Durante sete anos de namoro, Tang Ruan desempenhou obedientemente o papel de futura esposa dedicada de Huo Yanchuan, engolindo sua amargura e sorrindo para os outros. Tudo porque Huo Yanchuan lhe prometeu que, após sete anos, ele se aquietaria e se casaria. Por causa dessa promessa, Tang Ruan suportou inúmeras noites de lágrimas, apertando os dentes para aguentar. Até o dia do sétimo aniversário de namoro, quando ela presenciou Huo Yanchuan, para agradar sua nova paixão temperamental, interromper sua ligação sem hesitar e, diante de todos, depreciá-la como se não valesse nada. “Tang Ruan? Grudenta como um emplastro, se não fosse pela relação entre as famílias Huo e Tang, eu nem suportaria olhar para ela,” disse ele. A nova paixão voltou a sorrir radiante, enquanto o coração de Tang Ruan mergulhou num abismo gelado. Descobriu, então, que todo aquele sentimento, para ele, não passava de um peso imposto pela amizade entre as famílias, algo que ele sempre quis se livrar. Após uma noite de choro, Tang Ruan decidiu deixar tudo para trás. Convenceu os pais a irem à família Huo para cancelar o noivado e, ela mesma, arrumou as malas e partiu para o exterior. Achava que, dali em diante, sua vida seria tranquila, até que, em meio à multidão, cruzou o olhar com um rosto idêntico ao de Huo Yanchuan. Foi então que ela finalmente compreendeu algo.
“Aren’t you the one who likes Tang Ruan? Why did you call me here, then?”
Tang Ruan stood outside the private room, her gaze fixed through the glass in the door. Inside, a young man and woman stood at the center of a crowd, the girl’s red lips slightly pouting, while the man smiled with a helpless but indulgent air.
It was the kind of smile he hadn’t shown her in a long time.
Tang Ruan’s hand tightened on the doorknob, her knuckles white with tension.
The man inside was none other than her childhood friend and fiancé, Huo Yanchuan.
And the girl, if the rumors were true, was Lu Xiaorou, a student at University A.
Twenty years old, beautiful as a budding flower.
As for herself—
Tang Ruan looked down, a bitter smile tugging at her lips.
She had been at the door for some time, witnessing Huo Yanchuan cut off her call without hesitation so as not to interrupt his coaxing of Lu Xiaorou.
The deep furrow of his brow as he rejected her call was proof enough of his disdain.
To Huo Yanchuan—or at least to the man he was now—Lu Xiaorou meant more than his fiancée.
Tang Ruan had long grown used to acting magnanimous, but her heart still felt as though it were pricked by a thousand needles—sharp, persistent pain.
Not fatal, but hard to bear.
She drew a deep breath and exhaled slowly, feeling a little lighter.
She would pretend she hadn’t seen anything today.
In just a month, it would be seven years.
Seven years—the promise Huo Yanchuan had made to her.
Seven years ago, she had f