The Billionaire's Little Dumpling

Chapter Three

Bai Lu stared at the man standing before her.

For several seconds, she wondered if she had imagined everything.

The familiar voice. The nickname. The way he looked at her as though the crowded ballroom had disappeared and she was the only person in it.

Then reality caught up with her.

Lu Jinyan.

Her Gege. The boy who had promised to return. The boy who had slowly disappeared from her life.

And now, somehow, the man standing in front of her looked as though he had never left at all.

"Gege?" she whispered.

His lips curved into a smile.

"Finally."

Bai Lu blinked.

Finally?

Was that all he had to say after twelve years?

She looked at him again, from his perfectly styled hair to his expensive black suit. Everything about him had changed. His shoulders were broader, his features sharper, and his expression carried a confidence she didn't remember.

But his eyes were the same.

And that annoyed her more than anything.

Because she had spent years trying to forget those eyes.

"You're really Lu Jinyan?" she asked.

He raised an eyebrow. "Would you prefer me to show you my identification?"

Bai Lu's mouth fell open.

He actually dared to tease her?

She tightened her fingers around the plate of dumplings she had been holding.

"You're so annoying!"

His smile widened.

"There she is."

"Who?"

"My Little Dumpling."

Bai Lu felt her cheeks grow warm.

She immediately looked away.

"Don't call me that."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not little anymore!"

His gaze travelled briefly over her face, and something softer appeared in his expression.

"I noticed."

For some reason, those two words made her heart stumble.

She quickly shoved a dumpling into her mouth.

Jinyan watched her with barely concealed amusement.

"Still eating whenever you're nervous?"

Bai Lu almost choked.

She grabbed a napkin and glared at him.

"I am not nervous!"

"Of course not."

"I'm serious!"

"So am I."

He looked so calm that she wanted to throw a dumpling at him.

Unfortunately, the plate contained some of her favourite food, and wasting it would be a tragedy.

She settled for glaring.

Jinyan chuckled.

The sound made something inside her chest ache.

She remembered another laugh, belonging to a boy who had once carried her schoolbag when she complained that it was too heavy. A boy who bought her ice cream whenever she cried. A boy who had promised that distance would never change anything between them.

Then she remembered the unanswered calls.

The increasingly short conversations.

The day she realised she had stopped expecting him to call.

Her smile faded.

Jinyan noticed immediately.

"What happened?"

"Nothing."

"Little dumpling."

Her fingers tightened around the plate.

"I said don't call me that."

He fell silent.

For the first time since their reunion, his smile disappeared.

Bai Lu wished she could take the words back.

But she was tired of pretending that his absence hadn't hurt her.

She had been a child when he left. She hadn't understood why he had to go, but she had understood promises.

And he had broken hers.

Or perhaps he had broken his own.

Either way, she had spent years learning how not to miss him.

She wasn't about to let him walk back into her life and act as though nothing had happened.

"Where have you been?" she asked quietly.

Jinyan looked at her.

"Abroad."

She stared.

"Abroad?"

"Yes."

"For twelveyears?"

"More or less."

Bai Lu's eyes widened.

"You're unbelievable!"

Several people nearby turned towards them.

Her father, who had been speaking with another businessman, immediately excused himself and approached.

"Lu Lu? Is everything all right?"

Bai Lu turned to him.

"No, Dad! He is a terrible person!"

Her father's expression froze.

Jinyan lowered his head, hiding what appeared suspiciously like a laugh.

Bai Lu pointed at him.

"And don't you dare laugh!"

"I wouldn't dream of it."

"You're doing it right now!"

"Lu Lu," her father interrupted, looking increasingly confused. "This is Lu Jinyan."

"I know who he is!"

"Then why are you shouting at him?"

"Because—"

She stopped.

Because he left.

Because he promised.

Because she had missed him.

Because she was happy to see him, and that made her even angrier.

She couldn't exactly announce any of that in the middle of a ballroom.

So she lifted her chin.

"Because he's annoying."

Her father stared at her for a moment.

