Yan Mo: “…”
He was speechless.
The young man made one final attempt to argue.
“An Zhihan probably isn’t that kind of person…”
The phrase clingy and relentless simply didn’t fit An Zhihan.
His upbringing had been strict.
He was serious and disciplined.
No matter when, An Zhihan always carried himself with restraint and dignity.
Bian Xun casually took off his jacket and draped it over a chair.
“He chased you all the way here from the restaurant, didn’t he?”
Yan Mo: “…”
Bian Xun glanced at him meaningfully.
“It’s been two years.”
“People change.”
Yan Mo: “…”
That was true.
While they spoke, the tall, lean young man had already gone back and forth to the bathroom several times.
He ran the bath.
Prepared toiletries.
Yan Mo felt like a guest visiting unfamiliar relatives.
Watching the host busily cook and prepare everything alone.
He didn’t know whether to sit or stand.
His vocabulary shrank to:
“No need.”
“I can do it myself.”
“Thank you.”
Even though he kept thinking about leaving immediately without eating, dishes somehow appeared on the table one after another.
Before he realized it, the situation had turned into one where staying felt unavoidable.
Yan Mo sighed.
Even while soaking in the bathtub, he couldn’t understand how things had somehow progressed to him taking a bath here.
Bian Xun’s way of speaking was unlike An Zhihan’s.
Even when An Zhihan sounded gentle, there was always a sense of authority behind it.
Bian Xun rarely phrased things as questions.
Yet he always carried a calm attitude that felt like discussing things together.
And that very attitude made it impossible for someone shy to refuse him.
After finishing his shower, Yan Mo walked out.
Bian Xun had already laid bedding on the floor.
Yan Mo hesitated.
“How about I sleep on the floor?”
“Don’t you have a match tomorrow?”
“You should rest properly. It would be bad if it affected your performance.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
The young man wore only a T-shirt and shorts.
Sitting on the floor bedding, he quietly tapped on his phone.
“The match isn’t until the afternoon.”
“Oh… I see…”
“Turn off the lights?”
“Hm? Ah, yes.”
The bedside lamp clicked off.
In the darkness, only rustling sounds remained.
Yan Mo carefully slipped into bed.
Trying not to make any noise.
He turned his back toward Bian Xun and lay on his side.
The room was too quiet.
The silence carried a strange sense of suffocation.
This is so awkward!
Yan Mo was afraid even turning over would make too much noise.
So he remained stiff and motionless.
Their relationship was even more delicate than strangers forced to share a room.
If they spoke, he didn’t know what to say.
If they stayed silent, it felt impolite.
After a while, Yan Mo felt as though his social anxiety was about to flare up.
“System?”
he whispered.
But the system didn’t answer.
It had gone to seek a solution from the Main System and wasn’t back yet.
Without his usual source of support, the young man wilted.
He stared at the bedside table.
Trying to hypnotize himself into sleeping.
As for Bian Xun…
There seemed to be no movement.
Was he asleep?
Honestly, Bian Xun was incredibly calm.
Yan Mo gave a bitter smile.
A supposedly plastic-surgery-enhanced ex-boyfriend suddenly seeking help.
That ex-boyfriend also apparently married and divorced someone.
Such a dramatic situation.
Yet Bian Xun remained completely composed.
Was it because he had already moved on?
Because he no longer cared?
Was that why he could stay so calm?
That’s amazing…
Yan Mo sincerely admired it.
Perhaps because the day had been too exhausting.
After staring at the bedside table for a while, he actually grew sleepy.
His eyelids became heavy.
His consciousness gradually relaxed.
Just as he was about to fall asleep, a calm voice suddenly sounded nearby.
“So.”
“Did you marry that man before dating me?”
“Or after?”
Yan Mo: “…………….”
The person on the floor seemed to shift positions.
His gaze settled on Yan Mo’s back through the darkness.
“I thought about it.”
“If it was afterward, the timeline doesn’t match.”
He continued analyzing the matter as calmly as if reviewing a match.
“So…”
“Was I cheated on?”
“…”
You weren’t asleep?!
You’ve been quietly thinking about this the whole time?!
And what kind of ridiculous imagination is this?!
