Chapter 1

On the day of grandpa’s funeral, the entire city was shrouded in a gentle drizzle.

With a blank expression, I walked step by step, placing the urn into the small pit behind the tombstone, then covering it with a stone slab.

In life, he was such a towering figure, and now, he was reduced to just this.

As I left the cemetery, I was almost completely soaked.

Just as I boarded the bus, Han Ze sent me a message.

It was a screenshot of a conversation where a girl confessed to him, which he promptly retracted, followed by three words: “Sent by mistake.”

This was his usual trick.

I was supposed to show my concern, my jealousy, and unreservedly question him.

Then he would smugly and childishly tell me:

“I didn’t agree to her. I deleted it right away. I like no one but you.”

But at that moment, I had just placed the ashes of my closest kin into a grave, and the emotions of life and death were tugging at my mind. I didn’t even have the energy to type a reply.

Perhaps unused to such neglect, Han Ze cornered me under the dormitory building when I returned to school, gritting his teeth as he asked:

“Where have you been? Not replying for three days, Xia Min, do you want to break up?”

The rain was still falling.

He wasn’t using an umbrella either, and his usually fluffy short hair was wet, messily sticking to his forehead.

His eyes were raining too, like a pitiful little dog drenched by the rain.

I first fell for him because, in a heavy rain, he found me trapped under an eave after finishing a part-time job and hugged me tightly.

“I found you.” He held me close, his voice gentle and pleasant, “I knew you wouldn’t want to take a cab.”

My eyelashes trembled: “I was waiting for the rain to stop.”

“Waiting for the rain to stop is not as good as waiting for me,” he said. “Don’t worry, I’ll find you every time it rains from now on.”

That was the most beautiful love confession I had heard in my long life, cracking open the first fissure in my long-closed heart.

I was so attached to that moment of his that in many instances afterward, no matter how willful or excessive he was, I would remember that moment and accompany him until he was satisfied.

Finally, I held him and softly asked, “When will you ever grow up?”

The boy, taller than me by half a head, clung to my clothes, hugging my waist, and pouted:

“I just lack a sense of security and want to prove you care about me.”

I couldn’t quite describe what I felt at that moment.

Between us, the one who lacked security from the start was clearly me.

It was also Han Ze who held my face, showered me with kisses, and promised in a low voice: “I want to take care of you, Xia Min.”

“The love you didn’t receive before, I’ll make up for it.”

In the end, it was because both he and I were too young at the time.

But now, I no longer had the strength to, as I had countless times before, dredge up blurred fragments of memory to prove that Han Ze truly loved me and that he was just temporarily immature.

“Yes.” I snapped back to reality, quietly looking at him, “Let’s break up.”

Han Ze stared at me in shock, as if he couldn’t believe what I had just said.

I raised my hand to rub my temples and continued:

“I saw the Moments you posted that day. The junior sister is very pretty, and since you’re the same age, you and she should be more suitable.”

When I said this, my tone was calm, even carrying a hint of sincere suggestion.

He finally understood I was serious, and the arrogance in his eyes collapsed instantly. His face turned pale as he tugged at my sleeve:

“Xia Min, I wasn’t… I didn’t mean it like that, I just wanted to-”

Before he could finish, I interrupted him.

“That day was probably indeed your happiest day this year. You met your pretty junior sister, had hot pot, played escape room games, and even took a photo at Confession Slope by Moonlight Lake.”

“But that day was my most unfortunate day.”

“My grandpa suddenly had a cerebral hemorrhage and fell into a coma. By the time he was taken to the hospital, there was no hope of saving him.”

As I spoke, my memory was pulled back to that dark night.

I squatted at the hospital door, trembling as I tried to send Han Ze a message, but accidentally clicked into his Moments and saw a new post he had made five minutes earlier.

He was holding a cotton candy, standing very close to a junior sister with exquisite makeup.

The lights by Confession Slope were dazzling, while above me, there was only a solitary light at the end of the corridor.

At that moment, I clearly realized.

The worlds he and I lived in had always been separate.