Back Then, I Adored You

The motion sensor light in the corridor sensed his presence and emitted a dim light that spilled across his body and concealed his expression. He vaguely heard suppressed coughing through the open door behind him. It was like a knife piercing through his heart, accompanied by a burst of sharp pain.

Xu Wennuan hadn’t had a firm grip around her glass, which had caused it to fall to the floor, and now she was cleaning up the broken glass. Lu Bancheng could hear the glass fragments being dragged across the floor, followed by a low groan.

Did she get cut?

Lu Bancheng involuntarily turned around, but before his gaze could land on whatever was happening inside the apartment, he stopped himself, pursed his lips quietly for a moment, and ultimately closed the door without looking back.

The door silenced all the noise inside the apartment, and Lu Bancheng noted the quietness all around him. He picked up his suitcase without any expression on his face and stood still for a few more seconds. Then, he walked to the elevator, jabbed the button, and left.

……

Xu Wennuan had accidentally dropped her glass of water when she was taking her medicine. Her fever had made her light-headed, which led to her cutting her finger when cleaning up the fragments.

There was not a trace of Lu Bancheng in the apartment when she emerged from the dining room. If not for the fact that his slippers, which had originally been in the shoe rack, were now placed crookedly on the floor, she would have thought that seeing Lu Bancheng had been a hallucination caused by her fever.

In the past, he would ask me a million questions whenever he saw me. If he had seen me looking through the medical kit, he would probably have dragged me to the hospital. And now, I’m just a stranger who means nothing to him. He left without saying a word.

Xu Wennuan swiftly put Lu Bancheng’s slippers in the shoe rack when she realized that her thoughts were starting to wander.

Being estranged from him is what I wanted most, so why am I thinking about how he treats me now versus in the past? I’m probably thinking nonsense because of this mind-muddling fever…

Xu Wennuan shook her head aggressively and tried her best to toss out all the messy thoughts floating around in her head. She found a bandage to wrap around her cut before returning to the guest bedroom.

Even though he was no longer here, she still locked the door before climbing into bed. She pulled the blanket over her head and drifted into a deep sleep.

……

Due to her illness, Xu Wennuan slept soundly all night, even sleeping through her alarm the next morning. By the time she woke up, it was two o’clock in the afternoon. She hurriedly called her boss, who was understanding and also expressed concern for her by telling her to “rest well.” After ending the call, Xu Wennuan found a thermometer and took her temperature. The fever had receded, and the only symptom she had now was a stuffy nose. She swallowed two flu pills and ordered delivery food because she was so hungry. After eating, she rested for a while on the couch, where she recalled that she had invited a client to meet for dinner at Jinyuan at five o’clock in the evening. Despite being ill, she got herself ready and left the apartment.

Xu Wennuan arrived at Jinyuan at 4:45 p.m. She waited until half past five before her client arrived.