Xu Yinyin disappeared.
Not in a dramatic, fake way.
Not with glitter and pouting.
Not with "surprise, I'm hiding behind the sofa!" antics.
She simply… stopped showing up.
She didn't barge into his office.
She didn't leave chaotic sticky notes.
She didn't call to tell him the vending machine had betrayed her with expired chocolate.
She was just gone.
Lu Zeyan noticed immediately.
He wouldn't admit it.
But he noticed.
The silence screamed louder than any chaos she ever brought.
She Didn't Quit. She Just Withdrew.
Her assistant told his assistant she was "working from home for a few days."
When he checked her file — she hadn't taken leave.
When he messaged her:
"Where are you?"
All he got was:
"Handling my own stuff. Please don't worry."
Please don't worry.
That was the scariest sentence of all.
Xu Yinyin had never once asked him not to worry.
She was too busy creating reasons for him to worry.
Day Two
He told himself she'd be back soon.
She wasn't.
He stared at his phone five times that hour.
Then ten.
At lunch, his assistant quietly placed a meal on his desk.
"From the catering lady downstairs. Says you forgot to eat."
Zeyan nodded absentmindedly, lifting the lid.
Inside was spicy beef noodles.
His favorite.
It wasn't from the catering lady.
It was from her.
She still cared.
She just didn't want to be seen.
Day Four
She came to the office.
Not to see him.
She wore a neat black blazer, hair tied up tight. She looked… serious.
Not wild. Not funny. Not her.
She didn't enter his office.
Didn't speak to him.
Didn't even look his way.
When she laughed with the HR team in the breakroom, the sound was soft. Controlled.
Like she was trying not to shine too brightly anymore.
And Zeyan hated it.
He hated that she was holding herself in.
He hated that she'd gone quiet.
He hated that he might be the reason.
Day Six
Zeyan stopped pretending.
He knocked on her apartment door at 9 p.m.
She opened it in casual sweats, clearly surprised.
"Oh. You."
"You stopped being annoying," he said, frowning.
She leaned on the doorframe. "You should be happy."
"I'm not."
Silence.
Then she sighed. "I needed to take a step back."
"From the company?"
"From you."
That hit him like glass.
He swallowed hard. "Why?"
She looked up at him with tired eyes.
"Because you never meet me halfway.
You tease, you push, you flirt back when it's convenient.
But the second it gets real, you go cold. And I'm tired of melting alone."
He didn't know what to say.
So she closed the door.
Softly.
Not in anger.
Just… in finality.
That Night
Zeyan didn't sleep.
He stared at his ceiling for hours.
And for the first time in his life, he had to admit—
He didn't miss her noise.
He missed her.