"This is non-alcoholic sparkling wine." An Shiyu shoved the glass into An Xiaotong's hand, signaling for her to hurry up and offer a toast.
An Xiaotong silently held the glass, looking at the friendly smiles of the people before her. For some reason, waves of discomfort rose within her.
What made her even more uncomfortable was that she had to imitate them and become part of it.
Her rabbit-like hearing allowed her to clearly hear Miss Lin and Miss Li whispering in the corner.
"Earlier, I asked her to have a drink with me, and she said she didn't drink. Now she's turned around and started drinking with those two old men. What a pretentious bitch!"
An Xiaotong tightly gripped her glass, and the discomfort in her heart grew stronger.
When facing vicious enemies, she could cut them down with a single sword. But when faced with complicated, invisible webs of interpersonal relationships and gossip, she was powerless.
Because she could not be willful. Her upbringing since childhood, the restraints of the An family, and helping Bai Ye rebuild Apocalypse—countless rules and restrictions bound her.
No matter how unwilling she was, she had to put away her willfulness and endure it silently.
In the bustling banquet hall, an immense loneliness flooded over her like a tide. Light and shadows swayed before her eyes, figures crossed one another, yet everything seemed strangely unreal, as if separated by a thick layer of frosted glass that made it all indistinct.
An Xiaotong stiffly raised her glass and slowly brought it toward her lips beneath the smiling gazes of the two old men.
Just then, a warm, powerful hand gently reached out from behind her and steadily clasped her cold hand.
"Did you miss me, Xiao Tong?"
A voice carrying a lazy smile sounded