Chapter 84: Hopeless And Helpless

Chapter 84

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"Bye, Xiao Li..."

Guo Xue smiled softly as she said goodbye, while Chen’er lifted his small hand and waved enthusiastically at the omega. The little boy’s fingers opened and closed repeatedly as though he was reluctant to stop waving, even after Jiang Li had already smiled back at him.

Luo Xin was about to leave as well when Jiang Li suddenly reached out and caught her wrist.

The older Alpha stopped immediately and looked back at him, one silver eyebrow lifting in question. The parking lot was quieter now, with the evening air settling around them and the distant sounds of traffic drifting between the buildings. The lights overhead cast pale pools of illumination across the pavement, leaving the spaces between them slightly darker.

"What’s wrong, Jiang Li?" Luo Xin asked.

Her voice was casual, but Jiang Li didn’t answer immediately.

He lowered his gaze, his fingers slowly loosening around her wrist. He bit down on his lower lip, trying to gather enough courage to say what had been troubling him. He knew he probably shouldn’t ask. He knew it wasn’t his place to interfere in Luo Xin’s feelings, especially when he understood better than anyone how difficult it was to let go of someone you loved.

But that was exactly why he needed to say it.

"Do you still love... Shen Mei?"

The question left his lips quietly.

Luo Xin froze.

For several seconds, she didn’t move. Her silver eyes, which had been calm only moments earlier, suddenly became unreadable. Her expression hardened almost imperceptibly, and she took a small step backward as though Jiang Li’s question had physically pushed her away.

"Why are you asking that so suddenly?" she asked.

There was confusion in her voice, but beneath it was something sharper.

Jiang Li noticed immediately.

He didn’t need her to say anything else.

The slight tension in her shoulders, the way her fingers curled at her sides, and the faint darkness that entered her eyes told him everything he needed to know.

She still loved her.

Jiang Li’s heart ached.

He had hoped that perhaps, after all these years, Luo Xin had finally managed to move forward. He had wanted her to find someone who could give her the kind of love she deserved instead of leaving her trapped in memories of someone who had already chosen another person.

But looking at her now, Jiang Li realized that the wound had never truly healed.

Perhaps Luo Xin had simply learned how to live with it.

He lowered his eyes and sighed.

"Please... try to move on."

The moment the words left his mouth, Luo Xin’s expression changed.

"What do you mean, ’try to move on,’ Jiang Li?"

Her voice had become colder.

Jiang Li’s shoulders tensed.

"It’s been years," he said, his voice trembling slightly. "And she has... she has..."

He struggled to finish the sentence.

"She’s already found someone, Xinxin."

The words finally came out.

Luo Xin stared at him.

"It’s hopeless, Luo Xin," Jiang Li continued, his voice becoming more desperate. "Please. You’re hurting yourself. Just move on."

For a moment, Luo Xin said nothing.

The silence between them seemed heavier than the cold evening air.

Then she laughed.

It wasn’t the warm laugh Jiang Li knew.

It was quiet and bitter, carrying a sadness so deep that it made his chest tighten.

Luo Xin pushed her silver hair away from her face and looked directly at him.

"If I were the one to tell you those words when you were crying because that Alpha kept hurting you repeatedly," she began, her voice low, "would you have listened to me?"

Jiang Li’s lips parted, but no answer came.

"When you kept stalking him, acting like a lost puppy, and crying after almost everything he said to you, who supported you?"

Her voice grew sharper with every word.

"Who did you run to?"

Jiang Li’s eyes began to sting.

"It was me."

Luo Xin pointed lightly toward herself, her eyes filled with years of frustration that she had kept buried.

"I was that person, Jiang Li. You tried to give up so many times. You almost did things you would’ve regretted, and I was the one who stayed with you. I was the one who helped you. I was the one who stopped you."

Every word struck Jiang Li harder than the last.

His honey-brown eyes became glassy beneath the parking lot lights. He swallowed painfully, unable to defend himself because there was nothing he could say that would make her words untrue.

Luo Xin had been there.

She had stayed when he had been impossible to handle. She had listened to him cry over the same Alpha again and again. She had watched him make excuses for someone who repeatedly hurt him and had never once made him feel ashamed for loving him.

"I have never judged you, Jiang Li."

Her voice softened, but somehow that made it hurt even more.

"It’s crazy that I’m hearing all of this from you... just because you’ve finally gotten what you wanted."

Jiang Li’s heart dropped.

Luo Xin looked away.

She didn’t wait for an answer.

Instead, she turned and began walking toward her motorcycle, her long strides carrying her quickly across the parking lot.

Jiang Li stood frozen for a second.

Then realization hit him.

He had spoken out of turn.

He had hurt her.

"Luo Xin!"

He hurried after her, his footsteps echoing against the pavement.

