To be honest, the fact that Shi Xia hadn’t doubted him for even a moment left Ye Chang’an utterly bewildered.

After all, the world was full of look-alikes—and he’d been missing for five years.

Five years could reshape a person beyond recognition.

Sometimes, even blood relatives might fail to recognize their own after such time.

But for Ye Shixia? Impossible.

Just glimpsing Ye Chang’an’s crouched silhouette sent her into a daze, eyes glistening.

The moment he turned—when she truly saw his face—tears flooded her cheeks.

Ye Chang’an didn’t understand… yet his heart swelled with emotion.

How could she ever fail to recognize him?

She’d guarded this orphanage for five long years.

Five years spent waiting—only for his return.

She’d imagined their reunion countless times; his face was etched deep in her mind, unshakable.

Every meal at the orphanage—breakfast, lunch, dinner—she’d silently whisper before eating: *Dad, I’m starting.*

Newly returned to reality, Ye Chang’an had underestimated time’s weight. Places might stay, people might change…

But a love held steadfast only deepens with years.

A seventeen-year-old Chang’an couldn’t grasp the devotion in nineteen-year-old Shi Xia’s heart.

Not yet.

Now, Shi Xia was drowning in joy—tears and laughter tangled, handkerchief soaked, tissues pulled again and again. Her gaze never left him.

So intense was her stare that Ye Chang’an’s cheeks flushed.

Yet who could fathom her terror—that he might vanish again?

Fear. Dread. The brink of despair.

What is true despair?

To lose, regain… then lose once more.

Such a fall could shatter any soul.

Finally, Shi Xia asked first: *Dad… what happened to you these five years?*

Perhaps… she’d already guessed.

How could Dad remain unchanged after half a decade? Still the seventeen-year-old youth she remembered—

The very image she cherished most.

Ye Chang’an held nothing back. He couldn’t.

His memories were hazy fragments—disjointed, broken.

If life were a drama, a normal one played dozens of vivid frames per second.

His? Only scattered stills. No story. No flow.

He told Shi Xia plainly: he’d been transported through time right at the orphanage gate.

One blink—and an entire lifetime slipped away.

Next moment: five years later.

What caused it? Was there a hidden truth?

He had no answers.

Voice cracking, Ye Chang’an clutched his head—then felt soft arms wrap around him.

Shi Xia had moved behind him, holding tight. Her warm, gentle chest pressed against his back, making his face burn.

She showed no self-consciousness of her womanhood.

Or perhaps she simply felt no need for restraint before him.

For her heart and soul had long belonged to him alone.

“Shi Xia… can you accept this version of me?”

“The me who missed five years… who left you all behind.”

No words came. Only a tighter embrace—answering every doubt.

“I understand…” Ye Chang’an finally smiled, relief softening his features.

After her questions came his. Truthfully, he felt disconnected from the world now.

Most urgent: the other orphanage children, the Chang’an Foundation, the Ye Clan.

Shi Xia might hold the answers.

Yet unease lingered. Clearly—

Of the ten children once here…

Only Ye Shixia remained.

Where were the others?

Had they, like blossoms, scattered across the world?