Chapter 67 - Tan Jing

Tan Jing’s arrival was beyond everyone’s expectations, especially Cheng Yishu’s.

He had never changed the code for the apartment door. He had thought Tan Jing would never return, so the idea of memorizing a new string of numbers had never even occurred to him.

She was tall and fair-skinned, with short, dark brown hair styled to radiate the aura of a strong, independent woman—yet her gentle, almond-shaped eyes betrayed a softness that could not be concealed.

She exuded a mature and self-sufficient grace, never crossing into the kind of sharpness that might make others uneasy.

Chen Kai arrived with her, and as they were now colleagues at the same company, a few polite exchanges upon meeting were inevitable. Yet, as the owner of the apartment, Cheng Yishu seemed to be entirely overlooked.

“Miss Tan, you look well! The air abroad must really be something else. Since coming back from your honeymoon, you seem positively radiant, hah…” Chen Kai was always good at making small talk; words like these came easily to him.

Tan Jing’s voice suited her name—soft and serene, yet with a gentle beauty impossible to ignore.

“Mr. Chen, you’re too kind. No matter how nice it is abroad, it’s never as comfortable as home. Even though I’ve been away from the company these past months, I’ve still heard about everything you’ve done. I’m really grateful to you for looking after Yishu these last two months. He can be rather aloof, and I was worried your communication might run into trouble, so I was quite anxious…”

“Wait!” Cheng Yishu, having finally recovered from the shock of Tan Jing’s sudden visit, abruptly stood from the sofa. Eyes brimming with sarcasm, he stared at her and said,

“Did I hear you right? You’re grateful? Grateful to whom—him?” He pointed at Chen Kai, but his gaze remained fixed on Tan Jing.

“And who are you to be grateful to him? What gives you the right to thank him? Haven’t you already abandoned me, left me behind? So what does anything about me—my personality, my relationship with my agent—have to do with you? What right do you have to stand here and judge me?”

“Yishu…” Chen Kai had never imagined a man would openly question a woman in such a manner, especially in front of another person. No matter their past, this was hardly gentlemanly.

“Shut up!” Cheng Yishu rounded on Chen Kai, glaring at him.

“And as for you, just because you’re acting as my agent now, don’t think you can dictate my every move, that I’ll simply obey. I’m telling you both, I’m not a puppet on strings, nor a chess piece for you to play with!”

Tan Jing’s face went pale, and she stood there, stunned, as if she no longer recognized the man before her.

Was this really the same Cheng Yishu who had once spoken to her with such gentle words, who sometimes acted spoiled or willful? He had always been reserved and taciturn with outsiders, but when they were alone, he’d do anything to please her, never even raising his voice.

Redness burned more intensely in his eyes, his chest heaving with agitation. Yet, when he saw Tan Jing’s face grow even paler as she gazed at him in shock, his clenched fist loosened involuntarily, and even his ragged breathing began to calm.

“Yishu…” Tan Jing called his name, but then fell silent. Whether she had words she couldn’t say, or whether she was simply constrained by the presence of another, it was impossible to tell.

The air was so quiet it seemed almost eerie.

“Well… since Miss Tan has business with Yishu, I’ll leave you two to talk.” Chen Kai offered a polite smile and nodded to Tan Jing. He glanced at Cheng Yishu, but the young man paid him no mind. With a resigned sigh, Chen Kai got up and left, leaving only Tan Jing and Cheng Yishu—once inseparable, now awkward even in each other’s presence.

With a soft sigh, Tan Jing curved her lips in a faint smile, speaking quietly as she opened her handbag.

“Yishu, I brought you a gift—the one from your favorite brand…”

She hadn’t finished her sentence, and her hand had only just reached into the bag, when Cheng Yishu suddenly looked up and grabbed her wrist, his eyes burning into hers, full of astonishment.

Pain flared where he gripped her, making her arm tremble slightly. Cheng Yishu spoke.

“Why? Give me an answer. Just give me an answer today, right here, and I swear I’ll never bring it up again. I’ll never ask you again.”

“What?” Tan Jing replied softly, her face a tangle of emotions.

“Why did you help me back then? Why did you take me to Korea, stay by my side, take care of me? Even when you didn’t speak the language, even when I faced one harsh test after another, you’d still smile and encourage me, telling me I could do it, that I would succeed.”

Her bright eyes dimmed, and she turned away, unable to bear the pain in his gaze.

He continued, “Then after all the effort, I finally made it—debuting in a boy group in Korea, facing fierce competition, and eventually, when the group disbanded, you told me, ‘It’s alright, we only came to Korea to gain experience; we were always going to come home.’ When we returned, no entertainment company met your standards; you said if we were to sign, it had to be with a major company, so you chose Starstream. But Starstream had no interest in someone as insignificant as me. It was you—you fought so hard, negotiated with Wei Guoqiang, and that’s how I got my chance. You told me, ‘Yishu, our opportunity starts here. From now on, we’ll be an unbreakable team, and one day we’ll stand together on an even more dazzling stage…’”

Tan Jing closed her eyes, wrenched free of his grasp, and said, “Yishu, I haven’t forgotten any of that—I never could. I’ve always said, it hasn’t been easy for us to come this far. But from here on, Chen Kai is better suited to walk beside you than I am.”

“You know perfectly well what I’m really asking!” Cheng Yishu, like a lion on the verge of rage, towered over her as she lowered her eyes, unable to meet his gaze.

“Fine, let me be more direct… Tan Jing, did you ever love me?”

His voice trembled despite himself, laced with grievance and hope, with frustration and uncertainty. He needed her answer desperately—no more second-guessing, no more cryptic hints from Chen Kai, no more veiled reminders that “Tan Jing only left because she saw you had no more value, that all those years of hardship were for future success, not the one-sided love you always thought it was…”

“Yishu… all along, what I’ve felt for you… has only ever been the care a manager has for her artist…” Tan Jing couldn’t meet his eyes as she chose her words with care. But instead of exploding as she had feared, Cheng Yishu only let out a cold laugh.

“Care? Ha… ha…”

He laughed uncontrollably, staggering backward until his calves hit the coffee table and he had to stop, clutching his forehead. It was icy cold, yet why did it feel as though it was about to shatter?