The word “break up” said in a moment of anger wasn’t actually as easy as Zhou Chaosheng had thought. Two simple words, clearly just a matter of opening his mouth but it truly felt like cutting open the softest part of his heart, bloody, painful to the point of being unbearable.
Jiang Yuanye’s voice trembled as he said: “Break... up? You want to break up with me? Just because of this small thing?”
Zhou Chaosheng heard it, that voice carried a hidden, unspoken hysteria, and a heart-wrenching collapse on the verge of breaking down.
He thought, so the other person would also care about these words. He thought only he would care, only he was directing and acting out this relationship alone, being toyed with like a clown.
The tighter his heart twisted, the calmer Zhou Chaosheng’s face became: “You think it’s just a small thing?”
Jiang Yuanye: “......”
Zhou Chaosheng: “Maybe it really is just a small thing, something so trivial it’s not even worth your time to send a WeChat or make a call to tell me... but I care, Jiang Yuanye. I told you clearly who I went to see yesterday and why. Why can’t you do the same for me? Am I not worth even that bit of your time? Or is it that compared to me... Cheng Yuan is a little more important?”
He still ended up asking such childish words.
“How could you think that way!” During his pause, Jiang Yuanye seemed to have walked to a relatively quiet place. From his muffled voice, it felt like the air around him was continuously compressing his chest, making it hard for him to breathe.
“I never said your matters weren’t worth my time, even these small things. I just thought there was no need to tell you, that it would only add unnecessary trouble. And this has nothing to do with Cheng Yuan. I told you before, she and I are just friends...”
Zhou Chaosheng couldn’t take it anymore and cut him off: “Doesn’t she have any other friends? Only you? Or is there something so huge between you two that it has to be discussed behind my back?”
Between them, they had spoken to each other with sharp sarcasm and cold ridicule countless times, but never had any time twisted both of their hearts so tightly like today, to the point of heartache.
“...Do you have to speak so harshly?” Jiang Yuanye asked him.
“You forced me to,” he said.
“I forced you?” Jiang Yuanye laughed angrily, “Fine, then let’s talk about the blind date you went on yesterday. Yes, you told me, told me your father used me to threaten you, to force you to go on the date, that as long as you went, he wouldn’t force you again next time. I understand all that. But I just felt upset. Why couldn’t you send me a message when you were having dinner with her? When I got off the plane you didn’t even say a word to me. Just because of this small thing I kept overthinking whether you had taken a liking to her.”
“Just because of this you’re suspecting me?” Zhou Chaosheng didn’t know what to say.
“Yes, I’m suspicious. I’m sorry. I’m just jealous. I can’t stand seeing you have dinner alone with another woman, even if the reason is valid. So I thought today, when I came to pick you up from the airport, maybe there was no need to let you know so you wouldn’t overthink. Because you told me before that you mind her, so I hid it from you and didn’t let you know. Who knew you would...”
Who knew he would send someone to follow him. Zhou Chaosheng understood all of what Jiang Yuanye explained. There was only one thing he didn’t understand—he didn’t understand how the other person could so righteously shift the blame of this “small matter” onto him.
Zhou Chaosheng was a bit disappointed: “You still don’t understand why I’m angry. What I’m angry about is you hiding the fact you went to pick someone up from the airport, and then lying about it when I found out. Don’t you feel guilty doing that? Don’t you think that makes it seem like you’re sneaking around on me? You don’t know, of course you don’t know anything, so you can use the excuse of ‘doing it for my good’ to decide whether or not to tell me.”
“I...”
“You let me finish.”
“Jiang Yuanye, let me ask you—if you told me, would I interfere with you picking someone up? If your reason was legitimate and sufficient, I wouldn’t interfere in your normal social life, because I know we’re both adults, we both have our own social circles. We can’t just cut off contact with all people of the opposite sex just because we’re in a relationship. I’m not that controlling...”
Zhou Chaosheng took a deep breath and continued: “Jiang Yuanye, I’ve said so much, can you truly realize where the problem lies between us? If not, then just forget I said anything.”
Jiang Yuanye fell silent.
Zhou Chaosheng felt a trace of powerlessness: “Say something...”
Jiang Yuanye finally squeezed out a hoarse sentence from his throat: “I’m sorry, Chaosheng, I... I’m really sorry. I know I was wrong. Please don’t be angry at me...”
