Misaligned Love - Chapter 4

I told Jiajia about the incident when I accidentally walked in on Chen Qi showering at Xiao Huai’s place.

She was so angry she ground her teeth, “At this point, you can’t still be head over heels for him, can you?”

I rubbed my face, “I was ready to give up, planning to leave here and go back to South City. But since Xiao Huai had that car accident, my mom asked me to take care of him for a while.”

“Wait a minute, I think I have a cousin who also works in A City. Let me ask him,” Jiajia said generously, “I’ll introduce my cousin to you! He’s really handsome.”

“When did you get a brother?”

“Cousin, cousin! I’ll have him add you on WeChat¹.”

A few minutes later, someone named JL sent a friend request.

After adding him, neither of us spoke.

Maybe he’s not interested in me and just didn’t want to refuse.

I didn’t think much of it and soon forgot about it.

It took about a week for the X-ray to confirm that the fracture hadn’t shifted, allowing Xiao Huai to be discharged.

During this time, Chen Qi came to see him every day.

She would bring fruit and food for Xiao Huai, saving me quite a bit of trouble.

Xiao Huai was polite to her; in fact, he was polite to everyone, except he showed no courtesy to me.

Chen Qi asked me with concern if I needed to go home and rest, saying she could take care of things here.

“Can I?” I really didn’t sleep well at the hospital. Sometimes Xiao Huai needed to get up at night, sometimes he needed water, and I had to wake up at least twice a night.

She smiled sweetly, “Of course.”

Xiao Huai, lying on the bed, glanced over with a deep gaze.

I picked up my bag, “Then I’ll come back tonight.”

Before leaving, I noticed Xiao Huai’s thin lips tightly pressed together, a sign that he was angry.

In our freshman year, he had a severe cold with a persistent high fever, stubbornly refusing to go to the hospital. I couldn’t carry him, so I stayed up all night in the rented room, trying every method to lower his fever, my eyes turning red from exhaustion.

Both of us were studying far from home, with no relatives around, and that night I truly felt helpless.

Fortunately, his fever subsided quite a bit the next day, and he was clear-headed, silently watching me when he opened his eyes.

I couldn’t hold back the tears I’d been suppressing all night and asked him, stammering, if he was hungry and what he wanted to eat.

During that time, the flu was rampant, and Xiao Huai asked me if I wasn’t afraid of getting infected.

I, in my lovesick mind, said, “I’d rather be the one sick.”

Xiao Huai fell silent.

If it were me back then, I definitely wouldn’t have felt comfortable leaving the injured Xiao Huai to another girl.

…

“Be careful.”

Lost in my memories, I didn’t notice I was about to bump into someone in the hospital corridor. A man’s index finger touched my forehead, preventing me from crashing into him, his tone not overly reproachful.

A bit dazed, I looked up to find a very young doctor, tall, at least a head taller than me, wearing a white coat, with particularly striking eyebrows, eyes, and nose.

He smiled at me, glanced at the ward behind me, and then walked past me.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to me.

Turns out other guys can be this handsome too.

Footnote:

1. WeChat(微信): A versatile Chinese messaging and social media app that allows users to chat, make voice and video calls, share moments, and use various other services like mobile payments.