Rebirth: Once Again With You

It was really him!

The person who appeared to save her was really Dai Zhiqiang!

Li Caiyi felt her chest tighten. She wanted to say something but felt like her throat was blocked by a rock.

Dai Zhiqiang looked down on her as the night wind made his long bang flutter. His eyes seemed to tell many stories, yet nothing at the same time. Li Caiyi was mesmerized by this person she hadn't met for 6 years.

"How long are you going to sit on the ground? Aren't you cold?"

"Dai Zhiqiang, is that really you? I'm not just imagining things now, right?"

Instead of answering, she blurted out that question. Dai Zhiqiang didn't answer and approached her. Crouching in front of her, he grabbed her hand and put her palm on his cheek.

"Do you believe me now?" He whispered, and the melodious voice made her heart itch.

Li Caiyi should be taking back her hand from him. After dumping her like that, and even having the gall to go out with another girl not long after they broke up, she should have hated him enough to do that.

That was the same hand he used to grab another woman's hand. Li Caiyi should have felt repulsed, yet she felt weak under his piercing stare.

Dai Zhiqiang's eyes narrowed down sexily as he planted a kiss on her palm. That action was enough to make her jolt in place.

"If you keep staring at me like that, I will misunderstand and think you are inviting me to kiss you."

Li Caiyi's cheeks burnt to hear those lines. The place where he kissed her felt so hot she unconsciously tried to avoid his touch. But Dai Zhiqiang refused to let her go and leaned into her touch more.

"You have become prettier in the last few years. I missed you so much."

All this stimulation successfully sobered her up. Frowning deeply, she said coldly, "What's the point of saying empty words like that? After everything that happened?"

"Are you still angry at me?"

Li Caiyi scoffed in disbelief. "If you were me, do you think you would feel elated to see your ex-girlfriend who dumped you before?"

Dai Zhiqiang didn't answer and slowly lowered her hand. He stood up, and a sense of fear assaulted her for a moment.

'No way. Is he going to leave again just like that?' Li Caiyi thought inwardly. Even she felt like she wasn't making any sense right now. Her brain and her heart weren't in sync at all.

Seeing Dai Zhiqiang acting like nothing happened hurt her but thinking about how he might leave her again made her feel suffocated. 𝘧𝒓e𝑒𝑤e𝙗𝚗o𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝐜𝐨ｍ

To her surprise, Dai Zhiqiang picked up her stiletto, which she had thrown before, and crouched in front of her again. "Why did you even use shoes that will hurt your foot?"

Li Caiyi gasped when he suddenly lifted her skirt and pulled her leg his way. His callused hands carefully traced her feet as if he was appraising a precious treasure. "Look, you got scratches here and there. You must be sore after running around in such uncomfortable shoes too."

Only then did Li Caiyi realize that her feet were filthy from when she ran around bare-footed. She was embarrassed, but Dai Zhiqiang didn't look disgusted at all. He even used his hand to gently massage her feet, making her heart skip a beat.

"Y-you! What are you doing?"

"Can't you tell just by looking? I'm massaging your feet."

While saying that, he pulled her leg towards him more, making her lose her balance and slightly fall backward. Her skirt was hiked up, exposing her white and smooth thigh for him to see.

Li Caiyi was so ashamed when he kept staring at her legs and immediately pushed her skirt down again to cover it.

"I mean, why are you even doing this right now? Are you playing with me?!" 𝐟𝚛e𝐞𝙬𝗲𝒃𝓷𝒐𝘃e𝒍.c𝑜m

"I'm not. You are chasing after me without regard for your safety. I can't help but feel heartache for you."

Li Caiyi let out self-depecrating laughter at his hypocrisy. "Dai Zhiqiang, I didn't know you still have a heart for me to feel heartache. I thought you had lost them long ago. Even when I cried and begged you not to go, you didn't even want to look at me. Now that you see me chasing after you again after several years have passed, did you finally feel sorry for me? Enough that you even care for me like this?"

The more Li Caiyi talked, the more bitter her tongue felt. She couldn't deny that her heart still yearned for him, even after all this time. But she refused to accept his pity.

Dai Zhiqiang said nothing and silently massaged her foot. His action was gentle, but she couldn't tell what he was thinking from his stoic expression.

"Why did you come here today? And as a waiter?"

"That's none of your business."

A clear and cold answer. Li Caiyi was almost fooled by his action, but her heart finally cooled down with his response.

"Then whatever happened to me shouldn't be any of your business too. Why did you help me back there? I could have taken care of him by myself."

Li Caiyi was talking about when Young Master Ding tried to hit her. They had already broken up, so Dai Zhiqiang had no obligation to interfere. No one would blame him even if he put a blind eye to her. She wouldn't chase after him and ruin whatever plan he had tonight, either.

Dai Zhiqiang showed a reaction for the first time. His hand halted for a moment, and inexplicable emotion flashed through his calm eyes.

"Are you going to blame me for trying to help another person? Back then, it was dark inside, and I didn't have a clear look at who was arguing at first. I only knew it was you after I immobilized him."

So it was like that. Dai Zhiqiang wasn't trying to help Li Caiyi, but a random woman troubled by a drunkard at the party.

"I see. It seems I have overestimated myself. I apologize for that.'

Dai Zhiqiang sighed in helplessness. "You don't have to be sarcastic like that. I didn't mean any harm when I was doing this."

"You have a point. Sorry for troubling you once again."

Dai Zhiqiang: "...."