She Is Not the Other Woman - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Fu Wenzhou had been so good lately it was almost abnormal.

On Wednesday morning, he got up before Song Zhiyi, fried eggs, sliced fruit, and made pour-over coffee.

“You’re awake? Hurry and eat. I spent ages picking out that avocado.”

Song Zhiyi sat down and picked up her fork.

The avocado was perfectly ripe.

“How do you suddenly have time to make breakfast at home?”

“I’m not busy anymore. I was always away on business trips before. I neglected you.” He sat down across from her, resting his chin on the back of his hand as he looked at her. “Zhiyi, I’ve been thinking seriously. Shouldn’t we start considering having a child?”

His gaze was very sincere. Song Zhiyi was far too familiar with that sincerity.

This was his template for deep affection: first guilt, then compensation, then using a “future” to bind someone to him.

Song Zhiyi took a bite of avocado toast.

“Sure,” she said. “Should we get a pre-pregnancy checkup first?”

“Okay. I’ll make the appointment.”

He actually picked up his phone and started looking up hospitals. Suddenly, Song Zhiyi felt the avocado in her mouth lose all flavor.

The inevitable physical reaction still came. It was not her heart being moved. It was muscle memory. Her mind was perfectly clear, but her body lagged half a beat behind.

She went to the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face.

She did not feel sorry for him. She felt sorry for the version of herself who had truly believed in breakfasts and children.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Cleanser got in my eye.”

He smiled and reached out to smooth her hair.

When his fingers brushed past the back of her ear, she did not move away.

That same week.

Lin Zhi received a call from Fu Wenzhou at nine in the evening.

“Zhizhi, have you been busy lately?”

“Not too bad. What’s up?”

“Want to come out for lunch tomorrow? There’s something I want to tell you.”

His tone was very gentle, but the texture had changed. In the past, he would lower his voice, as if afraid someone else might hear.

Now he was no longer hiding.

Lin Zhi understood within three seconds: he was reeling in the line.

She remembered what Song Zhiyi had said-three months.

Only nine days had passed.

“Sure,” she said. “Where?”

At noon the next day, he chose a brightly lit Western restaurant. Floor-to-ceiling windows, an open dining area, no ambiguous corners.

“Zhizhi, I’ve been thinking about some things lately.”

Lin Zhi stirred the ice cubes in her lemon water and waited for him to continue.

“You know I’ve always cared about you. But…” He paused, and a perfectly measured pain appeared on his face. “I’m being unfair to you.”

Here it came.

“You deserve someone who can give you all of his time, not someone like me, always busy, always making you wait.”

He reached out and held her hand for a moment. His grip was very light, and he let go after two seconds.

“I don’t want to hold you back.”

Lin Zhi lowered her head and looked at the hand he had released.

If he had said this two weeks ago, she would have panicked and asked if he no longer loved her.

But now she knew.

This was not a breakup. This was an elimination. He was clearing out space.

She needed to catch the ball, but not too smoothly. If she made it too easy, he would get suspicious.

“Do you have someone else?” she asked.

“No. I really don’t.” His denial was quick and steady. He had clearly practiced that line.

“Then why are you suddenly saying all this?”

“I just… feel like going on like this isn’t good for you.”

Lin Zhi let her eyes redden. It was not hard. All she had to do was think of the dates on those bills, and the tears would come on their own.

The tears really did fall.

“Then let me think about it,” she said. “Don’t make it so sudden.”

He hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Okay. No rush. Take your time.”

He held her hand again, this time a little longer.

Lin Zhi did not pull away. She needed this “take your time.” Three months.

After lunch, he walked her to the subway entrance. He did not take her home. He never had before, either.

“Be careful on your way back,” he said, bending down to kiss her forehead.

Very standard.

Lin Zhi turned and walked into the subway station. Only after she passed through the turnstiles and confirmed he could no longer see her did she stop.

She leaned against the wall for a while, then took out her phone.

She sent a message to the number she had not saved under any name:

“He’s started cutting me loose.”

Three minutes later, the other party replied:

“On my end, he’s deepening things.”

Lin Zhi looked at those two lines.

One side being withdrawn. One side being fed. The same man, in the same week.

All of a sudden, she was no longer angry. Anger belonged to what came before.

Now she only felt cold.

A very clear-headed kind of cold.

She turned off her phone screen and walked into the crowd. No one knew she had just walked out of the prelude to a meticulously designed breakup.

The train pulled into the station, and wind rushed in, whipping her hair into the air.

She got on and found a corner to stand in.

The watch was still on her wrist. Its second hand moved with perfect steadiness.

That was enough.