Chapter 90 I Was Wrong... Please Don't Leave With Someone Else

Standing at the entrance of the restaurant, Luo Xing gazed at Gu Shiyan. His cheeks were tinged with a faint blush, and his eyes were lazily narrowed. Xu Yan and Qi Changbai had already left, leaving only the three of them behind. Shen Que stood quietly nearby, offering to escort Luo Xing home.

Ever since Shen Que made his offer, Gu Shiyan had been watching Luo Xing intently, as if waiting for her response. The gentle breeze brushed against his flushed cheeks, causing the ends of his hair to ripple softly. Luo Xing looked at his deep, handsome features. He hadn’t changed much since their first meeting in their freshman year of high school, only now his brows carried a touch of cold maturity. He no longer seemed the reckless youth he once was. Before, his gaze always held a lazy indifference, as though nothing could stir him; now, his eyes were earnest.

“Let’s go,” Shen Que said, reaching to take Luo Xing’s bag, but she avoided him. Shen Que’s hand paused in midair. Gu Shiyan’s lowered lashes trembled, his gaze returning to Luo Xing with a renewed brightness.

The three stood in uneasy silence for a moment.

“Mm,” Luo Xing glanced sidelong at Shen Que.

She left with Shen Que. Gu Shiyan merely stood behind, watching their departing figures. Sunlight filtered through the thick foliage, casting fragmented shadows that flickered across their backs. Shen Que gently supported Luo Xing as they moved onto the shaded path.

Gu Shiyan leaned against a streetlamp, lighting a cigarette. The lighter was clenched tightly in his fingers, his nails pale from the pressure. Luo Xing and Shen Que were already far away.

Her phone kept vibrating, but Luo Xing didn’t look at it.

“Shen Que, I need to go back to the lab building. You should head home,” she said.

Shen Que glanced at her hand clutching the phone and suddenly laughed softly. The air fell silent for a moment.

“He really… likes you now,” he said, keeping his tone steady, as if stating a simple fact.

Just from today’s meal, it was clear Gu Shiyan had changed. He watched Luo Xing constantly, his possessiveness tempered by deference. He poured her water, handed her tissues, noticed when she was cold and asked the waiter for a shawl without prompting. Shen Que recognized every gesture.

“Shen Que, must you say these things too?” Luo Xing sighed in exasperation. Her phone vibrated again. She knew without looking it was another message from Gu Shiyan.

She felt annoyed. Wasn’t Gu Shiyan the one who swore never to revisit the past? She had already made things clear.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. She unlocked her phone after all.

She worried there might be news from her grandmother, or perhaps she didn’t quite believe that Gu Shiyan would persist in messaging her even after she left with Shen Que. But reality proved he was simply sending messages, none mentioning her grandmother.

“Will you come back tonight?”
“Should I pick you up?”
“You really left with him?”
“Are you home?”

The last were two voice messages, the first only three seconds long. Luo Xing didn’t play them.

Looking at Shen Que before her, she switched off her phone. “Shen Que, you should go home. There’s no need to stay with me.”

Shen Que sighed. “I want to visit Grandma. Will you come with me?”

Luo Xing was startled. “You—why so suddenly?”

“It’s been a while. I want to spend some time with her.” Shen Que rummaged through his bag for a tissue, intending to wipe the sweat from Luo Xing’s brow.

Luo Xing was still thinking of a way to distract Shen Que, so he wouldn’t notice anything amiss, paying little attention to his actions—and missing the movement within the thick grass nearby.

“Shen Que, actually, I’m not going to the lab building just for myself. It’s because of the materials. I didn’t want to trouble you, but it's a bit much for me alone. Would you come with me?” Luo Xing tugged at the fabric of his sleeve. “Come on, let’s go.”

“You don’t realize—I’ve been experimenting for days. I’ve tried the same material dozens of times and still haven’t found the right one. With two of us, we’ll be faster.”

She pulled Shen Que across the crosswalk, toward a subway station ahead. The two entered.

On the train, Luo Xing took out her headphones, plugged them into her phone, and played a song. The school was six stops away. She sat down, put on her headphones, and fell silent.

Shen Que watched her occasionally unlock her phone, as if checking the time, or perhaps something else. He pressed his lips together lightly, turning his gaze to Luo Xing beside him, her head bowed beneath her headphones.

Luo Xing always preferred wired headphones. Back in high school, when her grandmother ordered her to take her homework to Shen Que, she always had an MP3 player with white wired headphones draped across her textbooks. The two would sit at one desk doing homework, and when Luo Xing struggled with something, Shen Que would patiently teach her over and over; she would often drift off. After explaining twice, she’d smile sheepishly, holding her headphones. “You listen to some music first, let me think a bit more.” She’d hand Shen Que an earbud. “It’s Ryuichi Sakamoto.”

Shen Que would watch her quietly for a while, though she hardly noticed.

In the enclosed, narrow tunnel, the train raced ahead, wheels clattering in a shrill chorus.

“Luo Xing, I’ve always... liked you,” he whispered, his voice drowned in the noise, caught outside by the small white earphones.

The song ended.

It began to loop.

Shen Que’s hand brushed Luo Xing’s resting on her knee.

Luo Xing paused, looking at his fingertip as it tapped her screen, lighting up her phone.

Shen Que’s gaze lingered on the name “Ryuichi Sakamoto.” After all these years, she was still the same.

She hadn’t changed at all, despite what others said—that Luo Xing never stuck to anything for long. Shen Que never accepted such labels forced upon her. She was never one to give up easily.

Simply put, for many things and people, effort wasn’t necessary; the outcome was always the same for her. Even without the desperate struggle her senior year to get into a prestigious university, she would have lived gracefully and happily. Even without trying hard to get along with those around her, she would still have many friends, simply because she was good, and her family was well-off.

Shen Que, on the other hand, was entirely different.

Without effort, he had nothing.

He only had Luo Xing.

But Luo Xing did not belong to him.

Luo Xing removed her headphones, eyes unfocused. “What are you doing?”

Shen Que looked at her, withdrew his hand, and smiled gently. “Nothing, just checking what you’re listening to.”

Luo Xing held the right earbud, intending to hand it to him, but her fingers paused and she pressed it back.

Shen Que’s lowered gaze betrayed a trace of bitterness.

Messages from the group chat appeared on her phone. Yun Cai said she, Shen Que, and Gu Shiyan hadn’t attended the gathering. The others, openly or covertly, tried to pry into gossip about the three.

Yun Cai sent screenshots of the small group chat she’d snuck into. They were guessing about her and Gu Shiyan—who was pursuing whom.

More screenshots followed, but Luo Xing stopped reading.

Gu Shiyan sent another voice message.

She pinched the headphone wire, turned the volume down, and finally played Gu Shiyan’s earlier message.

“Luo Xing…” His voice was faintly hoarse.

He called her name, then fell silent, followed by a second message.

“A little drunk… I want to see you.” His voice was low, the ending tender and trembling.

“I was wrong… Don’t leave with someone else.”