“Marry me!”

Su Li had not said a thing since she arrived, but when she finally did, Xiao Luo was shocked into silence. It took a while for Xiao Luo to digest those words, and for a time, he simply gazed at Su Li in a stupor. She was wearing a white-colored dress with blue polka dots, which gave her a girl-next-door look. It was a well-cut outfit that accentuated her slim waist and slender legs, and a pair of yellow-colored high heels complimented the look. Her long black hair fell loosely, cascading down over her shoulders, and it gave her a youthful vibrance—but she retained that unmistakable quality that Xiao Luo had come to recognize, the frosty gaze of a woman who always got what she wanted.

“Marry you?”

Xiao Luo blurted out, finally finding his voice. He still couldn’t believe what he had just heard. “Are you serious?”

Su Li looked right at him, and there was a momentary glint in her eyes, but she kept an impassive expression on her face. She sat impeccably composed as she asked, “Well, didn’t you say that you were going to take responsibility?”

“Indeed, I did say that I was, but not in this way.”

Xiao Luo was stumped, feeling unsure how to react, and he was a little exasperated as well. To Xiao Luo, marriage was one of the most important milestones in life, a sacred commitment. Undoubtedly, the girl standing right in front of him was a rare beauty. Some would even say that she was one in a million, however, as a person, Xiao Luo found her to be cold and hard, and he felt that to marry a person with such a personality would not be the right match for him.

“If you don’t marry me, then how are you going to take responsibility? Are you going to give me monetary compensation? Do you think that’s what I need?” Su Li was beginning to lose some of her calm demeanor and began to sound somewhat anxious.

Xiao Luo did not know how to respond to that and decided to say nothing. All he knew was that he would take responsibility, but not by marrying Su Li.

Su Li gave Xiao Luo a strange look, and he could feel her doubts about the promise he had just made to take responsibility, and how he had now wronged her. He avoided eye contact but knew she was looking right at him, and the weight of guilt began to bear down on him. Suddenly, her eyes turned red, and tears began to roll down her cheek.

Xiao Luo sighed, and said, “Miss Su, you and I are just two strangers. And marriage is a big thing; it’s something you have to think through and consider carefully before making a decision.”

Su Li glared at him with a hint of resentment in her eyes and said, “I’ve already thought it through and considered it carefully!”

Xiao Luo did not like being forced into something he wasn’t ready for, and he thought that this was the time to make a stand. He unconsciously straightened his back and pushed out his chest as he said, “You might have thought it through, but what about me? I haven’t thought it through yet, and marriage is no child’s play, not the kind of ‘playing house’ make-believe game that we used to play as kids. It’s a big responsibility and something that you have to commit to for the rest of your life. I am not going to accept it… no, I will not agree to this.”

“So, this is what you meant when you said you were going to take responsibility?” Su Li said. The edge was missing from her voice, and in its place, a tone of disappointment. Tears streamed from eyes once more, and Xiao Luo’s heart went out to her. But he had to remain firm.

“I mean it when I say that I’m going to take responsibility, and there are many other ways of doing so. But marriage is out of the question,” Xiao Luo said.

“I’ve lost my virtue to you. I didn’t think you would be this unkind…”

Xiao Luo looked aggrieved, and said, “Miss Su, there is something I have to tell you. That night was my first time too. I didn’t even ask you to take responsibility.”

“Ohh! You’re shameless!”

Su Li was incredulous! She could understand if a man was not going to take responsibility, but for him to go so far as to say something like this! How could a man’s “first time” compare to a woman’s? Su Li got so upset that she started getting heart palpitations.

“If you think I’m shameless then so be it, what can I do?”

Su Li wiped away her tears, glaring at Xiao Luo with reddish eyes, then she stood up and took a deep breath. “I’ll ask you one last time…” she said, pausing at each of the following words as she continued, “are you going to marry me?!”

Xiao Luo gulped, he had a bad feeling about this but couldn’t put his finger on it. He wondered if this woman was planning to argue with him until she got what she wanted.

He coughed, and shaking his head, he said: “If you came to find me today with this in mind, then I’ll have to apologize—my answer is no.”

