The phone was answered quickly, and a voice came from the other end: "Hello?"
The voice was pleasant and familiar... causing Xia Wan'an to suddenly become speechless despite her preparedness to speak.
The person on the other end of the phone waited for a while, but with no response, they seemed to become impatient and asked again: "Hello?"
The voice, once again, confirmed Xia Wan'an's suspicion. The person on the phone... was indeed him... Han Jingnian.
Fearing that he would hang up due to her silence, she finally managed to say: "Um, it's me..."
There was a pause on the phone, followed by a soft "Hmm?"
Hmm? What did he mean by that? Did he... not recognize her voice?
Xia Wan'an clenched her phone nervously before uttering: "Xia Wan'an."
He responded with a mild "Oh" and then fell silent.
They rarely spoke to each other, and his detached tone left Xia Wan'an somewhat at a loss for words. After a bit, she finally managed to say, "I called... to let your assistant know that I might not be coming home for a couple of days... I..."
Xia Wan'an hesitated, choosing not to mention her injury: "I... I have some urgent business and need to leave for a couple of days. I'm worried if something else happens, and my parents contact you, then you won't know how to respond..."
After Xia Wan'an had said quite a bit, Han Jingnian finally responded three seconds later: "I understand."
Then, he fell silent again.
Should she... hang up now?
Xia Wan'an deliberated for two seconds, but before she could say anything, she heard his voice again, still devoid of any real emotion: "Anything else?"
No..." Xia Wan'an was startled by his abrupt question, accidentally pulling at her injured back. The pain made her voice quiver slightly: "...no more."
Bearing the pain, she tried to keep her voice steady and finished her sentence: "...I... I'm going to hang up, goodbye."
With that said, she was about to pull the phone away from her ear.
But before she could do so, he said: "Wait."
Xia Wan'an paused her actions and didn't respond.
She waited for a while, but the phone remained quiet. She couldn't help but ask softly, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing..." He said those three words, paused for two seconds, and then hung up.
With the busy tone coming from the phone, Xia Wan'an was stunned for a moment before finally pulling the phone away from her ear.
...
Han Group.
Han Jingnian, who had temporarily come to see the assistant, answered the continuously ringing phone on the desk as he found the assistant was away.
The assistant came back halfway through the call. After Han Jingnian hung up, the assistant glanced at the caller ID and casually said, "Oh, it was a call from your wife. Is she on a trip or on a business journey?"
Han Jingnian didn't respond to the assistant's comment, focusing on finding the information he needed on the computer screen. After finding it, he began to walk towards his office. But after a few steps, he seemed to remember something, glancing at his assistant, "Does she call you often?"