Chapter 27: "Gu Shiyan, we’ve broken up."

Gu Shiyan’s voice was heavy and tense. “What kind of person do you think I am?”

“What’s wrong with you? You’re cold, selfish! You never consider anyone else’s feelings!”

“Luo Xing, how have you treated me? What right do you have to say these things to me now?”

“You’re right, I have no right…” After all, there was nothing between them anymore.

But Luo Xing was unwilling to let it go.

She liked Gu Shiyan, had secretly liked him for three years before finally mustering the courage to pursue him.

Maybe it was true what they say: what is gained too easily is never cherished.

Between them, Gu Shiyan was always far above, and she was the one coaxing him.

It was always her chasing after him, so humble she was almost crawling at his feet.

Even when she saw other girls clinging to his arm, she didn’t dare approach and ask, and he seemed to think there was no need to explain anything to her.

She shook her head, the corners of her eyes reddening, her gaze toward Gu Shiyan brimming with tears.

“How did I treat you? How did I treat you?!” She stared at him, demanding an answer.

“How did you treat me? You went out drinking with Shen Que at night! You were so drunk you didn’t even recognize anyone! You were hugging each other! Can you really say you never had anything to do with Shen Que while you were with me?”

“I can’t even have my own friends? Is my world only supposed to revolve around you?”

Luo Xing threw her phone down. “Gu Shiyan, is it that in your eyes, I have to be like some dog with no dignity, circling around you, wagging my tail for scraps? If you throw me a few leftovers, am I supposed to beg for them? Am I worth nothing in your eyes?”

“You don’t have to make yourself sound so pitiful. In your eyes, only someone like Shen Que, fawning over you, tending to your every need, is worthy of being good to you?”

Gu Shiyan’s eyes were complicated. “Well, I really can’t do that.”

Their gazes met, and in that moment, it was as though something passed wordlessly between them.

Luo Xing thought, after this, it would really be the end.

“Don’t mention Shen Que again.” Luo Xing’s voice was drained, as if a gentle breeze could blow it away.

She turned her head, refusing to look at the proud figure before her.

The wind brushed her cheek, leaving a chill in its wake.

Gu Shiyan’s grip on her hand tightened.

His thumb pressed into her soft flesh, leaving a curve. “What, am I not even allowed to say his name?”

He pressed closer with every word. “When did I ever say you were worthless?”

His voice was rough with suppressed urgency, and his collarbones rose and fell with his breath.

“When did I ever refuse you, no matter how unreasonable you were? When did I not respond?”

Gu Shiyan truly didn’t understand.

In Luo Xing’s eyes, when had he ever treated her like a dog?

Who in their right mind would go through all this trouble to date a dog?

“You say you like me, but you’re flirting with other men, and now you call me cold and selfish? You’re the one who claimed to like me, who blocked and deleted me without a word! Can you stop being so childish?”

“Luo Xing, do you think you’re so clever, making me, Gu Shiyan, dance in circles around you?”

Luo Xing’s chest rose and fell, the stifling air burning in her lungs.

She lowered her eyes, her hoarse voice barely above a whisper. “Gu Shiyan, let’s break up.”

His grip on her slender arm faltered.

She looked up, fighting back the urge to cry, her cheeks tinged with a faint blush.

Gu Shiyan was lost for words.

It seemed that nothing he said would matter now.

She was crying.

“So, no matter who I’m with, how many men I go out drinking with, or how much I flirt, it has nothing to do with you anymore. You asked if I had anything to do with Shen Que while I was with you. Yes, I did.”

Luo Xing nodded. “I’ve known him since we were little. If you’d cared a bit more, if you’d made the effort to understand me, you’d know there could never be anything between me and Shen Que. If there were, you wouldn’t even have had a chance.”

“You say I flirt with other men, but what about you? That time I asked you to come with me to the hospital, I wasn’t feeling well and you said you were busy. When I got back, I saw you at the school gate with that upperclassman. She was holding your arm, you were laughing. You saw me, but you didn’t explain. You never explained!”

“Luo Xing, that time I…”

“What’s the point in explaining now? Are you going to tell me you wanted to chat and laugh with another girl right in front of me? Are you going to tell me you didn’t care about me? Or that you just couldn’t be bothered to explain? That it wasn’t necessary?”

“I waited for you outside your house, asked you to go to the amusement park. The sun was blazing, I waited two hours, my legs were covered in mosquito bites. You didn’t answer your phone or reply to my messages, and I stupidly thought you must still be sleeping, that’s why you didn’t answer. Until I saw you coming back from outside, and when I tried to stop your car, do you remember what you said?”

Luo Xing’s lips twisted painfully, her smile forced and self-mocking. “You said, ‘Luo Xing, aren’t you being a bit much?’”

Gu Shiyan closed his eyes, his brows drawn tight. “Luo Xing, that day I…”

“Don’t explain, Gu Shiyan. Whatever excuse you have, you have no right to explain now. If you really cared, really wanted to explain, you would have done it long ago. What’s the point in making amends now?”

“So, you want to draw a clear line with me?” Gu Shiyan scoffed. “For Shen Que? Or for that guy at the dessert shop?”

Luo Xing couldn’t be bothered to explain anymore.

“Think whatever you want. From now on, when we meet, let’s just be strangers.”

Gu Shiyan’s tongue slid over his teeth as he murmured, “Strangers…”

Gu Shiyan thought, he was only acting this way because of Luo Xing’s abrupt change of heart, a man’s possessiveness when a woman pulls away.

Nothing more than that.

He, Gu Shiyan, could never be like Shen Que, the perfect boyfriend, holding an umbrella over her in the rain, always carrying tissues for her, always remembering the things she’d forget.

Gu Shiyan could never wait on Luo Xing hand and foot.

He’d been indulged by others his whole life; there was no way he’d bow down or surrender for someone as insignificant as Luo Xing.

“One question.” Gu Shiyan’s lowered eyes fell on her. “After breaking up with me, will you be with Shen Que?”

Luo Xing looked at him, wanting to say that she could never be with Shen Que.

Even when she was with Yao Xiangming, she could never be with Shen Que.

But seeing the calm, indifferent eyes before her, she smiled. “Even if I did end up with him, got married, had children, it’d have nothing to do with you. You have no right to ask.”

Just as she had no right to ask about him and Su Mo.

Luo Xing wasn’t foolish enough to think that just because Gu Shiyan came to question her, it meant he liked her. He was just used to her humble devotion, and now that she’d suddenly pulled away, he was simply unaccustomed to it.

Gu Shiyan pressed his lips together, his jaw clenched tight.

Fine, she’s thinking about marriage and children already, and still claims they’re just friends.