Xu Tao's Pov
She disappeared into the restaurant's bustle, weaving between tables with mechanical grace, as if nothing had happened. But Tao sat still, his fingers drumming against the wood, lips pressed into a thin line.
She remembered. She had to.
How could she forget the rooftop lunches? The shy smiles in the stairwell? The notebook he'd stolen and never returned, just to keep a piece of her? How could she look him in the eyes like he was just another rich stranger with a credit card and a hotel room?
Unless…
His jaw clenched.
Unless she wanted to forget.
That thought dug deeper than he'd expected.
For years, she'd lived in his memory — untouched, perfect. The girl who had once looked at him like he was worth something, even before the wealth, before the title. The only girl who ever made him feel real.
And now?
She didn't just ignore him.
She erased him.
His gaze sharpened. There was weariness in her — in the way her shoulders hunched just slightly when she walked, in the quiet apologies she offered even when she'd done nothing wrong. That wasn't the Yinlin he remembered. That wasn't the bright, unshakable girl who once told him he could be anything.
Something had happened to her.
Maybe she wasn't pretending. Maybe she truly didn't remember.
Or maybe... someone made her forget.
His eyes darkened.
Either way, he was going to find out. He hadn't come this far — clawed his way to power, to visibility — just to be invisible to her.
Not her.
***************
Yinlin's Pov
Yinlin's heart thudded like a trapped bird as she slipped through the swinging kitchen doors. The man's voice still echoed in her ears — the certainty, the insistence. We have history.But she didn't remember him. Not his voice. Not his face. Not the name he kept repeating like it meant something.
"Hey, Yinlin. You good?" Jenny Lu's hand landed gently on her shoulder.
Yinlin blinked. Jenny's eyes were full of concern. "Did another rich creep get handsy?"
"I'm fine." Yinlin gave a weak smile. "Just tired. It's been a long shift."
Jenny didn't look convinced. "You want me to report him?"
"No," Yinlin said quickly. "Nothing happened."At least, not something she could explain.
As she returned to wiping counters and refilling water pitchers, her hands moved on autopilot. Her thoughts didn't. Why did he look at me like that? Like I owed him something. Like he knew me.She dug deep for a memory — a classmate, a neighbor, even a fleeting face from a bus stop — but nothing surfaced. Just a blank, echoing void.
And that scared her.
Because if he was telling the truth… what else had she forgotten?
She stole a glance at the breakroom photo taped inside her locker — a grinning little girl with braids and chipped teeth. Mei. Focus on her. Not the past.Whatever history she lost, her daughter was the one thing she had now. And she couldn't afford to look fragile — not in front of Jenny, not in front of her boss, and definitely not in front of men like him.
*********************
Xu Tao's Pov
Outside the restaurant, Xu Tao's polished shoes clicked against the pavement as he dialed his assistant.
"Zhengqiang. Find everything you can on a woman named Wen Yinlin. We went to school together."
There was a pause. "What kind of info are we talking?"
"Her life after high school. Career, relationships, medical records if you can get them. I want everything."
"Got it, boss."
Tao ended the call and slid into the back seat of his car, jaw clenched tight. His mind replayed every word she'd said, every blink, every twitch of her lips. She wasn't lying. Or at least, she didn't think she was.
But forgetting him?
He scoffed under his breath. The Yinlin he remembered wouldn't pretend. She was sincere to a fault — too earnest to fake that kind of blank stare. And that terrified him more than if she'd slapped him across the face.
The girl who once told him he was special now looked at him like a stranger.
Hours Later..
Laughter and perfume clung to the air like smoke. Two women lounged across his bed, giggling between swigs of champagne. Tao didn't hear them. Not really. He emerged from the bathroom wrapped in a towel, eyes fixed on the tablet in his hand when his phone buzzed.
Zhengqiang's name lit up. He answered immediately.
"Talk."
"Boss… you're going to want to sit down."
Tao didn't move.
"She had an accident a few years after college. Car crash. The report says she suffered a severe head trauma—diagnosed with retrograde amnesia. Doctors said the damage was likely permanent."
Tao froze.
"And," Zhengqiang added cautiously, "she was married. Briefly. She has a four-year-old daughter."
Silence. Then:
"A daughter?" Tao's voice was dangerously quiet.
"Yes, sir."
Tao walked to the bed, swiped a bottle off the nightstand, and hurled it at the wall. The shattering glass silenced the room. The women on his bed froze.
"Out," he snapped.
They scrambled, gathering heels and dresses, not daring to speak.
When the suite was quiet again, Tao opened the file on his tablet. Pages of information filled the screen — hospital records, college transcripts, an old wedding license.
So it was true. She really didn't remember him.
And yet… she had moved on. Built a life. Married another man. Had a child.While he had spent years clinging to a memory of her, she'd erased him completely.
His ego flared. His pulse spiked. But beneath the anger was something colder. She didn't forget him on purpose. She couldn't have. The accident...Still, the bitterness lingered. He was once her everything. And now? A stranger with a hotel keycard.
He set the tablet down with deliberate care, then picked up his phone again.
"Zhengqiang."
"Sir?"
"Keep digging. I want to know who the father is. What kind of man he is. Where he is now."
"Understood."
"And one more thing—start surveillance. Discreet. I want to know where she goes, who she talks to, what time she puts her daughter to bed."
Tao's voice dropped to a near whisper."She may have forgotten me… but I haven't forgotten her. Not even close."
He stared out the suite window as the city lights flickered below.If he had to tear open the past to make her see him again, so be it.