Gu Luo'an took a deep breath and said, "I know. Just now at the restaurant entrance, I left with Qingqing and didn’t even have time to greet you."
"I'm not upset," Shen Mianyin replied. "Why would I be angry over something and someone irrelevant? Is this why you called me?"
"Mianyin!" Gu Luo'an sighed and said, "Can you stop being difficult with me? Let’s make up, okay?"
"From beginning to end, I never minded that you’re no longer the Su family’s daughter. I..." Gu Luo'an suddenly realized how hard it was to confess to her—it was something he had never done before. "Mianyin, it’s you that I like."
Although Shen Mianyin had long lost any feelings for Gu Luo'an, hearing him say this still stirred a faint sense of desolation in her heart.
"Like me?" Shen Mianyin let out a mocking laugh.
"You like me, but whenever something happens, Su Yiqing is always your first priority? This is your so-called 'like'? You like me, yet you went to help Su Yiqing get the surveillance footage? Did it ever occur to you that the footage might contain things that could harm me?"
"Qingqing would never make that footage public; it won't harm you," Gu Luo'an said. "So this is what you're upset about. Mianyin, I know I wasn't patient enough with you before, but I'm trying to change. Stop being difficult with me. Whatever misunderstanding we have, let's clear it up, okay?"
"There’s never been any misunderstanding between us,"
Shen Mianyin said coldly, "Since you want to talk about it, then I will tell you."
Shen Mianyin glanced at Gu Huaizhi, intending to leave first. After all, it didn’t feel right to discuss matters involving her ex-boyfriend in someone else’s home.
But just as she took two steps toward the door, Gu Huaizhi reached out and stopped her.
"It’s fine," Gu Huaizhi mouthed silently.
Shen Mianyin’s face flushed slightly, feeling a little embarrassed.
Gu Huaizhi poured another glass of water for Shen Mianyin and motioned for her to sit down and take her time speaking.
Shen Mianyin: "…"
Left with no choice, Shen Mianyin took the glass and followed Gu Huaizhi to the living room.
After sitting down, Shen Mianyin finally spoke. "Since you went to get the surveillance footage, you must know that I was also harassed, right? Su Yiqing isn’t stupid. She knew you would see my situation in the footage, so she told you in advance to prevent you from suspecting anything."
"Stop thinking so badly of Qingqing," Gu Luo'an said. "Yes, I know. You were also harassed."
"But Gu Luo'an," Shen Mianyin said, a bitter laugh escaping her, "just now, when you left with Su Yiqing, you didn’t say a word of concern for me. You didn’t even ask if I was okay."
She found it laughable. "This is what you call 'liking' me? You 'like' me, yet after I’ve been hurt, you protect another woman and leave?"
"But you’re fine, aren’t you?" Gu Luo'an said.
"You're stronger and healthier than her. You know that Qingqing’s health isn’t good. Her condition was so bad at that moment that I had no choice but to take her away first. I did check on you, and when I saw you were fine and not affected, I decided to take her first."
In the previous life, Gu Luo'an had used this same excuse again and again to leave her behind.
Shen Mianyin had already been tormented for a lifetime, and now she was simply tired. "Gu Luo'an, just because I'm healthy, strong, and seem fine, does that mean I don't deserve any care?"
"I didn't mean it like that." Gu Luo'an explained helplessly, using the tone that Shen Mianyin often heard when he thought she was being unreasonable.
"I just wanted to make sure Qingqing was settled first, then come to check on you. After all, you didn’t seem that urgent."
"Gu Luo'an, I don’t need you to ask about me, or to care about me," Shen Mianyin said.
"We’ve broken up, so you don’t have to keep putting me in the background. After taking care of Su Yiqing, you don’t have to come back to check on me. After the breakup, you only need to care about Su Yiqing."
"Mianyin, I apologize for everything that happened before," Gu Luo'an said, his tone unusually sincere. "You..."
"Brother Luo'an." Shen Mianyin heard Su Yiqing's voice from the other end of the phone. "Could I borrow your hair dryer?"
Shen Mianyin scoffed. "Su Yiqing has already moved into your place, and you’re still calling me. Is this some kind of joke?"
She hung up the phone, then swiftly blocked Gu Luo'an on WeChat.
"Mianyin!" No matter how loudly Gu Luo'an called, it was useless. Shen Mianyin had already ended the call.
Su Yiqing, standing outside the door, clenched her fists tightly upon hearing Gu Luo'an's calls. What was this? Gu Luo'an still hadn’t let go of Shen Mianyin?
A bit annoyed, Gu Luo'an opened the door. Su Yiqing had always positioned herself between him and Shen Mianyin, which had started to irritate him.
But the moment he saw Su Yiqing standing there, he froze.
Su Yiqing was only wearing the top of his pajama set, with no pants on.
The pajama top barely covered her hips, revealing long, fair legs.
She had just finished showering, and her hair was still wet, clinging to the silk fabric of the pajama.
The soft silk, now damp, clung to her body, outlining her figure perfectly.
Gu Luo'an's gaze lingered for a moment. Su Yiqing wasn't wearing any underwear underneath.
Su Yiqing awkwardly grasped the hem of the pajama top, but in doing so, it only exposed more of her legs.
"The pants are too long, and the waist is too loose for me," Su Yiqing bit her lip and explained. "They keep falling off when I wear them, so I just didn't put them on."
Gu Luo'an felt his breath become heavier, his voice hoarse as he said, "I’ll go get the hair dryer for you."
Meanwhile, Shen Mianyin stood up and said to Gu Huaizhi, "I’m really sorry for saying all that in front of you just now."
"You don’t need to apologize," Gu Huaizhi replied. "You can be yourself in front of me."
Shen Mianyin suddenly felt an impulse to ask Gu Huaizhi why he was so kind to her.
She didn’t believe that someone as aloof as Gu Huaizhi would be this way with anyone else. Yet, when the question was on the tip of her tongue, she lacked the courage to ask.
"Do you have any alcohol at home?" Gu Huaizhi asked.
When Shen Mianyin shook her head, Gu Huaizhi took a bottle of red wine from the cabinet and handed it to her. "After what happened tonight, drinking a little might help you sleep better."
"If you can't sleep, just call me," Gu Huaizhi said.
Shen Mianyin, accustomed to handling everything on her own, smiled and replied, "What good would calling you do? You can’t make me fall asleep."
"I can keep you company, tell you some boring stories, and you’ll get so tired of listening that you’ll fall asleep naturally," Gu Huaizhi said softly.
His voice was so pleasant in the quiet of the night, almost as if it held some kind of enchantment, filling the room with a captivating allure.
Shen Mianyin couldn’t help but look up, her gaze lingering on Gu Huaizhi’s striking, serene face, momentarily lost in thought.
No wonder he was still single—she couldn’t imagine anyone who could match someone like him, as graceful as a pine and as flawless as jade.
"Gu Huaizhi, why are you so good to me?" Shen Mianyin finally couldn’t hold back and asked the question.
As soon as Shen Mianyin asked the question, she was startled by her own words and quickly shook her head.
"I'm just talking nonsense, don’t take it to heart." Before Gu Huaizhi could respond, she turned and ran off.
Gu Huaizhi: "…"
That night, as Gu Luo'an was sleeping, he suddenly heard a sharp scream from the guest room, Su Yiqing's voice cutting through the quiet.
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