"Chuxia..." After observing Chuxia through the rearview mirror for quite a while and noticing her absent-minded expression, Jing Zhe finally couldn’t help but probe, "If you don’t want to continue, I can help you settle this matter." He had been shut out and barely heard what the two of them were saying. When he opened the door, Zhou Mikang didn’t give him a chance to talk and just left, leaving him hanging in suspense.
"Ah?" Chuxia reflexively gasped, then quickly grasped what Jing Zhe meant and hurriedly waved her hands, "No, no, I’m not planning to leave Zhou Mikang. I’m just puzzling over some issues that I can’t figure out."
"Tell me about it, maybe I can help." After a pause, Jing Zhe added with an explanation, "Chuxia, I really do care for you as if you were my own sister, with no ulterior motives."
"Brother, I know." Chuxia nodded hurriedly, "I don’t understand this so-called love. Look at Zhou Mikang, who stayed single for so many years for Ye Meiru, even rejecting marriage. But today, he exposed Ye Meiru’s scars for me. So, I wonder, if one day he stops liking me, will he treat me the same way?" Without waiting for Jing Zhe to respond, she continued, "Of course, I know this thought of mine is a bit foolish. If he really cared about Ye Meiru’s feelings and continued to look after her, I would definitely feel uncomfortable, ah, I’m really quite difficult to please."
"You are not difficult to please, you just lack confidence in your relationship with him." Jing Zhe glanced at her, "Honestly, at your age, having never been in love, you should be looking forward to love, but you seem to completely distrust love."
This feeling, really is strange. You’re so young, how can you not believe in love? The thing is, your parents have such a good relationship. Chuxia, this is something I’ve always failed to understand."
"I don’t believe in love?" Chuxia repeated softly, a sudden realization dawning on her, and she finally understood where her problem lay.
In her era, love was a luxury. Many couples who loved each other deeply often couldn’t withstand reality and quickly fell apart.
She had witnessed her best friend evolve from a vague liking to deep love to eventual suicide within a year, her closest friend with whom she shared all secrets. So, after her friend’s suicide, despite still yearning for love, she couldn’t really believe in it. Thus, at twenty-two, her own romantic experiences were still nonexistent.
Marriages in this era were mostly not based on love, yet they were relatively more stable. Therefore, she ostrich-like accepted this era’s concept of marriage, which was why she readily agreed when Zhou Mikang pressed her to marry him.
Subconsciously, she felt that without love, there wouldn’t be any pain, and also felt that she couldn’t find her own love in this era, so Zhou Mikang became her best choice.
However, humans are emotional creatures. For a newbie who had never experienced love, she didn’t know what true love really was. Thus, she had always felt that Zhou Mikang was just a long-term meal ticket she encountered in this era.
Looking back, her prompt agreement was simply based on a slight liking for him, not love, but it could be considered an attraction.
And today, the way Zhou Mikang treated Ye Meiru truly instilled fear in her. She feared that one day he would treat her the same way. If there really wasn’t any affection, why would she fear him treating her like that?
"Brother, thank you, I’ve figured it out." Chuxia smiled, her eyes curving up as she thanked Jing Zhe, finally knowing her own feelings and what she should do next.
Of course, to say she had deeply fallen in love with Zhou Mikang would be nonsense. At this stage, she merely harbored the beginnings of love for him. Thus, she decided to nurture this budding affection, hoping it would grow strong one day, rather than dying young.
"It’s good you’ve figured it out." Noticing her expression, Jing Zhe also knew she had truly understood where her issue lay. His position being somewhat sensitive, he decided it was best not to dwell on this issue and changed the topic, "Zhou Mikang is leaving in a few days, do you plan to stay at the dormitory or come back