No Room for You in My Future - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I looked at the two lines on the pregnancy test.

Truth was, I hadn’t come to tell him I was pregnant.

I was only here because his friend had called me, saying he was drunk and asking me to take him home.

And yet, seeing Lu Ze lost in thought over Jiang Xueman—I actually felt a weight lift off my chest.

Because the truth was, from the moment I’d found out I was carrying this child, I’d been thinking about how to break up with him.

Back when Lu Ze got together with me, it really was because of Jiang Xueman.

There are people in this world like that.

People who’ve never tasted hardship, never taken a hit, whose every word drips with that clueless “why don’t they just eat meat porridge” brand of privilege.

Jiang Xueman was exactly that kind of person.

She was my roommate.

Every morning, she’d stand in front of the mirror, fist clenched, sweetly pumping herself up: “Good morning, Jiang Xueman! You’re the warmest little sun—go kill it today!”

When Lu Ze was chasing Jiang Xueman, the whole school knew about it.

Roses, luxury goods—he threw them at her like money was no object.

If she happened to mention liking a certain brand of bag, the next day that bag would be lying at our dorm door, its price equal to three years of my part-time wages.

Lu Ze himself was striking—head and shoulders above everyone, the center of attention the moment he appeared.

Every time he showed up beneath the teaching building, people would sneak photos of him with their phones.

He didn’t care. He’d just lean against the doorframe, scrolling his phone, waiting for Jiang Xueman to come out.

At six-foot-two, even in a windbreaker he carried himself with a model’s straight-backed poise.

It was as if even the wind favored him a little extra.

Not exaggerating—he was perfect down to the last strand of hair.

The first time I saw him, he had his hands in his pockets, confessing to Jiang Xueman.

His was a face with a mixed-race edge to it—a straight, proud nose, a sharp jawline, and a smile with a touch of careless roguishness.

And most important of all, he was rich.

At the freshman welcome banquet, the school principal himself sat in the VIP seats beside his father.

That innate noblesse oblige about him was never something money could buy.

Sometimes I thought—

Lu Ze and Jiang Xueman were like the protagonists of this world.

They both wore a sense of superiority that was simply born into them.

All good things were destined to fall into their laps.

And me?

I was just a broken campus belle with a dead mother, a gambling father, and a sick grandmother—someone who had to work three jobs a day just to survive.

In their lives, I was a footnote, not worth a mention.

Jiang Xueman asked me why I worked three different part-time jobs every day.

I explained patiently: “Because I have no money.”

She nearly rolled her eyes to the back of her head. “No money? Then ask your dad for it. Stop putting on a show—walking around looking so stressed all the time, like it’s such a big deal.”

I didn’t know how to make her understand my situation. I only said, quietly, “My dad is my biggest problem.”

Maybe because she’d never tasted life’s bitterness, she looked down on Lu Ze.

Instead, she’d fallen for a penniless jock—macho, all sweet talk, the type who’d practically rip his heart out and hand it to you.

All he ever gave her was worthless.

Every time Valentine’s Day approached, that jock would pick a fight and break up with her.

But once the holiday passed, he’d come crawling back, all meek and apologetic.

Jiang Xueman noticed nothing wrong.

But I was sensitive to money.

I knew that boy just didn’t want to waste cash on a Valentine’s gift for her.

Sometimes I warned her to keep her distance from that jock.

She’d turn on me, aggrieved: “Xia Mo, you’re so weird. Why do you always assume the worst of people? Is it because… you’ve never been cherished and loved, so you’re jealous of me?”

So I stopped talking.

Once, on my way to the library, I ran into Lu Ze arguing with Jiang Xueman outside his luxury car.

Lu Ze hurled the bouquet he’d meant for Jiang Xueman onto the ground and raised a brow:

“You’re seeing someone, and you didn’t tell me?

“Is it fun, playing me like this?

“What exactly am I lacking compared to him, hmm?”

Jiang Xueman lifted her chin. “Lu Ze, a person like you only knows how to throw money at me. You don’t understand what love is at all.”

I’d expected Lu Ze to look something like hurt.

But I was wrong.

Lu Ze let out a low laugh.

In that laugh was a trace of self-mockery, and a trace of utter indifference:

“I don’t need to understand.

“I have money. Naturally, there’ll be a line of people lining up to love me.”

He crooked a finger at me, standing not far off. “Hey. I’ll pay you. Come love me.”

I froze.

A long while later, I heard my own voice.

“Okay.”

I thought I was doing Jiang Xueman a favor, solving a problem for her.

But Jiang Xueman’s face fell in an instant:

“Xia Mo, are you really that cheap?”

“Picking up what I threw away?”

I didn’t argue.

I only knew that Grandma was still in the hospital waiting for her medical bills, and my father was once again demanding his gambling debts.

I needed money.

So much money.

Enough money to drag me out of the mud.