Chapter 10: Don’t Touch Her
Pei Hanchuan’s assistant studied the article, looking between the shy girl and the name underneath. "Qiao Zhiyi?"
"Yes," Hanchuan replied, getting more impatient by the moment.
"May I ask what this concerns?"
"No."
Assistant Lin accepted the answer without any visible reaction, only nodded his head like this was all very normal for his boss instead of coming from left field. "Official student information won’t be publicly available."
"You have the university and her full name."
"I’ll contact the administration."
"Do what you need to do, but don’t alert her."
Assistant Lin paused. "You don’t want Miss Qiao to know you’re looking for her?"
"I don’t want anyone approaching her before I do."
He had no way of knowing what Zhiyi remembered, if anything. Rebirth was already impossible. Assuming they had both been given the same impossible outcome would be convenient rather than rational.
If she remembered, he would bring her back with him.
If she didn’t, he would have to find a way to explain why the president of Pei Holdings had appeared at her university asking for her by name.
He would deal with that once he saw her.
"Find out whether she is on campus," he said. "I’m leaving now."
Assistant Lin followed him from the conference room while making calls.
Hanchuan forced himself to walk at a controlled pace through the executive floor. Employees stood as he passed. A department manager stepped forward with a folder, but one look from Assistant Lin sent him back to his desk.
The sensation in his legs remained strange. His body moved too easily, carrying him across spaces that would once have required Zhiyi to assess the ground, position of his chair or cart and decide whether the destination justified the energy they would spend reaching it.
He pressed the elevator button a few times, more than a little impatient. The wait lasted less than ten seconds, but it felt a lot longer.
Assistant Lin ended one call and began another as they stepped inside. "Jingyuan has confirmed she is enrolled, but they won’t release her schedule without authorization."
"Get it."
"Yes, President Pei."
Hanchuan selected the lobby button and pressed it more than a few times before the elevator doors finally closed behind him.
He watched the illuminated numbers descend, but beneath the polished metal and quiet machinery, impatience worked through him with enough force that keeping still required conscious effort.
Zhiyi had been nineteen when the first heat began. He had known that, but their age difference didn’t seem to be that big of a deal when they were fighting for survival. After all, by the time they had met, she had survived three years alone and carried herself like no nineteen-year-old he had ever known.
But in this timeline, she was still a student.
Not a child by any means, but she didn’t have the seven years of getting to know him.
She might be sitting in a lecture hall with no idea that the city around her would become uninhabitable in less than a month. She might not know his name except as one attached to a corporation. She might not recognize him if he stood directly in front of her.
But none of that mattered to him. Hanchuan would find her anyway, no matter how much money it took.
The elevator passed the fortieth floor and Assistant Lin lowered his phone. "Her afternoon lecture is Advanced Mathematical Modelling and Probability Theory. It ends at three forty-five in the eastern academic building."
Hanchuan checked the time. It was already past four. "Have the car brought to the front entrance." The underground entrance would require them to go around the block to move in the right direction, and that was precious seconds that he didn’t want to wait.
Not now. Not ever.
"The underground entrance will be faster," his assistant pointed out.
"The front."
Nodding his head, Assistant Lin sent the instructions out without arguing.
Hanchuan looked at Zhiyi’s photograph again as the elevator continued downward. If she hadn’t been reborn, he couldn’t approach her as though they were.... together... in love... in whatever their relationship was. He couldn’t expect her to trust him and he couldn’t just pull her into his arms simply because he remembered how naturally she once fit against his body.
But first things first. He needed to find her. Everything after that would depend on her.
The elevator slowed near the lobby and Hanchuan put his phone away and adjusted his cuffs. It was an ordinary gesture, one he had used for years before negotiations, but this time it was meant to hide the fact that his hands were unsteady.
The doors opened.
And Hanchuan saw Zhiyi before he even took his first step.
She stood near the reception desk in a dark-blue university uniform with a canvas bag over one shoulder. Three members of his security team had formed a loose barrier around her. One blocked the elevators, another stood between her and the main entrance, and the third was reaching for her arm.
But Zhiyi wasn’t looking at any of them.
Instead, her gaze had gone unfocused, and her body was completely still.
Hanchuan knew what that stillness meant. She was lost in her head.
"Don’t touch her." His voice carried through the lobby like a thundering command. Luckily for everyone, the guard’s hand stopped before it could make contact on her arm.
Satisfied for a moment, Hanchuan stepped out of the elevator.
He wanted to cross the lobby at a run, but instead, he moved with the swift, controlled pace expected of the man whose name was fixed above the entrance. Assistant Lin kept up beside him, although only barely.
Zhiyi didn’t turn toward the sound of his approach, but the security officers did.
"President Pei," everyone greeted him, their heads bowing low.
Hanchuan ignored them until he reached her.
Up close, the difference between the girl in front of him and the woman he remembered was almost painful. Her face was fuller. Her uniform was perfectly clean. There were no scars across her hands and no exhaustion beneath her eyes.
And best of all... she was alive.
He didn’t need to repeat the thought or test it against anything else. She was standing in front of him, and that was enough.
"Zhiyi," he called out softly, not wanting to scare her.
Her gaze shifted just a bit, and the moment she saw him, it dropped to his legs.
Smiling just a bit, Hanchuan took another step toward her and her eyes followed the movement.
He understood what she was thinking before she could even say anything.
"They work," he told her, but she continued staring.
Hanchuan had promised himself in the elevator that he wouldn’t touch her until he knew whether she remembered, but that decision lasted until her fingers tightened around the strap of her bag and her breathing caught.
"Look at me," he commanded, making sure that his tone would cut through her spiraling thoughts.
She raised her head, and there was recognition in her eyes. She remembered him, too.
Hanchuan held out his hand. "Come here."
Zhiyi moved without hesitation.
She took the hand he offered and stepped into the space beside him. He placed his arm around her shoulders, drawing her close enough that her temple rested against his chest.
Her body leaned into his and the tension he had held since waking loosened for the first time.
He rested his hand against the back of her head and looked over her toward the security officers.
The nearest man lowered his gaze.
"Explain."
The receptionist rose from behind the desk. "President Pei, Miss Qiao asked to see you without an appointment. She wasn’t able to provide a business purpose, and when we asked her to leave—"
"She didn’t," Pei finished.
"No, sir."
The receptionist had followed existing policy. The guards had responded to her request and had stopped when ordered. Pei knew that.
But it didn’t make the sight of Zhiyi surrounded in his lobby any more acceptable.
"This is Qiao Zhiyi," he announced. The receptionist and the guards looked at her. "Memorize her."
"Yes, President Pei," they replied.
"From this moment forward, she has unrestricted access to this building. She doesn’t require an appointment, she doesn’t wait at reception, and no one prevents her from reaching my office."