011 We have......a long way to go in the future

Su Ran awoke to find it was already evening, the afterglow of the setting sun mingling with the brightness of the room's light was a bit dazzling. She closed her eyes again and then reopened them.

A sweep around her revealed she was lying in a hospital bed, with a touch of confusion in her starry eyes.

"Awake."

A magnetic and deep voice rose slowly.

Following the voice, Su Ran saw the man sitting languidly on the sofa opposite her.

"Why are you here? What happened to me?"

She rubbed her throbbing temples and sat up, leaning against the headboard.

"Are you always this careless?"

"Hmm?" Su Ran asked, her face inquiring.

"A fever of 39.7 degrees, and you didn't notice?" Fu Qiyuan's rich and alluring voice was slightly hoarse.

At his words, Su Ran was slightly startled, only then remembering.

She had just been pulled into the office by the man and before she could utter a word, she had fainted.

"Have you been with me all afternoon?"

The question came out affirmative, and a surge of unprecedented warmth and emotion welled up in Su Ran's heart as she was taken aback.

"Touched?" The man's typically cold tone carried a trace of teasing now.

Su Ran didn't speak, just quietly watched him.

Fu Qiyuan's eyebrows lifted, and the corners of his lips formed a pleased curve.

"It's alright, we... have time ahead of us."

The meaningful statement was somewhat seductive.

Perhaps it was the dizzying effect of her cold, but Su Ran found it rare to not follow the other person's train of thought.

"Rest well, the director said you're not physically up to it."

Seeing the weariness and exhaustion in her brows, Fu Qiyuan stood up and said.

"Thank you for today."

Fu Qiyuan's deep eyes stared intently at Su Ran's pale and delicate face, his expression casually carrying a light smile, his tone playful and detached:

"Verbal thanks? Miss Su, don't you think that lacks sincerity?"

Su Ran: "..."

Su Ran watched Fu Qiyuan leave speechlessly, ultimately not saying a word.

With the man's departure, the hospital room that had been quiet and cozy turned back to its usual cold and lonely state.

Su Ran sat quietly at the head of her bed, her gaze hollow as she stared out the window at something in the distance.

I could have stood the darkness, had I not seen the sun!

It turns out she wasn't naturally inclined toward solitude and strength.

Su Ran's thoughts gradually drifted away, immersing herself in her own world.

Gu Heng stepped into the hospital room to see such a scene; in the broad and empty room, Su Ran, wearing a thin garment, sat leaning on the hospital bed, looking at the sweet osmanthus tree outside through the window, her face showing an indifferent calm without a hint of turmoil.

She had a very delicate and beautiful face, with a sorrow that seemed etched into her graceful cheeks, afflicted by illness that draped her frail figure, at this moment Su Ran exuded a breathtaking morbid beauty.

Gu Heng's impression of her had always been of a cold strength that seemed to seep from her bones, frosty and distant. Even when facing him, her betrothed boyfriend, she always remained serious with scant emotion fluctuating.

Utterly charmless.

But now...

There she sat quietly; her fair skin, her delicate and stunning profile bathed in the sun's afterglow through the window, the solitary and slightly melancholic figure managed to weave a unique charm unlike any other in the world.

Gu Heng felt a slight tightness in his heart; such a Su Ran somehow managed to shake him.

Becoming aware of someone's approach, Su Ran turned her gaze slightly to see Gu Heng standing at the door.

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PS:

I could have stood the darkness, had I not seen the sun—from the American poet Emily Dickinson