For Your Happiness - Chapter 50 - I Didn’t Lie to You

Shao Han walked up to the bedroom door, took a deep breath to steady herself, phone in one hand, and with the other, she twisted the lock. With a “click,” the door unlocked, accompanied by the relentless ringing of the doorbell outside-Wu Di’s doing, who figured that if someone really had broken into the house, the presence of someone outside might deter them.

With force, Shao Han pushed down on the door handle and darted straight for the front door. She rushed out of the room, down the hallway, turned right towards the living room-without looking further into it-and sprinted to the entryway. There, she threw her phone down and used both hands to unlock the door with two more “clicks.” As the door was forcefully pulled open, she was startled to see Wu Di standing there, his eyebrows furrowed. Tears streaming down her face, she threw herself into his arms.

Shao Han cried out loud, not bothering to hold back her tears.

Wu Di held her and slowly moved inside, mindful that the neighbors might hear and think something was amiss. He carried her into the house and shut the door behind them, gently patting her back with both hands, whispering, “Don’t worry, I’m here now, I’m back,” while his eyes surveyed the room for any anomalies.

It seemed Shao Han had exhausted all her energy and strength for the day; her legs were too weak to move. She just kept sobbing, overwhelmed by fear or perhaps from the sudden relief and support upon seeing Wu Di-it was hard to tell.

After scanning the room and seeing nothing amiss, Wu Di kissed Shao Han’s hair and asked, “Are you feeling a bit better? Can we go inside?” They were still standing at the entryway.

“Mhm,” Shao Han nodded within his embrace.

“Alright, walk on your own, I’ll check the rest of the house,” Wu Di said, still cautious.

“Mhm,” Shao Han stepped out of his embrace, positioned herself behind him, and placed her hands on his arms. She leaned on him as they moved deeper into the house.

Wu Di casually picked up a tennis racket from the porch-fortunately, it had always been there, seemingly for self-defense.

The two cautiously entered the house, first heading to the kitchen. With a large sliding door in front of him, Wu Di started to push the door open with a tennis racket, keeping it within reach. Once opened, there was no sound. He then switched on the kitchen light; nothing was amiss, and he breathed a sigh of relief before turning to check the living room, which was fully illuminated since Shao Han had turned on all the lights, making everything clearly visible.

He walked towards the balcony. Since the house was a duplex, they usually only used the first floor. The second floor housed a media room, a study, and a recreation room where friends often gathered to play cards, along with an open multi-purpose hall. Wu Di went upstairs via the staircase near the balcony, turning on all the lights and checking each room without finding anything unusual. Feeling much more relaxed, Wu Di descended the stairs and asked Shao Han, “Did you perhaps hear something wrong earlier?”

“I don’t know, but it felt so real,” Shao Han replied, still skeptical and scanning every corner of the house trying to find any other explanation for the strange noises she had heard, yet finding nothing amiss.

“But there’s nothing here,” Wu Di puzzled, knowing Shao Han was not one to play such pranks.

“I don’t know either, but I definitely heard those sounds.” The house was fully lit, and Shao Han still looked terrified. Wu Di saw her pale face devoid of any color, confirming that she had been genuinely scared and there had indeed been some unusual sounds.

They checked the restroom and guest room on the first floor again, finding nothing unusual.

“Wu Di, I’m not lying to you, I really…”

“I know, why would you lie to me?” Wu Di couldn’t bear to blame her at a time like this, stepping forward to hold her in his arms.

“I really heard it, very clearly, it came from inside the house, not from outside,” Shao Han continued, still recalling the noises, certain she hadn’t been mistaken.

“It’s okay now, everything’s fine,” Wu Di reassured her, glancing at his watch. “It’s already past two in the morning.”

“I’m sorry for making you come back, I…” Shao Han felt somewhat guilty.

“Silly, it’s nothing, you really scared me on the phone earlier.”

“I’m sorry.” Shao Han kept apologizing, her mind preoccupied with the noise she had just heard. How could there be nothing?

