Chapter 35: N. The Untold Secret

Seeing Sean’s email, Su Hui realized his invitation had been overly intrusive; since the person had chosen to remain anonymous, they clearly had no desire to reveal their identity.

[Eddy: Please don’t say that. Appearance is truly unimportant, at least in my opinion. It’s perfectly fine if we don’t meet—I was the one who was too abrupt. Thank you again, and I hope you feel better soon.]

Sean’s email also served as a reminder that due to his grandmother’s illness, he had fallen behind on his projects, including the commission for Miss Jones’s engagement party. He understood what this piece meant to a woman about to enter into marriage, and he knew it could not be delayed.

Su Hui’s initial sketches had been approved, but as he refined his concepts, he felt there were many details he needed to discuss with the client. This project carried a different weight than his past work; he couldn’t make these decisions alone. He contacted Bella Jones, apologizing for his recent disappearance before asking for a meeting.

Bella was bright and magnanimous, seemingly unbothered by his absence and not at all worried about the timeline.

“A meeting? Let me see… I’m busy with the new season’s launch, it’s quite hectic. Why don’t you come to my studio on Monday? How about that?”

“Sounds good.” Su Hui noted the address. “I’ll bring a few drafts. You can take a look and give me your input—it might be more efficient to communicate that way.”

“Actually, whatever you want to do is fine.” Bella laughed casually. Someone seemed to have approached her to discuss work, so she apologized to Su Hui.

“Go ahead, don’t worry about me.” Su Hui looked down at his drawings. “I’ll hang up now. See you Monday.”

“Great, see you Monday!”

After ending the call, Su Hui felt a sense of relief. It was simpler than he had imagined—it was just work.

He stared at his sketches, lost in imagination. In his mind, he simulated effects created by various materials—tulle, silk, or perhaps interactive LED screens. He visualized these inspirations using modeling software, saved the drafts, contacted his raw material suppliers, and roughly estimated the costs. He was so immersed in his work that he had no desire to sleep. Xue Gao stayed by his side, sleeping at his feet whenever he grew tired.

Su Hui could feel his body slowly mending, nearing a normal baseline. If things went well, this depressive phase wouldn’t last much longer. He craved the arrival of hypomania—at the very least, it brought him peak efficiency, creativity, and the kind of high-energy euphoria that could drown out all pain.

Su Hui thought that if he could do a good job this time, it could be considered a wedding gift to Ning Yixiao. He treated his work with the same seriousness as his decision to never see Ning Yixiao again.

Medication dulled his brain, causing him to forget things from time to time—including flashes of inspiration—but it was also thanks to the medication that he had the resilience to sit at his desk.

Monday arrived quickly. Having stayed up for several days, Su Hui took his viable designs to Bella’s studio.

New York’s snow remained in a semi-melted state. The temperature was frigid, and the snow on the ground had been trampled into a hard, gray-black slush by city dwellers, requiring careful footing. The winter sun was white, hanging high and cold in the gray sky, reflecting an icy, gloomy light off the glass curtain walls of the skyscrapers.

The wind was brutal. Su Hui had wrapped himself up like a gray onion. Since he hadn’t brought Xue Gao, he had no natural barrier to keep people at a distance. Fortunately, the destination wasn’t far.

Bella’s studio was just as large as he had imagined—a standalone three-story building on the street corner. Advertisements and huge, eye-catching painted design drafts covered the floor-to-ceiling windows. It felt strangely rebellious, a far cry from the aristocratic socialite persona Bella had projected when he first met her.

He pushed the door open, and the heat rushed out to greet him. Su Hui unwrapped half of his scarf, revealing his face.

The receptionist at the entrance walked over as soon as they saw him. “Hello, are you here for the print model audition? Please sign in over here.”

Su Hui realized there was a misunderstanding. “No, I’m the installation artist, Eddy Sue. I have an appointment with Miss Jones for today. It should be in the system.”

The staff member looked stunned and apologized profusely. “I am so sorry! Because there are so many models here today, I mistook you for one of them. My apologies—please follow me upstairs. Bella is on the second floor.”

“It’s alright.” Su Hui followed behind. The wall alongside the stairs was covered with candid photos of Bella at various shows—she looked powerful and beautiful.

The second floor was chaotic. In one corner, a photoshoot was in full swing; in the center, staff members shuttled back and forth with clothing, while the other side of the room was piled high with an astonishing amount of garments and accessories.

“Bella! The artist you invited is here!”