Then he laughed.

"Ah, I see. You two have already met."

Bai Lu looked at him as though he had lost his mind.

"Met? Dad, I practically grew up with him!"

"That was a long time ago."

"Exactly!"

Her father shook his head, clearly amused.

"Well, I'm glad you remember each other. Jinyan, your father has been asking about you."

Jinyan's expression changed almost instantly.

The playful warmth vanished, replaced by the composed expression he had worn when he entered the ballroom.

"I'll speak with him shortly."

His father gave him a knowing look before turning back to Bai Lu.

"Lu Lu, why don't you accompany Jinyan for a while? You can catch up."

Bai Lu nearly dropped her plate.

"What?"

Her father patted her shoulder.

"Be nice."

Then, with absolutely no concern for his daughter's distress, he walked away.

Bai Lu watched him leave.

Unbelievable.

Her own father had abandoned her to the enemy.

She turned slowly towards Jinyan.

He was already looking at her.

"Shall we?"

"No."

"All right."

He made no attempt to move.

Bai Lu frowned.

"You're supposed to insist!"

"Why?"

"Because—"

She stopped again.

Jinyan tilted his head.

"Because you want me to?"

Her face heated.

"I never said that!"

"Then I suppose I'll leave you to enjoy your dumplings."

He turned.

Bai Lu grabbed his sleeve before she could stop herself.

He looked down at her hand.

She immediately released him.

"Wait!"

His lips twitched.

"Yes, Little Dumpling?"

She glared.

"If you call me that one more time, I'll throw this plate at you."

He glanced at the dumplings.

"That would be a terrible waste."

"Exactly. So behave."

He laughed softly.

And just like that, Bai Lu found herself walking beside the man she had sworn she no longer needed.

They moved towards a quieter corner of the ballroom, away from the curious glances of the other guests.

Jinyan pulled out a chair for her.

She hesitated before sitting.

He noticed.

"Afraid I'll disappear if you blink?"

The words were spoken lightly, but something in his expression made her chest tighten.

Bai Lu looked away.

"No."

"Good."

He sat opposite her.

For a moment, neither spoke.

Then Jinyan looked at the plate resting between them.

"Are those all for you?"

Bai Lu immediately pulled it closer.

"Yes."

"All of them?"

"Yes!"

"I see."

He reached towards the plate.

She slapped his hand away with her chopsticks.

"Get your own!"

He looked at her hand, then at her face.

A slow smile appeared.

"You've become very fierce."

"And you've become very shameless."

"Perhaps we both changed."

The smile on Bai Lu's face disappeared.

She looked at him properly this time.

"Did you?"

Jinyan's expression grew still.

She swallowed.

"Did you really change, Gege? Or did you just forget about me?"

The question settled between them.

For the first time that evening, he seemed to have no clever answer.

He leaned back slightly, his gaze never leaving hers.

"I never forgot you."

Bai Lu let out a small, disbelieving laugh.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Then why did you stop calling?"

His jaw tightened.

"I was busy."

"Everyone is busy, Jinyan."

The use of his name instead of Gege made him pause.

Bai Lu noticed, but she refused to soften.

"I was busy too. I had school, exams, friends, and a whole life here. But I still waited for your calls."

He looked down briefly.

"I know."

"No, you don't."

Her voice trembled, and she hated it.

"You don't know what it felt like to keep checking my phone because I thought maybe you'd called. You don't know how embarrassing it was to keep telling people that my Gege would come back when I wasn't even sure you remembered my name."

Jinyan's hands curled slightly against his knees.

"Bai Lu—"

"And then I stopped waiting."

She took a breath.

"I stopped expecting you to call. I stopped talking about you. I even stopped asking Dad when you were coming home."

Her eyes stung.

"So don't stand here and tell me you never forgot me as if that makes everything okay."

Silence followed.

Around them, the ballroom continued to sparkle with laughter and music.

But Jinyan seemed to hear none of it.

He looked at the woman sitting before him, at the hurt she had hidden behind her playful smile, and felt something twist painfully in his chest.