Yan Mo, who had almost fallen asleep, was instantly wide awake.
Then he burst into helpless laughter after hearing the conclusion.
Because of the system’s confidentiality agreement, he couldn’t explain that the timelines and appearances didn’t match because they weren’t even from the same world.
Yan Mo’s age and appearance had also been adjusted in every world.
After the worlds merged, naturally bugs appeared.
On the surface, everything happened in the same era.
But they had actually existed on separate timelines.
However…
An Zhihan really had been before Bian Xun.
Yan Mo treated every target as a destined lover.
He sincerely dated them.
Each new relationship only began after the previous one ended—or after he was dumped.
So there had never been any cheating.
What should someone do when faced with an impossible question?
The answer was simple:
Avoidance might be shameful.
But it worked.
The cowardly young man shrank deeper into the blanket and pretended to be asleep.
He didn’t say a word.
He wasn’t sure whether Bian Xun believed him.
But fortunately, no more questions came.
After a while, sleep reclaimed him.
This time, Yan Mo genuinely fell asleep.
The next morning, before he even woke up, he smelled food.
When he opened his eyes, Bian Xun was setting breakfast down.
His long fingers were marked with red indentations left by plastic bags.
“You’re awake?”
The young man lowered his eyes.
“Come eat.”
Only then did Yan Mo remember everything from yesterday.
After a moment of silence, he got up to wash.
When he came back out, the small tea table was covered with takeout containers.
Two sofas had been pushed together.
Even the chopsticks had already been prepared.
Yan Mo paused before sitting down.
As though everything had been calculated perfectly, Bian Xun casually handed him a pair of chopsticks.
Then, while sitting down himself, he naturally placed a cup of soy milk with a straw beside Yan Mo.
Yan Mo looked over.
The lean esports champion sat with his head lowered.
His hair remained tied into a loose bun.
His skin was pale and flawless.
Almost translucent.
His appearance was quiet and understated, yet impossible to overlook.
His lowered eyelashes concealed his light-colored eyes.
The hands that fans constantly screenshot and admired.
The hands that had lifted championship trophies.
Were currently peeling a tea egg.
Dark sauce stained his rounded fingernails.
A drop slid through the gaps of his fingers.
Like muddy water flowing over white jade.
Dripping downward.
The peeled tea egg was placed into Yan Mo’s bowl of porridge.
Wiping his hands with a tissue, Bian Xun said:
“Eat.”
“I didn’t know what you can or can’t eat before.”
“So I bought a lot.”
“If there’s anything you don’t like, leave it.”
The man who once remembered only competition.
The man who cared about no one except Ji Xian.
Added quietly:
“I’ll remember next time.”
“…”
“…”
Yan Mo sat silently for a while.
Then sighed and set down his chopsticks.
Looking seriously at Bian Xun, he said:
“Bian Xun.”
“We broke up.”
“Do you remember?”
The hand wiping itself paused.
“…”
Yan Mo softened his voice.
“You probably think I’ve had a miserable life.”
“To be honest, I really have experienced a lot of unhappiness.”
He smiled helplessly.
“But if something I said made you feel that I became unhappy because I left you…”
“And that you’re somehow responsible for me…”
“Then I’m sorry.”
He carefully chose his words.
“The person you should be treating well right now is Ji Xian.”
“Don’t be with someone out of gratitude or guilt, Bian Xun.”
“We already know what happens when people do that, don’t we?”
Yan Mo wasn’t trying to hurt him.
He simply saw things clearly.
He had tasted the consequences.
So he sincerely advised him.
“Bian Xun.”
The young man looked gently at the boy he had once loved and pursued.
“Let’s not repeat the same mistake.”
“…”
Once a relationship ends—
The kindest thing is not to offer tenderness.
That isn’t compassion.
It’s cruelty.
Yan Mo found it strange.
Why was it that so many people and so many things only responded after you no longer cared?
Why didn’t you cherish me back then?
Why wait until I had left to say the words I once wanted—wanted so desperately—to hear?
The tenderness he had once fought desperately to obtain.
Now arrived effortlessly.
But instead of gratitude—
It made Yan Mo feel as though the years he spent loving that person had been nothing more than a joke.