If he had said these words a bit earlier—if when he was first being questioned, Jiang Yuanye had pulled out these words, he definitely would have softened. Then if the other party had said a few more nice things to coax him, he wouldn’t have gone so far as to bring up the word “break up.”
But now it was too late. This move—he had to make it today.
He had to let Jiang Yuanye realize that some things can't be said casually, and some people can't be treated lightly. Even without Jiang Yuanye, the world wouldn’t stop spinning because of Zhou Chaosheng. The earth would still revolve on its established path, and the sun would still rise from the east as always. Who really can’t live without whom?
Zhou Chaosheng replied with a blank expression: “No. Hanging up.”
After speaking, he hung up without hesitation, blocked and deleted all of the other person’s contact information, and then shut off his phone.
Zhou Chaosheng stood dazed for a moment in the empty, silent office before slowly crouching down to pick up the things that had fallen to the floor—documents, fountain pen, phone, cup... and the photo frame with the picture of him and Jiang Yuanye taken in Iceland.
That photo frame was specially custom-made at a familiar antique store. Made of top-grade solid wood with a glass panel, the photo of him and Jiang Yuanye had been carefully cut and mounted between the glass layers.
But now, it was already shattered, with many cracks. Under the lighting, the twisted glass surface refracted various brilliant rays, as if speaking of the current brokenness and sorrow.
Zhou Chaosheng slowly picked up the photo frame from the coffee-stained floor. Then he stood, leaned against the corner of the desk, reached for a box of tissues, lowered his eyes, and very carefully wiped the frame inch by inch—as if he were handling a rare treasure, even though it was already broken.
In the photo, Jiang Yuanye had no proper posture, his arm casually draped over Zhou Chaosheng’s shoulder, head tilted to the side, leaning against Zhou Chaosheng’s temple a few centimeters behind it, while Zhou Chaosheng turned his face slightly, eyes filled with gentleness as he looked at him.
Whether at that time or now, the smile on the other person’s face remained as bright and flamboyant as ever, like a sunflower in full bloom. As he looked at it, Zhou Chaosheng’s thumb unconsciously stroked Jiang Yuanye’s smiling face in the photo, then he hugged the frame tightly to his chest, lowered his head, and rested his forehead against the edge of the frame.
Maybe... he really was a bit too harsh with his words.
Maybe... he shouldn’t have said it like that.
Zhou Chaosheng felt a sour sting in his nose. He thought, it wasn’t entirely his fault—if the other person hadn’t acted that way, he wouldn’t have gotten this upset in the first place. Even if he mentioned breaking up, it didn’t mean he truly wanted to end things. He just hoped the other person would coax him a little, do something to let him know...
That Jiang Yuanye couldn’t do anything without him either.
---
Cheng Yuan silently walked to the corner, lowered her head, looking at the person crouched on the ground, holding their head, shoulders trembling. She kept feeling that the other person, in this state, looked like an abandoned dog.
She let out a soft sigh, then took out a tissue from her backpack, crouched down, and handed it to them.
"Was it because of me the argument started?"
"Yuanye, from my bystander's point of view, you really shouldn’t have lied to her. Lovers naturally have possessiveness. If I had known in advance that you were taken, I wouldn’t have let you come pick me up alone no matter what."
Jiang Yuanye slowly lifted his eyes, tearful and helpless, all building up in his eyes. He wasn’t someone who liked to cry, but again and again, he couldn’t control his tears because of Zhou Chaosheng.
"Then what should I do? Sister Cheng, he broke up with me..."
Cheng Yuan stuffed the tissue into his hand: "What you need to do now is wipe your tears, then go find her and admit your mistake, coax her a bit more, and promise not to do something like this that would make her sad again."
Jiang Yuanye lowered his eyes: "I’ve made too many promises to him..."
Cheng Yuan asked: "Then did you keep them?"
Jiang Yuanye stiffly shook his head: "…No."
"What did you promise her?"
"Promised I wouldn’t be evasive anymore… Sister, actually I’ve been trying, but I still didn’t do well enough, so I made him angry…"
Cheng Yuan frowned tightly as she listened: "Yuanye, since when did you become so timid in doing things? This isn’t the you I know. Giving a girl the most basic sense of security, isn’t that something you men are supposed to do?"
