Lin Chu’s fingers tightened. She lowered her head to avoid Jiang Nai’s gaze and nodded faintly.
“Huh? He really came?” Jiang Nai blinked. “Did you tell him I was working overtime?”
Lin Chu felt her heart racing so fast it might leap right out of her throat. Her voice grew even softer. “I heard something, but I didn’t see him.”
Jiang Nai’s brows lifted slightly. She hid the feelings in her eyes and asked, puzzled, “He didn’t ask you about me?”
Lin Chu started to say something, but before she could get the words out, Jiang Nai interrupted her again. “Forget it. Let’s not talk about last night. Oh, right, Chuchu, remember how I said I’d introduce you to a boyfriend? One of Chengze’s friends is celebrating his birthday tonight. Let’s go together.”
Lin Chu instinctively tried to refuse. “I—”
“No refusing!” Jiang Nai clapped a hand over her mouth first, smiling brightly. “I already told Chengze you’d come too.”
Jingbei Aviation Hospital.
Lin Chu was distracted all day. At lunchtime, she carried her tray to a seat in the cafeteria and only then realized she’d taken two servings of rice but hadn’t gotten any dishes.
“Doctor Lin? Doctor Lin?”
The young nurse across from her waved a hand in front of her face. Lin Chu finally came back to herself and blinked. “What is it?”
The nurse, Tiantian, worked in the cardiology department and got along well with Lin Chu. She smiled at her. “That’s what I should be asking you. What’s going on today? You’ve been completely out of it. From this morning until now, you’ve spaced out at least eight times.”
Doctor Lin was one of the department’s most promising doctors, someone it was actively nurturing. Normally, the moment she put on her white coat, she switched straight into her meticulous mode. Tiantian had never seen her so frequently lose focus as she had today.
Lin Chu glanced up at Tiantian, pressed her lips together, then lowered her head and took a bite of rice without saying anything.
She had no interest in gossip right now. What had happened last night was far more explosive than anything she and Tiantian had ever gossiped about—and she was the subject of it…
But Tiantian wasn’t about to let her off the hook. Leaning closer, she studied Lin Chu’s face. “Doctor Lin, don’t think you can fool me. Tell me—something on your mind?”
Lin Chu tightened her grip on her chopsticks. From last night until now, the scenes had been playing over and over in her mind like a movie.
The pitch-black living room, the scorching warmth of a palm, a kiss against her neck, and that low voice saying, “Why is everything so soft today?”
Each time she thought of it, her heartbeat stumbled.
Seeing her like this only made Tiantian more curious. Her eyes shone. “Doctor Lin, you haven’t fallen in love, have you?”
“No.” Lin Chu denied it almost without thinking. After the unhappy end of her last relationship, she had no interest in dating at all.
“Then what is it?” Tiantian pressed. “Your brows are practically pinching a fly to death, and you’re still saying nothing’s wrong.”
Looking at Tiantian’s gossipy face, Lin Chu suddenly felt like confiding in her. “Tiantian, let me ask you something. If one day you were mistaken for your best friend by her boyfriend, and the two of you almost slept together, and you explained to your friend that it was an accident, do you think she’d believe you?”
Tiantian furrowed her brows. “That’s so melodramatic.”
Lin Chu: “…”
She thought so too. And yet it had happened.
Tiantian thought it over, then grinned. “But it’s pretty thrilling, too.”
Lin Chu gave her a helpless look. “I’m serious.”
Tiantian considered it carefully for a while. “If I were that best friend, I definitely wouldn’t believe it. How could something like that happen by accident? And if you almost slept together, how intimate must you have been?”
Lin Chu’s heart sank.
Tiantian went on, “If you ask me, once something like this happens, there’s no way you can stay friends. Even if she says she believes you, she’ll still have a knot in her heart. It’d be so awkward every time you saw each other.”
Lin Chu said nothing, only let out a soft sigh. Of course she knew.
From the moment Zhou Chengze left last night, she’d known this was an impossible situation.
She and Jiang Nai had known each other for seven years. In their first year of university, Lin Chu had come from a small southern town to study in Jingbei. With her old backpack on her shoulders, she’d stood nervously at the dormitory door.
The other three girls in the dorm were all from Jingbei. They dressed stylishly and spoke so quickly that Lin Chu didn’t even dare interrupt. Jiang Nai was the first to speak to her.
“You’re Lin Chu, right?” Jiang Nai said with a bright smile, handing her a bottle of water. “Was the trip tiring? Come on in. I saved you a lower bunk.”
Only later did Lin Chu learn that Jiang Nai came from a well-off family and had grown up in a military compound. Jiang Nai had never looked down on her. On the contrary, she’d taken care of her at every turn—taking her shopping, teaching her how to do her makeup, and helping her settle into this unfamiliar city.
During that time, Jiang Nai tried many times to bring Lin Chu into her circle of friends, but those people never thought much of her. Apart from Jiang Nai, she had no close friends—or rather, she had never been able to fit into Jiang Nai’s circle.
Throughout their four years at university, Jiang Nai was her best friend.
After graduation, Lin Chu returned to her hometown for work. It was only three months ago, when a job transfer brought her to Jingbei, that Jiang Nai immediately invited her to move into her home.
How could she bring herself to say it to a friend that good?
Lin Chu closed her eyes. Her temples throbbed.
That afternoon, Lin Chu took out her phone several times.
She wanted to message Jiang Nai and say she wasn’t coming tonight, that she felt unwell, that something had come up at the last minute. But each time she typed something, she deleted it.
If she made too many excuses, Jiang Nai might get suspicious. But if she said nothing, how could she face Zhou Chengze tonight?
Holding her phone, Lin Chu watched the screen go dark and light up again, then dark and light up once more. In the end, she still didn’t send anything.
She couldn’t keep this hidden forever. Sooner or later, Zhou Chengze would realize what had happened.
Rather than wait for him to figure it out himself, she should confess first.
But how? Lin Chu rubbed her brow, her thoughts a tangled mess.
At seven that evening, Jiang Nai pulled Lin Chu along to a private club.
Jiang Nai had clearly dressed up for the occasion. She wore polished makeup and a fitted dress, and as she linked arms with Lin Chu, she told her who would be there that night.
Lin Chu listened absentmindedly, occasionally murmuring a response. Her mind was entirely occupied with how she would explain things to Zhou Chengze later.
The private room was spacious, with dim, suggestive lighting. Seven or eight people were already seated inside.
The moment Lin Chu entered, she spotted Zhou Chengze. He sat on the sofa in the middle, relaxed and composed. Hearing the commotion, he looked up and cast her a cool glance.
He must have come straight from the airport. He was still in his captain’s uniform, the white shirt and four-bar epaulets marking his rank and status.
Zhou Chengze’s gaze lingered on her for a second before quickly moving away to Jiang Nai. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly. “You’re here?”
Following his gaze, Jiang Nai glanced casually at Lin Chu, then smiled and let go of her arm. She walked over and sat beside him. “Traffic was bad. Have you been waiting long?”
Zhou Chengze didn’t answer. He simply put an arm around her shoulders and lowered his head to say something in her ear.
Lin Chu stood where she was, feeling like an unwanted extra.
She was just about to find a corner to sit in when Jiang Nai seemed to remember something. She affectionately linked her arm through Zhou Chengze’s and waved Lin Chu over. “Chuchu, come sit with us. Don’t just stand there.”
Lin Chu had no choice but to walk over and sit beside Jiang Nai. As she sat down, her eyes inevitably met Zhou Chengze’s again.
(End)