Han Shān stepped out of the elevator onto the merger floor, tablet in hand, mind still replaying the café conversation like a loop he couldn't pause. Bai Yue's surprised smile when he offered the nanny position. The way her fingers had brushed his when she took the card. The faint vanilla scent that had lingered long after he left.
He told himself it was practical. Zhen needed stability. Rui Xuě needed someone who didn't make him retreat behind that too-heavy coat of responsibility. Nothing more.
Then he saw Zhao Yàn.
The red-haired bastard was leaning against the lobby wall, crimson tie slightly loosened, smirk already in place. Their eyes met across the open space, and the air thickened the way it always did between them, ice meeting fire, two foster brothers who had once shared everything and now shared only barbed words and old memories.
