She also found He Lianchen with them, a smile plastered on his face. He was definitely involved with all of this.

  This idiot. Did he plan this with them and hadn't informed her ahead about this party? No wonder she found it suspicious that he kept checking on her whereabouts!

  He Lianchen made his way toward her and placed a hand on her back. He placed a kiss on her cheek before greeting her lovingly.

  "Happy birthday, Yaoyao." Which was then followed by the pair of sweet buns.

  "Happy birthday, Auntie Yaoyao! We love you!" Xiao Bao and Little Star said in unison.

  Gu Yuyao was speechless. She felt her eyes stung with tears and her inside painfully twisted. It had been a long time since she celebrated her birthday and she didn't expect that her friends and He Lianchen would remember her special day.

  She looked around and covered her mouth in shock. The decorations, the food, their smiles…… All this was for her?

  It was obvious that everyone did their best to make this event possible, but Gu Yuyao didn't know if she could be happy because they remembered her birthday. Ever since her brother died, she had never celebrated nor dared to be happy on her own birthday.

  How could she be happy knowing that she'd also lost her dear brother on the same day? Since his death, even their parents seemed to have chosen to forget about her existence. Whenever her mother looked at her, she could only see contempt in her eyes.

  Suddenly, the wall she built around her heart cracked and shattered. She couldn't contain the grief and pain she'd been holding in any longer. She choked a sob and fell on her knees, shocking everyone by her sudden breakdown. Even He Lianchen hadn't expected that she would react like this.

  "Yaoyao!" He Lianchen knelt next to her and held her trembling form against his chest. "Honey, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

  None of them had anticipated that she would react like this, except for Tang Moyu and Feng Tianyi, who'd been looking at her with sympathy.

  Tears streamed down her face uncontrollably. Her body shook as she continued to cry her heart out. Little Star clung to her mother's side, wondering why her Auntie Yaoyao was crying instead of being happy by their surprise.

  "Mommy, why's Auntie Yaoyao crying?" Little Star never saw her aunt like this before. "Is she alright?"

  Tang Moyu picked up her daughter and balanced Little Star on her hip, wrapping an arm around to support her.

  "Just let her cry Little Star, she's just missing someone so badly right now," she said in a low voice.

  Gu Yuyao continued to cry in He Lianchen's arms while the latter was murmuring words in her ear to calm her down. The Tangs and their guests decided to give them some privacy as the two went?into the guest house.

  "So… Who's up for some barbecue?" Li Meili winked at the little buns with a grin on her face, trying to lighten the mood around them.

  Xiao Bao hesitated for a moment before agreeing. If his mommy said Auntie Yaoyao would be fine then he would believe it.

  And so they started without the birthday girl. It took nearly half an hour for He Lianchen to finally calm her down. Gu Yuyao dried her tears and let him hold her. She still couldn't believe that they planned to throw a party for her.

  "Didn't you like it?" He Lianchen asked. "I'm sorry. Xiao Bao and Little Star asked me for help, so I agreed. Had I known you didn't like birthday surprises I would have told you ahead of time."

  Gu Yuyao shook her head and sniffed. It was no one's fault but hers. None of them had known her pain. She had mastered faking a smile, pretending to be okay for years and yet a simple act of affection from He Lianchen and her friends had managed to break through her walls.

  "It's not that I don't like it. For the past twenty-three years, I've never celebrated my birthday." She confessed. "My Mom had hated me, my father detested me. My birthday will never be a festive event in my life."

  He Lianchen frowned at that. Why? Birthdays were important for most people, especially for children. She said she hadn't celebrated for the past twenty-three years. For a girl like her years ago, what could possibly be the reason she couldn't celebrate her own birthday?

  Gu Yuyao cradled her head as the painful words her parents directed to her resounded to her mind.

  "I should have been the one who died back then. I shouldn't be here with you, living a happy life while he lost his." The words that she'd been keeping to herself for a long time shocked He Lianchen. He had no idea what she was talking about.

  When he first met Gu Yuyao through a mutual friend, she'd been working hard to support herself and always had a way to evade the questions about her family and where she grew up. She'd never given anyone a concrete answer until a person claiming from the Gu family sought after her years ago.

  "Yaoyao, how can you say such words? Does your life mean nothing to you? To us? Why are you doing this to yourself?"

  Just what kind of childhood trauma had Gu Yuyao suffered to act like this? He Lianchen wondered.