After the shout, a hand reached out from behind the rows of clothing racks and waved. “I’m here!”

“OK, follow me.”

Su Hui followed the staff member, circling around the clothing racks to find Bella at work. She was standing in front of a model, examining a deep blue velvet dress. Just as Su Hui approached, she picked up a pair of scissors and snipped off the white shell buttons on the dress’s front placket.

“This won’t do. Change it back to the hand-woven pearl buttons from before.” She considered the look. “And it needs a hat… let me think…”

“Bella,” the staff member prompted, “Eddy is here.”

“Eddy…” Bella didn’t turn back, staring at the model in contemplation for a moment before snapping out of it. She spun around, eyes widening when she saw Su Hui. “You’re here! How did you get here so fast?”

Su Hui pursed his lips. “I’m staying nearby; I walked.”

Bella nodded and told the model, “Go change into the next set. Have Effie find you a hat.” She turned to Su Hui with a smile. “Sit down. Will it be too noisy to talk here? Or would you prefer the conference room inside?”

“Either is fine,” Su Hui said softly.

“Let’s go inside.” Bella led him away. “It’s too loud out here.”

They reached a small conference room in the corner and closed the door. It was much quieter. Su Hui didn’t want to waste her time; he laid out his drafts, showed her the digital proposals on his laptop, and got straight to the point.

“This is actually my first time working on a wedding theme. I have some ideas, but since this isn’t just my personal work—it’s your actual engagement venue—your input is incredibly important.”

Su Hui showed her the drawings, speaking slowly but thoroughly. “The installation will be quite large. My core concept is white tulle. I want to have layers of white tulle descend from the ceiling to create a dreamy, ethereal feel.”

“There are two options for the material: one is a sheer tulle, which we can spray with a pearlescent coating and hold in shape with fine metal wires so it shimmers under the lights. The other is silk, which has a better drape and a more luxurious, curtain-like quality. The effects are quite different. Bella, take a look at the models and tell me which you prefer.”

Bella scrutinized the drawings and the screen for a long time. “Let me think… I actually like the silk quite a bit, but she prefers the tulle…”

“She?” Su Hui froze, pausing for a moment before asking, “Do you mean…”

Bella realized she had slipped up and immediately corrected herself. “My mistake. I meant to say Shaw. Sorry, I’m just so exhausted that I can’t even speak properly.”

Su Hui nodded. “I see.”

He had been avoiding the existence of that person, but it seemed inevitable.

Bella smiled. “Let’s go with the tulle. It would be even better if you could create a wind effect.”

“That’s no problem.” Su Hui forced himself not to dwell on it and moved to the next part of the presentation. “Next, we can add interactive multimedia installation art. I’m thinking of installing an interactive screen…”

He introduced and explained every detail he had managed to conceive. Bella was cooperative, but most of the time, her choices weren’t based on her own personal preferences. And based on Su Hui’s understanding of Ning Yixiao, what she chose wasn’t what he liked, either.

Su Hui couldn’t help but think: So, Ning Yixiao has changed so much.

“By the way, you mentioned earlier that the lighting and the tulle could create special effects. Like what?” Bella asked curiously. “Can you create a flash effect?”

“Flash effect?” Su Hui found this intriguing and asked a few more questions. “You mean intermittent white light that doesn’t follow a fixed frequency? We can try that, but it would need to be synchronized with the sound effects.”

“Great.” Bella leaned back in her chair, tapping her fingers on the table, her eyes fixed on Su Hui. “You are amazing.”

Su Hui froze, looking up, feeling too shy to accept the praise.

Bella laughed. “And so diligent. Actually, you didn’t have to come to me personally. I deal with many artists, and most have quite the temper.”

Su Hui replied gently, “This is different. Marriage is a very important event. I can’t be self-indulgent and treat it as just my personal art project.”

Bella nodded, observing his face carefully.

“You would actually be very suitable as a print model,” she said suddenly.

Su Hui lifted his eyes, remembering the misunderstanding from earlier. “Really? I don’t know the first thing about it.”

“You don’t need to.” Bella ticked off on her fingers. “Anyway, there are only two requirements for a print model: to be beautiful, and to have an impactful beauty.”

“Don’t tease me.” Su Hui lowered his head, using his pen to record Bella’s requirements on the draft paper, then pulled out the material catalog from his computer to show her.

