Chapter 3: Shattered Illusions.

Gu Shen let out a mocking laugh.

“With the way you’ve handled your crush and all those childish attempts to confess, you really think my brother would say yes? He’s only ever seen you as a little sister. He doesn’t like girls who are… stupid and clueless like you. You’re always clinging to him. Just watching you makes me sick.”

I stood there, completely frozen.

My whole body trembled with anger.

His words were like a knife, slicing straight through every beautiful fantasy I’d spent years building in my head.

Then—

Crash.

Everything shattered.

All that remained was a painfully ugly reality.

Yes, I knew I wasn’t exactly the type of girl Gu Xing would fall for.

But did he really have to say it straight to my face?!

That hurt, okay?!

“Gu Shen, you asshole!”

My eyes burned as I screamed at him.

“I want a divorce!”

“Waaah…”

Back at our usual bar, I collapsed into Xu Chi’s arms once again, crying like my entire world had come crashing down.

“That horrible Gu Shen… How could he say those things to me?”

I sobbed between curses, mentally cursing him from head to toe.

“What’s wrong with loving someone?”

“Nothing!”

Xu Chi patted my back, sounding like she was ready to fight the entire world on my behalf.

“You didn’t do anything wrong. If anyone’s wrong, it’s men! What the hell is so great about Gu Shen anyway? He’s always scowling, and his mouth is sharper than a snake’s! If you really get divorced, I’ll find you a guy ten times hotter than him!”

I cried even harder.

Just two hours earlier, I’d had a massive fight with Gu Shen and stormed out of the house in a fit of rage.

Xu Chi had dragged me here and shoved an ice-cold bottle of beer into my hand.

“Heartbreak over a man is nothing a couple more drinks can’t fix!”

It sounded…

Reasonable.

I emptied the bottle in one go.

The result?

I felt even more miserable.

The phone on the table kept lighting up, then going dark again.

“Damn it. That Gu Shen actually has the nerve to call you?”

Xu Chi angrily grabbed my phone and answered without even asking.

“Gu Shen! Are you even a man?! Qiao Yi’an already said it! She wants a divorce! Meet us at the civil affairs office tomorrow!”

…

That woman was fearless.

Far more fearless than necessary.

I must have been completely drunk by then.

Through my hazy vision, I suddenly saw Gu Shen standing in front of me.

“Let’s go home.”

His expression was grim as he reached down and pulled me out of my chair.

I was limp as a noodle and immediately collapsed against him.

I vaguely heard him sigh.

“If you can’t hold your liquor, why do you keep drinking like this?”

After that—

I somehow ended up on his back.

He carried me out of the bar, walking steadily with his arms securely holding my legs.

“Why didn’t you answer your phone?”

Why was he asking so many questions?

For revenge, I casually wiped all my tears and snot onto his expensive clothes.

“I was worried about you.”

Huh?

Gu Shen was capable of saying something like that?

Was I hallucinating?

“A grown man standing right in front of you, and you’re acting like you’re blind… You don’t see anything…”

He muttered under his breath.

I was too sleepy to care about whatever nonsense he was saying.

But I had to admit—

His back was warm.

And for some reason, it suddenly reminded me of something that had happened when I was fifteen.

A dog had chased me, and I’d fallen straight into a ditch.

I’d been soaked, filthy, and covered in mud.

Gu Shen had carried me home exactly like this.

He hadn’t complained about how dirty I was.

He hadn’t laughed at me.

He’d only asked,

“Does it hurt? Do you need to see a doctor?”

Gu Shen brought me back to his penthouse.

As the vice president of the family corporation, he was so busy he barely had time to breathe, which was why he’d bought a place close to the office for convenience.

Maybe because I was drunk, he was unusually gentle that night.

No scolding.

No sarcasm.

He even helped me change, washed me up, and tossed me onto the bed.

I put up a tiny bit of resistance…

But his bed was ridiculously comfortable.

I was too exhausted.

Whatever we had to fight about could wait until tomorrow.

