Chapter 1: You Must Be Present for Every One of My Birthdays
The sky darkened, and dark clouds surged in the distance.
Before long, the rain began to patter down.
Falling alongside the raindrops was a figure that plummeted from the twentieth floor!
The howling wind, a loud thud, and the splatter of blood.
“Someone jumped off the building!”
“She’s dead!”
“Call an ambulance, quick!”
…
At the same time, Liang Sheng sat anxiously in the corner of a booth, his willow-leaf brows knitted deeply together.
The glaring lights of the bar made his eyes ache. He lowered his eyelids, looking at his tightly clenched hands; a fine layer of sweat had already formed on his palms.
He wondered if his mother had woken up yet…
A thousand worries and ten thousand cares weighed on his heart.
His mother had been hospitalized for several years due to severe depression. Over these years, he had cared for her by her bedside without ever taking a step away. Recently, her condition had finally improved a lot, and she could recognize him again…
Thinking of this, Liang Sheng suddenly felt a wave of sorrow. His delicate back slumped, and his eyes seemed to be veiled by a thin mist of tears. Under the flickering lights, he looked exceptionally fragile.
“President Shen! Happy Birthday!”
A burst of cheers erupted from the front, jolting Liang Sheng out of his daze. He subconsciously looked up, and through a gap in the crowding people, he unexpectedly collided with a cold gaze.
Liang Sheng’s breathing stopped, and his back stiffened.
With his long legs crossed, the man sat on the opposite sofa, half his body shrouded in shadows. He wore black suit pants and a white shirt, giving the visual impression that his world consisted only of black and white—frigid, sharp, dark, and lonely.
That was his husband of seven years.
The eldest son of the Shen family, Shen Xingyu.
Liang Sheng hurriedly looked away, breaking their eye contact.
He had endured this kind of inescapable, surveillance-like gaze for seven years.
At first, he had been delighted, thinking it was just his husband’s way of showing importance and attention. But gradually, this penetrating stare made him feel like he had nowhere to hide; it had become a shackle trapping him.
Today was supposed to be the day of his mother’s follow-up examination, but early in the morning, Shen Xingyu had forcibly dragged him to the bar to celebrate his twenty-eighth birthday. No matter how much Liang Sheng begged or explained how important his mother’s check-up was this time, suggesting they could celebrate the birthday at night, Shen Xingyu simply refused to allow it.
Since they got married, his husband had always been like this—paranoid, possessive, and unable to tolerate a single grain of sand in his eyes.
Looking at the person who was avoiding him as if he were a plague, Shen Xingyu frowned in displeasure, unconsciously tightening his grip on his wine glass.
He had changed.
Liang Sheng was becoming more and more perfunctory toward him.
In the past, he would still prepare a cake and various surprises for his birthday, but now, he just sat there without uttering a single word.
Shen Xingyu let out a cold snort.
He had paid for his mother-in-law’s medical bills for so many years. All he wanted was for Liang Sheng to accompany him for a simple birthday, and he was this unwilling?
The more Shen Xingyu thought about it, the more irritated he became.
He forcefully suppressed the rising anger in his heart, let out a light cough, and looked at Liang Sheng in the corner with calm, profound eyes. He said gently, “Liang Sheng, today is my birthday. Cheer up, don’t hide over there. Come over and eat with everyone.”
Liang Sheng inherently disliked such occasions. Facing so many strange eyes right now, he felt uncomfortable all over. He immediately stood up and said nervously:
“I’ll leave first. My mom is alone in the hospital, and I’m worried.”
After saying that, he was about to leave, but Shen Xingyu stopped him: “Not allowed.”
It was his usual overbearing attitude, except that in front of outsiders, he restrained it a lot, pointlessly producing a bit of a gentle aura.
