Chapter 5 — Happiness in Hand

He looked at me with a profound, unfathomable gaze, his fists clenching so tightly that his knuckles turned white before he finally turned and walked away, his broad shoulders weighed down by a brooding, suffocating darkness. Starry Dawn rushed out just at that moment, latching onto his arm with a whining plea for him to drive her home. Yet he did not even spare her a single glance, stepping into his car alone and speeding off into the distance. I hurriedly examined Xuan Bing's hand while rushing out an explanation.

"I did pursue him in the past, it is true, but we were never even considered lovers. I have never shared any intimate relationship with him whatsoever..."

Xuan Bing merely smiled gently, reaching out to stroke my hair with infinite tenderness.

"Do not worry. I would never believe the nonsense coming from that boy's mouth," he murmured. "I only believe you."

I froze, staring up at him as a sudden, uncontrollable heat rushed to my cheeks. Abruptly withdrawing his hand, Xuan Bing rubbed his knuckles with a pitiful, exaggerated expression of woe.

"My hand hurts terribly now, though. I am afraid I cannot drive. And I certainly will not be able to cook for the next couple of days either. Someone will simply have to take care of me if I am to recover..."

This man was a powerful, commanding chief executive—since when did he even know how to cook? Watching his rare, childlike display of vulnerability, my heart melted completely. Mimicking the gesture he had just used on me, I gently stroked his head and replied softly.

"Fine, fine. I will take care of you these next two days, alright?"

The corners of Xuan Bing's lips curled upward into a deeply satisfied smile.

"Then I must express my gratitude to my lady in advance."

The days that followed saw an unexpected, effortless harmony bloom between us. Our personalities complemented one another seamlessly, and both of us instinctively understood the art of compromise and mutual understanding. Within a remarkably short span of time, I realized that this must be what true soul synchronization felt like. It was only then that I fully grasped how tragic a waste those years of misplaced affection in the past truly were.

Yet, mere days later, a friend suddenly sent me a congratulatory message: [Nam Xi, after so many years of persistently chasing after him, you finally made him fall in love with you!] [I heard you two have good news on the way; I simply cannot wait to drink at your wedding banquet!]

The prestigious family he belonged to always required their marriage dates to be officially set before any public announcements could be made. Consequently, the high society circles in the northern capital still universally assumed I was bound to marry him. Surprised by the message, I opened his social media account—one I had long since blocked—and discovered to my astonishment that his profile picture, banner, and pinned post had all been replaced with photographs of me. Even his personal status had been updated: [For the rest of my life, I shall love only Bai Nam Xi.] It was an unmistakable, deliberate public declaration meant for the entire elite society.

Yet this grand gesture failed to stir even the slightest ripple within my heart. In our past life, no matter how desperately I begged, he had never once offered the slightest public acknowledgment of my affection. Now that he had lost me, he felt remorse and wished to make amends? Such cheap and useless sentimentality was worthless to him.

At noon, I shared a simple lunch with my colleagues in the corporate cafeteria. Barely halfway through the meal, Starry Dawn suddenly stormed in, shrieking like a madwoman as she pointed a trembling finger straight at me.

"Bai Nam Xi! What kind of spell did you cast on him? Why on earth has he suddenly turned his attention back to you, of all people? He even said he wants to cancel our marriage registration!"

"On what grounds? Why is it that no matter how many times we replay this, I still cannot defeat you?! Drop dead! Just drop dead!"

The next second, Starry Dawn snatched a bowl of scalding hot soup from a nearby table and hurled it directly at me. A figure suddenly materialized before my eyes, blocking the searing liquid entirely. He turned around, forcing a reluctant smile as though nothing were amiss, though the back of his shirt was already drenched and soaked through with the steaming broth. Making sure I was unharmed, he spun around, his eyes locking onto Starry Dawn with a murderous, freezing glare.

"You dare cause a scene right in front of her? And you even tried to injury her?! It seems you have truly grown tired of living!"

He shoved Starry Dawn violently to the side. She staggered and collapsed hard onto the floor, and moments later, a bright, crimson pool of blood began to seep from beneath her. Gasps echoed through the crowded room as onlookers covered their mouths in horror.

"Oh heavens... so much blood... could she be having a miscarriage?"

Starry Dawn stared down blankly at the spreading stain, letting out a shriek of agonizing despair a second later. Trembling violently, she pointed a finger at him, screaming in absolute torment.

"You! You actually killed our child with your own hands?!"

For a fleeting moment, panic flashed across his face, but he quickly turned back to me, desperately pleading.

"It is not true, Nam Xi! You saw it yourself that day—the passenger seat of my car was full of boxes; there is no way she could have been pregnant with my child!"

"She must have been sleeping around behind my back and carried another man's child! That baby in her belly could never be mine!"

I brushed his hand away, a deep sense of revulsion washing over me.

"Do you really believe wearing protection makes your hands clean? Do not make me sick to my stomach anymore. I will pay her hospital bills, but as for anything else you have to say, I have not the slightest interest in listening!"

I turned on my heel and walked away. He attempted to give chase, but Starry Dawn clamped onto him with desperate, clawing hands. Having utterly abandoned all dignity now that the miscarriage had thoroughly ruined her reputation, she threw herself entirely into clinging to his family name. She went all across the northern capital, proclaiming that the child she had lost belonged to him and that they had already finalized their wedding plans.

Upon hearing the scandal, his family immediately summoned him home and subjected him to severe ancestral punishment. His back, still blistered from the scalding soup, was lashed with dozens of heavy whips. Yet, ironically, even after inflicting such harsh discipline, his family flatly refused to acknowledge Starry Dawn's claims. She officially became the laughingstock of high society in the capital. Worse still, her mother’s scandalous past as a home-wrecking mistress was dragged back into the light. In the end, mother and daughter were cast out of elite circles entirely, stripped of any remaining standing or refuge.