Jiang Yuanye froze: "When did I say he was a girl?"
Cheng Yuan: "?"
A few seconds later, her eyes suddenly widened, and her voice unconsciously rose: "A guy?!"
Jiang Yuanye awkwardly covered his eyes, let out a muffled “mm,” and said: "You know him too."
Cheng Yuan’s brain was so shocked it nearly crashed: "…Who?"
"Zhou Chaosheng." Jiang Yuanye said.
Cheng Yuan: "......"
Cheng Yuan held her slightly dizzy forehead, and incredulously asked Jiang Yuanye: "Weren’t you two mortal enemies? How did you end up, end up… together?"
Jiang Yuanye hesitated to speak.
—
Half an hour later, Cheng Yuan finally sorted out the emotional history between the two of them, and also had a rough idea of the current fight between them.
She let out a heavy sigh.
Jiang Yuanye looked at her a little nervously: "Sister, is there still hope for me like this? If I go find him now, will it make him even angrier? Should I wait a few days for him to calm down before I go beg for reconciliation?"
Cheng Yuan looked at him like she was looking at a fool: "If you go a few days later, then you really will become the ex."
Jiang Yuanye was so scared his face instantly turned pale. He quickly got up, but because he had squatted too long, his legs were sore and weak, his vision still a bit dizzy, so in the end he could only hold onto the wall and slowly recover.
"Don’t rush yet. Listen to me finish before you book the earliest flight to go find him." Cheng Yuan comforted him.
Jiang Yuanye gave a low "mm."
"I can understand you. When I was very young, probably in eighth grade, the first time I discovered that my orientation was different from others, I was actually really panicked. I was so scared I didn’t dare tell my family, because I knew they wouldn’t understand me, and might even send me to a psychiatric hospital for treatment."
Cheng Yuan said this, then suddenly laughed: "Just kidding… Later, I secretly dated a girlfriend behind my family’s back. We dated for over two years, broke up in tenth grade. I don’t know if they checked my phone or had someone follow me — anyway, they found out in the end. After they found out, they started all kinds of threats, saying if I didn’t break up, they’d get the girl I liked expelled. We argued several times, but it was useless. I couldn’t win against that generation’s mindset, so I could only break up. After we broke up, in eleventh grade, they suddenly found out Zhou Chaosheng had transferred to our school, and kept making me go build connections with him. They even used my ex to threaten me. I was forced with no way out, so I had to use some tricks — you know that trick, the one where I confessed to Zhou Chaosheng in front of all the teachers and students."
Jiang Yuanye listened in shock: "And then?"
"Then the teacher called my parents over. My parents thought I was disgraceful, scolded me a bunch at home, and never again brought up making me go build connections with anyone." Cheng Yuan finished her story with a laugh, then continued: "Now I’m older, they can’t control me that much. In college, I got back together with my ex. We even registered our marriage abroad. This time I came back just to come out to them about this."
Jiang Yuanye was shocked: "When did you get the certificate?"
Cheng Yuan: "Just last year."
Jiang Yuanye: "...I really didn’t expect that."
"There’s a lot you didn’t expect. Things are different now. Look at Sichuan-Chongqing, gays are everywhere. There’s even that ‘May-December romance’ stuff online. Yuanye, seriously, people’s thinking isn’t as old-fashioned as decades ago. You don’t have to care so much. Just focus well on your relationship. Love is love. Be brave. Don’t wait until you’ve missed it to regret."
Cheng Yuan patted his shoulder, then earnestly added: "You better coax him well. From what I know, Zhou Chaosheng has a huge ego. You probably… might need to coax him for ten days to half a month before he’s truly appeased. Good luck, Yuanye, I believe you can do it."
After saying that, Cheng Yuan picked up the suitcase nearby, then waved at him: "I’m leaving now. You hurry and book your flight. Bye."
Jiang Yuanye’s frozen brain finally started working again after hearing these words. He said to Cheng Yuan, both grateful and a little guilty: "Sister Cheng, I called Gao Zeming over. Let him take you home."
Cheng Yuan didn’t refuse: "Alright, I’ll wait for him at the café."
Jiang Yuanye replied "Okay," then smiled: "Thanks, Sister. I’ll walk you up."
"Mm, let’s go."