Chapter 20

A torrential rain poured down at night.

I looked at the hospital gown, now clean and hanging in the bathroom, quietly closed the bathroom door, glanced at Gu Xuchen already asleep on the sofa, and could only return to my own bed.

Rainy nights always carry a sense of both clamor and tranquility.

“Ye Min…”

I closed my eyes, curled up under the covers.

Gu Xuchen slowly approached, crouched by my bedside, his cool hand gently caressing my face.

I gripped the quilt, unwilling to respond in any way.

The next second.

He held my hand, carefully kissed the back of it, and whispered:

“Don’t drive me away…”

“When I was in the hospital, I waited every day, waited for you to come see me. But I waited day after day, and only then did I realize you didn’t want me anymore…”

“I just wanted to see you.”

As if the pain had seeped into his bones, Gu Xuchen’s voice trembled with a sob: “So this is what it feels like to be ignored… I’m sorry.”

My throat tightened with bitterness, but I could only force myself to endure it. That suffocating feeling, so close to bursting out, was impossible to describe.

I have never denied that Gu Xuchen is in my heart.

I can forgive his indifference, arrogance, sharp tongue, even his disregard.

But.

The matter of the list concerns my future.

I cannot move on, cannot forgive, cannot even speak of it.

In this life, I can live without love, but I cannot, for the sake of love, wrong myself and swallow a thorn I cannot bear.

The next day.

I notified my best friend to take Gu Xuchen away, but he stood downstairs, his face ashen, looking up at me.

My phone buzzed.

I lowered my eyes, paused for a few seconds, and pressed the answer button.

“Goodbye.”

Gu Xuchen’s voice was low, struggling to hold back his sorrow.

I remained cold, knowing this was the final farewell. I took a deep breath and replied softly, “Goodbye.”

Never again.

The moment the call ended.

The height of this building

seemed unable to surpass the grief in my heart. Even as the distance stretched inch by inch, I would always, in a daze, feel that he hadn’t left.