Back Then, I Adored You

Xu Wennuan really could not afford to reminisce about their beautiful past, as it only brought her pain that penetrated her bones. Her eyes grew misty as she picked up her chopsticks and swiftly stirred in the red heart, which made Wu Hao, who was sitting opposite her, knit his eyebrows.

What happened next made it feel as if God had come to have some fun with the both of them. They had only been seated a short time when a song started playing in the cafe. It was the theme song to a movie that had particularly high ratings in theaters two years ago, titled “Time Causes the Rain to Boil.”

The two of them sat opposite each other and listened to the song quietly for some time, until Wu Hao said, “Nuannuan…”

Xu Wennuan did not give Wu Hao a chance to continue talking. She picked up her coffee and swallowed a large mouthful to suppress the discomfort in her throat. Then, she pointed at the wall beside them, which had a large variety of sticky notes scattered all over it, and said, “Wu Hao, do you remember when we used to leave sticky notes here?”

Wu Hao nodded without speaking. Xu Wennuan rose. “Let’s find them.”

Wu Hao stood up with her, and they walked to the wall and started rummaging through the thousands of notes. They remembered where they had posted most of theirs in the past, so it didn’t take a long time to find them. They returned to the table after taking their notes down. Xu Wennuan started picking them up one by one and reading them in a warm voice.

“Wu Hao will love Xu Wennuan forever and never desert her.”

“The only person Wu Hao will marry is Xu Wennuan.”

“Wu Hao, happy birthday. I love you. From, Nuan…”

Wu Hao was completely still as he listened to her recite everything that they had written to each other when they had been young. At the end, his eyes grew misty, and he turned his head to look out the window.

As Xu Wennuan put down the last note, she took a deep breath. She curled her lips, asked the woman who ran the cafe for a pen and sticky note, and started writing. Wu Hao had a clear view of the note as he was sitting in front of her. He took in every single word.

“Wu Hao, let’s break up. Goodbye. From, Xu Wennuan.”

Xu Wennuan set the pen aside. She rose again, walked over to the wall, and stuck the note on it. She stared at the words written on the note for a few seconds before returning to their table. After taking her seat, she returned Wu Hao’s gaze and repeated the words she had written on the note, “Wu Hao, let’s break up.”

Although she had made this decision a few days ago, she still felt a jolt of pain when she said it out loud. Her throat felt constricted, and she couldn’t stop her tears from flowing.

Wu Hao gazed back at Xu Wennuan. His lips were pursed tightly. After a moment, he said, “Nuannuan, do we really have to do this? We’ve been together for 10 years…”

“Yes, we’ve been together for 10 years…” Xu Wennuan lowered her head. At that moment, the singer of the song playing in the background was at the saddest part: “We promised each other that we’ll never break up and that we’ll always be together—even if time becomes our enemy, even if the world turns its back on us.”

Xu Wennuan started crying even harder. She lifted her hand to cover her tear-filled face while forcing herself to suppress her sadness. After a long time, she managed to say, “Even though we’ve been together for 10 years, this is all we can do.”

She really wanted to forgive him and continue to be with him without bearing any grudges, but Jiang Qianqian had lost her child…