Trap in a Book

Chapter 63

Everything was figured out and settled as LiJie and Baozhai were going to inform the Emperor while Bojing and Chuhua were going to stop the group of men from coming. As for ZhangWei, he was the leader of the sect, so he will remain here.
"We will keep in touch with any updates," LiJie said to both ZhangWei and Bojing as everyone was able to depart from the group and head on out.

Once everyone split and started getting ready to depart. Xiaomei watched LiJie, Baozhai, Bojing, and Chuhua hurried to their room to pack up. She stood there, ready to follow after them. ZhangWei immediately noticed her gaze as she was ready to leave. His eyes turned cold, and he watched her eager eyes. Before she followed them, she felt someone's gaze was watching her. She turned her head to see ZhangWei, who swiftly avoided her eyes and released her hand. He turned his back against her before walking away without saying a single word to her. She felt at a loss for a moment. She felt uncomfortable with the cold breeze on her hand and started to dislike it.
She knew she should follow the main characters, but her heart said otherwise. Her heart tugged at her before her feet went after ZhangWei.

"ZhangWei," she called out to him as she knew something was wrong with him. However, he seemed to ignore her as if he hadn't heard her call his name. "ZhangWei, wait...stop," she called out again while she tried to pick up her speed. He continued walking at a fast pace, ignoring her as if her existence was like thin air.

She started to pick up her speed by slightly jogging as she couldn't believe he was walking so fast that her legs couldn't keep up with him. She was starting to get irritated by how he was ignoring her and walking so fast, but she still was worried about him. She reached out her hand and was able to only grab the tip of his clothes. Once she had the tip of his clothes, she latched on and refused to let go before pulling it to stop him from getting away from her.
Her pull did stop him from getting away from her, but it was only because he didn't want to yank his clothes away and cause her to lose balance and fall.

"ZhangWei, what's the matter with you..." she said as her sentence slowly died once she saw his face.

"What? Why aren't you following them, huh? Shouldn't you be eager to leave? The story is processing, and it sounds like the end is coming. You can finally leave this place and go back to where you truly belong! You no longer have to be trapped in this book!" ZhangWei yelled as his eyes could no longer contain his tears from forming. He quickly turned his head to avoid her eyes before he started blinking his eyes to get rid of his tears. His lips quivered, and his eyes showed great despair. Her heart felt a cruciating pain as she saw his heartbreaking expression.

"He..knows...wait...hold...on...h-how...does he....," she stood there stunned, not knowing what to think anymore as if all she could think was the throbbing sensation her heart was feeling as she saw his eyes red, holding his tears from falling. She slightly opened her mouth as if she wanted to call out his name.

However, he immediately said, "Just leave..." Before he could turn his back on her again and walk away, she grabbed his wrist and threw herself into his arms. He was taken back from her warm arms as his tears had fallen from his startled eyes.
She looked up to see his tears were free from his control. She raised her hand up to his face and placed her hand on his cheek before using her thumb to wipe away his tears.

"I'm...sorry," she said with tears in her eyes. He closed his eyes as he leaned his face against her palm. It felt like time had stopped for them, with the wind blowing against their skins and bringing a cold sensation into their hearts.

"Can't...you stay?" He opened his swollen red eyes and looked at her before nuzzling his cheek against her hand. Her heart once again felt heartbroken, looking deep into his eyes.

"I...well, to be honest, I don't know what could happen. I don't even know if the end of the story will take me back home. I'm just assuming," she said, telling the truth. She wasn't sure if the end could bring her back to the real world. She was just assuming since being at the brim of death or dripping her blood on a piece of paper didn't bring her back. She just hoped that the end of the story would take her home, so she really didn't know what could bring her back home. However, his eyes immediately lit up, and his face brightened.

"Then...does that mean-" he tried to say, but Xiaomei interrupted him, "But that doesn't guarantee that I will stay here forever. Maybe one day, I will just go back without even knowing. So I may or may not stay here..." Once again, ZhangWei's face grew grim and remained silent. He avoided her gaze again by looking at the ground. She tightened her lips together as she couldn't bear to see him in pain. She forced the ends of her lips to smile before placing both hands on his face and lifting his head up to make him look at her.
"So treat me like a terminally ill lover," she said, blinking her eyes to stop her tears from forming. "So let's cherish our days with each other from now on," she broke into a genuine smile as she had given up on denying her feelings for him and chose to love him completely without any hesitation.

"No. If you were my terminally ill lover, I would search high and low to find a solution for you to stay with me." He caressed her cheek with his thumb.

She was a little baffled as her smile widened, "So does that mean you are going to leave me to be all by myself to find a solution when we could spend our days with each other?"

"No. Of course not. I will never let you be all alone," he instantly answered back and pulled her into his arms again. "So...let's cherish our days," he said, smiling bitterly as they tightly embraced each other against the cold wind with tears in their eyes.