Mo Xiuchen's lips curved into a faint smile as he quietly gazed at Wen Ran. Her fingertips inadvertently brushed against his fingers. Unlike the cool and rigid touch of the ring, her skin was soft and warm, the sensation seeping through his skin and straight into his heart. For a moment, he felt as though he had experienced this touch before—just like the little girl from years ago.
That night had been too dark for him to see her face clearly. All he could make out was a small mole on her chin. Her voice had been sweet and soft, like cotton candy. Even under those dire circumstances, he had found it incredibly pleasant to hear.
She had told him to "run," and he had promised, "I will come back for you." Now, more than a decade later, he had finally found her—only, he wasn't sure if the person he had found was truly the girl from back then.
Instead, he felt that Wen Ran resembled his savior more than Cheng Jia did—not in appearance, but in the way she made him feel.
"All done."
Wen Ran's gentle voice pulled Mo Xiuchen from his drifting thoughts. He took her hand and placed it next to his, their fingers adorned with matching rings. The diamonds sparkled in unison, like two lovers dancing in the light. A strange sense of joy washed over him.
Mo Xiuchen chuckled softly, his voice clear and pleasant. "They really do look beautiful."
After returning home and finishing dinner, Mo Xiuchen and Wen Ran headed upstairs together. That was when he told her they would be having dinner at the Mo residence over the weekend.
"I heard from Zhou Lin this afternoon. She said Cheng Jia will be there too."
Standing under the bright crystal chandelier, Wen Ran tilted her head slightly, gazing up at Mo Xiuchen.
He nodded, his expression calm and unreadable. "Yes, she will be there."
After a brief pause, he added, "Cheng Jia used to work at the Nanqin Hotel, but starting tomorrow, she'll be working at the main office as Qin Mu's assistant."
A flicker of surprise crossed Wen Ran's clear eyes. She smiled faintly. "She's your savior. It makes sense to repay her. Come to think of it, she got sick when she was six and lost her memories. That's quite similar to me."
"You lost your memories when you were six as well?"
Mo Xiuchen's brows lifted slightly in surprise. He had investigated Wen Ran before. Three months ago, when he had first seen her at a banquet, an inexplicable feeling had told him she might be the girl from his past. Since then, he had looked into her background—but he hadn't known she had also been sick and suffered memory loss.
Wen Ran pressed her lips together briefly before responding in a soft voice, "Yes, but aside from my family, no one else knows."
"Why?"
Mo Xiuchen's curiosity deepened, his sharp eyes studying her intently.
"My parents told me not to tell anyone. Maybe they were afraid other kids would make fun of me."
Wen Ran smiled lightly, indifferent to the matter. At first, she had been puzzled too, but later, she realized it wasn't a big deal. It wasn't as if she needed to go around telling everyone that she had been sick at six years old and couldn't remember anything before that.
With that thought, she had simply accepted it.
"There's nothing to be ashamed of. Not many people remember much from before they were six. You should go take a bath first. I'll be in the study dealing with some documents."
Once again, Mo Xiuchen found his heart leaning toward Wen Ran. Both she and Cheng Jia had lost their childhood memories due to illness. But while Cheng Jia spoke of it with guilt and remorse, making him question her sincerity, Wen Ran simply smiled as she recounted it. Yet, for some reason, that very smile made his heart ache with an unfamiliar tenderness.
Without thinking, he reached out and ruffled her hair gently—a comforting gesture, one filled with a kind of affection he himself wasn't even aware of.
The unexpected intimacy made Wen Ran's heart skip a beat. A sudden warmth spread across her face. Hastily nodding, she turned and dashed into the bathroom, as if escaping.