Standing Next To You-Chapter 531: Laying it all bare

The sun seeped through the dark clouds as the rain stopped, giving the world a brief moment to breathe. However, the heavy, looming clouds still lingered on the horizon, creeping closer with each passing second, ready to release another downpour at any moment.

Inside the glass garden, Fei Chuan stood amidst a sea of flowers. Every kind of bloom surrounded him—whether in season or not, they flourished here without exception.

A particular red rose caught his attention. He reached out and plucked it from the bush, but in the process, a sharp thorn pricked his finger.

Despite the pain, he neither flinched nor withdrew his hand. Instead, he continued to pick the flower. His skin broke slightly, and a small drop of blood smeared the stem he held.

This red rose stood apart from the others. While the rest bloomed openly in full splendor, this one kept its petals tightly closed—as if resisting the urge to blossom, stubbornly holding itself together.

"That’s a beautiful rose."

Bei Sangyun’s voice came unexpectedly from behind him. Her eyes sparkled as she shifted her gaze between the rose and him. "Beautiful, like you," she teased.

Fei Chuan tightened his grip on the rose, pressing the thorn deeper into his finger. His jaw clenched. It had been a long time since he had heard her casual teasing—the kind that always threw him into disarray. And now, she was using it again.

It seemed the old Bei Sangyun had returned.

Fei Chuan’s gaze deepened, but when he turned to face her, he forced a smile.

"Not as beautiful as you."

"You jest. You’re beautiful even as a man. I bet if you were a woman, you’d be far prettier than me."

"And if you were a man, you’d be more handsome and a smoother talker than me," Fei Chuan replied.

Bei Sangyun’s dimples deepened. She loved this playful banter between them. Just like the old Fei Chuan she had met in her previous life.

Fei Chuan extended the rose to her. "This is for you."

"Aww, thank you." Bei Sangyun accepted the flower, unaware that one of its small thorns was stained with his blood. She then pulled out a flower bracelet made of daisies.

"On my way here, I was greeted by these bright flowers, and my mood immediately lifted. They reminded me of you, so I made this for you."

Fei Chuan was stunned.

She made this?

He couldn’t picture Bei Sangyun patiently tying the delicate stems together with such care. It didn’t suit the image he had of her.

Yet, without thinking, he subconsciously offered his wrist.

Bei Sangyun happily tied the bracelet around his wrist, careful not to touch his skin. The way she focused, handling the fragile stems with such precision, amused him.

So this is how she looks when she’s like this...

Now, he had a glimpse of the expression she must have worn while making it.

"Done."

Bei Sangyun admired the daisy bracelet on his wrist. Though it was a delicate flower that typically suited girls, it looked unexpectedly fitting on Fei Chuan. It didn’t diminish his masculinity in the slightest—if anything, it made him look like a fairy prince. Amid the sea of flowers, he stood there, as if he owned the forest, nature itself bending in his favor.

"Should I make a flower crown and a necklace too?" she wondered aloud.

"I should be the one making them for you." Fei Chuan shook his head with a smile. "I bet they’d suit you more."

"Like a fairy king and a fairy queen. I like that idea," Bei Sangyun said, considering it seriously.

They strolled through the glasshouse, admiring the flowers and the landscape.

Their conversation was light and pleasant. They shared their thoughts on the design of the place, then naturally shifted to business, politics, and finally, family.

"How is Grandma Pei?" Bei Sangyun asked.

With everything that had happened since their reunion, she hadn’t had the chance to ask about Grandma Pei’s well-being.

When they grew closer, she had expected Fei Chuan to invite her over to his house, just as she had invited him for dinner, giving him the chance to meet Grandma Bei personally. But Fei Chuan had never once mentioned Grandma Pei to her, nor had he extended any invitation.

Maybe... he was still suffering from the wounds she had inflicted four years ago.

"...She is fine," Fei Chuan answered after a brief pause. "She has always been strong and healthy."

"I see. I’m glad."

Bei Sangyun smiled as she walked beside him. Then, she thought of the Chuan family. Her smile faded a bit.

"The Chuan family visited me earlier."

Fei Chuan stopped in his tracks.

Bei Sangyun halted as well, turning to face him with a gentle smile, her eyes filled with understanding.

"I understand why you made that decision," she said softly. "It’s alright if you can’t forgive them. It’s their fault, anyway. You’ve done nothing wrong."

She reached out, intending to take his hand, but instead, she grasped his sleeve.

