A female soldier in a short skirt came over with a smile, bringing them coffee.
"Mr. Yi, this is the flavor you often drink, less milk, no sugar. And for this lady, what would you like to order?" The waitress beamed at Yi Chentian, clearly a regular here, and was very enthusiastic towards him.
"I’d like a glass of juice, thank you!" Gu Xiaoxi’s tone was indifferent.
The waitress quickly brought the juice.
Yi Chentian looked up, gazing at Gu Xiaoxi’s delicate profile; his chest felt as if it was being restrained by a large hand. Even breathing became difficult.
He clenched his fingers and finally mustered the courage, his tone firm, "Thank you for giving me the opportunity to express my gratitude. From now on, we’re still friends, right?"
Gu Xiaoxi’s hand holding her juice paused, and she scoffed, "Get to the point! I don’t have time for beating around the bush."
Yi Chentian became anxious upon hearing this.
"Xiao Xi, don’t you understand my feelings? I like you! But the superior officer said that you’re still young, we’re not suitable, I am willing to wait for you for two more years, until you’ve grown up a bit. Xiao Xi, I was wrong before, I backed out because of the superior officer. But not anymore, even if he’s your guardian, I will boldly pursue you..."
"Stop!" Gu Xiaoxi cut him off, crossing her arms and leaning back in the chair, her gaze sizing up Yi Chentian with detachment in her eyes.
She looked at him for a long while, her tone resolute, "Since you said you wanted to break up last time, we have nothing to do with each other. There’s no future!"
Her tone was firm and decisive, her delicate features grew somber, her bright eyes dark and cold.
Yi Chentian felt suffocated; her words were like a merciless knife, slicing shallow and deep into his heart.
He had liked her since the moment he first saw her, but he hesitated for a moment, and just like that, she slipped by him.
"I saved you last time, consider this juice a token of thanks; from now on when we meet, we are still strangers." Gu Xiaoxi took a sip of her juice, then stood up from her seat, ready to leave.
In the moment of turning around, Yi Chentian quickly stood up and grabbed her arm, his phoenix eyes filled with sadness, "Xiao Xi, are we not even friends anymore?"
Gu Xiaoxi quickly pulled her arm back, decisive in her exit. She stood there for a moment, then turned back to look at him, her thin lips curving into a smile filled with profound meaning, "I don’t think it’s necessary."
With that, she turned and strode away.
At that time, indeed she was moved.
But, it was only for a moment.
The tiny sprout of emotion that had started to grow was never given a chance to bloom; it was snuffed out in its cradle by him.
Shaoqing was right; if it were true affection, how could it be abandoned just because of a few words from him.
Yi Chentian watched Gu Xiaoxi’s departing figure, feeling a senseless pain wrench through his heart. He had lost her, lost her forever, never to return.
"Yi Chentian, what are you doing here? Who was that beauty just now?" Lan Hai came into the café and saw Yi Chentian standing there in a daze, curious about Gu Xiaoxi’s retreating figure.
Yi Chentian slumped back into his seat, his throat as uncomfortable as if it was choked with sand.
"Got dumped by your girlfriend? With your looks, ’a fine figure of a man, handsome as Pan An, with a bright future ahead, from a good family, which girl wouldn’t appreciate you? She must be blind,’" Lan Hai and Yi Chentian were schoolmates in the military academy. They used to live in the same dormitory and were very close.