Huo Qi was puzzled, and looked at him with some incomprehension, "What are you asking about? I’m a grown man, why would opening a door scare me?"
Ao Chen couldn’t make it clear to him, but felt as if his anger had nowhere to vent, "Huo Qi, are you deliberately trying to infuriate me?"
"You’re thinking too much. Why would I anger you for no reason? And normally, does anyone just knock on someone else’s door without a reason? Or perhaps you, Ao Chen, are planning to do something to me?"
Ao Chen pushed him, entered directly, and locked the door. Huo Qi, caught off guard, staggered from the push and looked at him in disbelief, "Have you gone mad? What do you want to do? In the middle of the night?"
"You also know it’s the middle of the night?" Ao Chen looked at the glaringly pale skin beneath his bathrobe’s collar, turned his face away unnaturally, and said, "Huo Qi, do you think that after we broke up, you shouldn’t be on guard? Do you put too much faith in my self-control?"
At his words, Huo Qi uneasily tugged at the gaping bathrobe collar, tying the belt around his waist again, "What do you want from me?"
Ao Chen nodded, "Let’s talk."
Since he had come with a pleasant face to talk and had already entered, it seemed somewhat inappropriate to refuse now. Huo Qi poured him a glass of water and sat down across from him, "Alright, what do you want to talk about? Let’s clear up whatever it is in one go. After all, we’ve been entangled for so many years, it’s been rather exhausting."
Wasn’t it just exhausting?
Ao Chen smiled bitterly, "I think I’ve realized why you’ve been so reluctant to make up with me."
"That’s rare. So tell me, why?"
Ao Chen stared into Huo Qi’s eyes, but Huo Qi cast his gaze downward, not looking at him, his thoughts inscrutable. With his eyes and eyebrows lowered, he seemed somewhat unhappy. Ao Chen sighed lightly, "Do you think I cared more about my pride than about you?
That’s why you left after sticking with it for three days, leaving me to regret alone for so many years?"
"You regret it for so many years? That’s rare." Huo Qi scoffed, not agreeing with him, his words laced with irony. Ao Chen didn’t get angry, just kept his focused gaze on him, "Huo Qi, let’s start anew, together."
Huo Qi was silent for a while, then raised his eyes to meet his gaze, their eyes locked, entwining with indescribable emotions.
Huo Qi laughed, "Then you have to do something to earn my forgiveness. All these years, I was really annoyed by the pride you had back then, thinking that I, Huo Qi, couldn’t do without you, that I must beg you. But the reality wasn’t quite like that, was it?"
Ao Chen realized that as arrogantly as he had lost Huo Qi back then, he deserved to be just as humbly remorseful now.
Huo Qi thought he would get angry at his suggestion, but he didn’t. Ao Chen calmly looked at him for a while before standing up, his hands in his pockets, his gaze carrying a hint of gentle indulgence, "Huo Qi, I hope you’ll keep your word. Once I’ve done it, you’ll have to get back together with me."
"Do it first, then we’ll talk."
Ao Chen smiled, the struggle and bitterness of so long seemed almost healed in that moment.
He suddenly bent down, gazing straight into Huo Qi’s eyes. Caught off guard, Huo Qi felt uncomfortable under such intense scrutiny and thought to look away, but deep down he believed that averting his gaze would show weakness. So, he just kept looking straight back at him.
After a few seconds of eye contact, Ao Chen’s smile deepened, "Make sure you catch it, my apology."
Huo Qi felt somehow threatened by his words, his brows knitted slightly, "What are you planning to do?"
Ao Chen smiled, "Once it’s done, you’ll know. The apology you want, I can provide. I won’t deceive you."
Huo Qi, "Please don’t do anything strange."
"Of course, I won’t."
Long after Ao Chen had left, Huo Qi still couldn’t figure out what he wanted to do. He had thought he could easily predict Ao Chen, but when Ao Chen really set his mind to do something, his thought process was completely beyond Huo Qi’s guess.
Huo Qi shook his head, let it be, let it be. Once it’s done, he would know anyway. Why bother guessing and making trouble for himself.
However, when Ao Chen’s apology finally came out and became public knowledge, Huo Qi somewhat regretted not seeing through that despicable scoundrel. He had clearly done it on purpose, had clearly thought of a strategy already, but he didn’t tell him, just went ahead and, in a high-profile manner, made his apology on the well-known official blog, as if broadcasting their own relationship history.
He detailed the process from when they met to when they dated and broke up, making it crystal clear that all the faults were his, and Huo Qi, the most innocent.