“Fine then!”

Su Li glared at him, and tears of pain and sorrow ran down her cheeks. She sniffled as she fought to hold back her tears and said, “When I am a ghost… I’m going to haunt you for the rest of your life!”

Xiao Luo couldn’t help feeling like she was pointing an accusing finger at him, and every word she uttered cut deep.

When Su Li finished her sentence, she suddenly turned around and ran toward the balcony. Xiao Luo went after her and panicked when he saw her climbed over the balustrade—this was the 52nd floor, could he stop her in time? Then Su Li threw herself off the balcony as she could take no more; she was emotionally distraught and had decided to free herself. In that instant, time stood still—she closed both of her eyes, a smile of despair formed on her face—and a myriad of memories flashed through her mind.

Perhaps the headlines tomorrow would report that she had committed suicide due to depression. But, she didn’t care; all she wanted right now was to put an end to her life. She had faced so much despair in her life, and she could no longer bear it anymore. There was no one she could rely on; she could never trust her mother again, and all her younger brother ever did was to ask for money all the time. Her only regret was not being able to see Su Xiaobei again. She wondered why she and her sister shared such a similar fate, but perhaps it was destiny and meant to be.

In that brief moment, as she jumped off the balcony, her entire life flashed before her…

Then, out of nowhere, a strong arm caught her around the waist and stopped her from falling.

What just happened?! Her eyes flashed open, and all she saw was the gaze of a man so different from all others—Xiao Luo. They were like two trapeze artists hanging precariously off the balcony on the 52nd floor.

Their eyes met…

Su Li stared into Xiao Luo’s eyes, and she sensed a hidden pain. For, at the very instant when Su Li jumped, Xiao Luo was reminded of Sun Yu—someone he loved dearly, a person so innocent and pure. But fate had dealt her a cruel hand, and when she succumbed, she threw herself off a roof. But Xiao Luo had been there to save her. When she healed, she no longer had any memory of her past, and Sun Yu moved on to find a new lease on life. She would forever have a special place in Xiao Luo’s heart.

Xiao Luo saw visions of Sun Ya as he gazed at Su Li, never expecting how determined she was to take her own life… he truly empathized with her, but he could not allow it.

Suddenly Xiao Luo was overtaken by a fit of inexplicable anger. “Did you even think of Xiaobei before you jumped?!”

“I had no other choice!”

Su Li’s mind was in turmoil, and she burst into tears. Destiny had arranged that she met Xiao Luo—who could’ve guessed that they’d be so deeply intertwined, but fate makes a fool of everyone. She had given her virtue to him, and over the past four days, she tried hard to reconcile with her actions and had finally accepted Xiao Luo as the man with whom she’d spend her life.

“Foolish woman!”

Xiao Luo was exasperated. He then let out a deep breath and said, “Alright… I promise that I will marry you.”

Su Li stiffened when she heard those words, and she could only gaze silently at Xiao Luo as he pulled her toward him and lifted her over the balustrade.

As she watched Xiao Luo effortlessly pull himself over the railing, Su Li was still in a daze; she felt as if a divine wind had lifted her and placed her back on the balcony.

…

It took some time for Su Li to recover, and finally, she was now seated in front of Xiao Luo with a document in her hand.

Xiao Luo looked through the document, and it was a marriage agreement that contained a comprehensive set of terms and conditions. Some of them were rather bizarre—namely, restrictions on publicizing their relationship, engaging in a relationship with other men or women, and interfering in the private lives of the parties; these were just some of them.

“Are you sure this is a marriage?”

Xiao Luo playfully threw her a wry glance, for this was a marriage in name only…

Su Li sipped her tea and didn’t reply to his question directly; instead, she said, “Once I meet a man that I like, I will return your freedom to you.”

“Hmm, let me try to understand what you’re saying…. this means that I’m just a spare tire?”

“Kind of.”

Su Li assumed her frosty celebrity demeanor once again, but it was just a front. How could she let him off so easily? She intended to make him feel unimportant and then urged him to improve and better himself.

…