Chapter 95: Promise
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The hotel garden was no ordinary garden: it was located on the hotel rooftop, enclosed in a glass greenhouse.
The garden was beautiful at night; visitors had only to lift their heads to see the twinkling stars up above, beyond the glass ceiling. A wide variety of flowers blood throughout the garden. The rainforest plants were strong and healthy. On the ground, artificial brooks andered through the garden, accompanied by the tinkling sound of water, digitally simulated.
i Xiawen stood beneath the verdant leaves of a giant alocasia, his hands in his pockets. His face, adorned with gold-rimd glasses, was handso and elegant; he was the type high school girls found irresistible.
Ai Weinan no longer concealed her feelings for i Xiawen. Her eyes shone with her love for him.
She wrung her hands nervously as she looked up at i Xiawen. Her voice was hoarser than usual, betraying her agitation. “Xiawen, you walked into my heart in my second year of high school, and have stayed there ever since.”
i Xiawen sighed softly, his beautiful eyebrows knitted together behind his gold-rimd glasses. He did not want Ai Weinan to continue; he opened his mouth with the intention of telling her to stop it.
But Ai Weinan barged on. She said, in a single breath: “...I know you’re in love with soone else. And I know you had a girlfriend before this. I was her best friend. And because I was her best friend, I let it go. I watched over the two of you, never saying a word about how I truly felt. Every ti you went out on a date with her, she would tell all about it. Every ti the two of you got into an argunt, she would co crying to . Every ti she wanted to break up with you, I was the one who persuaded her not to. Yes, it was ...”
i Xiawen’s eyes widened behind his gold-rimd glasses. There was a crack in his usual calm and composed deanor.
He knew Ai Weinan was his first girlfriend’s best friend, but he had not realized they were that close.
His relationship with his first girlfriend had not been smooth sailing, but he had cherished every mont of it, all the sa. He had thought their relationship troubles were private, a secret shared between him and his girlfriend – but his girlfriend had evidently thought otherwise.
She had blabbed all about it to soone else. How could she?
Anger bubbled up within i Xiawen. His eyes darkened, and the lines on his face drew tight.
Ai Weinan did not miss the change in i Xiawen’s expression. She quickly changed the subject: “...Xiawen, I’m only telling you all this now because the two of you are no longer together. If you were still with her today, I would never have breathed a single word of this – not even if I was about to drown in my love for you.”
i Xiawen lowered his head. He stared at the stretch of floor between him and Ai Weinan.
He could see that Ai Weinan was wearing a pair of elegant, pointed high heels, made of black leather.
“But look at the person you’re trying to date now. Does your family know about her?” Ai Weinan’s voice was now slightly resentful. “I don’t see why you chose her over . I was willing to go on with the rest of my life without saying anything, since you refused to open your eyes and see how much I’d done for you, how long I’d waited for you. But then you almost died at Dufeng Mountain, and that was a wake-up call for . If I don’t get this off my chest, I will never be happy for the rest of my life.”
Ai Weinan paused before stepping forward. She grabbed hold of i Xiawen’s hand, and looked up at his lowered face expectantly. “Xiawen, give a chance. Give yourself a chance to be happy. Be with for the rest of your life – you won’t regret choosing today.”
i Xiawen let out a long sigh as Ai Weinan clung to his hand. After a mont, he pulled his hand out of her grasp and said, in a low voice, “Weinan, I’ve always thought of you as a good friend. How can you do this to ?”
Ai Weinan felt as though she had been slapped.
He heart reeled with sorrow, disappointnt and embarrassnt, but only montarily. She clenched her fists and steeled herself. She wasn’t backing down just yet.
“Of course we’re good friends, but you know n and won are never just friends.” Ai Weinan’s eyes were bright as she stared at i Xiawen. “Unless you’re gay.”
i Xiawen hesitated for a long mont before finally deciding it was better to be honest. “But I think of you as a good friend. I’m not lying. I don’t see you as either a man or a woman.”
This went beyond a slap in the face: it was a flying kick to the chest, deflating all the courage Ai Weinan had gathered over the past two weeks.
She stuck her chest out and shouted at i Xiawen: “I am a woman! A woman! Do you see it now?!”
How could he think of her as an androgynous, genderless friend?!
Her chest wasn’t that small!
She may not be a C cup, but she was at least a B-!
“You know that isn’t what I ant.” i Xiawen averted his gaze. He looked everywhere, except at Ai Weinan. “You’re... her best friend, and because of that I thought of you as my best friend, too. All the things you used to do for in secret – I really had no idea. I know better now, and I’m very grateful, but all I can say is: thank you, and sorry.”
Thank you, and sorry.
She had been deeply in love with him for six years, and all she had gotten in return was “thank you, and sorry.”
Ai Weinan’s fists clenched and unclenched, over and over again.
She had thought she was prepared for this, but when the blow ca she was blindsided all the sa.
There was an old saying that went: when a man pursues a woman, there is a mountain in his way. When a woman pursues a man, there is but a thin layer of gauze in her way.
It had been the exact opposite for her.
She had tried to win i Xiawen’s affections for six years now, and had gotten nowhere. She had not even made it to the foot of the mountain.
“Xiawen, tell , how are the other girls better than ? I co from a distinguished family, better than theirs. My grades are better than theirs. My love for you is deeper than theirs. I may not be exceptionally beautiful or sexy, but my looks and figure are on par with the other girls, at least. Tell – what exactly are you looking for?”
Ai Weinan knew that it was ga over for her. But she could not accept her defeat, not unless she knew exactly why she had lost.
She had thought and thought for six years, and still could not understand why i Xiawen did not love her.
She conceded that she may not have been a match for his first love. But even after breaking up with his first love, i Xiawen still had not looked her way – he had chosen instead to give his heart to Gu Nianzhi, an orphan girl with nothing to her na.
i Xiawen’s heart ached when he saw the injured look on Ai Weinan’s face.
He reached out and tucked a stray lock of Ai Weinan’s hair behind her ear. His fingers lingered on her face for a mont, before slowly moving away. He said, in a low voice, “Weinan, you’re a good girl. You’ll find soone who loves you very much. But the two of us – we’re just not right for each other.”
“Not right for each other? How? Won’t you tell so I can change and make it right?” Ai Weinan had loved the feeling of i Xiawen’s warm fingertips brushing against her earlobe. She threw herself at i Xiawen, eager for more. She circled her arms around his waist, and laid her head upon his chest.
Ai Weinan closed her eyes, and listened to the beating of his heart. She said, her voice breaking, “Fine. You don’t have to love . It’s not your fault. But can you at least... want ? I want to give my virginity to the person I love most.”
i Xiawen: “...”
“You don’t have to take responsibility. I won’t give you any trouble. Just think of it as a one-night stand. Tomorrow morning, we’ll go our separate ways. I’ll disappear from your life, and you’ll have to promise to never look for again, too. Can we do that?” Ai Weinan lifted her head and looked despairingly at i Xiawen. “I’ll never turn this on you, honest. I’ve loved you for so many years – I just want a beautiful mory in return, is that too much to ask? Won’t you let have sothing to rember you by, for the rest of my life?”
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