Chapter 192 - The Reunion Arc : The Beginning Of The Ending (1/2)
On the other side, Zhiyuan's black orbs were fixed on Xinyi as he slowly asked, ”Because you cannot hurt me?”
”Yes…” she wiped the corner of her eye. ”Please don't ask me anything, Zhiyuan,” it felt as if her soft voice was begging him, ”I don't want to…”
A thought came across his mind and he slowly widened his eyes. ”That time when you got afraid and pushed me away...is it because of this same thing?”
She froze. She slightly trembled but couldn't answer. Zhiyuan noticed the change in her demeanor and her face that had turned pale which said that he was right on the mark. Her traumatic reaction and the abortion was connected.
As he thought about it more and more, the foggy picture in front of him became clearer. He still didn't know the truth, but somehow, he felt he guessed the source of it.
”Xinyi, tell me the truth,” his heart started madly racing in his chest as he feared the worst. ”Did I do something?”
Her eyes widened and she looked at him, aghast. ”No!” She panicked as his question caught her off guard.
Zhiyuan felt even more sure by her expression now that he had an important role to play in whatever happened. And that was the worst. That realization stabbed him like hell. Xinyi suffered because of him to the point that she opted for abortion. He scarred her heart to the point that she was still in trauma.
All because of me…
He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. ”W-what did I do, Xinyi?”
Xinyi met his gaze that was filled with trepidation and horror. He had realized that it had to do with him which Xinyi never wanted.
”T-that…”
She had already buried that incident, so she didn't wish to rake it up now. ”Nothing.”
”Xinyi please!” The fear of hurting her in some way was driving him crazy. ”I need to know. If I am the one behind what happened then I need to know. If it was because of me that you were in that horrible condition three years back, then...I must know what I did wrong. How did I hurt you so much that you had to think of aborting Siying? Just what did I do?”
”No...I…cannot say it. Please don't make me…” she tremblingly took a few steps back, creating distance between them.
”I beg you, Xinyi please…Unknowingly, I have hurt you so much. I am guilty of driving you into depression and that state. How can I not know? Please Xinyi. Please don't care about hurting me. Don't think about my feelings. I deserve to know the bitter truth no matter how much cruel it is. I deserve to bear the pain and the consequences that will come with it. I am ready to take all the responsibility, but don't keep me in the dark anymore.”
”I cannot say it Zhiyuan!” She broke down. ”It will crush your heart as much as mine. Again, not again... I don't want to…”
Gasping and covering her mouth, she turned and ran away from him as tears escaped her eyes.
”Xi-Xinyi!”
Her knees were shaking, her chest swelled in uneasiness as she kept running. Now that Zhiyuan knew that she was hiding something from him, she had no place to go. Yet she wanted to run away because she had no strength to recall that night anymore.
She took a turn along the corridor when her knees finally gave away and she was on the verge of collapse. She took support of a pillar and stopped, her chest heaving up and down in breathlessness and adrenaline rushing all inside her. Slowly, she saw someone's feet coming in her sight. She froze and jerked her head up.
But to her shock, it wasn't Zhiyuan.
Xinyi quickly wiped her tears. ”Xiaosi…?”
No response. He merely looked at her with an impassive gaze, his silence having an eerie ring to it.
”Xinyi.”
She pursed her lips. ”Sorry for my state like this now...I am heading back home anyway. If you could, please tell Caihong and the others that I have left.”
”Not so soon, Mrs. Han.”
She blinked her eyes. ”What?”
She shuddered sharply when she saw his dark gaze suddenly filled with a sense of danger and alarm. It was menacing and even... hurtful.
”I mean you cannot leave until I bring the real meaning behind this reunion gathering.”