Chapter 1: A Meeting After the Rain

The city at night always had a beauty all its own.

Long rows of lights stretched along the rain-soaked streets, reflecting off the pavement in blurred streaks. People hurried to find shelter, umbrellas bobbing one after another through the rain like drifting petals.

Lin Kai stood at the glass window on the twenty-eighth floor of the Mingcheng Group, silently looking down at the city.

In his hand was a thin file.

On the first page was a single name.

Song Anran.

Kai looked at that name for a long time.

Eight years.

He had once thought he could forget.

But it turned out that with some people, just seeing their name is enough for the memories to find their own way back.

“Mr. Lin.”

His assistant Chen Wei’s voice came from behind him.

Kai closed the file.

“What is it?”

“The design for the southern resort project has been sent over. The partner wants you to look it over personally before tomorrow’s meeting.”

“Leave it there.”

“Yes, sir.”

Wei set the documents on the desk and turned to leave.

But after a few steps, he stopped.

“Mr. Lin…”

“Hm?”

“Ms. Song Anran is back in the city.”

The room fell silent.

Kai’s hand, resting on the edge of the desk, tightened slightly.

He didn’t ask anything more.

Wei understood and quietly stepped out.

The door closed.

Kai looked at the file again.

Eight years ago, Anran had left without giving him a single explanation.

Eight years later, she was back.

And what puzzled him most was that Mingcheng’s most important project this time had her name on the list of design consultants.

Kai laughed very softly.

“Did you really think we’d never meet again?”

At the same time, in a small café a few streets from the city center, Song Anran sat by the window.

She wore a simple cream dress, her long hair falling lightly over her shoulders.

In front of her was a cup of tea that had gone cold.

Across from her sat her best friend, Xiawei.

Xiawei propped her chin on her hand and looked at Anran.

“You really took this project?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know who’s in charge on Mingcheng’s side?”

Anran was silent for a few seconds.

“I know.”

“It’s Lin Kai.”

“Yes.”

Xiawei looked at her, deeply worried.

“Then why did you still take it?”

Anran looked down at the water beading along the edge of the window.

“Because it’s work.”

“That’s all?”

Anran smiled.

“What else could it be?”

Xiawei didn’t answer.

She knew Anran.

In eight years, Anran had never once mentioned the name Lin Kai.

Not because she had forgotten.

But because she had never truly let him out of her heart.

Xiawei sighed softly.

“You still love him?”

Anran was silent for a long time.

Finally, she only said:

“Some feelings don’t need to be named.”

Outside, the rain kept falling.

Anran looked at the city through the glass.

Eight years ago, she had left this place with a decision she believed was right.

She had thought enough time would make everything lighter.

But when she heard she would see Lin Kai again, her heart couldn’t stay as calm as she looked.

The phone on the table vibrated.

A new message.

Lin Kai: Tomorrow, nine o’clock. Conference room, twenty-eighth floor.

Anran looked at the words.

No greeting.

No how-are-you.

Not one unnecessary word.

Just like him, eight years ago.

She typed:

Fine.

Then deleted it.

She typed again:

I’ll be there on time.

This time, she sent it.

Xiawei looked at her.

“You still use your old number?”

Anran paused.

“Yes.”

“So does he.”

The two of them looked at each other.

Neither said anything more.

Nine o’clock the next morning.

Anran walked into Mingcheng’s conference room.

The glass door opened.

A man stood by the window with his back to her.

A well-fitted charcoal suit, tall and straight. The morning sun laid a thin layer of light across his shoulders.

Anran stopped.

Lin Kai turned around.

The moment their eyes met, the whole room seemed to grow quieter.

Eight years.

He was still Lin Kai.

The only difference was that back then, his eyes had held a warmth she had known so well.

Today, those eyes were so calm they were almost a stranger’s.

“Ms. Song.”

His voice was low and steady.

Anran composed herself.

“Mr. Lin.”