They discussed the details for half an hour, and Su Hui’s thoughts became much clearer. Mid-discussion, someone knocked on the door. Seeing them inside, the person cleared their throat and whispered, “Bella, Bella.”

“What is it?” Bella lifted her head lazily. “What’s wrong?”

“Chloe is here.”

Bella jumped up instantly, pulled out a small mirror to fix her hair, and only remembered Su Hui after she’d tucked it away.

“I’ll be out for a moment, I’ll be right back.”

“Mm.”

Su Hui didn’t notice anything unusual. He watched her leave, then sat in the conference room alone, sketching new scene layouts.

With the overall draft mostly finished, Su Hui pondered for a moment and tried to sketch the path of the light source with a colored pen, but for some reason, the pen leaked, staining his hands in orange ink.

Fortunately, the draft remained clean. He stood up, intending to go to the restroom to wash his hands. He pushed open the door, meaning to ask a staff member for the location, but the hallway was empty. Seeing a sign, he followed it deep into the corridor.

Every door here was designed identically—a pure white, irregularly shaped door with an invisible handle in a minimalist style. Su Hui turned a corner as the sign indicated, but he didn’t see a restroom sign. There was only one door on his right.

He hesitated, then tried to nudge the door open with his elbow, when suddenly he heard a subtle sound.

Inadvertently, he looked inside. He was shocked to find Bella there, along with an unfamiliar woman with long black hair, dressed in a moss-green sweater and gray trousers.

They were kissing.

Bella’s hands were wrapped around the woman’s neck, her bright red nail polish striking and ostentatious. She had her eyes closed, completely lost in the moment.

Su Hui was startled. He instinctively stepped back, and the door clicked shut on its own with almost no sound.

His heart beat wildly. He stood there, panicked and stunned, realizing he couldn’t stay. He turned and retreated the way he came.

Back in the conference room, Su Hui used a tissue to frantically wipe the ink from his hands. His skin turned red from the friction, but the color remained. These orange stains were like the scene he had just stumbled upon, lingering in Su Hui’s heart, impossible to dissipate.

Isn’t she supposed to be marrying Ning Yixiao?

Why is she kissing someone else?

Could it be that she…

Su Hui didn’t dare to continue his line of thought. He felt angry and confused. He didn’t even know if he should tell Ning Yixiao, since he was one of the parties involved. But he couldn’t figure out how to bring it up.

Caught in a cycle of turmoil, Su Hui felt miserable. Just then, the conference room door opened.

He turned his head sharply, like a startled deer, his large, clear eyes wide open.

It was Bella.

“Sorry, I had to take care of something.” Bella walked in with a smile, acting as if nothing had happened, and returned to her seat. The only difference was that she had wiped off her dark red lipstick, leaving behind faint traces of the effort.

“Where were we?” Bella asked with a smile.

Su Hui was distracted. An inexplicable protective instinct surged within him; he wanted to question Bella, to ask how she could do this when they were about to enter into marriage. But he couldn’t just blurt it out, not like a child making an immature decision. He knew the power of the Jones Group all too well, and he was terrified that his meddling would jeopardize Ning Yixiao’s future.

The internal tug-of-war made it unbearable to sit there and pretend he knew nothing.

Bella seemed to notice his preoccupation and said casually, “If you have other things to do, shall we leave it at this for today? I really wanted to take you to dinner, but I’m just too busy.”

“It’s okay.” Su Hui shook his head, his face pale. “Then I’ll be going, Miss Jones.”

Bella suddenly remembered something and tried to stop him. “Oh, and I wanted to introduce you to someone; she really likes…”

“I’m not feeling very well, I’ll head back first.” Su Hui lowered his head, avoiding Bella’s gaze. He quickly packed his things into his bag and fled the scene.

Back at Ning Yixiao’s apartment, Su Hui considered hinting at the situation to Ning Yixiao several times, but he didn’t know how to speak of it. Furthermore, it had been so long since he’d contacted Ning Yixiao; to suddenly reach out and start talking about his fiancée seemed even more inappropriate.

But is it right to keep this from him?

After much deliberation, Su Hui called Carl, indirectly probing the state of the relationship between Ning Yixiao and Bella.

“Them? Their relationship is pretty good,” Carl, having been coached by Bella, lied through his teeth. “Why do you ask?”

Hearing Carl say things were “good,” Su Hui felt even more uneasy, unsure of how to respond.

Carl added, “Their relationship is complicated. Beyond personal feelings, it mostly involves corporate interests, so it’s hard to describe.”