"But I wish you had been honest with me," she murmured, gazing into his eyes. Her expression carried the weight of his pain, the sorrow she felt for his heartache.

"If seeing them still reminds you of the past—the one you can’t forget or forgive—then curse them," she said. "It’s fine. If you need someone to hear it, I’m here. If you can’t find it in you to give them another chance, then so be it. You already tried meeting them, and that’s enough."

She tightened her grip on his sleeve.

"...I, on the other hand, have been so clueless about how you feel," she admitted. "Just because things happened to me doesn’t mean the same should happen to you. I should have considered your feelings more. I’m sorry... for putting you through that. It must have been so hard on you."

This was what Bei Sangyun felt most guilty about.

She had forced Fei Chuan to meet the Chuan family without truly considering his feelings. Just because the fourth branch had changed, just because she had forgiven people she once couldn’t forgive, and just because many things in her life had improved—it didn’t mean the same held true for Fei Chuan.

How foolish she had been not to see it.

"I’m sorry... Fei Chuan." Bei Sangyun lowered her head.

Fei Chuan stared at the hand gripping his sleeve tightly. Her knuckles were white.

He had the sudden urge to hold it—

But he curled his fist instead, suppressing those insane thoughts.

"...It’s alright. I understand what you’re saying. But... there are people I can never forgive, Bei Sangyun." His voice was quiet, but firm. "And they are the ones who abandoned me when I needed them the most. The ones who won my heart and trust, only to throw me away. Because they... they are the ones who hurt me the most."

Bei Sangyun looked up, and Fei Chuan greeted her with a smile.

A smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

"So it’s really okay," he continued. "I knew from the start what was going to happen. So it wasn’t hard for me."

Bei Sangyun tried to search his gaze, but Fei Chuan had already masked it behind cold indifference.

She sighed.

Right now, she wished she could wrap her arms around him and comfort him. But all she could do was hold onto his sleeve.

"...You said you had something to tell me," Fei Chuan spoke again. "What is it?"

Outside, the rain began to drizzle, raindrops tapping softly against the glass walls.

Inside the greenhouse, the two stared into each other’s eyes. The only sound was the water running through the garden.

Bei Sangyun held his gaze. Hesitation flickered in her eyes, followed by nervousness... then she closed them, taking a deep breath.

She had decided to tell him today.

Although the rainy weather and the approaching storm had disrupted her plans to bring Fei Chuan to the mountains—to that monk—she didn’t want to delay any longer.

She wanted to be completely honest with him.

Reveal her secrets.

Express her feelings without holding anything back.

When Bei Sangyun opened her eyes again, they were steady and firm.

"...What I’m about to tell you might sound crazy. You might not believe me, but... these things happened to me for real."

She paused, took another deep breath, and then spoke the words that had weighed on her for so long.

"I actually died once... and woke up to find myself eighteen again."

She told him everything.

How she had found herself in the Lin mansion of sixteen years ago. How events began repeating exactly as she remembered, making her realize she had returned to the past.

Then, she told him the truth about her ’illness’—that it was real and only temporarily cured when she was near him, whenever they touched.

When he had collapsed and fallen into a coma for three days, she desperately searched for a way to help him. That was when she heard the story of how the Lin family had once invited a monk—and the monk’s words—that Fei Chuan was destined to die young.

"I went to find that monk," she confessed. "At that time, I was so hopeless and desperate that I would have done anything—everything—just to make you open your eyes again and be healthy."

Her fingers curled into fists.

"That’s where I learned the absurd fate that connects us..."

Fei Chuan stood frozen. His mind was blank.

He had already stopped thinking the moment she claimed she had ’returned’ from the past. Everything that followed was a blur, words sounding distant, ridiculous—like a child’s fantasy.

"Two dragons cannot exist under the same sky," Bei Sangyun whispered. "It turns out one of us was born in the wrong time. Because both of us exist, our lives... consume each other. Especially when we are close, when we make contact. That’s why my illness disappears whenever you touch me... and why you grew sicker every time I came near you."

She smiled, but her eyes brimmed with sorrow.

"That’s why I had to leave you four years ago. Even if I wanted to stay, I couldn’t... because I was the reason you were dying. I had to go far away... so you could recover and live."

Fei Chuan said nothing.

His eyes locked onto hers, searching—desperate to find any sign that this was all a cruel joke. A prank.

Because if it was...

Then Bei Sangyun had truly crossed the line.