I Can't Forget You - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

My fingers were shaking uncontrollably as I plugged the USB drive into my computer.

The screen flickered, and a video file popped up.

When I clicked it open, Zhou Jibai’s face appeared on the screen.

He was gaunt, wearing a gray hospital gown. His face was pale, his eyes sunken-he looked nothing like the boy in my memory who used to complain about being too thin. He twitched the corner of his mouth at the camera as if trying to smile, but in the end, he only managed a couple of soft coughs.

“Zhiwei.”

With just those two syllables, my tears began to fall.

It had been five years. I never thought I would hear his voice again.

“If you’re watching this video, it means I’m probably dead. Or, you’re about to marry He Lin.”

“If it’s the latter, don’t marry him.”

He paused, lowering his head to press a hand against his chest, as if enduring a wave of pain.

“Seven years ago, I wasn’t the one who hit that person with the car. It was He Lin.”

I froze completely.

“That day, I was outside the hospital trying to borrow money. In the end, I was still a hundred thousand short. He Lin had been drinking and hit someone while driving. He was afraid of ruining his future and dragging his family down. Once he found out I was desperate for money, he came to me. He said that if I took the fall for him, he would immediately pay the rest of your mother’s surgery fees and give me another three hundred thousand on top of that.”

“I agreed.”

“Zhiwei, I wasn’t trying to be a hero. I just had no other choice. Your mother couldn’t wait, and neither could you.”

In the video, he let out a low chuckle, but his eyes were red.

“So, I had to make you hate me first.”

“It was much better for you to hate me than to fall into despair with me.”

I covered my mouth, tears hitting the keyboard one after another.

So that four hundred thousand hadn’t been the price of his conscience.

He had traded himself for it.

It turned out that all those years, the person I hated most was the very person who had dragged me out of the mud.

The video continued.

“After I got out of prison, I was diagnosed with stomach cancer. It was already terminal. Actually, it’s better this way; at least I don’t have to keep wondering how to face you. But then I found out He Lin was pursuing you.”

“Zhiwei, stay away from him. He isn’t as clean as he seems.”

“There’s another folder on the USB drive. The password is your birthday. I’ve left some things in there. If there ever comes a day when you’re willing to believe me, go take a look.”

At the end of the footage, Zhou Jibai stared into the camera for a long, long time.

“I’m sorry.”

“And… I really miss you.”

By the time the screen went black, I was crying so hard I couldn’t see a thing.