Su Mo knew how much Jiang Jianhuan liked him. He always thought that the two of them had just quarreled, and that he was sulking and refusing to see her. He believed that she would contact him soon, but he never expected that she would leave the country without saying a word.
Upon hearing the news, Su Mo stood there, her eyes burning red with tears.
He was tall and conspicuous, standing motionless with his head down on the busy road.
Passersby couldn't help but stare at him, but Su Mo was completely oblivious. His body was numb with pain, and it felt as if something had been missing from his heart, leaving a huge gash that couldn't be plugged. The cold wind blew through him, leaving his limbs icy cold and unable to warm him.
In that instant, he realized clearly that he had truly lost her.
Jiang Jianhuan went abroad with Shen Zaixi, which implicitly gave him the answer.
Between the two of them, she made her choice without any room for negotiation, even cutting off all contact with him.
Sometimes Su Mo couldn't help but wonder how she could be so heartless, just saying she didn't want it anymore, but most of the time, he would make excuses for her.
Perhaps she had some hidden difficulties, perhaps the two of them only went abroad to study together because of family reasons and were not truly together, perhaps...
The answer to all of this was revealed that Christmas.
In the second year after Jiang Jianhuan went abroad, he received a theme song for a movie. The female lead in the movie was Chi Lan, and he realized that she had entered the entertainment industry.
Shortly afterward, the two of them happened to receive invitations to an awards ceremony at the same time, and their seats were arranged together.
Su Mo wasn't familiar with her, but because she was Jiang Jianhuan's best friend and they had met twice before, they exchanged a few simple pleasantries.
Not long after the awards ceremony began, Chi Lan, who was standing to the side, suddenly exclaimed softly. Su Mo turned her head and saw her hesitant and flickering eyes.
His gaze fell on the screen of her tightly gripped phone, which displayed a post from her WeChat Moments.
The person who made the note is Shen Zaixi.
He posted a photo of a warm restaurant filled with orange lights, with Santa Claus pasted on the transparent glass, and a corner of a Christmas tree covered with gifts and twinkling stars that could be vaguely seen in the distance behind.
Shen Zaixi sat there, gently embracing a girl, tilting his head to affectionately press his forehead against hers, closing his eyes and smiling softly, his expression tender.
It took Su Mo a long time to convince herself.
The person leaning against his shoulder, with a peaceful profile and sleeping soundly without any guard, was Jiang Jianhuan.
The caption for the photo contained a very simple sentence.
I want to put you in my pocket.
This was the first time Su Mo had seen Jiang Jianhuan in over 500 days. She seemed to have lost a little weight, but she was still very beautiful, and her features hadn't changed much.
His gaze lingered on the photograph for a long time.
Su Mo stared greedily, losing track of time.
He was awakened by Chi Lan.
“Su Mo…”
As if waking from a dream, Su Mo hummed in agreement and looked up, noticing that the air conditioning was set a bit too low.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." Chi Lan looked at him somewhat flusteredly and apologized. She gave a tentative and cautious smile, looking very guilty and pitiful.
"Should I not have let you see this...?"
"It's alright." Su Mo forced a smile, managing to comfort her.
Turning back, the host on stage was still announcing things excitedly, but with a buzzing in her ears, Su Mo couldn't hear anything.
He stayed at the awards ceremony from beginning to end that day, sitting there like a statue. Towards the end, there was a large empty space around him, and he didn't know when the whole process ended.
The overhead lights began to turn off, and the staff organized everyone to leave in an orderly manner. Chi Lan asked him worriedly if he wanted to go back together, but Su Mo smiled and shook his head.
"No need, you can go first."
In the end, he didn't know how he got home. When he woke up the next day, it seemed like he had a bizarre and absurd nightmare.
But he will never think of her again.
-
Su Mo always thought that they were already together.
A series of events flashed through his mind: from that argument to going abroad, then meeting again, and seeing Jiang Jianhuan being chased by debt collectors.
And her dinner meeting with Shen Zaixi.
Su Mo sat there blankly, then finally remembered something, stood up, took out her phone, and dialed a number.
"Hey, Zhou You, help me investigate something..."
......
Su Mo had never felt time pass so slowly. From morning to noon, he did nothing but sit there waiting for Zhou You's message. The moment his phone rang, he answered it almost immediately.
"Zhou You, have you found anything?"
"None of Jiang Jianhuan's classmates knew about the incident at home. I had to ask several bosses at work to find out the whole story."
"Her father's investments failed, he owed a lot of money, and he almost went to jail, but he was eventually released."
“That period seemed quite difficult. There were many debt collectors, and the family couldn’t even leave the house. Later, Jiang Jianhuan was sent abroad to study. Her parents are quite old and live in the countryside. Currently, she is paying off all the debts by herself,” Zhou You said.
"It will probably take a lifetime to pay it off."
The air fell silent. Zhou You considerately remained silent. After a long while, Su Mo's voice rang out, trembling almost imperceptibly.