CHAPTER 19
For several seconds, the room froze.
Shi Yunxi stared down at the small boy wrapped around her waist, his little hands clutching her blouse with desperate familiarity—as if she were someone he'd loved for years, not a stranger he'd met only once.
Mu Rui's small voice trembled as he pressed his cheek against her arm.
"Pretty auntie… I found you…"
His relief was so raw, so heartfelt, that it softened even the coldest corners of the air.
Shi Yunxi's breath hitched.
This child—
Why did he cling to her like he'd been waiting his whole life for her?
She instinctively raised a hand, intending to pat his back gently—but she stopped mid-air, remembering Mu Lingchen's warning from only minutes before.
Do not comfort him.
Do not speak to him.
Do not let him approach you.
Too late.
He had already buried himself against her.
The nanny rushed forward, her face pale. "Young master, you mustn't run off like that—President Mu, I'm so sorry, he just slipped away—!"
She reached out to separate the boy, but the moment her fingers brushed his shoulder, Mu Rui twisted away with a sharp cry.
"No! Don't touch me! I don't want you! I want her—!"
His voice cracked.
And then the tears came, fat and heavy, falling straight onto Yunxi's sleeve.
Shi Yunxi felt her heart twist painfully—not because of the tears themselves, but because of the fear in them. That kind of trembling… only children who'd been hurt or neglected carried that.
But before she could speak, a cool shadow fell across them.
Mu Lingchen had risen from his seat, his face expressionless, but his eyes—
His eyes were dangerously sharp.
"Mu Rui," he said quietly.
The boy froze.
Even Yunxi felt the shift in the room's temperature.
Mu Rui lifted his head slightly, sniffling, but he didn't release her. He only clutched tighter, as if terrified she might disappear if he let go.
"Come here," Mu Lingchen commanded softly.
Soft, but absolute.
Mu Rui shook his head stubbornly.
"No."
A single word.
But in the Mu family, that was equivalent to an earthquake.
Secretary Wang's eyes widened.
The nanny paled.
Lin Meixi, waiting by the door, nearly choked on air.
No one—no one—defied Mu Lingchen.
Yet this tiny child had just looked the most powerful man in the city in the eye and said:
No.
Lingchen's jaw tightened almost imperceptibly.
"Mu Rui," he repeated, stepping closer, "you're misbehaving."
"I don't care!" Mu Rui snapped, turning his face back into Yunxi's arm. "She's not scary. She's warm. I like her!"
Silence crashed over the room.
Yunxi's breath caught.
Mu Lingchen closed his eyes for one second.
And when he opened them, coldness radiated from every line of his body.
He wasn't angry.
No—he was evaluating.
Calculating.
This woman…
This child…
This inexplicable connection…
Something was wrong with this picture, and Mu Lingchen knew it.
Before he could speak again, Mu Rui's small fingers suddenly tugged Yunxi's hand toward his chest.
"Auntie," he whispered, voice cracking, "don't leave me. Please."
Something inside Yunxi snapped—not logically, not mentally, but instinctively, as if responding to a wound she didn't know existed.
She couldn't help it.
Her hand moved.
She touched his head softly.
And the moment her fingers brushed his hair, Mu Rui melted into her with a relieved sob, gripping her like a lifeline.
The entire top floor fell silent again.
Shi Yunxi realized what she'd done—too late.
Slowly, she looked up at Mu Lingchen.
His gaze met hers.
Sharp.
Cold.
Searching.
And beneath it—
a strange, unspoken warning she couldn't decipher.
"Miss Shi," he said, voice low, unreadable, "you seem to have misunderstood our earlier conversation."
She swallowed quietly.
"I am aware," she answered softly, "but he was already crying. I couldn't push away a child like that."
His eyes narrowed just slightly.
"He is my child."
The implication hovered in the air.
Your boundaries don't apply here.
Your softness isn't needed.
Your presence is dangerous.
Yunxi held her silence.
Not out of fear.
Out of restraint.
Lingchen stepped forward and tried to take Mu Rui into his arms.
But the boy broke into a panicked cry, clutching Yunxi harder.
"No! Daddy, no! Don't take me! Don't take her away—!"
The desperation in his voice startled even Yunxi.
Something was deeply wrong.
No child cried like that without a reason.
Shi Yunxi finally spoke, her tone calm, gentle, but firm.
"President Mu… perhaps you should speak to him softly. He's frightened."
"Frightened?" Mu Lingchen's eyes chilled further. "My son does not get frightened."
Yunxi looked at him—really looked.
Then she said something no one had dared say to him before:
"Then you don't know him as well as you think."
Secretary Wang's breath caught.
The nanny froze.
Lin Meixi silently mouthed a prayer.
Mu Lingchen's gaze sharpened like a blade.
Dangerous.
Cold.
Deadly.
But before he could respond—
Mu Rui grabbed Yunxi's hand again and pressed it to his cheek.
"Auntie… don't go…"
Yunxi's chest tightened painfully.
Why was he so attached to her?
Why did holding him feel like holding—
No.
No, that was impossible.
She forced the thought away.
Finally, she exhaled softly.
"Mu Rui… sweetie, listen to me," she said gently, bending slightly to meet his eyes. "Your father isn't taking me away. I'm just visiting. I will leave when he asks. That's all."
"Will you come back?" Mu Rui whispered.
Her heart trembled.
Before she could answer—
"No," Mu Lingchen said firmly.
Mu Rui stiffened in her arms.
Shi Yunxi looked up slowly.
This time, she didn't back down.
"President Mu," she said quietly, her voice steady and fearless, "you can order me. But you cannot order a child's heart."
For the first time—
Mu Lingchen's mask cracked.
A single fracture.
Invisible to everyone except her.