Su Hui sighed silently. That was exactly what he was afraid of.

“It’s nothing, just asking.” He hesitated, then urged, “Please don’t tell anyone about the call today, okay?”

“Yeah, I know. I’m hanging up now; leaving early today, need to slip out before the evening rush hour.” Carl complained, “Jing Ming is here, looks like my dinner plans are ruined. Should have booked later.”

He rambled to himself, said goodbye, and hung up.

Su Hui was restless. Xue Gao circled around him. When dinner time arrived, Mark had prepared several dishes, but Su Hui asked him and Kofi to sit down and eat as usual. Kofi noticed Su Hui’s odd behavior and asked cautiously if he was worried about something.

Su Hui didn’t deny it, but stayed silent, lowering his head to eat the stir-fried vegetables. Kofi didn’t pry further, only thoughtfully placing a fruit salad and beef strips in front of him, encouraging him to eat slowly.

Su Hui had no appetite. He drank a little juice and stood up. “I’m full, you guys eat more.”

He returned to his room alone, closed the door, and continued to struggle with his thoughts. Before long, Mark knocked on the door, seemingly saying something, but Su Hui didn’t quite catch it and reflexively responded, “Okay.”

He took out a bundle of velvet yarn, wanting to test an effect, but the more he tried to organize it, the more tangled it became—the fiber was a mess, scattered everywhere.

This isn’t working. Su Hui decided to take a shower to clear his head.

He walked into the bathroom distractedly and turned on the shower. His skin turned red under the steam, and the orange ink still lingering on his hands felt like a vivid hint, constantly reminding him of what he’d seen.

He hadn’t been washing for long when Xue Gao began barking outside the bathroom. Su Hui had no choice but to speed up, taking a quick rinse before coming out.

He changed into white cotton pajamas, looking clean and soft. As he blow-dried his hair, he stared into the mirror, wondering if he should find time to get a haircut. But he hated having strangers get too close, and he hated having his hair or ears touched.

Forget it, it’s not important.

When he emerged, Xue Gao was in a state of high excitement, spinning in circles.

“What is it?” Su Hui didn’t understand. He knelt down and tapped the tip of the dog’s nose with his finger. “Didn’t Kofi already take you down?”

He glanced at the time. “It’s already nine-thirty; it’s too late.”

Xue Gao looked pathetic, barely stopping short of whimpering. Su Hui softened. “Then… do you want some chicken? I boiled some extra yesterday; I can microwave it for you.”

He took his medication, brought Xue Gao out to the kitchen, and while he heated the chicken, stood to the side, teasing the dog with a small toy.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Su Hui looked at the door, puzzled, assuming Mark had forgotten something when he left. Without another thought, he walked over and opened the door.

Cold air swirled in, carrying the scent of cologne and alcohol.

Su Hui froze in place.

“Quick, quick, give me a hand.” Jing Ming stood outside, supporting a slumping Ning Yixiao. “Don’t just stand there, help me out!”

Why them?

Su Hui thought of the “no-contact” rule he’d set for himself and subconsciously tried to hide, but Jing Ming shoved Ning Yixiao half-onto him. The weight pressed down, and Su Hui, having just taken his medication, lacked the strength to resist. Ning Yixiao was too tall; his weight pinned Su Hui against the wall beside the door.

“You…” Su Hui tried to push him away, but couldn’t.

Jing Ming, looking perfectly at ease, stood outside the door and explained, “He’s drunk—nearly threw up in my car. My place is too far away, I really couldn’t drag him all the way back. Let him sleep here tonight. Please look after him; he drank too much. He’s definitely going to have a blackout tomorrow morning.”

Su Hui couldn’t hear a word he was saying. Ning Yixiao’s chin was resting on his shoulder, pressed against his ear, making it hard to breathe.

“Then help me get him inside…”

Before he could finish, Jing Ming prepared to bolt. “Can’t, I have to go. My mom is calling me like it’s a death sentence; if I don’t get there, I’m not surviving tomorrow! Bye!”

He just ran off like that?

Su Hui was helpless and angry. Since he couldn’t wake Ning Yixiao, he had no choice but to call for Kofi’s help.

“Why is he so drunk?” Su Hui couldn’t help but sigh.

As if triggered by a key mechanism, Ning Yixiao, who had been on the verge of unconsciousness, suddenly had a flash of clarity. He bubbled up with the one sentence every drunk person loves to say.

“…Not drunk.”