The formality was so distant that even she found it painful.

Kai pulled out a chair.

“Please, have a seat.”

The meeting began.

No one mentioned the past.

Anran presented the design proposal.

She explained every detail clearly, from the resort spaces to the landscaping, from the projected costs to the timeline.

Kai listened intently.

Now and then he asked a question.

Anran answered fluently.

They worked together so smoothly that everyone else in the room was surprised.

The meeting lasted nearly two hours.

As the others left one by one, Anran gathered her papers.

Kai stayed seated.

“You’ve changed a lot.”

Anran’s hands stopped.

“So have you, Mr. Lin.”

“How?”

“You’ve become harder to read.”

Kai looked at her.

“And you?”

Anran looked up.

It was the first time he had spoken to her the way he used to.

She was silent.

Kai didn’t say anything more either.

After a while, he asked:

“Why did you leave eight years ago?”

The question had finally come.

Anran set down her file.

“That was a long time ago.”

“I’m not asking whether it was a long time ago.”

Kai’s voice was still calm.

“I just want to know the reason.”

Anran looked at him.

There was so much she wanted to say.

That back then, she never wanted to leave him.

That she had stood outside his door for a very long time.

That she had written him so many letters.

But in the end, she never sent them.

Because before she left, she had received a message that made her believe Lin Kai no longer wanted to continue.

She had believed it.

For eight years.

Anran said softly:

“Some things don’t change anything, even if you know them.”

Kai looked at her.

“They do.”

He stood up.

“At the very least, I have the right to know the truth.”

Anran looked into his eyes.

For the first time in eight years, she realized the man in front of her was still the man she had loved.

And maybe what she feared most wasn’t that he had changed.

It was that he had never changed in her heart.

She picked up her bag.

“Mr. Lin, if there’s nothing else…”

“There is.”

Kai took a small box from his desk drawer.

He set it in front of her.

Anran looked at the box.

Her heart beat faster.

“This…”

“It’s yours.”

She opened it.

Inside was a silver hair clip.

The hair clip from her twenty-second birthday.

Anran froze.

“You kept it?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Kai looked at her.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

Anran didn’t understand.

Kai took an old envelope from the drawer.

On it was her familiar handwriting.

To Lin Kai.

Anran froze.

“This letter…”

“I found it in a box of old documents.”

She looked at the envelope.

“Have you read it?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because it was written to me.”

Kai set the letter in front of her.

“I want to hear it from you.”

Anran couldn’t answer.

Because she remembered that letter very clearly.

It was the last letter she wrote before leaving the city.

It held only one sentence:

If we ever meet again, I hope you’ll still want to hear my explanation.

Anran looked at Kai.

“You…”

Just then, Kai’s phone vibrated.

He looked at the screen.

His expression changed at once.

“What’s wrong?” Anran asked.

Kai didn’t answer right away.

He read the message once more.

Then he looked up at her.

“Anran.”

It was the first time in eight years he had said her name.

“There’s something about eight years ago I think you should know too.”

“What?”

Kai set down the phone.

“The person who sent you that message back then…”

He paused.

Their eyes met.

“…wasn’t me.”

Anran stood very still.

In that moment, every memory she thought she had packed away for eight years suddenly became clear.

She remembered every word.

Every moment.

Every decision.

If the person who sent that message wasn’t Lin Kai…

then who had kept them apart for eight years?

And more importantly,

why did that person want them to believe the other’s feelings had changed?

Anran looked at Kai.

“When did you find out?”

“Three days ago.”

“Then why only tell me today?”

Kai looked at her for a long time.

“Because I needed to be sure.”

“Sure of what?”

He walked over to the window.

Outside, the city went on as it did every day.

But for the two of them, a question from the past had just opened a new door.

Kai turned back.

“Sure that the woman I once loved still wanted to hear the answer.”

Anran said nothing.

Outside, the sun had come out after the rain.

But she knew the story between them had only just begun.