Bai Yue watched her mother-in-law walk away with Zhěn still perched on her hip, the little girl's white hair mingling with Hán Bīng's silver-streaked locks. The ice queen was actually smiling. Not the faint, almost-smile she usually wore, but a real one, small and soft and genuine.
"I don't think I've ever seen her like that," Bai Yue murmured.
"Neither have I," Han Shān said, appearing at her elbow. "She's happy. My mother is actually happy."
Bai Yue looked up at him. His icy blue eyes were fixed on the retreating figures, and his usual stoic mask had cracked just enough to reveal the boy he must have been once, the one who had watched his mother raise him alone, who had never seen her soften for anyone.
"She deserves it," Bai Yue said softly. "After everything. After all those years alone."
Han Shān said nothing, but his hand found hers. His fingers were cold, they always were, but they curled around her palm with a gentleness that made her heart ache.
