Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The apartment was empty. Two candle stumps could still be seen on the dining table.
Yan Rusheng knew that this time, she wouldn’t be coming back to her apartment to wait for him.
But he had no idea where would she go either. And even if found her, would she still go back to him?
Yan Rusheng hastened his footsteps towards the apartment next door—Xuxu’s house.
Even though the house was warm, it still felt empty and cold, as if without a sign of life.
He hurried past the empty couch, straight into Xuxu’s room. He switched on the lights.
Her clean floral bed sheets were still slightly messy on her bed as they had previously left in a hurry. Wen Xuxu simply pulled it over her bed, and it remained untouched.
His eyes scanned the entire room. Even though it was what he had expected, he couldn’t help but be disappointed.
He turned around to leave.
‘I am trading my thirteen years of youth, in which I’ve stayed by your side…’
Xuxu’s cold and desperate words sounded once more. He held onto the door for support before turning his head to glance at the dressing table.
He hesitated and paused for a moment before walking over to her dressing table to open her drawer.
The red wooden box and the locked diary he saw before were still in her drawer.
He picked up the diary and used an eyeliner pencil on the dressing table to pry the lock open.
There was a folded poster of an idol drama that she loved. Although it had turned yellowish, it was still rather well-preserved.
‘Dedicated to my Xuxu Rusheng’
The first page only had several words. But those words seemed to have wreck Yan Rusheng’s world entirely. He slowly laid back on the chair, feeling dazed and overwhelmed.
His thumb tenderly stroked the words. Xuxu had learned calligraphy since she was ten so her handwriting was beautiful.
The strokes were elegant and well-defined.
He still stopped at the first page as he didn’t have the courage to flip the pages.
‘When I joined the summer camp that day, I came out of my room after changing my clothes. And he was right outside standing when I opened the door, and I had no idea why the look on his face bothered me for days. He was so detestable, but why do I keep thinking of him before I sleep every night? It’s so annoying! Hahahaha. This is my first entry, and I don’t know what else to write. I shall sleep.’
‘I’m so dead! I seemed to have fallen for that annoying rascal! My heart beats so quickly every time I see him now. I want to move and stay with Grandfather so that he wouldn’t know that I like him. If he knew, he would definitely tease me and be very smug about it…’
…
‘Today I overheard him chatting with Ah Heng and the rest. He mentioned that he wanted to go to X university. I was thinking that the four years of university life might be the last few years I can stay with him. Getting into X university isn’t challenging for me at all. Dear arrogant Ah Sheng, why can’t you aim higher and choose A university instead?’
‘Today is the last day before exams. After we had finished revising, Aunt Zhang gave us each a bowl of green bean soup as usual. I gazed at him as the sunshine streamed in from the window. It made him shine, and he seemed exceptionally warm and handsome at that moment. I suddenly thought of how we have to pretend to go through a wedding ritual and exchange rings when we were kids. I almost felt like asking the arrogant guy; if I grow my hair till waist-length, can you marry me again? Whenever I think of that I feel so embarrassed! Luckily I wasn’t so impulsive at that time…’
‘Exams ended! And just like fate had arranged, I’ve come to the last page of this diary. It has been five long years. If Ah Sheng finds out that I’ve been in love with him for the past five years, he would definitely break into laughter…’