Back Then, I Adored You

Without responding, Guoguo noticed the empty cup in front of Lu Bancheng, bent down to pick it up, then walked into the kitchen with it. She quickly returned from the kitchen with the same cup she took from Lu Bancheng and a pink mug. She placed Lu Bancheng’s cup back to where she had picked it up from and passed the pink mug to Xu Wennuan. “Please, have some water.”

Xu Wennuan took the mug with both her hands and said, “Thank you.”

Guoguo smiled at Xu Wennuan and, before she said anything, Lu Bancheng said, “Guoguo, get in the bedroom and blow-dry your hair. Don’t catch a cold.”

Guoguo responded with an unhappy expression, knowing that he was asking her to retreat to the bedroom so that Xu Wennuan would think they had an intimate relationship. Lu Bancheng frowned back at Guoguo and asked her again in a gentler way, “Be a good girl. Go blow-dry your hair.”

Guoguo was annoyed that he continued to coerce her into playing along with him, but recalling what she had promised him before dinner, she walked into Lu Bancheng’s bedroom despite her resistance.

As Xu Wennuan watched their interaction, her heart started to hurt. Her face even turned pale. He had spoken so gently with her that night when she had been bullied by Jiang Qianqian but, at this moment, his affection and gentleness belonged to a different girl, who’s absence now left the room disturbingly quiet.

The silence persisted until Lu Bancheng finally closed the file in his hand and turned to Xu Wennuan. “What are you here for?”

Xu Wennuan had come to see him because she had a lot to talk about with him; however, her premise was that there would not be a girl named Guoguo in the apartment with them.

Lu Bancheng and Guoguo are living together. I can’t ask my questions like “Do you still like me?” if he has a girl living with him…

Lu Bancheng waited for her to answer until she finally looked down at her knees, when he nudged her. “Hmm?”

“What?” Xu Wennuan asked in surprise, looking up at him. Then, she remembered what he said and laughed awkwardly before she responded with an “oh.” She paused again while nervously gripping her clothes to think of a reason to be there.

Last time I was here was more than two months ago, when he’d come to give me some medicine…

She finally said stressfully, “I’ve come to see you because I recently remembered that you had bought me a box of stomach medicine around the new year, and I, I…”

The more she spoke the more difficult it became for her to express herself, as a $10 box of medicine was not a good reason to be dropping by; however, she could not thing of a better excuse on the spot. “I never paid you back for that medicine.”

Compared to Xu Wennuan’s nervousness, Lu Bancheng was calm, yet he had to feign his casualness. “Oh,” he responded, no seeming to think her reason was too petty. Xu Wennuan opened her purse, took out a $20 bill, and placed it on the coffee table. Realizing he was not going to speak, she said, “I meant to wait for you that night, but something happened…”