Chapter 4

My phone rang.

I had three kinds of calls I never answered.

Calls from unsaved numbers.

Calls that looked like sales pitches or scams.

And calls I simply didn’t feel like answering.

This call met all three criteria, so I waited for it to stop on its own.

I exhaled in relief.

The next second, it rang again.

Gnawing on my finger, I waited for it to stop.

Another sigh of relief.

Then the number sent me a text.

[No snowflake in an avalanche is innocent. You’re the one who started the online harassment. When you wake from your dreams at midnight, won’t terror haunt you?]

A photo taken from the edge of a rooftop was attached.

Had dating someone for half a day violated some heavenly law?

Romance was my natural enemy.

I immediately unblocked Lu Yan and sent him a screenshot. [Your precious childhood sweetheart is about to jump off a building.]

Then I called the police.

The photo included a distinctive landmark, so finding the location wasn’t difficult.

I changed and rushed out, only to run into Chen Beizhou taking out the trash.

He stared at me in surprise. “What day is it? The shut-in has left her cave?”

I worked from home, and my uniform was pajamas. I rarely went downstairs more than a few times a month.

My expression twisted as if I’d swallowed something foul. “I’m going downstairs without taking the stairs or the elevator.”

Chen Beizhou looked thoughtful. “Batman, then.”

I hurried toward the elevator. “I’m not the one planning to fly. Someone’s about to jump off a building.”

Still carrying his trash, Chen Beizhou followed at my heels. “Who? Who? Crush Girl or Mr. Yes?”

I pressed the elevator button. “Crush Girl.”

I bit my tongue. What kind of ridiculous nickname was that? And why had I started using it too?

Chen Beizhou entered the elevator with me and pressed B1.

“You throw your garbage away in the parking garage?”

He answered righteously, “Which matters more, garbage or a human life? Trust me—if I didn’t love gaming more, I’d have become a race-car driver.”

I glanced at him. The words “I live for drama” might as well have been written across his forehead.

But I didn’t expose him. I climbed into the passenger seat instead.

He tossed the trash into his trunk.

Then he floored the accelerator, and we shot off like the wind.

I was the first person to arrive.

When I reached the rooftop, Zheng Ziyu was sitting on the edge.

Nervously, I began, “Crush… I mean, Zheng Ziyu, no man is worth this.”

Gazing into the distance, she said softly, “Do you know how long I loved him? Ten years… How many decades does a person have? Yet those ten years of love have become my humiliation.”

“Do you know how heartbroken I was when I realized he loved you? But you don’t treasure him at all. What I longed for, you treat with contempt…”

“For five years, I watched him pursue you, and you never said yes. I waited and waited, hoping he’d finally let you go. But then you changed your mind, and my hope was shattered all over again.”

I licked my dry lips. What eloquent words of comfort could a cave-dwelling shut-in like me possibly offer?

I nudged Chen Beizhou with my elbow.

He nodded and gave me a firm, reassuring look.

Hope flared in my chest—until I heard him say, “Right now, you’re waiting for him to turn around and finally notice you. If you jump, all you’ll be waiting for is his yearly visit to your grave.”

I stared at him.

Zheng Ziyu’s back stiffened.

“While you’re alive, you have to watch him date someone else. But after you’re dead, he’ll bring his girlfriend to your grave and tell her you killed yourself because you couldn’t have him.”

“Then he’ll show off how irresistible he is—so irresistible that a woman died for him. His girlfriend will offer a bouquet to a loser like you and promise to take good care of the man you could never have.”

“Crush Girl, is that really what you want?”