039 - Completely Wounded

In the reflection of the café’s restroom mirror, Xia Yuwei’s face appeared rather pale as she stood before the sink, water running over her hands.

She had truly believed that they would never cross paths again. Why had he reappeared in her life, and in such a strange, unsettling way?

A… new student? Wasn’t he supposed to be just starting his final year of high school?

Although D&T University was one of the top institutions in the country, how could his parents possibly allow him to attend college here, in their own nation?

Was it really a coincidence that he had turned up before her like this?

The memory of his desolate departure from her sight two years ago, the last message he sent her—every time she thought of it, a bittersweet ache welled up within her. She had always wanted to apologize, to say she was sorry, but as time passed, she supposed he must have forgotten. She hoped he had.

They say first love is beautiful, but those in their first love understand little of it. He had once harbored tender, uncertain feelings for her, but that was in the past. Surely, in the days without her, he had lived well enough.

No matter how she tried to comfort herself, his return left her deeply unsettled, a nervousness she could not shake.

“Old woman, are you really so frightened to see me?” The familiar voice, slightly stiff, sounded behind her. In the mirror, Xia Yuwei caught sight of the crystal beaded curtain being lifted, and a strikingly handsome young face appeared in the reflection.

She watched as he approached her, step by step, but did not turn around. Speaking softly to his image in the mirror, she murmured, “Yichen…”

Lu Yichen stepped forward, his arms circling her waist as he pulled her into a tight embrace.

This familiar, long-lost gesture brought a mist to Xia Yuwei’s eyes.

She parted her lips, wanting to apologize, but before she could, he whispered lowly into her ear.

“Xia Yuwei, you’ve hurt me. You’ve hurt me completely… Do you know how much I hate you…”

He held her close, his voice cold and ruthless, an edge of cruelty beneath the intimacy. His arm tightened around her waist, as if communicating a deep, unspoken unease.

“Yichen, I’m sorry. I never realized I hurt you so much…” His words chilled her to the bone, but still, she offered her long-overdue apology.

“Sorry for what? I know—you want to say you’re sorry, you don’t love me, you don’t want to be with me. You only ever toyed with my feelings, treated me like some pitiable stray, something to be pitied and discarded at will. ‘I never realized I hurt you so much’—what are you trying to say? That if I accept your apology, you’ll be unburdened? I won’t let you off so easily…”

He sneered, twisting her apology into something bitter and ugly.

“No, that’s not it!” Xia Yuwei, hearing his words, pressed her hand to her lips, trying to steady her uneven breath. “I don’t understand why you speak of our innocent past with such contempt.”

“Innocent past? Do you really think it was so innocent? I wasn’t innocent with you. I wanted you…”

“Lu Yichen, you truly disappoint me…” Unable to bear hearing any more, Xia Yuwei cut him off.

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First update~~~~~~