Chapter 4

Chapter 4

My most humiliating moment wasn’t when I couldn’t pay the hospital bills.

It was standing outside the ward, hearing my aunt whisper to my mother, “Zhiwei is truly lucky. Even after a breakup, she still has a rich ex-girlfriend looking out for her.”

“If they really get back together, what would your family ever have to worry about again?”

I stood outside the door clutching the kettle, my entire body turning cold.

It wasn’t that no one was grateful to Xu Yan.

But hearing that gratitude made me feel like I had shrunk even smaller.

My phone vibrated in my pocket.

I opened the family group chat and saw a photo my aunt had just posted.

In the photo, Xu Yan was leaning over to tuck a slipping blanket around my mother.

The caption read:

“Zhiwei’s ex is really something else. She’s wealthy and still cherishes old feelings.”

Replies followed quickly.

“She’s so blessed.”

“Isn’t this better than finding some ordinary person?”

I turned and headed for the stairwell, the kettle hitting the corner of the wall with a dull thud.

When the door was pushed open, I hadn’t yet managed to suppress my emotions.

Xu Yan stood at the entrance. Seeing my reddened eyes, her brow furrowed instantly.

“Who upset you?”

“No one.”

“Shen Zhiwei.”

Whenever she called me by my full name, it meant she was truly angry.

I looked up at her, suddenly feeling an intense wave of grievance.

“Are you satisfied now?”

“What?”

“Everyone thinks you’re here to save me.”

I stared at her, my voice raspy.

“They think that as long as I make up with you, I won’t have anything to worry about anymore.”

“Xu Yan, is that what you think too?”

Her gaze darkened slightly. “I don’t think that.”

“But everything you do feels like a reminder that I’m useless without you.”

The stairwell was terrifyingly quiet.

Xu Yan looked at me for a long time before taking a step closer, her voice dropping low.

“I didn’t do these things to make you feel useless.”

“Then why did you do them?”

Her lips pressed into a tight line as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she swallowed the words back down.

“There’s no point in talking about this now.”

I let out a sudden laugh, though tears nearly fell.

“Right, no point. You’ve always been one to act but never speak.”

I turned to leave, but Xu Yan suddenly grabbed my wrist.

“Zhiwei.”

This was the first time she had called me that in the past few days.

My heart trembled, but I still pulled my hand back.

“Let go.”

“I’m not trying to make you bow your head to me.”

She looked at me, a rare look of earnestness in her eyes.

“I just don’t want to see you struggling all on your own.”

My throat tightened, and for a split second, I almost believed her.

But in the next moment, I took a step back.

“But what you’re best at is making me feel like I can only rely on you.”

That night, Xu Yan didn’t come back to the ward.

I clearly should have felt relieved, yet I didn’t sleep a wink the entire night.