He had imagined their reunion countless times.

He had imagined her running towards him, smiling, calling him Gege as she used to.

He had imagined teasing her, taking her out for her favourite food, and making up for the years they had lost.

He had never imagined her looking at him as though he were a stranger who had broken something precious.

Perhaps, in a way, he was.

"I'm sorry," he said.

Bai Lu blinked.

She hadn't expected that.

Jinyan leaned forward.

"I should have called more. I should have explained things instead of letting the distance grow between us. I kept telling myself I would call when things settled down."

He paused.

"Then one week became a month. A month became several months. And the longer I waited, the harder it became to explain why I hadn't called."

Bai Lu stared at him.

"That is the stupidest excuse I've ever heard."

"I know."

"You could have sent a message!"

"I know."

"You could have called for five minutes!"

"I know, little dumpling, I know!"

He fell silent.

Then, unexpectedly, Bai Lu laughed.

It was a small, frustrated sound, accompanied by a shake of her head.

"You really are terrible."

His expression softened.

"I've been told."

She wiped quickly beneath one eye before he could notice.

He noticed anyway.

But this time, he didn't tease her.

Instead, he reached into his jacket and took out a neatly folded piece of paper.

Bai Lu frowned.

"What's that?"

He placed it on the table between them.

"A promise."

She stared at the paper.

Then she looked at him.

"What are you talking about?"

"Do you remember the note you gave me at the airport?"

Her breath caught.

The little gift bag.

The chocolate biscuits.

The uneven letters.

Bai Lu looked down at the paper.

"Is that…?"

"The original."

She picked it up carefully.

The paper had yellowed slightly around the edges, and the handwriting was still unmistakably hers.

She read the words silently.

Then she looked at him.

"You kept it?"

"Of course."

"For twelve years?"

"Yes."

Her eyes widened.

"But why?"

Jinyan held her gaze.

"Because I knew I had left someone behind who deserved better than an empty promise."

For a moment, Bai Lu couldn't speak.

She had spent years convincing herself that she had been foolish to care so much about a boy who had gradually disappeared.

Now he was sitting across from her, holding on to a piece of their childhood that she had assumed he had forgotten.

It didn't erase the hurt.

It didn't suddenly make everything right.

But it made the wall she had built around her heart feel a little less solid.

She folded the note carefully and placed it back on the table.

"Keeping a piece of paper doesn't mean you're forgiven."

"I know."

"And I'm still angry with you."

"I expected that."

"And if you disappear again, I'll never forgive you."

His gaze sharpened.

"I won't disappear again."

Bai Lu looked at him for a long moment.

She wanted to believe him.

That was the problem.

Somewhere beneath her anger, beneath the years of disappointment, a small part of her still wanted to believe every word he said.

She hated that part of herself.

So she picked up a dumpling and took a bite.

Jinyan watched her.

"Does that mean we're friends again?"

She nearly choked.

"Who said anything about being friends?"

He smiled.

"Then I'll have to work harder."

"Much harder."

"Understood."

Bai Lu nodded firmly.

Then she pointed her chopsticks at him.

"And you're buying me dumplings."

His smile widened.

"How many?"

She considered the question seriously.

"Ten plates."

"Ten?"

"Eleven, if you keep complaining."

He laughed. " I will buy you a hundred".

And despite herself, Bai Lu smiled.

It wasn't forgiveness.

Not yet.

But it was a beginning.

Across the ballroom, a pair of sharp eyes watched them from beside the reception entrance.

A young woman in a pale gold dress lowered her glass, her expression unreadable.

She had seen Lu Jinyan arrive.

She had watched him ignore half the room to approach Bai Lu.

And she had noticed the way he looked at the girl as though no one else existed.

Her fingers tightened around the stem of her glass.

Who exactly was Bai Lu to him?

And why did it suddenly feel as though Lu Jinyan's return had changed everything?

For the first time that evening, someone besides Bai Lu had a reason to be interested in their reunion.

And not everyone was going to be happy about it.