Back Then, I Adored You

Not in service, on purpose, to avoid being disturbed… Those words kept reverberating in Qin Zhi’ai’s ears. After quite a long time, she finally knew what he had meant.

He had known that the number was not in service, but he had still given it to her, which meant he had given her a fake number on purpose.

Qin Zhi’ai couldn’t help clenching her hands into fists. She tried to look calm and continued to pretend it was just chitchat. With a curious look, she asked, “Your real number and fake number are so similar. Don’t you get them mixed them up sometimes?”

“How could that be possible?” Gu Yusheng answered with a rhetorical question without any hesitation. “I’ve been using those two numbers since middle school. I know them very well.”

Qin Zhi’ai looked at Gu Yusheng’s calm and casual look and finally had her answer.

Of course, how could Gu Yusheng mix those two numbers up? He was so smart that it would be impossible for him to mix them up.

So, eight years ago, he hadn’t written her the wrong number by accident. He had done it on purpose.

So back then when he had given her the note, had he never imagined going on the date?

It wasn’t that she had never thought this might be a possibility. That was why she had asked around about it. She just hadn’t thought that she would actually hear the answer she was most afraid of.

Qin Zhi’ai stood still, without any reaction. It was because she was afraid, afraid of her tears falling once she talked or moved. She had to keep composure to make herself look as if nothing had happened to her.

Gu Yusheng stopped talking when he saw her go silent. He took out his cell phone to look at the time before he politely said goodbye to her. “I have to go now.”

Qin Zhi’ai tried extremely hard, but she could barely give Gu Yusheng a smile.

Gu Yusheng didn’t respond with any further farewells to Qin Zhi’ai. He walked around the front of the car and got in. He stepped on the gas and left.

Qin Zhi’ai looked in a different direction for a long time until the car was long gone. She dared not even look in the direction Gu Yusheng had driven. She held her hand out and hailed a taxi then got in.

She didn’t notice her voice sounded like she was about to cry until she told her address to the taxi driver.

Qin Zhi’ai walked through the parking lot to get her purse first after she arrived at the Ladies’ Club. She went to the bathroom as she had last time.

After locking the bathroom door, the tears she had tried to hold back suddenly fell onto her face.

The most painful feeling was not having the person one liked not like them back. Knowing the beautiful memories were just lies was the most painful thing.

Eight years. She had remembered that number for eight years. It had just been a fake number. Whenever she thought about the night he had stood her up, she had always worried about him, since his number had not been in service. She had wondered if anything had happened to him that day.

At this moment, she had learned that the eight years she couldn’t forget about were just a joke.

Her waiting, in the end, was a waste.

Qin Zhi’ai didn’t know how long it took her to calm down from crying. She showered, put on makeup, and changed her clothes. Looking at herself as Liang Doukou in the mirror, she daydreamed for a long time before she gathered everything and went back to the car with her purse.

…

When Qin Zhi’ai drove into the driveway, Gu Yusheng had just turned off his car in front of the door.