Old Candy Wrapper

[If any dear readers are interested, please add it to your favorites! This humble girl is begging you (╥﹏╥)]

1. Seven years ago, Ruan Qingci tossed a stack of cash in front of Chen Huaian.

“You were just an exciting game. I’ve finished it now.”

She turned and walked into the downpour. Twelve steps. She never looked back.

Seven years later, they meet again. She’s the toughest advertising strategist in the industry, and he’s the youngest CEO of a rising tech company.

At the pitch meeting, he walked past her to someone else and gave her only one glance the entire time.

After the celebration, she was drunk in the corridor when she kissed him. He pinned her against the wall and kissed her back, then stopped, resting his forehead against hers as he panted.

“Ruan Qingci, do you even know what you’re doing?”

That night at the hotel, she unbuttoned his shirt and called him “Huaian,” her breathing completely unsteady.

The next morning, she left a check on the pillow. “Mr. Chen, last night was a transaction. From now on, let’s keep things strictly business.”

Chen Huaian, barefoot on the carpet, dragged her back and pinned her against the wall.

“What am I to you, really?”

“A plaything seven years ago, and a gigolo seven years later...”

“Don’t say that word!”

“Then tell me, what should I call you?”

She cried. He brushed away her tears with his thumb.

After seven years, he finally asked that question. And she finally didn’t have to pretend to be good anymore.

2. “What good is shining if it can’t even keep you warm?”

He said that from the bleachers when he was seventeen.

She remembered those words. It took her years to understand: he was talking about the moon, and about himself.

The moon would never turn sweet, and some people would never live to see dawn. But she remembered him that night. She remembered the fleeting look in his eyes when he said it, like a match that had burned halfway down before someone snuffed it out.

Back then, she didn’t know that match would keep burning for seven years. It would burn as she drove him away with the cruelest words, as he stood in the pouring rain calling her name, and as he said after they met again, “My path was already ruined there in the rain, because of you.”

She thought pushing him away would protect him. He spent seven years showing her that the person being pushed away had never left.

One always “leaves first,” and the other always “catches up.”

3. The celebration ended. She leaned against the corridor wall and reached for a cigarette, but her lighter was out of fuel. A hand reached over from beside her. Click. A flame sprang up.

She looked up. It was him. Chen Huaian from seven years ago, now standing before her in a custom-tailored suit.

She didn’t say “thank you.” She tossed the cigarette aside, rose onto her toes, and kissed him. He froze for half a second, then pinned her against the wall and kissed her back, one hand gripping the back of her head. Fierce, rough, carrying seven years of undiminished hatred and an even longer yearning. She couldn’t breathe and turned her head slightly, but he followed and bit her lower lip. She let out a muffled moan and gripped the lapels of his suit.

He stopped, resting his forehead against hers, both of them breathing hard.

“Shen Qingci, do you know what you’re doing?”

“I don’t know,” she said, then kissed him again.

She never mentioned what happened that night, and he never asked. But from then on, whenever he remembered her rising onto her toes in the corridor, he would turn his lighter over in his hand once more.

4. The door clicked shut, and his suit jacket fell to the floor. Her back pressed against the door as his kiss descended. When he bit the mole on her collarbone, she drew in a sharp breath and threaded her fingers through his hair. She began unbuttoning his shirt, but when she reached the third button, he caught her hand.

“Are you sure?”

She looked at him. “After seven years, you’re asking me that now?”

“I’m afraid you’ll leave again tomorrow.”

He let go after saying that. She undid the rest of the buttons and pressed her palm to his chest. His heartbeat burned against her fingertips through his skin.

Later, she called his name. “Huaian.” Her voice was hoarse, the last syllable wavering. He went still for a moment, then lowered his head and kissed the sound from her lips.

It was nearly dawn. She lay against his chest, and he twined his fingers through her hair. Neither of them slept.

“Does it hurt?” he asked.

She was silent for a while. “Hold me tighter,” she said. “Then it won’t hurt.”

He tightened his arms around her. By the time the sun rose, she would forget she’d said it. But before dawn, it was true.

A seemingly sweet but wicked girl x a younger, obsessive puppy-like guy

Tangled emotions x possessiveness

[Broken souls finding redemption, a second chance after heartbreak, reunion after years apart, aching push and pull]

Message: Every push and pull after their reunion is really asking the same question: The fire has gone out, but is there still heat in the ashes?