Touya Yaoyao

曌国2245年5月23日13:45分，白桃矢按向了别墅门口那自己四年都未曾触碰的门铃。

He was dressed in a pure white suit, carrying a freshly baked strawberry cake, while intently watching the still tightly closed door, waiting for someone to open it.

The sound of hurried footsteps grew louder as they approached. The door was opened by a servant from the villa. Bai Taoshi smiled politely at her, but before she could speak, the servant considerately spoke first:

"The second young lady is in her bedroom on the third floor. Should I go and ask her to come down?"

Shirato shook his head in refusal and carried the cake up to the third floor of the villa. The maid saw his stubbornness but did not stop him. Instead, she went about tidying up the house.

Even though he hadn't stepped onto these stairs in four years, he still felt familiar with them. After walking for a long time, he stopped at the door of a bedroom on the third floor and knocked on the door.

The door didn't open; instead, the gentle, pleasant voices of people speaking came from inside.

"Please come in"

Four years had passed since they last met. The other person's voice sounded much more mature and charming. Bai Taoya subconsciously turned the doorknob and entered the house. He saw the girl sitting on the pig-shaped rug in front of the French windows, tuning her guitar.

She was wearing blue jeans and a white short-sleeved shirt, her long, smooth black hair casually draped over her shoulders, her face slightly lowered, and beneath her long eyelashes, her clear, bright eyes, like a deer's, were looking at the guitar strings in her hands.

Sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, gently touching her face and body, bathing her in a soft golden glow, and making her already flawless face even more stunning.

Sure enough, no matter how many years have passed, when Shiro Touya sees that face again, he can still hear his own heartbeat.

He subconsciously placed the cake he was holding on the coffee table beside him, and without any hesitation walked up to the woman who was playing the guitar. But before he could speak, she asked him with considerable surprise:

"Weren't you filming? How did you find time to come back?"

The woman speaking did not look up at him, but her tone was extremely familiar, as if they had not been apart for long, but had only been separated briefly.

The person who asked him the question was the person he wanted to see, the person he had been thinking about for the past four years, and also his... childhood sweetheart, whose name was Yu Yaoyao.

They were classmates in junior high and high school, and if nothing unexpected had happened, they should have been classmates in college as well. However, because the other person loved music, they went to study at the most prestigious Royal Conservatory of Music in Europe, and that trip lasted for four years.

On the day of her graduation, before she even had a chance to rest, she bought a plane ticket from Europe back to Asia and traveled for more than ten hours to finally return to the place where she had lived for nearly ten years at 10:35 this morning.

Her face showed neither the fatigue of traveling for days nor the joy of a long-awaited reunion; rather, it was calm, as if this was how it should be, or perhaps she always controlled her emotions very well.

Shiratoshi felt a little disappointed seeing her indifferent expression, but he still mustered his spirits and asked curiously:

"I heard you came back right after graduation. Did you suffer some mistreatment in the European region?"

When he asked, Yu Yaoyao's hands didn't stop adjusting the sound, and she didn't speak. It was unclear whether she didn't want to answer or was deliberately silent.

Just when Shirato thought she wouldn't say anything, she spoke in a light and casual tone:

"I came back because I wanted to, there's no reason why!"

After saying that, she strummed a guitar string and, finding the tone was right, put the guitar aside. From beginning to end, she didn't even glance at Shiratoshi.

As Shirato watched her movements, the disappointment in his eyes became even more apparent.

Don't you... miss him?! He went to the European region without a word back then, and four years have passed since then.

She's been gone for so long, away for so long, doesn't she miss him even a little bit?

Every time I send her a message, she replies, but always says she's busy. When I call her, she's always rambling and vague. Now that she's finally back, why is she still so cold?

So... you don't miss him at all, don't long for him, and don't cherish any memories of the time you spent together?!

He glanced at Yu Yaoyao subconsciously, but Bai Taoshi couldn't bring himself to ask her the question. Some things felt pretentious to say, but he felt stifled if he didn't.

Whether it was slowness of perception or genuine indifference, Yu Yaoyao subconsciously stood up. She walked straight past Bai Taoshi to the coffee table, looked at the strawberry cake on the table, and asked in a light and surprised tone:

"Bought for me?!"

When Bai Taoshi saw her ask, he subconsciously stood up, immediately dispelling his disappointment, and walked to her side, saying:

What you like best is naturally for you.

Yu Yaoyao looked at him with surprise, somewhat puzzled and confused, and asked:

"I heard you're very busy filming, how did you find time to buy a cake?!"

Bai Taoya chuckled softly at her curious expression and said in a low voice:

"I'm not too busy. I still have time to bake cakes, and I also have plenty of time to spend with you."

He spoke in a low voice, and it was unclear whether Yu Yaoyao heard him. Yu Yaoyao opened the packaging box and began to cut and eat the cake herself.

As she picked up the plastic cake knife and gestured on the strawberry cake, she muttered to herself:

"The strawberry cake in the European section is different from ours; it's too sweet, almost cloying, so I can't eat it at all. It's kind of you to remember that I like this and buy it especially for me."

When she mentioned the European region, Shiratoya gave a perfunctory reply, then, as if remembering something, tentatively asked:

"Have you got a boyfriend in the European region? Have you met anyone you like?"

He didn't ask on purpose; he asked intentionally. Although it wasn't impossible to get the information he wanted from other channels, he always felt that getting the answer from the person directly involved might be more reliable.

When Yu Yaoyao saw him ask, she looked at him with a mischievous smile and asked teasingly:

"Want to know?!"

Bai Taoshi nodded honestly, his expression a mixture of trepidation and anticipation, as if he were eagerly awaiting Yu Yaoyao's answer.

Yu Yaoyao smiled smugly, saying with a mix of mockery and pride:

I'm not telling you.

After saying that, she suddenly burst into laughter, whether she found it funny or not, with a mischievous smile even in the corners of her eyes and brows.

But when Shirato saw her expression, his heart, which had been hanging in suspense, instantly returned to normal.

It seems she hasn't met anyone she likes in Europe; otherwise, she definitely wouldn't have made that expression or said those things.

The thought that she didn't have anyone she liked made Bai Taoshi feel much more relaxed. He watched Yu Yaoyao humming a little tune and eating cake with amusement, and couldn't help but feel a little helpless.

It seems that nothing has really changed. Even though they were separated for four years, she is still the same as before, unchanged and just as familiar as ever.

Thinking this, he couldn't help but curl the corners of his lips, looking at Yu Yaoyao eating her cake by herself with tender eyes, his face full of doting affection.

No matter what, she's back. Now that she's back, she can't escape anymore, Yu Yaoyao!