Around midnight, I drifted into a warm embrace in my sleep.

My “body pillow” was seriously top-tier.

Soft.

Warm.

And—

Holy crap, it even had abs.

I tended to talk in my sleep.

I had no idea what nonsense I was mumbling this time, but suddenly, that bastard Gu Shen—

Kicked me straight out of bed.

“I’m not Gu Xing!”

“…Huh?”

I landed face-first on the floor, arms and legs sprawled out like an overturned turtle, my head still spinning from the alcohol.

Whatever.

I’d sleep first.

We could deal with the rest tomorrow.

The next morning, when I woke up, Gu Shen was packing a suitcase.

I sat on the bed, staring at him blankly like I was watching a documentary.

His face was cold, his mood obviously terrible.

One piece of clothing after another disappeared neatly into the suitcase.

I remembered our fight from the day before.

Neither of us said a word.

The tension in the room was stretched so tight it felt like one wrong move would snap it.

Until—

Zip.

He closed the suitcase.

“I’m leaving.”

His voice was as cold as ice.

I froze.

A sudden wave of panic rose inside me.

Leaving?

Where was he going?

“Where… where are you going?”

My voice came out much softer than I intended.

He glanced at me, his eyes cold.

“Wasn’t there someone who didn’t want to see me?”

His expression remained unreadable.

“So I’m leaving.”

For some reason, I suddenly couldn’t understand what I was feeling.

All I knew was that my heart skipped a beat.

He was really leaving?

I opened my mouth, wanting to say something.

But by the time he wheeled his suitcase out the door, I still hadn’t managed to say a single word.

The door closed behind him.

And suddenly, there was an emptiness inside me that hadn’t been there before.

He…

Didn’t need me anymore?

He was the one who’d provoked me first.

He was the one who’d made me angry.

So why did it suddenly feel like I was the one being abandoned?

At the café, I sat behind the register in a complete state of emotional dissociation.

My friend and I ran this little café together, selling coffee and pastries.

As for the revenue…

Well, if we made enough to cover the rent, that was already a miracle.

Three days.

Three whole days had passed.

Gu Shen hadn’t sent me a single message.

It was as if he’d vanished from my world completely.

Every time I thought about it, my heart gave another painful little pang.

Maybe there really was something wrong with my heart.

“Sigh…”

I let out my 108th sigh of the day and dropped my face onto the counter.

“I’ll have an iced Americano.”

The familiar voice made me jerk my head up.

Gu Xing.

He was still as refined and elegant as ever, dressed in a perfectly tailored gray suit.

He looked exactly like some rich young heir who had walked straight out of a romance novel.

“Brother… What are you doing here?”

“I was passing by and saw you, so I thought I’d come in for a drink.”

He took a sip of his coffee.

“An’an, what’s been going on with you lately? You look exhausted.”

His face was glowing with the happiness of a newlywed man.

So happy that…

It actually hurt my eyes to look at him.

I forced a smile.

“Nothing. The café’s just been a little slow lately.”

“Is it because Gu Shen isn’t here? Are you missing him?”

“No! Why would I miss him…”

I stopped abruptly.

“Wait… You know Gu Shen isn’t here?”

“Yeah. He went overseas on a business trip. He won’t be back for about ten days. Didn’t he tell you?”

He gave me a faint smile, his gaze carrying a hint of something I couldn’t quite read.

“He hasn’t been in a very good mood lately. He’s been snapping at his subordinates nonstop. A few of the managers even came to complain to me.”

I secretly glanced at him.

Sigh.

A man as perfect as him…

And in the end, he still belonged to someone else.

“An’an.”

His tone suddenly became more serious.

“Back then… you liked me, didn’t you?”

“…What?”

My brain completely short-circuited.

My first instinct was to deny it with everything I had.

“No, no, that’s not it. I…”

“I actually always knew.”

His words struck me like a bolt of lightning.

I immediately lowered my head, so embarrassed I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me whole.

I’d always thought I’d hidden my feelings perfectly.

Who would’ve thought he’d known all along?