The drive back from the Li Conglomerate felt longer than it should have.
Not because of traffic
.
Because of silence.
Xinyue sat in the back seat, staring out the window, her father's words still sitting somewhere at the edge of her mind.
"End it."
It wasn't the first time he had tried to control her life.
It was just the first time he had mentioned Ye Chenyan.
Her phone buzzed.
Once.
Twice.
She didn't look at it immediately.
When she finally did, it was Shen Yichen.
Shen Yichen: Where are you?
Another message followed.
Shen Yichen: I need to see you.
Xinyue didn't reply.
She locked the phone and placed it face down.
The car stopped in front of her apartment building.
She got out without rushing.
Inside, everything was quiet.
Too quiet again.
She kicked off her heels at the door and walked in barefoot, loosening her blouse slightly as she moved through the room.
Only when she reached the kitchen did she pause.
A glass was already there.
Filled.
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
Then,
"Your father spoke to you."
Xinyue turned.
Ye Chenyan was sitting on the sofa like he belonged there.
Not hiding.
Not intruding either.
Just present.
Like he had always been there.
"You broke into my apartment?" she asked calmly.
"I didn't break in," he replied. "Your security recognizes me."
"Recognized you? How?" She asked
"From the news. I am your fiance you know"
"That's not reassuring."
"It should be."
She walked closer, stopping a few steps away from him. "How did you know I would come here?"
Ye Chenyan looked at her directly. "You didn't answer your phone."
"That doesn't explain anything."
"It does," he said simply.
A pause.
Xinyue exhaled slightly. "What do you want?"
Ye Chenyan didn't answer immediately.
Then: "Your father contacted mine."
That made her expression shift slightly.
"…Of course he did."
"He wants the engagement ended."
Xinyue looked away briefly, then back. "And?"
"And I told him no."
That silence changed something in the room.
Xinyue studied him carefully now. "You didn't have to decide that without me."
"I didn't decide for you," Ye Chenyan said. "I decided for me."
A beat.
"That doesn't sound very cooperative," she said.
"It is," he replied. "I just don't cooperate with pressure."
Xinyue crossed her arms slightly. Lip curving into a smile "So now you're defying my father?"
"I'm not defying him," Ye Chenyan corrected. "I'm just ignoring him."
That almost made her smile.
But it faded quickly.
"You don't understand what you're stepping into," she said quietly.
Ye Chenyan's gaze didn't move.
"I understand enough."
"No," she said. "You don't."
A pause.
Then she added, softer but sharper:
"He doesn't threaten people lightly."
Ye Chenyan leaned back slightly. "Neither do I."
That made her stop.
Because he wasn't joking.
He just wasn't loud about it.
Xinyue looked at him for a long moment.
Then asked, "So what now?"
Ye Chenyan stood up slowly.
Now they were the same height.
Closer than before.
"We continue," he said.
"Even with pressure from my family?"
"Especially with pressure from your family."
A pause.
Then he added, calmer.
"Unless you want to back out."
Xinyue didn't answer immediately.
Not because she was unsure.
Because she was weighing something else.
Finally.
she spoke.
"I am not a coward." she said quietly.
Ye Chenyan nodded once.
"Good."
Another silence.
Different this time.
Less tense.
More aligned.
Xinyue looked away first. "You shouldn't come into my apartment like this."
"You didn't stop me."
"That's not the same thing."
"It is," he said.
A pause.
Then, almost casually.
"Your father is right about one thing."
Xinyue looked back at him immediately.
"What?"
Ye Chenyan met her eyes.
"This won't stay simple."
For a second, neither of them spoke.
Then Xinyue replied softly:
"I never expected it to."
And for the first time since the engagement started,
neither of them sounded like they were pretending otherwise.