The elevator briefly went up another floor before stopping at the eighth floor.
Still slightly dazed and excited, Fang Jialin stepped out and walked to the door of Apartment 802. He awkwardly entered the passcode.
Beep.
The door opened.
The two walked into the entryway but didn’t go any farther.
Fang Jialin had only just rented the apartment and hadn’t bought anything yet. The living room was so empty that it felt as if a horse could run through it. Even the sound of the door closing echoed several times before finally fading away.
Because of that, the cardboard box placed in the middle of the living room was particularly eye-catching.
You Jue had personally watched the workers pack and transport it, so of course he knew what was inside.
Fang Jialin had never seen the actual painting, but he knew exactly what it was.
His hand rested on the handle of his suitcase as he stared intently at the box.
He clearly wanted to open it immediately, but with an “outsider” present, he forced himself to hold back.
You Jue understood exactly what he was thinking. He looked away from the box and said, “Why don’t you check out the apartment?”
Fang Jialin snapped back to reality, pushed up his glasses, gave the living room a quick look, and then walked into the master bedroom.
“Oh! The view from the master bedroom is amazing!” he called from inside. “Come take a look!”
The apartments on the floors above and below each other in the same building naturally had identical layouts.
“There isn’t much to see in an empty apartment.”
You Jue looked away and sat down on the living room sofa.
“I’ll check my work messages.”
A little while later, Fang Jialin finished looking through all four bedrooms and returned to the living room.
“This apartment is in better condition than I expected.”
He dropped himself onto the sofa, feeling how comfortable it was.
“When the agent sent me the video, I thought it looked a little old.”
As he spoke, his gaze once again fell on the cardboard box.
He had waited more than two years for the artist to finish the painting, yet he still hadn’t seen it even once.
Fang Jialin finally couldn’t hold himself back.
“I’d better open it now. Otherwise, it’ll be inconvenient for the workers installing the furniture tomorrow.”
To make sure the painting wouldn’t be damaged during transportation, the workers had wrapped it in three layers of protective foam and then sealed the cardboard box tightly with tape.
Opening it wasn’t something that could be done in just a few seconds. Besides, there wasn’t even a pair of scissors or any other tools in the apartment.
But Fang Jialin couldn’t wait another night.
He squatted on the floor, carefully searching for the edge of the tape, intending to tear it open with his bare hands.
Amid the rustling sounds, You Jue, who had been looking at his phone, raised his eyes and stared at Fang Jialin’s back.
To be honest, he couldn’t understand it.
How could someone be so unable to let go of a relationship that had never even officially begun?
Ten years ago, during the first week of their freshman year of high school, You Jue had already learned about Ni Xia’s existence.
At that time, he hadn’t yet transferred to Jiangcheng No. 1 High School.
Every weekend, whenever Fang Jialin asked him to play video games, he would often mention Ni Xia.
He said she was an excellent artist, had a beautiful English accent, and ranked near the top of the class.
There was nothing particularly unusual about a girl with those qualities. Even in their middle school class, there had been several girls like that. Yet Fang Jialin had never constantly talked about any of them.
So You Jue casually said that she must be pretty too.
Fang Jialin only gave a silly grin without answering.
Later, You Jue transferred to Jiangcheng No. 1 High School.
The first time he saw Ni Xia, he thought, As expected.
But unlike what You Jue had imagined, Ni Xia wasn’t the kind of girl who became showy simply because she was pretty.
On the contrary, she dressed and behaved very modestly. She put her studies first, worked hard, and was practical and serious.
She looked like the kind of model student who followed every rule and would never violate school regulations—
If she hadn’t been messaging Fang Jialin every night.
You Jue couldn’t remember exactly when it started. By the time Fang Jialin secretly told him about it, the two had already been chatting for quite some time.
They complained about exam pressure and grumbled about having too much homework.
They recommended novels they had recently read and introduced each other to interesting movies.
When two people chatted that frequently, their relationship was bound to change.
Yet neither of them ever let anyone else notice their private interactions.
Ni Xia was naturally low-key, while Fang Jialin was even more reserved. At school, they never showed any obvious signs of being close. Even when they ran into each other, they merely nodded in greeting.
Fang Jialin told You Jue everything about their secret relationship.
For example, Ni Xia would occasionally sneak a bottle of warm milk into Fang Jialin’s desk before he arrived at school.
