Chapter Seventy-Seven: Matters of Love

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The Entertainment Around Me – No Pop-up Windows
Story written: March 2006
Recommended Song: Seety – What Is Love
Disclaimer: This is a work of pure fiction. Please do not take it personally. Any resemblance is purely coincidental!

What exactly happened that day was not only a question weighing on Jiang Yihan’s mind, but also on Li Yimei’s. Ever since she saw the look in Jiang Yihan’s eyes that day, Li Yimei regretted it—regretted her rashness in going out with Quan Chanyu and everything that followed. To be honest, her memory of what happened after that was hazy; she only recalled the lights, the atmosphere, her longing for Jiang Yihan, and that she drank some red wine and got a little tipsy. She barely remembered getting home, and after lying on the bed, everything else was a blank.

Li Yimei held her head in her hands, desperately wishing that the legendary remedy for regret would magically appear—but to no avail. There were no gods, no spells, no time machines. But there was a telephone.

Suddenly, her phone rang, startling her. Glancing at the screen, she saw it was Quan Chanyu calling. After hesitating for a long moment, watching the phone’s persistent glow, Li Yimei finally hit the decline button. But soon after, the phone rang again. Another bout of hesitation, and this time she answered.

“Yimei, why didn’t you answer my call?” Quan Chanyu’s voice sounded weary. “I know you’ve misunderstood. I just want to explain—nothing happened that day. You were drunk and threw up on your clothes. My sister helped you take them off, and you slept in my bed while I slept on the couch. So nothing happened.”

Quan Chanyu’s words echoed in Li Yimei’s ears like a bolt from the blue. Nothing happened?

He continued, “I know anyone would overthink seeing that kind of scene, but nothing really happened. I know you’re not a careless girl, and I’m not the type to do that kind of thing after only meeting twice. I genuinely like you and hope we can continue to get to know each other, so I wouldn’t do anything so foolish. Please don’t worry, and please answer my calls from now on, alright?”

Listening to his explanation, Li Yimei stayed silent, not even reacting when the call ended. After a long time, the memories of that night began to piece together in her mind. Indeed, when she woke up that morning, she hadn’t seen any sign of Quan Chanyu. If anything really had happened, she wouldn’t have felt nothing at all—she was just a little drunk. Suddenly, hope surged within her, and she rushed out.

She sprinted all the way to Jiang Yihan’s home.

Out of breath, she pounded on the familiar door, the sound echoing through the corridor and hammering her anxious heart. She waited and waited, about to give up, thinking Jiang Yihan must be out for work, when the door finally opened.

But it was not Jiang Yihan standing there—it was Xu Xian.

“Oh, Yimei, you’re back?” Xu Xian coughed twice, looking ill, which explained why she was home. “Are you looking for Jiang Yihan? He’s out today for a schedule at MBC.”

Hearing the location, Li Yimei rushed downstairs, hailed a taxi, and sped off toward MBC. At this moment, she wanted nothing else but to be by Jiang Yihan’s side, to confidently and loudly tell him that nothing had happened—nothing at all.

When she arrived at MBC, Li Yimei realized she couldn’t even get inside—a TV station wasn’t a place just anyone could enter. She paced nervously outside, trying to call Jiang Yihan directly, but his phone was off—he must have been recording a show. Just as she was about to call Li Ran, a group of Castle fans made her give up hope.

“Young Master just left?” asked Castle A.

“Yeah, he went to Suwon. There’s a live concert there,” replied Castle B.

“Ah, so envious! They get to see Young Master up close,” the nearby girls chorused.

He went to Suwon? Li Yimei sat down on a nearby stone bench. Why was it so hard? Couldn’t she just convey her feelings to him right now?

At a café, Li Yimei sat, not wanting to do anything except wait for Jiang Yihan’s return so she could talk to him properly. Soon, a girl appeared across from her—a good friend from school. Feeling unable to dispel her gloom on her own, Li Yimei had called her out.

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“What’s wrong? Did you have a fight with your boyfriend?” Her friend’s sharp eyes immediately caught on.

“Yeah,” Li Yimei nodded.

“Your boyfriend is so perfect and treats you so well—what is there to fight about?” Although she didn’t know exactly who Li Yimei’s boyfriend was, her friend knew enough to know how well Jiang Yihan treated her.

“It’s not his fault, it’s mine.” Li Yimei stirred her coffee restlessly and poured out the events of that day. “I really don’t know what to do now.”

“So did anything actually happen that day?” her friend asked, curious.

“Nothing happened! I just always thought something had, thought I’d betrayed him, so I couldn’t face him and didn’t dare contact him.” Li Yimei was full of regret. “But today Quan Chanyu called me, and after recalling it carefully, I’m sure nothing happened.”

“You idiot! You don’t even know if you had something with someone else?!” Her friend scolded her without hesitation.

“Anyone would suspect that after waking up in that situation. I was so nervous I didn’t notice. Looking back, the room was tidy, my clothes were there, the bed was clean, and except for my aching head from drinking, everything was normal. Why didn’t I realize sooner? All signs pointed to nothing unusual. I was so stupid.”

“You think you’re a drama heroine? Why do all these melodramatic things happen to you? Seriously!” Her friend, clearly the sharp-tongued type, didn’t hold back. “So what now? Have you told your boyfriend?”

“That’s why I’m so upset—I haven’t! He’s out for work, his phone is off, and I can’t reach him. I just want to explain everything right now.” Li Yimei was deeply frustrated.

