Chapter 12 His Selfish Plea
Damn it!
For a moment, I even wondered if I'd misheard.
Had he just said something a human being would say?
"The Zhou Group needs Ruoyu, and I need you too.
"I can't let go of her, and I can't leave you either."
He finally looked up at me, his eyes mixed with a trace of pleading.
"Xin Xin, you once said that no matter what, you would always stay by my side."
I had said that.
It was when Zhou Yang's family suffered that enormous disaster.
During that time, he couldn't climb out of the pain of losing his family. His emotions were unstable. He even had thoughts of ending his life.
Afraid he would do something stupid, I stayed on edge every second.
I helped him steady the Zhou Group's shareholders on one side, and on the other I stayed by him day and night, watching his emotional state with extreme care, looking after his daily needs.
Back then, I even told Ruoyu the news about what had happened to Zhou Yang's family.
But for the sake of chasing her dream, throughout the entire ordeal of the Zhou family, aside from sending one token message of condolence, she never contacted Zhou Yang again.
A person's energy is limited after all.
When I saw the self-harm scars that had inevitably appeared on Zhou Yang's wrists, I broke completely.
Someone who, in my eyes, had always been so bright and sunny, so outstanding—
had suddenly become the person in front of me.
It was an uncontrollable, near-collapsing heartache.
So in that moment, I held him tightly and comforted him:
"Don't be afraid, Zhou Yang.
"You still have me. No matter what happens, I will never leave you."
That night, I drank a lot with him.
When he was so drunk he passed out, he developed a high fever.
I stayed by his side, fed him medicine, changed his towels.
At that moment, he stared at me without moving, and suddenly said:
"Xin Xin, I really fell for you.
"So marry me, all right?"
As he spoke, he gripped my hand tightly, as if he were truly terrified of losing me.
True liking for someone can't be hidden.
After staying by Zhou Yang's side for so many years, how could he not have sensed that carefully hidden, humble, upward-gazing feeling I had for him.
But in that moment, I looked into his eyes.
Greedy, burning, sincere, and fragile.
I thought it was the truth spilling out after wine.
I thought I had truly walked into his heart.
Only later did I suddenly understand—it was just self-hypnosis of "falling in love with me," born from gratitude.
In his most lonely and helpless moment, he tried to secure, through marriage, a family member who would never leave him.
"Zhou Yang, you can't be this selfish! I'm not that noble either, allowing another person to always exist in my marriage.
"Leave. I never want to see you again."