Liang Sheng grew anxious. “Isn’t it enough that you have so many people celebrating your birthday with you? My mom is alone in the ward, she’ll be scared. Please let me go! I’ll make it up to you tonight, okay? My younger brother gets off work tonight…”
The more he spoke, the softer his voice became, and the more he lost his confidence.
He was so worried about his mother in the hospital.
“No.”
Shen Xingyu raised one eyebrow, looking at Liang Sheng with a faint, mocking smile. He continued:
“You must be present for every one of my birthdays. Not an hour less, not a minute less.”
He was clearly being unreasonable, yet he could still say it in such a gentle manner. Liang Sheng was on the verge of crying from anger, unable to say a single word.
“President Shen~ Hurry up and make a wish and blow out the candles~”
A soft, delicate voice rang out from the side.
Su Nian, with starry eyes, deliberately stood in front of Shen Xingyu, perfectly blocking Liang Sheng behind him.
Shen Xingyu uncrossed his legs, rested his hands on his knees, and leaned his body slightly forward to look at the burning candles.
The flickering firelight illuminated his face. He had fair skin and cold, distant features, but a wild nature hid deep within his bones.
“Make a wish? Do I look like someone who lacks anything?”
He spoke casually.
The Shen family had a massive business empire and countless companies under its name. He had never needed to use any method to help him fulfill his wishes.
Su Nian took the opportunity to flatter him: “You don’t, you don’t! President Shen has everything he could ever want. It’s more like others should come to President Shen to make their wishes~”
However, Liang Sheng zoned out upon hearing these words.
He clearly remembered that during their first year of marriage, the wish Shen Xingyu made was that they could love each other until they grew old. Back then, his husband’s eyes were full of him, gentle to the extreme.
But unfortunately, that year, in order to save him, Shen Xingyu got into a car accident. He suffered a head injury, forgot his love for him, as well as their memories from school uniforms to wedding suits, and became fickle, cold, and paranoid.
Liang Sheng’s heart suddenly ached for no reason.
He had desperately loved Shen Xingyu these past few years, using every possible method to make the man recall their past bit by bit. He thought that as long as he worked hard, he could make Shen Xingyu fall in love with him again.
But no matter how hard he tried, it was useless. Shen Xingyu was like a completely different person, yet it also seemed like nothing had changed, except that his feelings for him had disappeared.
He felt guilty and heartbroken. He didn’t blame Shen Xingyu; the man had become like this because of him.
Shen Xingyu lowered his head and blew out the candles.
Liang Sheng looked at him with teary eyes, silently making a wish in his heart: I hope Shen Xingyu can fall in love with me again this year.
It was like this every year.
Even though it wasn’t his birthday, he picked up that discarded wish and earnestly wished for it many times.
Shen Xingyu raised his eyes and naturally glanced over, but Liang Sheng avoided him again, acting like a transparent person, completely expressionless.
This made Shen Xingyu somewhat furious.
He raised his hand and grabbed Su Nian, who was beside him, pulling the person into his arms and placing him on his thigh.
Su Nian was startled. He cried out in surprise and wrapped his arms around the man’s neck, a blush appearing on his fair, tender cheeks:
“P-President Shen… what are you doing? So many people are watching! Let me down quickly, the Young Madam will be angry!”
As he spoke, he looked provocatively at the stunned Liang Sheng opposite him, even resting his head on Shen Xingyu’s shoulder.
Despite such a brazen action, the surrounding people were all accustomed to it. They began teasing Su Nian one after another, completely ignoring the true Shen Madam standing behind.
Liang Sheng felt his heart ache densely, as if it were being pricked by needles. Even though this wasn’t the first or second time his husband had flirted with his secretary, looking at his former lover being so intimate with someone else right now, he still couldn’t bear it. He could only bite his lip tightly, transitioning from anger time and time again to a state of numbness.
He knew that Shen Xingyu was only doing this to anger him. Ever since the car accident, the other party had become extremely insecure. No matter how much he gave, Shen Xingyu would doubt whether this love was real or fake.
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