Chapter 4

Xiang Chen was surprised by Yin Ruoyun's sudden appearance and he immediately let go of Yin Xiaoxiao. He turned to face Yin Ruoyun with a slightly sheepish look.

Yin Ruoyun tamped down her disgruntlement and looped her arm through Xiang Chen's. She practically plastered herself next to him and shot Yin Xiaoxiao a wary look as she said, "Why are you so insistent on stealing my fiancé? Shall I ask Mom to find you a suitable partner if you're that desperate to get yourself married off? Please, I'm begging you, please don't come between Xiang Chen and me..."

Xiang Chen immediately felt bad when he saw Yin Ruoyun trying to make peace with her sister and felt her trembling beside him. He pulled her tightly into his embrace.

Yin Xiaoxiao watched everything unfold with her eyes wide open, as though she wanted to commit everything she was seeing to memory. She would only be able to start life anew after her heart had been smashed to pieces. His honeyed words were like needles that pierced her heart, but she bore the pain.

"Ruoyun, don't cry," Xiang Chen said as he brushed Yin Ruoyun's tears away and didn't even hesitate as he said, "Xiaoxiao is not that kind of person. She will..."

"I won't accept this," Yin Xiaoxiao interrupted Xiang Chen and looked coldly at them before she said softly, "I can't accept this. We've been dating for four years from when I entered university until now, and we will be graduating soon. I thought we would get engaged right after our graduation, then get married. Now, you're telling me that the person who you are getting engaged to and will be married to isn't me, but my sister. I'm sorry but I can't accept this."

Xiang Chen looked at Yin Xiaoxiao in surprise, and even Yin Ruoyun looked a little confused.

"Xiang Chen, I've never once betrayed you during the four years we were together, so now that you've turned your back on our relationship, why do you think I should accept this? Why should I give you my blessings?" Yin Xiaoxiao demanded. Her nails dug deep into her palms as she tried to steady herself. She didn't even dare to blink for fear of them seeing the tears fall. After all, she was a woman, so it wasn't easy for her to get over a relationship that had lasted four years. "There's no need to inform me if you want to get married. Please don't invite me either because I will not show up. Everything that happened at the birthday party today was just a misunderstanding."

Yin Xiaoxiao walked past them and walked steadily toward the exit. No one saw the tears that rolled down her cheeks as she walked past Xiang Chen...

Tears blurred her vision as she walked and she couldn't even see where she was going. She suddenly stopped in front of a door and tested the handle. Fortunately, the door was unlocked.

Yin Xiaoxiao immediately entered the room but she didn't walk any further after entering the room. Instead, she slid to the floor and collapsed into shuddering sobs after closing the door. She desperately needed to release all her pent-up emotions for fear that if she didn't, she would go mad.

The thought that this could happen had never once crossed her mind. She had grown up without a mother and all of a sudden, her dad had come home with a woman who already had a son. Soon, the woman had given him a son and a daughter and Yin Xiaoxiao had found herself an outsider in her own family. She had always thought she had found true love, but today her dreams had been completely dashed by Xiang Chen...

Her tears slid down her arms, arcing beautifully before landing on the thick carpet. Just as all difficult times and painful memories in life would be erased with the passage of time, so did her tears.

"Who are you?"

A husky voice suddenly broke through the silence in the room. This voice definitely belonged to a man. Yin Xiaoxiao started in surprise and looked up at the stranger in a daze.

Most unoccupied rooms at the Tridecember Hotel remained unlocked, and this was the reason why she had dared to enter the room earlier. The man in front of her who was wearing nothing but a towel around his waist and looked as though he had just woken up. As she looked up at him, she wondered who exactly he was.

She immediately rose to her feet to run out of the room but she had stood up so quickly that her legs had gone numb and she found herself falling. She instinctively reached out to grab the towel around the man's waist...