Qin Tianyi sensed something was amiss. He held her hand firmly and asked, "What are you panicking about? What is that pattern on your stomach?"
Susu, unwilling to let him examine her abdomen closely, tried to appear calm. "It's nothing, just a trendy tattoo I got."
"Let me see, what exactly is it?"
"There's nothing to see..."
Qin Tianyi had to pin her hands behind her back and turn her around. Only then did he clearly see the tattoo on her stomach: two butterflies, wings spread, intertwined in a loving embrace.
On the intricate patterns of the butterfly wings were the characters "Si Jie." These two characters were colored with particular vibrancy and clarity, making the entire tattoo stand out starkly against her snow-white skin.
Susu felt a dangerous aura emanating from him, his gaze fixed intently on the tattoo on her stomach, unsure of his intentions.
Her tone became lighter. "Did I startle you? I knew no man would be indifferent to a tattoo like this. It's okay, I said that even if we can't be together anymore, we can still be friends..."
"Did he force you, or did you get it specifically for him when you lost your memory?" Seeing the tattoo wasn't just a matter of indifference; it was profound resentment.
Now that he had seen it completely, Susu felt a sense of release. His reaction was, after all, understandable.
She smiled and said, "No matter when I got it, it can't be removed. Let me go, isn't it good for us to be friends?"
"You're dreaming. Between us, it's either lovers or enemies; there is no third option," Qin Tianyi stated forcefully and possessively.
Susu felt he was like a child. She said softly, "Tianyi, don't be like this. After seeing this, you won't want to touch me again. How can we have a future?"
Qin Tianyi calmed down from his shock and released her, his gaze shifting away from the tattoo on her body. "This tattoo won't affect anything. It can be removed."
Susu wished with all her heart that there was a way to remove it. "Yes, I hope we can find a way."
Qin Tianyi was filled with an inexpressible frustration and pressed further, "When exactly did you get it?"
Susu painfully recalled the half-month she was confined in that villa in Lancheng by Yang Sijie.
At that time, she had wanted to escape the villa and go abroad to find Qin Tianyi, to tell him the whole truth. It wasn't that she deliberately missed the airport, nor that she was unwilling to go on vacation abroad with him and Xiao Xingxing.
She had considered every possible method of escape, but as long as Yang Sijie wouldn't let her leave, she was utterly helpless.
It was then that Yang Sijie, perhaps wanting to completely erase any lingering hope she had for Qin Tianyi, tied her to the bed and personally tattooed it onto her, needle by needle.
Now that Yang Sijie had been apprehended by the police abroad, she no longer feared anything. She told Qin Tianyi the entire origin of the tattoo.
As Susu finished speaking, she saw Qin Tianyi's eyes turn crimson, with a hint of tears shimmering within them.
She knew, had always known, how cruel this would be for him if he found out.
"Actually, I'm telling you this today not for any other reason, but simply hoping you'll understand that I've never lied to you. When I said I loved you, when I said I wanted to be with you for a lifetime, it was all true. I never lied about anything. Sometimes, it was just beyond my control..." Susu trailed off, unable to continue.
Qin Tianyi clenched his fists tightly, trembling like a cornered beast. "I'm going to kill him, right now!"
Gu Susu desperately held him back, fearing he would act on impulse. "Where are you going to kill him! Do you even know where he's being held abroad? Please, don't be rash. If you go looking for him impulsively like this, all that I endured will be in vain..."
Qin Tianyi roughly pushed her away, roaring, "Why didn't you tell me sooner! If you had told me earlier, I would have already..."
"You would have gone to fight him to the death, right?" Susu said, tears streaming down her face. "You would have let Xiao Xingxing lose her mother, and her father! And abandoned the Ao Xiang Group that you worked so hard to build, right?"
"So what? Even if I lost everything, I wouldn't let my woman suffer like this, nor would I be so incompetent!" Qin Tianyi glared at her and smashed the remote control on the bedside cabinet with a furious punch.
Susu looked at him and said, "Okay, even if you disregard all losses, what are your chances of success in fighting him? If you can't kill him, he'll kill you. If I hadn't told you these things, you would have remained absolutely calm to deal with him! Aren't you successful now? You got him arrested. Isn't this all achieved through your rationality and planning?"
Qin Tianyi suddenly roared and hugged her tightly, crying like a child, "When you were at your most painful and helpless, I did nothing, and I still resented and hated you..."
"It's not your fault. I knew that if you knew the truth, you would have come to save me at all costs and wouldn't have let me suffer," Susu said, hugging his head and comforting him. "It was this belief that allowed me to persevere. If I hadn't lost my memory, I had planned to escape from him after going abroad and hide somewhere he could never find me, so as not to implicate anyone or let those around me be harmed by him."
Susu had never dared to imagine that they could clarify everything and resolve all misunderstandings like this.
Qin Tianyi held her tightly, but she continued to cry until she was utterly exhausted and fainted in his arms.
When she woke up, she found herself dressed and covered with a quilt, lying on the bed in the room.
Qin Tianyi was no longer in the room. She got up in a panic and searched every corner of the room, but couldn't find him.
He had left. Had he really gone abroad to find Yang Sijie?
Susu was extremely vexed. She knew this would happen. Why had she held back for so long, only to reveal it all today!
She left the room and asked at the front desk. Qin Tianyi had indeed checked out and left alone.
The thought of him doing something terrible and impulsive made her uneasy. She kept blaming herself for telling him, for speaking to him about it!
She walked dejectedly to a place not far from her lodging and saw Su Kangxi approaching her.
"Sister Susu, where have you been?" Su Kangxi asked with concern. "I heard from the police here that something happened at your stall this morning."
Susu mustered her strength and nodded. "Yes, but it's been resolved. It wasn't a big deal. We closed the stall early."
"Then why are your eyes a little swollen?"
Susu quickly rubbed her eyes. "Some sand just got into them accidentally."
Su Kangxi said "oh," glanced towards their lodging, and asked, "Ya Nan, is she at the lodging?"
"She should be," Susu said, unsure whether to invite him in, fearing Ya Nan would be angry if she saw him.
Su Kangxi hesitated slightly and asked, "How has she been lately?"