Chapter 29
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“Bring him up.”
The door opened.
He stood there-
white shirt, dark gray jacket,
everything neat and clean-
and terrifyingly unfamiliar.
His eyes were clear, like the sea in early spring:
no memories in them.
No me.
Breathing hurt.
“Hello, CEO Gu,” he nodded slightly. “My name is Shen Zhou. I’m the lead on the new project.”
Shen Zhou.
Zhou-as in boat.
He had even changed his name.
I smoothed the chop of my heartbeat and feigned composure.
“Please, sit.”
He smiled and sat opposite me.
The smile was clean and harmless-
no old edge,
no cold “sign it” in his voice.
Just quiet.
And inside that quiet,
I was drowning.
I didn’t absorb a single word of the meeting.
His voice moved past my ears; certain words struck like fragments, tapping my heart
again and again.
“Cooperation…
harbor…
rebuild.”
Faded love!
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“Safety oversight…”
“Wind corridor.”
“Wind corridor.”
I looked up. “What did you say?”
He smiled.
“The project’s on the South Island. It’s very windy there.
They call the place Windstop Bay.”
Windstop Bay.
The pen slipped in my hand.
That was where he’d vanished.
He kept speaking, light as if nothing mattered.
fought to keep my mouth shut.
His gaze was clear, untroubled-
but for one split-second, when he glanced up,
something familiar flickered in the wind:
a deep, hidden ache
stirring awake.
When the meeting ended, he rose and offered his hand.
“CEO Gu, I look forward to working with you.”
I forced myself to take it.
Our fingertips touched.
A jolt ran through me.
I almost stepped back.
He frowned slightly. “Your hand is so cold,” he said gently.
I held down the tremor and smiled.
“The wind’s too strong.”
He nodded; his eyes softened for a moment.
“Wind has a way of unsettling people.”
I looked at him.
“Are you afraid of wind?”
He considered.
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“I’m not,” he said quietly. “But in my dreams, I keep hearing the wind call a name.”
My throat tightened.
“What name?”
He shook his head.
“I never catch it.
Only…
it sounds like crying.”
After he left, I sat there a long time.
The daylight outside was too bright.
At last, I laughed-
with a tear in it.
“So you really did forget.”
But the wind hadn’t.
It tapped at the window again, lightly.
“He changed his name and forgot me,” I whispered.
“But the wind still came back for him.”
That evening, downstairs at the office.
We stepped out at the same time.
He leaned against a car and waved with a smile.
“Knocking off, CEO Gu?
I’m headed your way. Let me drive you.”
“Thank you, that’s not necessary.”
“Don’t be formal,” he said softly.
“With this wind, anyone would feel cold.”
The words almost made me cry.
Three years ago he’d said,
“Don’t be afraid of the wind.”
Now he said,
“Wind makes people cold.”
I got in.
We rode in silence.
Chapter 29
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Only the wind slipped through the window seam-damp, briny.
At a red light he asked,
“CEO Gu, have I seen you somewhere?”
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My heart stuttered.
“Why do you ask?”
“It’s a strange feeling,” he said quietly.
“When I met you, it felt familiar-
so familiar it…
hurt.”
I turned my face away.
“Maybe you’ve had a similar dream.”
He smiled.
“Maybe.”
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