And Fang Jialin often waited until the classroom was empty before leaving Ni Xia’s favorite snacks on her desk.
The secret affection growing in the shadows became the motivation that pushed Fang Jialin to work harder in the open.
Throughout their second year of high school, Fang Jialin’s grades improved dramatically.
His parents were so happy that they couldn’t stop smiling. They assumed it was because You Jue had transferred into his class and the two were studying together, so they immediately gave You Jue a newly released PS4 Pro.
You Jue didn’t explain anything.
He simply accepted it with a smile.
Unfortunately, the good times didn’t last.
Their “secret romance” lasted only one year.
Not long after the start of their final year of high school, on a hot and restless night, Fang Jialin and Ni Xia chatted until midnight.
He was so sleepy that he could barely keep his eyes open, but he couldn’t bear to go to sleep.
He was also worried that Ni Xia would stay up too late and be unable to get up the next morning, so he tentatively asked:
When are you planning to go to sleep?
Ni Xia replied:
I don’t want to sleep.
Fang Jialin asked:
Why?
Ni Xia replied:
Idiot, that’s the name of a song.
Fang Jialin immediately went to listen to the song.
That night, Fang Jialin became the one who didn’t want to sleep.
He couldn’t sleep at all.
The lyrics had nothing to do with being “subtle.” They were practically a blatant confession of love.
After keeping his feelings bottled up for an entire year, Fang Jialin was already barely able to hold himself back. How could he withstand something like that?
The next morning, he went to school with two dark circles under his eyes.
Then, during the lunch break, he asked Ni Xia to meet him on the rooftop of the library.
In truth, Ni Xia should have realized what Fang Jialin was about to do at that moment.
She walked slowly with every step. The scorching sun had heated the ground beneath her feet and turned her face red.
When she finally stood in front of Fang Jialin, she kept her head lowered.
Even when Fang Jialin gathered up his courage and asked, “Do you want to be together with me?” she still kept her head down.
After a long silence, she finally said softly,
“I’m sorry. I’ve always thought of you as just an ordinary classmate. I’ve never had those kinds of feelings for you.”
Fang Jialin didn’t know whether there had really been thunder that afternoon or whether it had simply been a bolt of lightning in his mind.
Either way, he only heard a deafening roar in his ears, as if the entire sky had collapsed.
He didn’t even have the courage to ask Ni Xia why, if she really saw him as nothing more than an ordinary classmate, she had chatted with him every night, secretly given him little gifts, and said so many suggestive things.
He simply stood there in silence and watched Ni Xia leave the rooftop.
Being rejected was already bad enough.
But unfortunately, things only got worse.
Fang Jialin hadn’t noticed at all that several other students had been hiding in a corner of the rooftop smoking.
The news quickly spread from one person to another.
Before long, the entire class knew about it.
It was practically as public as posting a confession on social media.
Even You Jue happened to overhear several girls talking about Fang Jialin.
“How did he even dare? That’s Ni Xia we’re talking about.”
“Exactly! It’s hilarious. He should’ve known his place before confessing to Ni Xia.”
“I wish I could borrow some of his confidence. I’d go after You Jue tomorrow.”
You Jue didn’t know whether Fang Jialin had ever heard comments like those.
In any case, after that, Fang Jialin became completely depressed.
But only when no one else was around.
Whenever he appeared at school, even when he ran into Ni Xia, he acted as if nothing had happened. He greeted her as usual.
When his friends accidentally mentioned Ni Xia, he would even happily join in the conversation.
Only You Jue knew that the moment Fang Jialin returned home each day, he looked completely miserable.
Sometimes he locked himself in his room and stared blankly into space.
Other times, he held his phone and repeatedly read through his chat history with Ni Xia.
Sometimes his eyes would turn red as he read.
Then he would eat dinner mixed with his own tears.
You Jue truly couldn’t understand it.
Was it really necessary to be this devastated over a girl who had been so different on the inside from what she appeared to be and had toyed with his feelings?
But Fang Jialin didn’t think Ni Xia had done anything wrong at all.
He said, “Maybe she has some reason for doing it? Maybe her family is too strict?”
You Jue asked, “Can you blow bubbles?”
Fang Jialin looked confused.
“What do you mean? I don’t understand.”
