I stared, jaw dropped, taking forever to process one thing.
"Wait... then why was he even working as an intern? Playing The Sims?"
"That's exactly the point, girl."
"Ian probably came here just for you."
"The company... didn't know about his family background beforehand?"
I was so stunned my brain was clearly still stuck on the previous conversation.
"He hid his family background when he came. That garbage company doesn't even do background checks... That's not the point, Jessie!"
Chloe told me she'd asked around and finally found someone in the know.
All these years, Ian had been looking for a girl.
He didn't know her name, only remembered what she looked like.
Think about it — Ian showing up at this company out of nowhere.
Then remember him quitting in a rage on my behalf.
He even stood up for me...
In other words...
Ian had been looking for me all these years.
He quit a great job to come work at this knockoff game company.
Just to find me.
Just to confirm I was still alive.
That day, during that absurd company retreat stunt, he tried to push the stone away.
He didn't want me to get hurt again.
He thought I was still at the company, so he came.
He had no idea I'd already been in the hospital for two weeks — still, technically, at the company.
When he appeared before me, I hadn't brushed my hair or washed my face, looking green.
But his eyes lit up the instant he saw me.
Ian said that when we were kids, he and I were neighbors.
I was several years older. He followed me around everywhere like a little shadow.
One time, he almost drowned in an accident.
I jumped in and saved him.
I was only eleven or twelve. Completely exhausted, I couldn't even pull myself out of the water. In the end, two adults fished us both out.
From that day on, he remembered me.
But later, I moved away and changed schools. We lost touch.
He only knew my last name, the name of a street, and what I looked like.
For years, with just those fragments of memory, he kept searching for me across this city.
Until about a year ago, he finally tracked me down through this company.
Most of what happened next, you've probably guessed.
He came to my company hoping to confirm it was me — but soon realized he couldn't bring himself to disrupt my life again.
The company retreat lottery was a coincidence.
When he heard about the stunt, he volunteered to participate because he didn't trust an amateur to be the one lying under the stone — meaning, he didn't trust Chloe.
And then I ended up in the hospital.
After I recovered, he resigned.
The reason was that his family's company found out about the whole thing and gave him a choice: stay at Shanhe Games with a promotion and raise, or leave.
He had no reason to stay at some fake knockoff company.
The only reason he'd been there was because I was.
Now that he knew I was alive and doing well, he could stop worrying.
He was ready to chase his own stars.
Later, Chloe and I sat in a bar near the office and rehashed the whole thing about eight hundred times.
"So why didn't you go after him?" Chloe asked.
"He landed a position at a major company — saying goodbye to our knockoff outfit. You know what I mean? We're from different worlds now. Go after him? With what?"
I stared out the window, trying to look cool.
"And think about it. He came to our company for what? To find me. He left for what? Because he found me."
"What about you?"
"I'll just keep staying here. When he's tired of hustling in this city, I'll buy him dinner."
Chloe rolled her eyes: "Fine, then pay for this round. I didn't bring my card."
"We agreed you're treating," I reminded her.
"I helped you so much, and you won't even buy me a meal?"
"What did you even help with...?"
"Brought you food when you were in the hospital, remember?"
I stared at Chloe.
"Wait... wasn't that Ian bringing the food?"
She shrugged: "He was long gone by then. It was me bringing food the whole time after that. It was awful — I even had to research what patients should eat."
I was quiet for a long while.
But thinking back, the answer seemed clear.
Back then, whenever I mumbled about craving something, he'd always remember.
The next day, whatever I'd mentioned would appear.
One day I casually said, "I really want some cake."
The next day, cake appeared.
But he never said a word about it. Only:
"Really? I'm hungry too, I'll have some as well."
"You're pressuring me."
"Let me be specific: you stay here two more days, and the doctor discharges you."
"...And then?"
"Then I resign."
"I didn't make you quit!" I panicked. "You quit because... you decided to yourself!"
"The Shanhe Games side said they could keep me."
"Shanhe Games? What's Shanhe Games?" I looked confused.
"It's... the company behind your company's investor."
Chloe explained beside me: our knockoff company actually had a backer? No wait — the real point was—
"It's a very powerful company," Ian said.
"So you should understand, I didn't come here for some internship at all."
"There's only one reason I came."
I lowered my head.
"But now you've confirmed it, and I'm leaving."
"I just want to say," my voice was barely a whisper, "you're not the only one who stayed."
"I know."
"The congee in the guest room..."
"My family's housekeeper made it."
"Then why did you always..."
"Because I was eating too, so I... made an extra portion for you."
Tears in my eyes, he brought in a bowl of congee.
"This bowl is from my house."
I stared at him.
He looked away, ears crimson to the nape of his neck.
But I could clearly see — his hands holding the congee were shaking too.
I fell in love with that congee. That bowl of congee — I'm never letting anyone else have it.
A little addendum:
After I recovered, Chloe mentioned something by accident.
During my hospital stay, Ian spent an entire night in the corridor.
He thought I was asleep, but I happened to wake up that night.
He sat silently in the hallway, massaging my limbs to ease the side effects of the sedatives.
I asked him about it, and he never said a word.
Later, Chloe told me — the first two days of my hospitalization were actually critical. I was having trouble breathing. Ian was standing guard outside when a coworker from my company showed up.
That person said: "Getting crushed for nothing."
Ian beat the crap out of that guy.
I looked at the photo Chloe sent — a floor splattered with blood. At least nothing worse happened.
That furious resignation — he filed his resignation first, then went and stood up for me.
He came back with a bruised face and only said to me: "Walked into a tree."
The rest of the story, you can probably guess.
Ian went to a big company. I stayed at my old one.
But the distance between us was just one subway line.
He was never the type to be sweet with words.
Every morning we were together, he'd say one thing.
"The temperature dropped today, wear an extra layer."
"I made congee, drink it first."
"It's crowded on the train, move further in."
On our first day together, he did everything he could think of to make me happy.
I said: "You don't act like someone who just got the girl."
He said: "Being with you has always been my everyday life."
Then I half-smilingly ate my meal, and when I got to the office, I suddenly burst out laughing.
A coworker asked what was wrong.
In the tiniest voice, I said: "It feels like someone was waiting for me before I was even born."
Later, I'd still think about that day in my living room — Ian going feral, red-faced, eyes blazing, yelling at me:
"With your body, you want to do a stone-breaking stunt?!"
I wasn't having it: "I volunteered, so what?!"
"I'm not letting you do it!" He was crimson to his neck but booming: "You fractured your ribs, the cast came off only a month ago! You lie down and rest!"
"...You're the doctor here."
"I am!"
In the end, of course, I didn't pursue any more stone-breaking stunts.
He became a doctor.
As for me, the company pivoted to making original games and actually started doing alright.
A while ago, I asked him: Tell me — right before the hammer came down, why did you reach out to block me? It wouldn't have helped anyway.
His ears turned red, and he said softly: That was instinctive. My body reacted faster than my brain.
I smiled.
What I never told him was this: the moment my hand went up, it wasn't out of fear.
It was because I already knew — when the stone fell, you were reaching out.
So I grabbed your finger and held on.