“Maybe if you wait any longer, you’ll lose your chance to explain,” her friend sighed.

Li Yimei looked up, startled, her face full of fear.

“Your boyfriend chose to trust you that day. If you’d explained right away, everything would have been fine. But since you doubted yourself, you didn’t explain, and now he’s starting to doubt you too. If you can’t clear up the misunderstanding right away, it’ll be hard for him to trust you again,” her friend said with regret.

Li Yimei deflated like a punctured balloon. “Really?” Her voice trembled. Where was that remedy for regret when she needed it?

“But even if you explain, the fact remains that you went out with another guy. That was your mistake.” Her friend didn’t let her off the hook. “I know your boyfriend is busy and can’t always be with you, but he tries his best—look at his messages; he texts you whenever he can, tells you his schedule, sends gifts on holidays. Where will you find another boyfriend so considerate? You going out with another guy was wrong.”

“I just didn’t want to spend Valentine’s Day alone,” Li Yimei admitted, knowing her friend was right. That day, she simply didn’t want to be by herself.

“Feelings aren’t about right or wrong. Maybe you didn’t want to be alone on Valentine’s Day, but it didn’t turn out the way you wanted; maybe he wanted to be with you but couldn’t in the end. It’s hard to say who’s right or wrong. The problem now is that he’s starting to have doubts. It’ll be hard to get back to how things were.” Her friend analyzed the situation thoroughly.

“I don’t expect anything else now—I just hope he’ll give me a chance to explain. At least let us both know what really happened so there’s no more barrier between us.” Li Yimei gripped her hair, her mood dark.

In the end, Li Yimei’s wish came true. After receiving numerous messages, Jiang Yihan finally turned on his phone after his schedule was done.

Late at night, on the stairs in front of Li Yimei’s home, the two met again for the first time since Valentine’s Day.

“Yihan…” Li Yimei found herself full of words, yet didn’t know where to begin.

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“Yimei, how long have we been together?” Jiang Yihan suddenly asked with a smile. “Over half a year, right? I’ve been so busy all this time, never had time to be with you—never like a real boyfriend. You must blame me.”

Seeing his self-reproach, Li Yimei shook her head again and again.

“As a boyfriend, I should spend time with you, but I haven’t. That’s my regret. So when I heard you went out with another guy, I was shocked, angry, and felt guilty.” Jiang Yihan still smiled, but it looked tinged with sadness.

“Yihan, it’s not what you think—not what you think.” Li Yimei tried to explain, but Jiang Yihan stopped her.

“You went out with someone else—I was angry, frustrated, furious, but I couldn’t blame you. I wasn’t there for you, so it’s natural others would be. It’s just how it is.” His smile became more helpless and pained.

“Yihan, listen to me!” Li Yimei stopped him from continuing. “That day, I just went out to have fun with that guy—nothing happened, really nothing. I used to think something did, so I felt guilty and avoided you, but nothing happened, nothing at all. So everything is just like before, just like before, okay?”

Looking at the agitated Li Yimei, Jiang Yihan gently touched her face with his slightly cold hand. “Yimei, the issue isn’t what did or didn’t happen between you and him. The issue is that I haven’t been there for you, haven’t been a good boyfriend.”

“It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t! I don’t care—it’s always been this way, hasn’t it? I really don’t mind,” Li Yimei insisted, realizing something.

“Yimei, it does matter, it really does. Valentine’s Day was just the first time—there will be more days like that in the future. You can’t face it, and neither can I.” Jiang Yihan’s voice grew agitated.

Li Yimei covered her mouth, tears streaming uncontrollably down her face. She kept praying inside—don’t break up, don’t break up, please, no! She didn’t even dare say the words, afraid that saying them would make them real.

“Yimei, I know it’s been hard for you. It’s been hard for me too. I hate constantly having to guess how someone feels; I hate being like this. I think we need to give ourselves some time, okay? Time to think it over.”

Jiang Yihan rubbed his forehead, clearly exhausted.

“No, no, I don’t want to break up,” Li Yimei finally broke down, sobbing. “Nothing happened that day—can’t we go back to how things were? Can’t we?”

Jiang Yihan looked at the heartbroken Li Yimei, stepped forward, and held her gently. “I believe you. I believe nothing happened that day. I’m not breaking up with you—I don’t want to break up. I just think we need time to think about what to do. I’ve always been so busy, never able to be there for you, and that’s a problem. I don’t want you to be lonely like this, so we need time to figure out what to do, understand?”

“My work will still be busy in the future; I still won’t have much time for you. So next Valentine’s Day, if you don’t want to be alone, what then? We have to face this.” Jiang Yihan spoke softly. “That’s why we really need to think about how to continue. It’s not breaking up—I don’t want to break up, alright?”

Hearing his words, Li Yimei nodded. She knew this was best for both of them. After all, there was already a rift between them, and even though things were now clear, they needed time to think things through before moving forward.

Giving each other some space, taking a temporary break with no contact—maybe that was for the best.

Perhaps for Li Yimei, she needed to consider whether Jiang Yihan, this perfect but unavailable boyfriend, was worth waiting for, or whether another “Quan Chanyu” or someone like him would appear—and what she would choose then. It was time to truly think about the future.

Love is complicated, involving far more than just two people. In love, misunderstandings are inevitable, but handling them well is the hardest part. Jiang Yihan and Li Yimei were now facing this very challenge. What the future held, no one could say.

Annoying Cat’s rambling time: if the plot is too melodramatic, I sincerely apologize. Sorry!