Chapter 4: Face to Face

The international airport, two days later, at the international check-in area.

Ye Qingyu stood in the check-in line, his suitcase beside him, his face gaunt from two sleepless nights, his mind spinning because he still couldn’t reach Ruoyi.

“Ye Qingyu!”

The familiar voice behind him made him spin around. Ruoyi stood there, panting as if she’d run a long way, her hair a mess, her eyes swollen from crying.

“Ruoyi…” He let go of his suitcase and stepped toward her, then stopped halfway, not knowing what to say.

“You were going to leave without saying a word to me?” Ruoyi came closer, her voice both angry and choked. “You were going to let me find out the truth only after you were halfway around the world?”

“I’m sorry,” he said hoarsely. “I only wanted to protect you…”

“Protect me by lying to me?” Ruoyi cut him off, tears running down her face. “Protect me by making me think our three years of love were just a joke you could throw away? Ye Qingyu, do you know what the last two days have been like for me? I kept thinking I’d loved the wrong person. I kept tormenting myself, wondering what I did wrong that made you change your heart so fast.”

He looked at her, tears welling in his own eyes. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t think of a better way. I was afraid that if I told you the truth, you’d insist on coming with me. You’d give up the career you worked so hard for. You’d have to live through dark days beside a sick man, and if… if in the end I didn’t make it, you’d have lost the best years of your life because of me.”

“So you think I want to go on living without you?” Ruoyi grabbed the front of his coat, her voice shaking. “You think that if you just got on that plane and left me standing here watching you disappear, I could live the happy life you imagined for me?”

The airport speakers announced the final boarding call for his flight.

Ye Qingyu looked toward the gate, then back at Ruoyi, torn apart inside. “Ruoyi, I have to go. The doctor said the longer I delay treatment, the lower my chances.”

“Then go with me,” Ruoyi said, with sudden determination. “I’ve taken a year of unpaid leave from work. My suitcase is packed at home. I’ve booked a seat on the same flight.”

He stared at her, stunned. “You… when did you do all that?”

“The moment your mother told me the truth,” she said. “I don’t need you to make decisions for me anymore, Ye Qingyu. I’m an adult. I have the right to choose how I want to live, and I choose to be with you, no matter how hard the road ahead is.”

“But your job…” he tried, though his heart was already softening in the face of her resolve.

“I can find another job,” Ruoyi cut in, gripping his hand. “But if I let you go alone now, and something happens while I’m not by your side, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life. Ye Qingyu, please. Don’t take away my right to choose anymore.”

The speakers sounded one last time, urging passengers for the Frankfurt flight to go to the gate immediately.

Ye Qingyu looked into Ruoyi’s determined eyes, and at last he nodded and pulled her into a tight embrace. “All right. I won’t stop you anymore. But you have to promise me that whatever happens during treatment, you won’t fall apart. You won’t give up hope.”

“I promise,” Ruoyi said, tears and laughter mixing on her face. “As long as you promise me that you’ll fight to the very end, that you’ll never give up on your own or hide anything from me again.”

“I promise.”

Hand in hand, the two of them walked toward the gate, where a new journey, full of trials but also full of hope, was waiting.