Back Then, I Adored You

Wu Hao stopped his car 100 feet away from the rehabilitation center and stared fixedly at the entrance. He only retracted his gaze when the eastern sky began to brighten, and then he drove away.

…

Wu Hao took a shower in his office at work and changed into fresh clothes. After taking a quick break, he attended the morning meeting; then afterward, he was busy until three in the afternoon. Because he hadn’t slept the night before, he rested on the bed in the lounge to take a nap, but shortly after he dozed off his withdrawal symptoms began to kick in again. For an excruciatingly long time, he suffered through the most intense pain he had yet encountered.

After recovering, he laid flat on the bed silently for some time before he slowly sat up and reached out his hands to pull open the drawer of the nightstand. After he searched through it for a moment, he took out a watch. His fingertips grazed the surface of the watch for a moment before he flipped his blanket off, slipped out of bed, and put on his clothes, slipping the watch in his pocket. He then found his car keys and left the office.

When he reached Xu Wennuan’s office, the receptionist informed him that she had been at the spa that morning for a meeting but had left about an hour after it was over. Wu Hao had often come to the spa to look for Xu Wennuan over the past two months, and the receptionist knew him by now, well enough to add that Xu Wennuan seemed to be planning to quit her job at the spa soon.

For the past year, she’s done an excellent job managing the spa, and she’s even a small stakeholder. Why would she quit out of the blue?

Wu Hao frowned but did not think much more about it. After thanking the receptionist, he left the spa.

He drove directly to Xu Wennuan’s apartment and, after continuously pressing the doorbell and waiting, no one answered the door. Suddenly worried about how helpless she had looked the night before squatting at the restroom door at the bar, he took out his phone and called her, but her cell phone was turned off.

She’s obviously depressed and has hidden away in isolation…

Wu Hao frowned and stood in front of Xu Wennuan’s apartment for a moment.

When we dated, she’d always go up to the top floor of the school’s library to space out whenever she was in a foul mood. During those tough times we experienced after returning to Beijing from Shanghai and starting our own business, she even went back there a few times…

As this thought crossed his mind, he immediately headed back downstairs, got into his car, and made his way to A High School. As it was evening rush hour, the roads were congested, and by the time he reached the school it was already dark. He parked the car, strolled quickly through the gates, and made his way straight to the library.

The door to the library was already closed, and the entire building interior was pitch black. Wu Hao stepped onto the stairs and dashed to the rooftop, where he pushed open the door and went out onto the balcony. With merely one glance, he saw Xu Wennuan seated on the railing with her feet dangling midair.

Wu Hao did not know whether or not she was an illusion, but an indescribable sense of sadness resonated off her silhouette, causing a sting to pierce through his heart. After a moment, he began to walk toward her slowly. Just when he was about to reach her side, as if she sensed his motion, she turned her head around. She was stunned when she saw him, as she didn’t know that he had remembered her hideout when she was depressed, but she didn’t question how he knew that she would be here. She looked away and continued to gaze at the buildings lit up in the distance.

Wu Hao, too, did not speak. He flipped onto the railing, sat next to Xu Wennuan, and looked in the direction of her gaze. The wind was strong on the rooftop, and it blew their hair into a mess as they sat there.