She booked her flight without hesitation. She had the taxi driver circle around the city center a few times before finally returning to the villa's entrance. After getting out of the taxi, she reapplied her makeup, concealing the traces of her tears.
When she walked into the villa, everyone should have been asleep. Only Xiao Mei was waiting for her at the door.
"Has everyone gone to bed?" Susu asked, lowering her head as she changed her shoes.
Xiao Mei smiled and said, "Yes. Young Madam, you're back so late today. Miss Wei waited for you for a long time, so she went to sleep with Miss Tiantian. You can have a good night's sleep by yourself tonight."
Susu, however, said, "There's something urgent with the company. I'm going back to pack some things and catch a midnight flight."
"You have to catch a flight so late?" Xiao Mei glanced at the door. The night outside was still pitch black.
Susu hummed and said softly, "It's an red-eye flight. Keep your voice down so you don't wake anyone else."
With that, she tiptoed upstairs to pack some things. Xiao Mei followed her and asked, "Young Madam, do you need me to help you pack?"
"No, you go to sleep," Susu waved her hand and said, "When you wake up tomorrow morning, tell Chen Ma and Ya Nan."
Xiao Mei said "Oh" and asked again, "How long will you be away on this business trip? When will you be back?"
Susu casually replied, "About a month. If I get too busy, ask Chen Ma to hire another nanny. I can talk to Chen Ma myself then."
"Okay, I understand." Xiao Mei didn't follow her any further. She watched Susu enter the bedroom and then returned to her own room.
Susu packed a few things, grabbed her passport, slung a backpack over her shoulder, and quietly drove away from the villa, heading straight for the airport.
When she arrived at the airport's departure hall, there were still several hours before her flight took off.
On the way to the airport, Su Kangxi had called her mobile phone repeatedly, but she hadn't answered. She had even turned it off.
She didn't answer Su Kangxi's calls because she knew he would try to persuade her not to go to Southeast Asia. But she couldn't wait another moment and didn't want to listen to Kangxi's nagging.
Sitting alone in the departure hall, bored, she bought a magazine. After reading for a while, she felt too sleepy. She covered her face with the magazine and dozed off, leaning against the seat.
After leaving Su Kangxi's house, Qin Tianyi also went directly to the airport, intending to stop Susu from flying to Southeast Asia.
But the airport's departure hall was too large. He searched up and down every area but couldn't find any trace of Susu.
Su Kangxi had called Susu's phone many times, but Susu first refused to answer and then turned it off.
Su Kangxi had no choice but to ask his colleagues who were working overtime to help check the flight Susu had booked, but it wasn't that fast to get information.
Qin Tianyi kept urging him at the airport, and he could only ask Qin Tianyi to wait patiently.
Susu didn't know how long she had slept. She suddenly woke up, and the magazine fell to the floor.
She picked up the magazine and checked the time. There were only thirty minutes left before her flight took off. She quickly stuffed the magazine into her bag, took out her boarding pass and ID card, which she had already exchanged, and rushed to the boarding gate in a hurry.
At the boarding gate, just as she was about to join the queue for ticket inspection, she felt someone blocking her, not moving aside for a long time. Annoyed, she looked up at the person. It was A Ban, whom she had seen before. No, it was Tianyi standing in front of her.
She froze completely, her heart pounding as if it would jump out of her chest. Could he also be on this flight? Instinctively, she wanted to hug him tightly. But then she remembered how long he had deceived her, and she became angry. She pretended not to know him and said, "Sir, you're blocking my way. Please move aside."
"I won't," Qin Tianyi grabbed one of her arms tightly, preventing her from passing through the boarding gate.
He had been searching for her in the departure hall all night, almost going mad. He didn't know where she was hiding and had searched every corner without seeing her.
Fortunately, Su Kangxi finally managed to find out her flight details, so he decided to wait at the boarding gate.
"You liar..." Before Susu could react, Qin Tianyi pulled her aside and kissed her lips deeply, as if pouring out all his longing.
Susu struggled angrily, hitting his back randomly with her hands. She felt both heartache and pain, but gradually softened under his kiss and hugged him tightly, tears streaming down her face.
After an unknown amount of time, Qin Tianyi finally released her. He gazed into her misty eyes and said possessively, "You're not allowed to go anywhere without my permission."
Susu came to her senses. Her breath unsteady, she looked at Tianyi's passionate gaze and asked, choking back her sobs, "Why didn't you ever tell me? Do you know how heartbroken I've been during this time? I almost jumped into the river to follow you."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Qin Tianyi had gone along with the plan and had no choice but to do what he did. He also knew what Susu had been enduring.
He believed in their feelings and knew that Susu was not a fragile woman.
Susu cried, clenching her fists and hitting him. "You scoundrel, you liar, you're utterly wicked!"
Qin Tianyi held her shoulders, letting her vent her anger, and said in a low voice, "I love you. Every moment we were apart, I was thinking of you."
The words "I love you" were like the most beautiful sound in the world, instantly soothing all the pain in her heart.
Susu could no longer control her emotions. She had missed him terribly during their separation. She hugged him tightly again.
Ignoring the gazes of passing travelers, they embraced each other tightly once more.
Susu ultimately did not board that flight. She returned with Qin Tianyi to the apartment where they had once lived.
Qin Tianyi was afraid that his current appearance would scare the children and Chen Ma, so he didn't want to return to the villa for the time being.
Susu understood his thoughts. As long as he didn't hide from her anymore and was willing to let her know where he was and what he was doing, she was already very content.
This was also their former home. Since no one had lived there for a long time, there was a thin layer of dust on the furniture.
Susu rolled up her sleeves and went to the bathroom to find cleaning supplies, preparing to clean the place thoroughly.
Qin Tianyi stood at the bathroom door, watching her busy herself like a housewife. It felt like a dream that she was back by his side.
When she hugged him at the airport, she didn't mind his appearance at all. Her eyes were completely focused on him.
"Seeing me like this now, are you not scared anymore?"
Susu wrung out the rag in the bucket and looked directly at him. "When you first appeared before me as Lu Yuanhong's bodyguard, I was indeed startled by your appearance. But it was also after that encounter that I always felt a very familiar aura about you. Sometimes, sometimes I would even dream of you inexplicably... This should be an instinctive intuition."
Qin Tianyi carefully removed the silicone mask from one side of his face, revealing half of his still intact face. However, his skin was a little red right after the mask was removed.