Back Then, I Adored You

There was no reply.

After some time, Zero’s profile picture dimmed and he was offline.

Did he go offline to head to bed because he thought I was offline after I ignored him for so long?

Xu Wennuan waited a while, but Zero remained offline, so she finally exited the game and closed her eyes to sleep.

……

At that same moment, Lu Bancheng was awoken from his dreams by the sound of his alarm. Battling against his drowsiness, he sent Xu Wennuan a joke and, just when he was prepared to go back to sleep, the message that Xu Wennuan had sent fully woke him up, sending his thoughts into turmoil.

She actually asked to meet me!

If I wasn’t truly Lu Bancheng, and our traumatic past hadn’t happened, I’d agreed to her request without hesitation. But I am Lu Bancheng, and I’m the last person in the world she wants to see.

And if she met up with me and found out I’m Lu Bancheng, I would probably have to lose my identity as Zero, which is my last means of maintaining contact with her…

It would be easy to reject her request this first time, but what about the second and third times… and every other time from then on? I couldn’t put her off with an excuse every single time. If this continues, Zero will also lose contact with her sooner or later…

Regardless of whether or not they met, there seemed to be only one ending for them.

……

At 9:00 a.m. the next morning, Lu Bancheng logged into the game and read Xu Wennuan’s message in which she gave him the date she’d be coming to Shanghai.

I can’t possibly ignore her message!

Lu Bancheng pondered it for a moment before he typed, “Why do you want to meet up all of a sudden?”

Xu Wennuan was offline, and Lu Bancheng couldn’t log into the game until after lunchtime. When he did, she had answered, “We’ve known each other in the game for so many years. Don’t you want to meet me?”

“Furthermore, you’ve also helped me out in so many ways. I’m quite curious about you, and I want to know what you’re like in real life. I also want to thank you in person.”

Putting off the inevitable, Lu Bancheng chose to delay. “I’ll let you know later. I’m so busy right now, I’m not sure when I’ll have time.”

Xu Wennuan quickly replied, “Sure. If you have some time, then let’s meet. If not, it’s okay. We can set up another date in the future.”

“Sure,” Lu Bancheng replied.

……

On December 29th, Xu Wennuan took a 10:00 a.m. plane at Beijing International Airport bound for Hongqiao Airport. After her taxi had reached the hotel and she had checked in, she sent Zero a message: “I’ve reached Shanghai. I’m free any time after this afternoon.”

Zero was offline and, even by the time she was ready to sleep, he still hadn’t replied, but by the time she woke up she had received a few messages from him.

The first one was a joke. The second one said, “I’m sorry. I had to fly to Hong Kong yesterday morning for business. I should have told you yesterday, but I almost missed my flight it was so last minute. I just now managed to log into the game.”

The third message said, “I’m afraid we won’t be able to meet this time. I probably won’t be able to return until the middle of next month.”

The reunion with her classmates had been a lie. She had intentionally come to Shanghai only to meet him specifically. When Xu Wennuan saw Zero’s message, while she was disappointed, there was nothing she could do about it. Thus, she could only pretend that she was alright and replied, “No worries. Let’s meet next time we have a chance.”