“Stop talking about it, let’s go back to the room and sleep,” Wu Di said as he wrapped his arms around her and led her into the bedroom. Shao Han kept looking back.

“Let’s keep the lights on tonight,” Wu Di suggested.

“Okay.”

“I’m so tense, I didn’t realize how exhausted I was until now,” Wu Di admitted, feeling very tired after finally relaxing.

“What about the meeting you have tomorrow if you’ve rushed back like this?”

“I’ll go back at dawn. I haven’t checked out of the hotel, and there’s a lot to take care of,” Wu Di said as he began to undress and grabbed his pajamas to head into the restroom. “I’m going to take a shower.”

“I’m sorry for making it so hard on you,” Shao Han said, feeling guilty for the difficulties he endured, never wanting him to strain himself this way.

“It’s okay, this makes me feel better,” Wu Di replied before closing the restroom door behind him to shower.

Sitting on the bed, Shao Han continued to ponder those sounds, unable to shake the feeling that she hadn’t misheard them. Although puzzled, she felt safe with Wu Di back; even if the sounds persisted, she wasn’t afraid anymore.

After his shower, Wu Di came out, and both lay down. He was too exhausted to keep his eyes open. Shao Han, drained from the stress, quickly fell asleep in his arms. After a night of fright, the two finally calmed down.

To this day, they still don’t know what made those sounds, or where they came from, but it never happened again.

The next morning, Shao Han woke first. Watching Wu Di still deep in sleep, she thought about the previous night’s events, shook her head, and remembered that today was a special day. Perhaps it was fate’s way of ensuring Wu Di was there by her side; she kissed him lightly on the lips.

Struggling to keep his eyes open, Wu Di clearly hadn’t had enough sleep but was already becoming alert. “Did you sleep well? I was so tired yesterday, I slept deeply. I hope you didn’t have any nightmares.”

“No, I was probably too scared to dream. I slept deeply too.”

“That’s good. What time is it?”

“It’s 7 o’clock.”

“Oh, I need to get up. I have a meeting at nine and need to hurry over.”

“Wu Di, I’m sorry.”

“Silly.” Wu Di opened his arms and hugged her again. “You are the most important.”

“Today…” Shao Han hesitated, feeling a bit upset that Wu Di had forgotten the day, yet also moved that he had rushed home the previous day, disregarding everything just to keep her from being scared. She didn’t know how to express it.

“What about today?”

“Today is a special day.”

“Oh?” Wu Di’s eyes widened. “Today is December 12th, right? Ah!” Wu Di suddenly remembered.

“Wu Di, I didn’t lie to you yesterday to get you to come home. There really were strange noises,” Shao Han suddenly worried that Wu Di might think she used a trick to get him home.

“I know, you looked so anxious,” Wu Di laughed.

“I really wasn’t lying, everything I said was true,” Shao Han explained nervously.

“Mm, I believe you. But, I’m really sorry, Shao Han, I actually forgot about today.”

“Oh.” Shao Han pouted and looked down.

“Are you mad?” Wu Di bent down to look at her, lifting her chin with his hand. “Well, the meeting is important, and you are important too. Ah, it’s tough to choose, what should I do?”

“Go ahead, you go to your meeting.”

“Ha ha, how about this? I’ll take you with me to the meeting.”

“No need.”

“Come on, come with me, and after I finish the meeting, we’ll go out and have fun.”

“Forget it.”

“Come on, go make yourself look pretty.”

“Really?” Shao Han felt like she might be causing trouble.

“Of course, really, go ahead. Let my clients see how beautiful my wife is.” Wu Di smiled happily. Yes, it had been a year. Wu Di also thought to himself, last year she finally became mine, so much had happened this year, he hadn’t been as good to her as he promised, he had vowed to keep her living in a dream of happiness, but he hadn’t fully succeeded. He felt a bit sad inside. No, he had to make her happy and carefree, forever pure as water.