Chapter 11: Flashback — Rain on the Steps
[Location: City A — University Campus (5 Years Ago) | Time: 4:30 PM | Weather: Rainstorm]
The storm had arrived too fast for anyone to take shelter. Students ran across the soaked stone walkways, shielding their heads with notebooks and backpacks. The wide marble steps in front of the main library glistened with fresh rain, slick and shimmering under the gray sky.
Qin Lingxi sat alone beneath the stone archway, knees pulled to her chest, drenched to the bone.
She didn't care.
Her white medical coat was stained from the puddle she hadn't bothered to avoid. Raindrops trickled down her neck, but her eyes remained vacant.
Clutched in her fist was a red envelope—creased and torn.
"Don't come back unless you've made something of yourself."
That's what her father had said the last time she dared to call home. Her scholarship was barely enough to keep her afloat, and part-time jobs only filled her with more exhaustion than savings.
She felt invisible in the world. Even to herself.
Then came the sound of footsteps—not hurried, but heavy and deliberate. A pair of polished black shoes stopped before her.
She looked up.
Xu Yichen stood holding a large black umbrella over her head.
His shirt was soaked, clearly from running across campus before shielding himself. His expression was unreadable, but not unkind.
"You look like a misplaced ink sketch," he said quietly.
She blinked. Was that... a joke?
"You're not laughing," he added.
"You're not funny," she mumbled.
"Maybe. But you've been sitting here for thirty minutes. I counted."
She scowled.
"Why are you here?"
"Because I thought maybe the rain wouldn't notice you crying, but I did."
That silenced her.
He crouched beside her, still holding the umbrella high above them.
"You don't have to talk. Just don't get pneumonia. I don't want to visit the ER for a bad metaphor."
A small, unwilling laugh escaped her lips.
"He saw me."
[Location: University Library — Reading Hall | Time: 5:15 PM]
Lingxi sat across from him now, wrapped in a borrowed gray hoodie. Her hands clutched a cup of vending machine coffee like it was a lifeline.
Yichen sat with a half-eaten sandwich, watching her.
"You really aren't going to ask?"
"About?"
"Why I was crying."
"No. But I'll tell you this," he said, sipping his lukewarm coffee. "If it's a guy, let me punch him."
She cracked another smile.
"It's not a guy."
"Then let me punch whoever it was anyway."
Lingxi leaned back against the chair.
"You don't know me."
"You're Qin Lingxi. First-year medical student. Top of your anatomy lab. You help the librarian organize her books on Saturdays. And you think ramen counts as a food group."
She blinked.
"You're stalking me."
"I'm observant."
"You're nosy."
"Guilty."
Their eyes met for a moment too long.
She looked away first.
"Why would you care about someone like me?"
"Because I see someone like you."
[Location: Present Day — Xu Corporation | Time: 6:45 PM]
Xu Yichen sat alone in his office, the lights off, the city behind him lit like a field of fallen stars.
In his hand was the old photograph again—Lingxi, soaked and smiling, under his umbrella. His own face barely captured on the edge of the frame.
That day had never left him.
The day he realized not all storms were meant to be avoided.
Some you shared.
"You didn't owe me anything back then," he murmured.
"But you gave me something anyway."
[Location: Qin Lingxi's Apartment | Time: 7:30 PM]
She lit a candle on her desk and opened the same sketchbook from earlier. The drawing from that memory was halfway done.
Herself on the steps.
Yichen, standing tall, umbrella overhead.
But now she added something—her own hand reaching out to take his.
A line of words beneath the sketch:
"I didn't cry for the rain. I cried because someone finally saw me."
Her phone buzzed.
[New Message — From Yuan Fei]
Update: Du Haoran's people are digging into the university archives. You might want to tighten access.
She sighed, fingers pausing over the keyboard.
Reply:
Let them dig. I've already buried what needs to stay hidden.
She turned back to the sketch.
"That girl… still lives inside me."
[Location: Chen Family Villa | Time: 8:15 PM]
Chen Yao stood in the hallway outside her late father's study. The house was too quiet.
In her hand, she held the letter again—the one Yichen wrote.
She stepped into the study, placed the letter inside a drawer, and locked it.
"Maybe I wasn't kind."
"But you never really looked back either."
In the mirror, her reflection stared back, harder than before.
"This time, I won't beg."
[Location: Du Haoran's Residence | Time: 8:30 PM]
Du Haoran snapped the last page of the old university file shut.
The student ID photo of Qin Lingxi—unregistered, buried under pseudonyms—smiled faintly from the corner.
"So you were hiding long before you disappeared."
He picked up his phone.
"Make contact. I want to know where she lives. Now."
[Location: University Campus — Back to Flashback | Time: 6:30 PM]
Xu Yichen and Lingxi walked side by side under the umbrella.
"Where do you want to be in five years?" she asked softly.
"Somewhere I can speak freely."
"And you?"
He glanced at her.
"Somewhere I'm not just someone's daughter."
They shared a look.
"That sounds lonely," he said.
"That sounds honest," she replied.
And for the first time that day, they smiled like maybe... they weren't so alone.
[End of Chapter 11]
A/N — Author's Note:This chapter brings us into the emotional core of Yichen and Lingxi's past. Their first true connection wasn't forged by fire—but by silence, honesty, and a shared vulnerability. Stay tuned as shadows from the past begin to stir in the present.