Bab 54: Do we need a reason?

"I don't understand the reason behind it," Qi Jianyi said, her voice calm, though her heart was anything but. 

On the surface, she met Song Chengfeng's gaze steadily, giving away nothing. But beneath that calm exterior, her mind raced, a thousand questions swirling like a storm. Why now? Why him? How had she landed in a situation where she had to fend off feelings she never anticipated?

Song Chengfeng's response was no more reassuring than the silence before it. 

"This kind of thing...do we even need a reason?" he muttered, almost to himself, as if testing the words on his own ears. He didn't sound convinced, and Qi Jianyi certainly wasn't either. His eyes flickered with uncertainty, a vulnerability he rarely let surface.

She studied him, her mind carefully sorting through the best way to dismantle this fragile moment. 

"I'm not asking you to accept me," he said, more insistently now. "Won't you at least consider me?"