Meiying sat there staring at her phone for the longest time. The words on the screen were simple, but they hit her harder than anything else had lately.
"Because I care about you, Meiying. That's all there is to it."
It wasn't fair. It really wasn't fair. Here she was, a mess of confusion and mistakes. She had accidentally tried to sell land that wasn't hers anymore, she had hurt Weiliang, and she was keeping so many secrets. And yet, Yuhan—the person she should have been the most careful around was being kinder to her than anyone else. He was offering to give up a business deal just to make her happy.
She didn't know how to reply. What do you say to someone who does that? Thank you didn't feel like enough. I'm sorry didn't fix the heavy feeling in her chest or the confusion swirling in her heart.
Before she could even type a word, her phone buzzed again, another message popping up.
"Don't think too much about it, okay? Just tell me what you want me to do. If you want me to sell it to Mr. Chen, I'll do it. The price can stay exactly the same, no extra charge, no profit for me. I just want you to be happy."
Tears were rolling down her cheeks now, hot and fast. She wiped them away angrily with the back of her hand. Why did he have to be like this? Why couldn't he just be mean or greedy or arrogant? It would make everything so much easier. If he was a bad guy, she could hate him, she could push him away, and she could go back to loving Weiliang without looking back.
But he wasn't bad. He was perfect. And that was the problem. That was what made it so hard to let go.
She took a deep breath, trying to steady her shaking fingers, and typed back slowly.
"I can't ask you to do that. You paid for it fair and square. It belongs to Yue Hua Group now. It's business. It's not right for me to ask you to sell it just because I made a mistake and forgot I don't own it anymore."
She hit send and waited, holding her breath, wondering if he would change his mind now that she pointed out how unreasonable she was being.
A minute later, his reply came.
"It's my land, so I decide what to do with it. And if selling it makes things easier for you, then I want to do it. Stop thinking about what's right or wrong for one second and just tell me what you want, Meiying. Stop pushing me away just because you're scared."
Meiying looked out the window at the green fields stretching out in front of her house. What did she want?
If she said yes, Yuhan would sell the land to Mr. Chen. She would get the money again, she could pay Yuhan back exactly what he gave her, and everything would go back to the way it was supposed to be. She could keep her father's land in the area, sell it to someone who would take care of it, and erase this whole chapter with Yue Hua Group.
And maybe… maybe that would fix things with Weiliang too. Maybe then Weiliang would see that she was trying to do the right thing, that she wasn't mixed up with Yuhan anymore, and they could go back to being the happy couple they used to be.
But then, if she did that, she would really have to cut Yuhan out of her life completely. No more messages. No more seeing him. No more of this feeling that made her heart race.
The thought made her chest ache so bad she could barely breathe. It felt like she was tearing herself in half.
She bit her lip until it almost hurt. She had to be strong. She had to do the right thing. The logical thing.
"I want you to sell it," she typed finally, her fingers heavy. "If you really mean it. I want you to sell it to Mr. Chen. It means a lot to my family's history."
She waited. This time, the reply came almost instantly.
"Okay. Consider it done. I'll call my lawyer first thing tomorrow morning and arrange everything. You just give Mr. Chen my number, and we will handle all the paperwork. It will be like my purchase never happened."
Meiying stared at the words. It was done. He was actually going to do it. She should have felt relieved. She should have felt happy, like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
But all she felt was empty. Like something important was slipping through her fingers.
"Thank you," she wrote back. "I don't know how to repay you for this, Yuhan. You've been so kind to me when I didn't deserve it. You're a good person."
"You don't have to repay me," he said. "But… I do want one thing."
Meiying's heart stopped. Here it comes, she thought. He wants something in return. Money? Or maybe he wants her to admit something?
"What is it?" she asked cautiously.
"I want to see you," he wrote. "Before everything changes and we go back to being strangers. I want to see you one last time, just to talk properly. Is that too much to ask?"
One last time.
The words made her cry even harder. He knew. He knew exactly what this meant. Once the land was transferred to Mr. Chen, there was no reason for them to talk anymore. No reason for them to see each other. He was saying goodbye, in his own gentle way.
She didn't trust herself to speak, or even to type much. She just wrote: "Okay."
"Good," he replied. "I'll come to your town tomorrow. I'll pick you up, and we can go somewhere quiet to talk. Alright?"
"Alright."
She put the phone down and let out a sob she'd been holding in for so long. Yutang was inside studying, so she had to be quiet, she had to hold it together. She hugged her knees to her chest and sat there on the porch as the sun went down, turning the sky dark purple and black.
Tomorrow. She was going to see him and it was going to be the last time.