Jiang Meilin didn't sleep well at all that night.

Chen Hansong's words went round and round in her ears the whole night through.

And that embrace, and that kiss that barely landed before it stopped — none of it would leave her head.

For the first half of the night she was blaming Chen Hansong.

But by the second half she had turned it on herself. She thought about the places where she hadn't done well. She thought about whether, if she had shown a little more understanding back then, it might never have come to a divorce. She thought about whether that slap she gave Chen Hansong had been too hard…

She thought all night, and it was almost dawn before she finally went under.

Chen Hansong wasn't far off the same.

He had been slapped, but he felt that everything he had done was worth it.

He spent the whole night working out what to do next, and what he could do to make up for what he owed.

…

As for Xu Ye.

He spent the night being a bastard.

Chen Qingqing only found out when she woke in the morning that the two pillows they had put down the middle of the bed the night before had long since ended up on the floor, and that she had spent the whole night sleeping on Xu Ye's arm. What embarrassed her most was that when she opened her eyes that morning, her hand and her leg were both draped over him, as though she had hung herself off him entirely.

She drew her leg slowly back and then looked up at Xu Ye.

He wasn't awake yet, lying completely still on the bed. Morning sleep is shallow, though, and he seemed to register that the weight was gone. He turned over, and on instinct pulled her into his arms.

Chen Qingqing didn't dare move. Her head was resting just above Xu Ye's chest, and with nowhere else to put it her hand ended up on his waist again. She thought he was about to wake up, so…