She may have said those words but she knew that it was all because she had been using another identity all this time. Aside from that, she has rarely been going out except when Han Yizhou found her again. Bai Keran might have done the rest of the work, to keep her from her family's radar.

"Ah yes, I should have known." He chuckled. He pulled something out of his pocket and it was a small rectangular box. "It was your birthday yesterday, I apologize if I wasn't able to greet you."

Her birthday? Bai Jingye was surprised. He obviously didn't know about it. Back then, he had missed that certain information since he never really cared about her back then. She was neither a friend nor an important person to him. She was just a pawn. Han Yizhou's disposable pawn.

"Thank you, gege. I'm surprised that you were able to prepare a gift for me. It seems like you knew that we'll be seeing each other once again yesterday." The words she spoke weren't just a simple remark but a trap for him. Han Yizhou warned her and even if she didn't want to believe that Si Hongqi would hurt her, she trusted the other man's words so she had to make sure. She would only believe it if she saw it with her own eyes and heard it with her own ears so she needed to take a step forward and see what kind of person Si Hongqi was behind that smiling facade of his.

"Actually, this is not a gift." He smiled a bit. "I think you dropped this when you left that night." He opened the box and there inside was the necklace she treasured.

Lu Mengjie's eyes went wide in shock. Her hand automatically reached for her necklace. The snowflake pendant had an almost similar design to the ring she was wearing around her finger. "W-where have you found this? I-I've been looking…" she paused.

It was wrong to say that she has been looking for it everywhere when she wasn't due to her memory loss. She only recently remembered the necklace. She even doubted Yong Liwei for deceiving Han Yizhou. She thought that he turned her precious necklace into a ring.

"I found this on the side of the road. I thought that something bad might have happened to you but it seems like I thought too much into it. You accidentally dropped this. Again."

That's right. She has once lost her necklace and that was during their childhood. It was the day where she first met him. He was the boy who found her necklace and this time, it was him who found it again. He truly was her pillar who pulled her out of her worries and got her back on her feet again. That was always the case. She felt guilty for doubting him earlier.

"Thank you, gege!" Her eyes became glassy, tears tempted to fall but they remained there on the side of her eyes as she held them back. She was glad that her necklace was finally back

His eyes softened. He reached out his free hand and was about to wipe her tears but Bai Jingye was quick enough to stop it by grabbing his wrist.

Si Hongqi looked at him, raising a brow in the process.

The other man wanted to apologize for being rude but… Han Yizhou specifically ordered him not to allow Si Hongqi to touch her. He was only doing his job. Besides, it made him look more like a proper husband in the other man's eyes.

"Please know your place." He tried to be polite as he said those words.

"Ah…" He chuckled a bit. "Yes, yes. I apologize for my mistake."

Bai Jingye released his wrist and instead, he took out his handkerchief and gave it to her.

"Can I at least put on the necklace on her?"

He hesitated upon being asked. Should he allow Si Hongqi?

"Oh come on, don't be stingy, Jingye. He is just like an older brother to me now. Here, Hongqi-gege, here, you can put it on me."

At the mention of 'older brother', Si Hongqi paused. A deep sigh escaped his lips as he muttered, "Guess I'm brother-zoned now, huh?"

Lu Mengjie was able to hear him since he was standing nearby her bed. She knew what he meant by those words but she has already made her choice. She was loving Han Yizhou now and her feelings for Si Hongqi were… not given a chance to bloom.

That's alright. At least she won't be loving two men. She knew where to put the line between her and the other man. She just needed to give him time to move on and hope that someone else could take his heart and take care of it. If he has someone else he loves, she wouldn't have to see him get hurt. Maybe they could just have their children married in the future?

At the thought of having their children as lovers… she giggled inwardly. That was surely going to be interesting.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you? Giving me a hard time?" He smiled helplessly as he saw her smile by herself.

"What? Me? Enjoying it? No way!" She waved her hand as she denied his statement. She handed him the necklace. She fixed her hair up and waited for him to put it around her neck. After he did, she let down her long ebony hair. "Thank you, gege. I really mean it."

He smiled and patted her head. "You know that I will always be here for you, right? Always."

That's right. He has always been there for her.

So Hongqi turned to Bai Jingye. He smiled at him but it didn't reach his eyes. Instead, a treacherous pressure came from him. "I will leave her to you. If you hurt her, I'll be the last person you'll ever see again. I'll make sure of it."

Bai Jingye remained on his ground, refusing to be affected by the tension from the other man. "That will never happen." He was not the real husband after all.