looking little wild beast.
The remark was still "Boyfriend."
The chat background was still their photo together.
But the chat history stopped two years ago.
The last message was from her: "What time will you be home?"
A few minutes after sending it, he had walked through the door.
...
Su Yue stared at the message in the chat box, resting her chin on her hand, lost in thought.
Suddenly, her spirits lifted.
The screen above now displayed "The other party is typing..."
She quickly sat up straight, waiting somewhat nervously for him to send a message.
But after typing for a while, no message came.
Finally, the typing indicator disappeared altogether.
It was truly frustrating.
She sighed softly unconsciously and decided to proactively create an opportunity.
Public Security Bureau.
With a major event approaching, in addition to security arrangements, the Public Security Administration also had many additional tasks.
For instance, formulating and issuing a stability maintenance plan for the period of the event to subordinate departments.
This part of the work also fell to Chen Ziming, and it was an additional workload.
Therefore, overtime had become the norm.
Just finishing the work at hand, everyone else in the department had gone home, but he was still sitting in the office.
He held his phone, looking at the contact pinned to the top, whose avatar was a figure seen from behind.
That avatar was still taken by her.
It was taken at Jinyan's hotel, in that small zoo, her back as she fed the alpacas.
She had been using it ever since.
His heart stirred, and the memories of the day resurfaced, stirring his heart even more intensely in the Public Security building as night fell.
He recalled her questions, again and again, during the day—
"Director Chen, will you come home with me?"
"Director Chen, please don't be angry, okay?"
"Director Chen, will you take me home?"
Life was truly a series of cycles.
This was the third time, and the beginning was still the same.
He looked at her coldly, letting her provoke him, but his heart had already been captured by her. Before long, he would fall into her sweet vortex once again.
And then be abandoned.
Would he be abandoned this time too?
Under the fluorescent lights of the office, a self-mocking smile appeared on the face of the man in police uniform.
What if he was abandoned.
He still couldn't do anything about her.
Especially now, even with all the accumulated anger, he still wanted to go find her after only a few provocations.
His slender fingers tapped on the avatar, and he typed a few words, only to delete them all.
Frustrated, Chen Ziming threw his phone onto the desk, leaned back in his office chair, covered his face with both hands, and took a deep breath.
He could still resist.
This time, he had to try his best to resist.
He had to let her know that he also had backbone, that he wasn't someone she could summon and dismiss at will.
When he couldn't resist any longer.
It wouldn't be too late to surrender.
Just as he was feeling vexed, his phone suddenly chimed with a WeChat notification.
He reached out a hand, grabbed his phone, and brought it to his face expressionlessly.
The next second, his eyes regained their luster.
Artemis: Director Chen, I'm scared sleeping alone, can you come to my place and keep me company? ༼つ்▽்༽つ
Chen Ziming snorted.
After all these years, she hadn't changed a bit. Relying on her good looks and his indulgence, she was so bold and disrespectful.
He deliberately waited five minutes before replying.
Su Yue watched his reply seriously at home.
After waiting for five minutes, she finally saw the "typing" prompt.
Boyfriend: No time.
The reply was as expected.
A sweet smile appeared on her face, and she replied with a dejected "Oh" emoji.
She then sent another message: Then can you come when you have time? I'll wait no matter how late it is.
Boyfriend: Don't waste your effort.
Boyfriend: Don't think about taking shortcuts.
Taking shortcuts?
Su Yue thought for a long time before she realized.
He meant that she shouldn't always think about "sleeping" her way to convince him, but rather put in some effort to appease him.
He hadn't been this difficult to appease before...
She sighed and silently replied, "Okay."