She Has a Soft Spot for Me

[Gentle, powerful heiress ✖ fake-nice, sensitive puppy-like boy; she saves him, and they choose each other]

Chen Xiao pushed open the café door, then stopped and looked back. Through the glass, he saw the dazed woman sitting at a table.

It was the first time in his memory that he had come face-to-face with his mother.

A single thought drifted through his mind: She's nothing special.

Beside him, reflected in the window, stood a tall, straight figure with a cold aura and sharp, blade-like features. All the gloom and insecurity he'd once carried had faded away. It was as if the dark-hearted boy who had once seemed so obedient on the surface belonged to another lifetime.

He had no desire to linger. He opened the car door and ducked inside.

That evening, he returned to the apartment in Jinling.

Lin Zhixia had just set a bowl of hot soup on the dining table. When she saw him, she said gently, “Come eat. Mom sent over this fish maw and squab soup to nourish us.”

At the sight of her gentle eyes, all the hardness in Chen Xiao crumbled in an instant.

He went straight to her, wrapped his arms tightly around her, and buried his face against her neck.

Lin Zhixia immediately sensed that something was wrong. He clung to her anxiously, just like he had years ago, when his condition was unstable. He hadn't been like this in a long time.

She gently held him back, stroking his back again and again as she whispered in his ear, “It's okay. I'm right here.”

For a moment, Chen Xiao seemed on the verge of choking up. “Zhizhi, you're all I have.”

Tears instantly welled in Lin Zhixia's eyes.

She knew how much this boy had endured to become the refined young gentleman people admired today.

All she could do was hold him tight, tighter still.