Half-asleep, I didn't know how much time had passed when I suddenly felt a weight on my body, carrying a familiar minty scent that was almost imperceptible.
She suddenly opened her eyes.
The corridor lights were bright white, and it was quiet in the dead of night. No one was around. Su Mo stood very close to her, wearing a baseball cap, glasses, and only a gray sweater.
Jiang Jianhuan lowered her eyes and saw the black coat she was wearing.
"What are you doing here?" The two stared at each other for a few seconds. Jiang Jianhuan slowly sat up, took off her coat, and her voice was still a little hoarse from just waking up.
"I heard from Bai Qiu that your father is sick."
Su Mo didn't answer, but instead spoke, and Jiang Jianhuan lowered his head and didn't reply.
"Are you feeling better now?" he asked softly, but Jiang Jianhuan still didn't look up.
"Still not awake."
A shadow fell over her as Su Mo sat down beside her, her voice as faint as mist in the quiet night.
"I'm sorry. All these years... because I misunderstood you that time."
Silence fell. After a moment, Jiang Jianhuan spoke softly.
"It's all in the past."
“At that time…” Su Mo explained with difficulty, tilting her head slightly, her eyes lost in memories.
“I mind Shen Zaixi a lot, even though you two weren’t together before.”
"When we first met, he said he was your neighbor's older brother. I couldn't be a part of the more than ten years you spent growing up together. He said your names were meant to be a pair from birth."
“Jianhuan, you probably don’t understand. Shen Zaixi is as important to you as I hate him.”
"Do you know..." Su Mo pursed his lips, turned his head to look at her, his eyes calm and deep.
"He doesn't just see you as a simple younger sister."
Jiang Jianhuan showed no surprise after hearing this.
Perhaps she couldn't discern the truth at the time, but Shen Zaixi's behavior during those years abroad had fully revealed his thoughts.
She was curious about something else.
"Where were you then?" Jiang Jianhuan asked clearly and slowly.
"I kept calling you for those two days, but your phone was always off."
"When I needed you the most."
Chapter 17
Pain flashed in Su Mo's eyes. He gritted his teeth, suppressing the emotions that were about to burst forth. Regret was about to overwhelm him.
"I was writing a new song those two days and locked myself in my room, so I didn't realize my phone was out of battery."
"I'm sorry, I only saw all the calls you made to me later, so I went to find you immediately, but..."
But what I saw was that scene.
Anger clouded his judgment, or rather, the long-suppressed fear and anxiety in his heart suddenly became a reality.
Shen Zaixi once said these words to him.
They were sophomores in college then, and had been together for a year. Shen Zaixi had just returned to China and came to Jiangcheng for a visit. Jiang Jianhuan and Su Mo took him sightseeing for two days. When they saw him off at the airport, Jiang Jianhuan went to buy him some local snacks.
Only the two of them remained.
In the bustling airport, the man beside me spoke casually and indifferently.
"Jianhuan has always loved new things. Whenever someone buys her a doll, she plays with it for a while and then throws it in a corner. The only doll that has been with her since she was little was the one I gave her when she was five years old."
“I’m three years older than her. She had just finished her college entrance exams when I went abroad. On the day I left, she cried terribly, her eyes red, saying that no one would ever treat her as well as I did.”
"Later, when she called me, she would start talking about you, saying that she had finally found someone who treated her as well as I did."
"So, I hope you'll continue to treat her well, otherwise..." The man turned to look at him, his eyes filled with deep meaning.
“I might do this myself.”
-
Jiang Jianhuan sat there. The blinding white light overhead made her look somewhat dazed.
After hearing Su Mo's explanation, she felt a sense of absurdity mixed with a feeling of reasonable relief.
Given his reckless nature when inspiration strikes, it wouldn't be surprising if he locked himself in his room for two days. The mistake was that a series of events piled up together.
And then there was the lack of firm trust between them at that time.
"There's no point in saying all this now," Jiang Jianhuan said softly after a long silence.
"You can leave now."
Su Mo didn't move, remaining seated beside her. Jiang Jianhuan turned her head and met his silent eyes.
That inky blackness was interwoven with too many emotions, like a vast ocean harboring countless storms, waiting for a tide to rise and for the wind to carry it in.
Jiang Jianhuan's heart skipped a beat, and she quickly looked away, not daring to look at him again.