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Marriage First, True Love Later-Chapter 6
Anran knew that, since Mo Fei was back, they would meet sooner or later. However, she didn’t think that they would meet so quickly and so suddenly. Although, in the afternoon, when she was on the phone with Lin Li, she had promised her that she was fine and that she could let go, and that if they met again, she could calmly face that man. However, in the end, her mind was still disordered when she saw the man standing in front of her. Her mind was so disordered that she didn’t know what to do.
Anran looked at Mo Fei, who was standing in front of her. There weren’t too many changes on his face. It was still just as handsome. However, his aura changed a lot. In the past, it was that of a youthful and sunny boy. Now, it was much more mature, much more earnest, and his eyes were much deeper in a way that she did not understand.
Anran knew, in her heart, that she should have pretended that she didn’t know him, and then walked past him with an indifferent expression without looking at him at all. However, it was like her limbs couldn’t be controlled by her brain. Her legs seemed to have been rooted to the ground. She wanted to move, but she couldn’t move, and she stared at him as if she was taking in all of his changes over the past six years.
Mo Fei looked at her, his lips tightly pursed, his hands tightly fisted, as if he was trying to control something. She had changed. He couldn’t say where she changed, but she was different. She was no longer the Anran who would smile happily and lean into his arms.
Jiang City was not big. If he had tried to find her six years ago, it would be extremely difficult. However, now, it was incredibly simple and would only require a single word. Within half a day, he would receive an answer.
Mo Fei walked forward one step at a time, and then stopped in front of her. “Anran!” He had called this name in his heart for six years but did not have the opportunity to say it out loud.
Anran came back to her senses, somewhat embarrassed. At the end of the day, she could not calmly face him. She turned around, preparing to leave.
“Anran.” When he saw that she was leaving, Mo Fei quickly walked forward and grabbed her hand. “Have you… been well?”
Anran painfully shut her eyes, a smile slowly appearing at the corner of her mouth. She turned around and asked, with a cold smile, “Is it any of your business if I’ve been living well or not?”
Mo Fei tightly pursed his mouth and looked at her. After a while, he said, “I’m sorry…” He was six years late in this apology, and he had owed her this apology for six years!
Anran’s heart hurt. It was just like back then. When she saw his determined back, her heart had hurt so much, it felt as if it was ripped apart.
She raised her head, forcing back her tears from falling. She was not strong, but she would not allow herself to show weakness in front of him, because he was no longer the man she could rely on. His hand was currently holding that of another woman–the woman who could give him everything he wanted.
When she opened her eyes again, Anran’s gaze had become cold. She nodded and said, “I accept your apology.” Then, she looked at her captured hand and coldly said, “Can Mr. Mo let go now? I don’t want other people to misunderstand.”
Mo Fei angrily released his hand and he looked at her, asking, “Over these years, have you been well?”
Anran turned around, her eyes feeling hot. Her line of sight became blurry. At this time, for some reason, she wanted to cry. All of the suffering in her heart over these couple of years were exchanged for one sentence: “Over these years, have you been well?” It was funny… extremely funny.
She firmly held back her tears, turned around, and said to him, “Very good.” Her pride and ego did not allow her to be weak.
Mo Fei nodded. He no longer said anything and simply looked at her. He couldn’t let her go. Even though he had a wife, at the end of the day, he could not let Gu Anran go. This woman, whom he had thought about and longed for for six years. This woman, whom he had once promised to give everything beautiful. Therefore, he returned this time. Although he knew that it was impossible, he still wanted to see her and see if she had been living well.
2
The two looked at each other for a long time. Anran was the first to turn around. She had a smile on her face, however, the second her back was to him, her tears flowed down from her eyes and onto her face.
Mo Fei looked at her back and watched her disappear around the corner. He could only stand at his original spot and watch her. He wanted to go and hug her, but he knew that he had already lost the right to hug her.
Anran didn’t know how she returned home. Her entire body felt faint and in a daze. She only remembered that, when she arrived home, Lin Xiaofen was making dinner and had said something to her. She did not respond and directly went into her room, locking herself inside. Afterward, Gu Hengwen returned home, and he knocked on her door, calling her name. She had only faintly responded, saying that she was fine, but she did not open the door.
On the second day, she was back to normal, as if nothing had happened. However, Lin Xiaofen did not miss her red and swollen eyes, that could not be concealed with eye cream and concealer. She did not ask any further questions. She had called Lin Li yesterday. After had Lin Li finished listening to her, she was silent for a long time and then said one sentence–that Mo Fei had returned.
Before walking out the door, Anran reminded her mother that the reservation was at 6 PM and that she would directly head over after work. Lin Xiaofen was still a bit worried about her emotions and said, “Ranran, why don’t we eat at home? What do you want to eat? I will make it for you.”
Anran smiled, hugging her mother and said, “You are the birthday girl today. If someone must do it, then it should either be Dad or me. How can you personally do it? However, neither Dad nor I can do it, so we can only go outside.”
“I don’t wish for anything else. It’s fine as long as the family is happy together outside.” Lin Xiaofen looked at her, and she reached out her hand to brush away her hair, which had fallen onto her forehead.
“Mom, it’s just once a year.” Anran kissed her mother and wished her a happy birthday near her ear and then picked up her bag, turned around, and walked out the door.
Lin Xiaofen looked at the back that had disappeared at the door, and she inwardly sighed.
Anran was a bit busy today. She went to two sites in the morning, and she needed to make time to get a present for her mother. The most important thing was that Lin Li had arranged for her to have a blind date with the so-called “top-notch” this afternoon!
It wasn’t strange to have a blind date during lunchtime, however, it was certainly strange for it to be during lunchtime on a workday.
In the first place, Lin Li had arranged for Anran to meet him on Wednesday night, however, on that day, Anran needed to work overtime in order to finish a design and could not make time. Then, they wanted to change it to Thursday. However, Lin Li’s so-called top-notch, handsome man had a prior arrangement on Thursday, so they could only drop the subject. Then, they tried Friday evening, since there was no other way. However, this was China, and in China, there was an old saying: The road to happiness is strewn with drawbacks. This really answered the old saying. This Friday was Lin Xiaofen’s birthday. A week prior, Anran had made a reservation at a restaurant and had prepared for the family to go out to eat together as a way to celebrate it. Through this repeated cycle of always changing the time of their meeting, the two that were participating in the blind date did not say anything, but Lin Li became very annoyed, and she directly made it in the afternoon in order to avoid either of them from rescheduling it again because they had something else to do.
Originally, Lin Li and Chengxiang were also going to come. However, Lin Li’s stomach started hurting, so the two rushed to the hospital. Since she was pregnant, no one dared to be careless.
Anran specifically left half an hour early thinking that she was going to arrive early. However, when she arrived, the man was already there. From afar, Anran could only see his back. The man was currently talking on the phone.
Anran tidied her clothes and took a deep breath. She had thought about it. Feelings were too hurtful. In reality, at their age, if they were here for a blind date, then they were probably not seeking love and simply looking for someone to accompany them for the rest of their life. Their goals were all very clear.
Having thought clearly about it, Anran walked to the place that they had arranged to meet and then directly sat in front of the man, raising her head. Just as she was about to speak, she couldn’t refrain from being shocked. She recognized this man. Wasn’t this the man who had “saved” her in the alley last time?