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He Zifeng's thoughts were brought back to the present as his phone was ringing. He placed back the soap dish near the sink.

He picked up his phone from the coffee table and swiped the screen to answer.

"Mother." He Zifeng sounded a bit annoyed. At the back of his mind, he was asking why his mother is calling again when she had only left his place for a few hours.

"Zifeng...you will come home for the holidays, right? Don't tell me you're gonna sit all alone in your house!" Mrs. He was both teasing and scolding.

"Yeah...of course...I just...I just need to..."

"You just need to get hold of Kaori." Mrs. He completed his sentence for him. She knew he was still distracted about Chen Kaori suddenly leaving H&B.

There was a pause on the other line, then a sigh.

"No." He Zifeng tried to suppress his emotions in his voice, lying with his answer.

"Really?"

He Zifeng sighed. "Mother, I..."

"Can you do something about it? Can you change the fact that she left H&B under your nose?"

When He Zifeng remained silent, Mrs. He continued, "No? Go home then. I'll try to think with you."

"Mother, stop saying such nonsense. I will go home for the holidays. I just need to finish some paperworks in H&B. It has nothing to do with Chen Kaori," he denied.

"Alright. Whatever you say. See you then." With that, Mrs. He hung up.

He Zifeng sighed. Lately, he was not too efficient in his work as he got distracted by the fact that he had not seen Chen Kaori for several weeks.

He wondered if she will come home during the holidays.

.

As promised, He Zifeng came to his parents' house for the holidays.

His five-year old copper husky tail-wagging greeted him at the foyer.

"Hey, Brandy! Did you miss me?" he hugged the dog and patted its head. The dog was the offspring of his previous dog which he got in middle school after the incident.

His parents were bothered by his change in behavior after the incident so they got him a dog as pet companion as he limited conversations with humans. He liked the dog very much so they were relieved. The dog had puppies as it became an adult and they kept the copper-colored one.

He Zifeng took the then puppy Brandy with him when he studied abroad. However, his old dog died three years ago, so he brought back Brandy to their house just before he took over the company.

He Zifeng fixed his luggage in his room and Brandy followed.

After some time, there was a knock on his bedroom door. "Young Master, it's time to come down for dinner," the maid announced from behind the door.

"I got it." He Zifeng replied loud enough to be heard on the other side of the door.

He could hear the footsteps leaving as he held the photo frame which was sitting on his bedside table.

The photo it held was of two people and his old dog. Chen Kaori had a wide smile as she was hugging the dog, He Zifeng was sitting at the other side of the dog, and they were all covered in mud.

He Zifeng had a subtle chuckle.

Chen Kaori moved to the city to study high school after her parents got a divorce and her mother moved to City O. She lived alone in an apartment, so He Zifeng's parents often invited her to come over and had meals together. Sometimes, she even slept over.

Chen Kaori liked dogs very much that she often comes over just to play with his dog. That time in the photo, it just stopped raining when the dog escaped from the fence and they had to chase it down to bring it home. In the end, they were all covered in mud and Mrs. Chen had to take a photo.

He Zifeng looked at Brandy. He wondered if Chen Kaori would come over to play with the dog. He lifted the corner of his lips in a smile.