You Jue looked at the poor fish in front of him and shook his head.
“Forget it if you don’t understand. It’s not going to be on the exam anyway.”
In the blink of an eye, eight or nine years had passed since then.
You Jue couldn’t understand why Fang Jialin still couldn’t let go of that unfinished “love.”
He couldn’t understand why Fang Jialin still hadn’t forgotten Ni Xia.
Maybe he was simply too slow to catch on.
So slow that he couldn’t tell that Ni Xia had only been teasing him.
So slow that he couldn’t realize their “relationship” had already ended the moment he decided to confess.
And so slow that he couldn’t even tell that You Jue had absolutely no interest in his relationship with Ni Xia.
The thick packaging had already been mostly removed by Fang Jialin.
When the final protective film covering the painting was carefully peeled away, a corner of the painting was revealed.
You Jue turned his head toward the window.
If Fang Jialin knew that Ni Xia was living directly downstairs from him right now, separated by only a single wall…
Just as You Jue was lost in thought, the vibration of his phone pulled him back to reality.
He looked down.
Speak of the devil.
Ni Xia had just messaged him.
[Ni Xia]: Are you home?
After all these years, she still liked sending messages late at night.
While Fang Jialin had his back turned, You Jue quickly typed two words.
[J]: What’s up?
Surprisingly, Ni Xia sent a voice message.
The empty living room was extremely quiet, with only the sounds Fang Jialin made as he moved around.
You Jue glanced at his back and silently tapped the voice-to-text function.
I just wanted to ask when that strategy meeting is.
Why add that little “just” and make it sound so coy?
[J]: A week from now.
Ni Xia didn’t reply.
Meanwhile, Fang Jialin had already finished removing the protective film.
The portrait on the canvas was now completely exposed.
Just as he was about to stand the painting upright, You Jue suddenly stood up.
“I’ll head back first. You should get some rest too.”
Fang Jialin turned around in surprise.
“Huh? You’re leaving already?”
Realizing that it was indeed getting late, Fang Jialin didn’t try to keep him.
“Then how about having dinner with my parents in a couple of days? They haven’t seen you in years either.”
“We’ll see. I’m a little busy these days.”
You Jue walked toward the entrance and waved behind him.
“See you.”
After entering the elevator, You Jue took out his phone again and planned to look over the documents Lai Min had drafted.
He opened WeChat.
Ni Xia’s profile picture was still at the very top of the chat list.
His gaze lingered for a moment before he opened their conversation and, almost unconsciously, tapped the voice message.
“I just wanted to ask when that strategy meeting is.”
Her voice sounded a little downcast and slightly complaining, with a hint of playful sweetness.
It echoed inside the enclosed elevator.
At night, the huge glass windows of the living room were like a giant screen, reflecting everything inside.
The spacious sofa, the vintage floor lamp, and Ni Xia’s hazy silhouette.
She still hadn’t gone to sleep.
Half reclining on the sofa, she listened to Gu Yusheng’s slightly drunken voice coming through her phone.
“Good thing I shamelessly tagged along to dinner today. Do you know who was there?”
“Who?”
“Ah, I forgot his name.”
Gu Yusheng was sitting in the passenger seat, sounding tipsy.
“Anyway, he was some big shot in internet investment. His company has invested in quite a few films as a co-producer.”
Ni Xia quietly listened to her.
“I brought up our project with him, and he’d actually read the original novel too. He said the story would be difficult to adapt and would really test the director’s skills.”
“I immediately told him that our Director Ni could handle it. I even said Cameron had seen your previous work and praised you for surpassing your predecessor.”
“…”
Ni Xia asked, “Cameron knows me?”
“That’s not important. Cameron doesn’t know him either. It’s not like he can go ask Cameron.”
Gu Yusheng let out a drunken hiccup before continuing.
“By the way, don’t worry about what happened with Luo Zhan yet. I’ll think of something tomorrow.”
“I’m not worried.”
Hearing the navigation voice coming from the car, Ni Xia said, “You’re almost home. Get some rest. Don’t look at your phone before bed, or you’ll end up unable to sleep again.”
After hanging up, her phone returned to WeChat.
Only then did Ni Xia notice You Jue’s reply.
So cold.
So businesslike.
At this rate, she might have already taken a photo with Cameron before there was even any chance of her marrying You Jue.