Chapter 19: Lost Just Like That

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Xu Sian wickedly blew air into her ear.

Qiao Xu instinctively flinched.

The hand wrapped around her waist tightened. “Qiao Qiao, don’t say things that make me angry.”

Qiao Xu lowered her head and spoke coldly, “I’m just telling the truth. You know very well that my needs are great after being with you. If I don’t find someone else to help, I will—”

Her neck was gently pinched and lifted, meeting his fierce, reddened eyes.

“Are you courting death?”

“I want to live. It’s you who never lets me go.”

Xu Sian lowered his head, his cheek against hers. “You haven’t let me go either, haven’t you?”

He growled softly, clutching her hand and pounding it against his chest. “Right here, right here—this place has tormented me for four whole years.”

“Qiao Xu, why are you so cruel? You said you’d abandon me, and you just did.”

Qiao Xu couldn’t break free from his grasp but softened her voice. “My hand hurts.”

The grip on her wrist loosened slightly, and her hand covered the spot between his thumb and forefinger where he had been holding her throat.

Xu Sian’s sharp eyes caught the scratch marks. “What’s wrong with your hand?”

“It’s itchy. I scratched it.”

He released her and reached to pull up her sleeve to check. “Is it an allergy? I’ll ask if there were peanuts in tonight’s supper.”

Qiao Xu took a step back. “Xu Sian, we’re not meant to be together. We weren’t four years ago, and four years later, even less so.”

“I’ll have someone buy medicine. If you scratch it open, it’ll leave a mark.”

He turned and walked toward the desk to pick up his phone, but before he could dial, he heard her speak.

“Xu Sian, stop avoiding this.”

“And stop clinging on.”

“I’m getting married soon. What you’re doing will affect my life.”

Xu Sian’s back curved slightly as he clenched the phone tightly and hurled it at the glass wall.

“Get lost.”

The phone hit the carpet with a loud thud.

For a moment, Qiao Xu feared he might shatter the glass and that she would be thrown down.

She opened the door and fled, while the man’s hand tremblingly pressed against the desk.

His shoulders trembled lightly.

During their reunion, no matter how harsh Qiao Xu’s words, she never mentioned marrying anyone else.

She once said she would only marry Xu Sian because when typed in nine-key pinyin, “Xu Sian” and “Qiao Xu” are the same—he begins, she ends.

Qiao Xu went to the restroom, washed her hands clean, removed her contact lenses, and threw them into the trash.

Without caring that her makeup was still on, she splashed cold water on her face.

She knew exactly where Xu Sian’s weakness lay, where the blade would hurt the most.

Even if she reconciled with him, even if she married him, the Xu family would never accept her.

Nor could she calmly accept a mother-in-law who threatened to have her parents killed.

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After changing out of her high heels, Qiao Xu left the office and saw Xu Sian and Song Jia by the elevator.

“Sister Xu, it’s so late—how are you going home?”

“Maybe let President Xu—”

Qiao Xu smiled and interrupted, “I’ll just take a taxi myself.”

Xu Sian snorted coldly. “My car isn’t a bus. Do you think anyone can just get in?”

Qiao Xu’s steps faltered as she entered the elevator.

Her hand tightened around her bag strap, nails digging into her palm without her noticing.

The man strode into the elevator; Qiao Xu took a step back.

Song Jia asked, “Sister Xu, aren’t you leaving?”

Qiao Xu suppressed the sharp pain rising in her chest. “I forgot my house keys. You guys go ahead.”

As the elevator doors closed, Song Jia muttered, “Not installing a password lock—how unsafe is that?”

Xu Sian clenched his fists and slammed them against the elevator wall.

“Damn it!”

“Xu Sian, you’ve got a foul mouth.”

He had been so angry moments ago he hadn’t realized what he had blurted out.

Song Jia was startled. “President Xu, what’s wrong?”

Xu Sian held out his hand. “Car keys. You take a taxi yourself.”

“Okay, President Xu.”

After the elevator doors shut, Qiao Xu crouched down, tears falling onto her shoe tips. “Bastard.”

“Xu Sian, you’re such a damn bastard.”

“I’ll never love you again.”

Wiping her tears, she pressed the elevator button, called a car, and headed downstairs.

At the entrance, a black Porsche stopped abruptly, the window rolling down. “Get in.”

Qiao Xu ignored him, lowering her gaze to the ride-hailing app on her phone.

At this hour, pickups were slow, so she added a tip.

“Get in. I’ll take you home.”

“No, thank you.”

Xu Sian unbuckled his seatbelt, got out, and opened the passenger door. “Do you want to get in yourself, or should I carry you?”

Qiao Xu met his gaze coldly. “Xu Sian, how cheap are you? I don’t love you anymore, so why are you still clinging to me?”

“Yes, I’m shameless. Get in.”

Her retreating steps enraged Xu Sian, who reached out to grab her, but Qiao Xu nimbly dodged and ran out onto the street.

Xu Sian’s face darkened with fury.

“Damn it, what are you running around for in the middle of the night?”

Right now, all Qiao Xu could think of was avoiding this man.

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She ran while looking back, seeing Xu Sian chasing after her, her bag dropped and ignored.

“Stop! It’s dangerous!”

“If you don’t chase me, it won’t be dangerous.”

Qiao Xu lost her sense of direction and dashed into the middle of the road.

The streetlights dimmed the road, and every intersection was a blind spot.

As she dashed across the crosswalk, a car rounding the corner couldn’t brake in time.

“Qiao Xu!”

Xu Sian wished his feet had wheels.

The speeding car grazed past her, and she collapsed on the curb steps.

The car ahead stopped, and the driver angrily got out.

Xu Sian crouched down nervously, holding the stunned Qiao Xu close. “Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Qiao Xu, speak to me. Where does it hurt?”

The driver cursed as he approached, “Are you blind? Coming out into the road at midnight—is this what you want?”

Xu Sian pulled Qiao Xu closer, his cold eyes fixed on the man, who was barely coherent and spitting profanities. “Drunk driving, speeding at the intersection, speeding on the crosswalk.”

“Damn it, I’m just unlucky.”

But mainly, Xu Sian’s expression was terrifying, and the driver really was drunk, so he slunk away.

Xu Sian pushed her slightly aside to check her pants.

Qiao Xu slapped his hand away, shouting, “You’re a bastard.”

“Yes, I’m a bastard. Where does it hurt?”

“Get away and don’t touch me.”

She shifted her foot, tears streaming from the pain.

Her knee had hit the step when she fell, and her palm was scraped.

Xu Sian scooped her up horizontally. Qiao Xu tried to jump down. “Put me down. I don’t want you holding me.”

“Don’t move, or you’ll fall again.”

Pouting, Qiao Xu said, “I’m a bus anyone can get on—don’t dirty me.”

“Qiao Xu!”

Xu Sian was nearly driven mad, but since it was his own words, though he didn’t mean them that way.

Still, after just arguing, hearing her say that made it hard not to think otherwise.

Passing the spot where her bag had dropped, Xu Sian crouched to retrieve it and slung it over his shoulder.

“Don’t say things in anger. You know I didn’t mean that.”

Qiao Xu smiled faintly. “Xu Sian, the words spoken in haste are the most sincere.”

Xu Sian was speechless. He blurted it out but certainly didn’t mean it that way. He probably understood Qiao Xu better than she did herself.