You sleep under my roof and still dare to be ungrateful?

Xiaoqi walked into the hospital with a carefully chosen breakfast in hand. When she spotted Fang Li getting out of his car, she hurried to greet him. “Good morning, Assistant Fang!”

Fang Li glanced over, puzzled for a moment when he saw her, then seemed to understand, though another question quickly followed. “Miss Ye, may I ask—when President Lin fainted, we had a car ready downstairs, but I didn’t see you carrying him out, and yet you’re already here at the hospital. Where did you come from? And how did you get here so fast?”

It had only been a few minutes since his call, and the drive to this hospital should have taken at least ten minutes.

Honestly, must I explain myself for every good deed?

Xiaoqi couldn’t be bothered to answer. Thankfully…

She shoved the breakfast into his hands. “I have deliveries to make. Give this to your President Lin. Bye.”

Fang Li was still mulling over his earlier question, but quickly gave up. In any case, the most important thing was that President Lin was alright.

Yiyang, upon hearing that his brother was in the hospital, naturally came to visit. As soon as he got out of the car, a voice he had both missed and remembered for years stopped him in his tracks—he froze.

Joanna approached, smiling gently. “Yiyang, it’s been a long time.”

In a private room at an open-air café, enveloped in the aroma of coffee, the two sat in silence for a while. At last, Joanna smiled and broke the quiet. “After all these years, you… haven’t changed a bit.”

Yiyang went straight to the question that weighed on his heart. “Why did you suddenly come back?”

Anna stirred her coffee, smiling. “I came back because I wanted to.”

“Then why did you leave in the first place?” Yiyang stared at his cup, speaking each word deliberately. “You texted me to say you’d returned, so why didn’t you come find me?”

She hardly knew where to begin with the past… but perhaps it was time he knew.

Joanna’s thoughts drifted. After a pause, she spoke. “I left because of your brother. Because I… fell for him.”

Yiyang looked up sharply. “What did you say? You like my brother? You know him?”

She sighed. “Fate is truly a wondrous thing.”

Yiyang pressed on, “How did you meet him? Why did you leave?”

“Because he forgot me,” Joanna said with a bitter smile. “Back then, I was proud—when he didn’t remember me, I left in anger. As for how we met, well, I was a good friend of Zhuang Jia.”

He remembered—Zhuang Jia had married two years after graduation, to an American.

“Zhuang Jia once told me that even after marrying, she couldn’t get someone out of her mind,” Anna said, absentmindedly swirling her coffee. “I figured anyone she couldn’t forget must be extraordinary. So I grew curious, went back to China to look into him, and the moment I saw him, I knew—he truly was outstanding. What I didn’t expect was that he was the son of my father’s friend.”

“You know me—I go after what I want. So I started visiting him every day. At first, your brother didn’t even spare me a glance. But one day, he told me he liked my bold pursuit.”

“Didn’t that mean he accepted me? Yet the next day, when I came to him full of joy, he coldly said he didn’t know me…”

Anna glanced at Yiyang. “Yiyang, I’ll be honest. It was because of him that I approached you. Otherwise, we’d never have met.”

“That’s enough,” Yiyang stood abruptly, anger flashing in his eyes. “How foolish I was, thinking you actually liked me…”

“But after spending time with you, I really did come to like you… as a friend,” Anna bit her lip, looking at him. “Yiyang, I know you love painting. So I’ve always recommended your work to everyone I know. I even helped plan your current exhibition. Did you know, all the paintings you sold before—I bought them all back at high prices.”

At this, Yiyang’s expression softened. “Why did you do all that?”

“Because I don’t want to lose you as a friend,” Anna pulled him back down to sit. “Don’t be angry, alright?”

He sat down. Even if he was furious, he couldn’t bear to stay mad at someone he’d liked for so long. “Then, do you plan to…”

“Affairs of the heart—I’ll handle them myself,” Anna ruffled his hair. “But what I just told you, keep it between us, alright?”

Yiyang nodded.

In fact, he wanted to mention Xiyang.

But this was the woman he truly cared about—he couldn’t bear to see her hurt.

His brother said he liked her bold pursuit, but that must have been about Xiyang. As for suddenly claiming not to know Anna, that was probably due to his brother’s amnesia. Either way, his brother loved Xiyang so much—even without amnesia, he would never fall for Anna.

Anna, why couldn’t you like me instead of my brother!

Yichen was being discharged today and wanted Xiyang to pick him up, but remembering she’d be bringing lunch anyway, he decided to call her later and have her deliver it to the office.

Pansen entered, his expression grim. “Yichen, today’s the end of the month.”

Yichen’s face darkened as well.

At the end of every month, his amnesia would act up, causing him to forget all the women around him. To keep others from discovering his condition, he never let young women get too close.

But now with Joanna in the picture, forgetting her wouldn’t matter—except that doing so suddenly would definitely arouse her suspicion.

“Let’s go back to the office.”

“Yes, sir!”

Xiaoqi arrived with lunch. She’d barely stepped inside when the tall man before her pulled her into his arms.

His embrace now felt surprisingly natural to her.

“Hey, time to eat.”

Yichen let her go easily, extending his slender hand. “Your phone.”

Xiaoqi blinked in confusion. “Why?”

“Give me your phone.”

“What do you need it for?”

He raised an eyebrow.

Alright—it was his phone to begin with.

She set down the lunch and grumbled while fishing out the phone. “Honestly, if you wanted it back, why give it to me? I’m already used to it.”

The man snatched it from her, his long fingers dancing swiftly over the screen. After a few seconds, he handed it back.

He didn’t want it back?

She checked her phone immediately.

Her face fell.

The first time, she’d saved his contact as “Lin the Rascal.” After he found out, she’d changed it to the proper “President Lin.”

Now he’d changed it himself—to “Lin Oppa.”

Good grief! How could someone so cold and aloof have such a mischievous streak?

“If you change it back,” Yichen said languidly as he sat in his office chair, elegantly eating his lunch, “then from now on, you’ll only finish your deliveries after dark.”

…

That lunch took nearly three hours.

Xiaoqi, drowsy, dozed off on the sofa.

The man in the office chair watched her nap, a smile tugging at his lips before he turned back to his work.

When she woke, dusk was falling outside.

Xiaoqi gazed up at the darkening sky in exasperation.

Heavens, she’d slept here all afternoon.

She hastily gathered the lunch boxes and prepared to leave—though she was sorely tempted to stomp on his foot on her way out.

But this time, he was ready. “Sleeping here and then leaving without a word? How ungrateful.”

…

As if she’d wanted to sleep here in the first place.

He’d done it on purpose—dragging out a single meal for hours. Even a child wouldn’t take that long!

Xiaoqi huffed and left.

Yichen smiled, just about to step to the window when Fang Li walked in.