"Luo Xin, please! I didn’t mean it like that!"

She didn’t turn around.

The motorcycle was only a short distance away, and Luo Xin reached it quickly. She placed one hand against the seat but didn’t immediately climb onto it.

Jiang Li stopped several steps away, breathing unevenly.

"Please," he repeated, his voice smaller this time. "I didn’t mean to hurt you."

Still, Luo Xin didn’t respond.

The silence made Jiang Li’s anxiety rise.

He couldn’t lose her.

Not her.

Not the person who had stayed beside him through everything.

"I’m just worried because Shen Mei is getting—"

He stopped.

Luo Xin had been leaning against the motorcycle, her arms folded loosely across her chest. She wasn’t actually preparing to leave.

She knew Jiang Li too well.

If she simply drove away, he would spend the entire night blaming himself, replaying every word and convincing himself that he had destroyed their friendship.

So she had stayed.

She waited silently for him to finish.

But Jiang Li never did.

The air around them became strangely quiet.

Luo Xin frowned.

"Jiang Li?"

There was no response.

She turned around.

Her eyes widened.

The omega was gone.

For a moment, Luo Xin simply stared at the empty space where he had been standing.

"Jiang Li..."

Her voice came out as a whisper.

Then panic struck.

She immediately pushed herself away from the motorcycle and looked around the parking lot.

Nothing.

No Jiang Li.

No footsteps.

No familiar figure disappearing around a corner.

Nothing.

Her breathing became quicker.

She searched the surrounding area, her eyes moving rapidly from one direction to another. There were several cars parked nearby, but none appeared suspicious. People were still passing through the area, yet she hadn’t seen anyone approach him.

How could he have disappeared without her noticing?

Then she saw something on the ground.

The baby things she, Guo Chen, and Guo Xue had bought for Jiang Li were scattered across the pavement.

A small package had fallen open.

A piece of baby clothing lay partly beneath a bench.

And beside it was the little white puppy Jiang Li had been holding earlier.

Luo Xin’s heart stopped.

She rushed forward and picked up the puppy.

The tiny animal whimpered softly, looking around as though it was searching for the person who had been holding it only moments earlier.

Luo Xin’s hands tightened around its small body.

"No..."

Her voice trembled.

She looked around again, desperately searching for anything that could explain what had happened.

Nothing.

It was as though Jiang Li had simply vanished.

"Jiang Li!"

Her voice rose into a shout.

She hurried around the parking lot, scanning every vehicle and every shadow. Her eyes searched for suspicious cars, unfamiliar faces, anything she could remember.

If someone had taken him, she needed a description.

A license plate.

Anything.

But there was nothing.

Her heart hammered against her ribs as fear spread through her body.

Then, suddenly, a memory surfaced.

A voice.

Please call me if you need anything, Xin.

Luo Xin swallowed.

She remembered the way she had responded.

I don’t need it.

And the reply that had followed, accompanied by that familiar teasing tone.

Don’t be like that...

At the time, she had rolled her eyes.

She had never imagined she would actually need that number.

But she remembered something else.

Shen Mei’s brother had once annoyingly taken Luo Xin’s phone without permission and entered his number himself. She had forgotten to delete it.

She had never blocked it.

For the first time, Luo Xin was grateful that she hadn’t.

Her fingers trembled as she pulled out her phone.

She found the number and pressed call.

The ringing sounded unbearably loud in the silence.

One ring.

Two.

Three.

Luo Xin paced back and forth, clutching the little white puppy tightly against her chest.

Finally, the call connected.

"Hello?"

Shen Mei’s voice came through the phone.

There was the faint sound of running water in the background, as though she had been somewhere nearby washing her hands or doing something ordinary.

Luo Xin couldn’t understand how anything could still feel ordinary.

"Your brother," Luo Xin said.

Her voice was rough.

"Can you tell him something?"

There was a pause.

Shen Mei immediately noticed the fear hidden beneath Luo Xin’s voice.

"What’s wrong?"

Her tone changed completely.

Luo Xin’s fingers tightened around the phone.

Her heart was pounding so violently that she could barely breathe.

She stared at the empty parking lot, at the scattered baby things still lying across the ground.

She had spent years believing she could handle almost anything.

But this was different.

This was Jiang Li.

And Jiang Li was gone.

"Can you tell him..."

Her voice broke.

She forced herself to continue.

"Jiang Li has been kidnapped."

There was complete silence on the other end.

Then Shen Mei’s shocked voice exploded through the phone.

"What?!"

Luo Xin closed her eyes tightly.

The fear she had been trying to suppress finally became impossible to contain.

"He’s gone," she whispered. "He was standing right in front of me, and then he disappeared."

Her gaze dropped to the puppy in her arms.

"I didn’t even hear anything."

For the first time, Luo Xin truly understood how helpless she was.