The day Chen Boyu agreed to the separation, Ranhua sent Ruoqing a text: "he said ok."
That was it. No exclamation point, no emoji. Three words.
Ruoqing stared at the screen for two seconds and typed back: "ok."
Then a second message came through: "going to grab some stuff, back this afternoon."
Ruoqing set her phone down on the desk and went back to the report.
When Ranhua came back, she was dragging a large suitcase, carrying two bags in her hands, and had a tote bag slung over her shoulder. She looked like a tree hung with too many ornaments. She nearly tripped over the threshold coming through the door.
"Let me take those."
Ruoqing took the bags from her without another word.
"I only grabbed the essentials," Ranhua said, pushing the suitcase against the wall and catching her breath. "Face wash, skincare stuff, clothes to change into… and my charging cable. He always used my charging cable. I took every single one."
"Okay."
"And my mug." Ranhua pulled a Shiba Inu mug out of one of the bags and set it very deliberately next to Ruoqing's cup rack. "This one's mine. Don't use it."
Ruoqing glanced at the mug.
"I have my own cups."
"I know. I'm just saying."
Ruoqing didn't answer. She turned and went to put the kettle on.
Ranhua sank onto the couch, dropped the tote bag on the floor, and leaned back, staring up at the ceiling. She was quiet for a moment.
"Ruoqing."
"Yeah."
"Thank you for letting me stay here."
"You already said that."
"I know. I wanted to say it again." Ranhua turned her head and looked at Ruoqing's back. "Really. Thank you."
Ruoqing didn't turn around. "Water's almost ready. You want tea or just water?"
Ranhua let out a small laugh, her voice going a little thick. "Just water's fine."
The next morning, Ruoqing went to work like any other day.
The office was on the eleventh floor. The moment the elevator doors opened, the air conditioning hit her—cool and faintly stale, carrying that particular mix of copy paper and old coffee. She badged in, walked to her desk, and sat down. Opened her laptop.
Same as always.
She was sorting through last week's data when she heard footsteps nearby. Someone stopped at the empty seat beside her.
"Anyone sitting here?"
She didn't look up.
"Yes."
"Oh, I'll just borrow it for a sec, I'll be out of your way."
The voice had a loose, unbothered quality to it, like nothing was ever quite worth taking seriously. Ruoqing frowned and looked up—
She went still for a second.
The guy sitting next to her was flipping through a stack of documents, turned slightly away, his jaw line clean, his hair a little messy, like he hadn't bothered with it that morning. He must have felt her looking. He turned his head, and his eyes met hers.
He paused.
Then he smiled.
"Lin Ruoqing?"
She didn't say anything.
"No way," he said, setting the documents down and turning to face her fully, his expression landing somewhere between amused and genuinely surprised. "You work here?"
"…Li Yuxiang."
"Yeah." He rested his chin in his hand, still smiling. "You recognized me. Good. I was starting to think you'd pretend you didn't."
Ruoqing moved her eyes back to her screen.
"You said you'd be out of my way."
Li Yuxiang laughed—not the kind of laugh that meant he'd been caught off guard, but the kind that meant he actually found it funny.
"Alright, alright, I'm going." He stood up, tucked the folder under his arm, took a couple of steps, then looked back. "What department are you in?"
"Admin."
"Sales, for me." He said it like it was useful information. "Guess we'll run into each other."
Ruoqing didn't respond.
Li Yuxiang didn't seem to mind. He turned and walked away, his footsteps fading down the hall.
Ruoqing stared at her screen. The cursor sat on a number and didn't move.
She thought about high school.
The hallway in tenth grade, the crowd between classes, him standing by the window talking to someone, his eyes crinkling when he laughed—back then, every time she walked past, she'd slow down without meaning to, then speed up again and pretend she hadn't.
She transferred schools eventually. That was the end of it.
She'd thought it was the end of it.
Ruoqing took a slow breath, moved the cursor, and kept typing.
Outside the window, the sky was a pale, washed-out blue. A few clouds hung low, like rain was coming.
She didn't let herself think about it anymore.
Or at least, she told herself not to.