Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I have two childhood friends I’ve known since we were little.

I used to think that even if we fell in love and started families someday, we’d simply go from three people to six.

Until the winter break of our freshman year, when I walked in on Song Yao and Xu Jingnian making out.

My two best friends had paired off internally.

Once I learned the truth, all the little things that had felt off before became clues I only recognized in hindsight-and proof of all the stupid things I’d done.

For example, whenever the two of them walked side by side, I insisted on squeezing into the middle and linking arms with both of them.

When Song Yao knitted Xu Jingnian a scarf for the winter, I spent ages pitifully accusing her of favoritism. In the end, not only did Song Yao knit me a scarf too, she even made me an extra hat.

When Xu Jingnian wanted a sip of Song Yao’s milk tea, I clamored for one too.

In the end, even the gloves Xu Jingnian bought for Song Yao came with an extra pair for me.

He said through gritted teeth, “Here. Take them. You really are my ancestor.”

“…”

I was ridiculously slow on the uptake. Only later did I realize just how blindingly bright a third wheel I’d been.

The two people closest to me had fallen in love. A romantic relationship was different from friendship; they were more intimate with each other now, and I still needed time to get used to it.

Who knew when exactly their friendship had started to change?

Back then, I felt gloomy for a long time. Them dating gave me this subtle sense of being abandoned.

But later, they still included me in everything they did, and that was when I understood.

I had come to join this family.

Song Yao and Xu Jingnian dated for years-from university all the way to graduation and starting work-long enough that I got used to their relationship, and long enough that the apartment they lived in together had a guest room prepared for me.

I had even started wondering, when they got married, whether I would count as a friend of the groom’s side or the bride’s side.

Then, as it turned out, they broke up.

“Zhong Shuyu, when you were sixteen and fell while hiking, I carried you down that mountain step by step from nearly two thousand meters above sea level. Have you forgotten what you said back then?”

Xu Jingnian reminded me darkly, “You said we were siblings from different fathers and different mothers. So right now, are you choosing your brother, or this woman?”

When they were madly in love, it was all “baby” this and “baby” that. Now she was “this woman.”

But Song Yao didn’t let me off either.

“Zhong Shuyu, we’ve shared the same bed since we were kids, and we’ve worn each other’s clothes. In high school, when someone falsely accused you of dating, who was the one who cursed out everyone on your behalf? My parents already treat you like their second daughter. Do you really have the heart?”

“…”

Break up if you want, but why are you acting like you’re getting divorced?

Everything had to be divided, including the pots, bowls, ladles, and pans in the kitchen, and even the half-used bar of soap in the bathroom.

They even included custody of me.

I was already in my twenties. My parents were healthy and happily married, yet somehow I was facing a situation similar to deciding which parent to live with after a divorce.

I spoke up quietly. “Actually, is there any chance… I’m already an adult, so you don’t need to fight over me?”

“No!”

“No!”

They answered in unison.

God only knew why these two had decided to break up.

As their mutual friend, I used to be Steve in the earlier years. Now I was a sandwich cookie, wedged between two people who reeked of gunpowder.

Even my breathing instinctively grew lighter.

In the end, I still didn’t make a choice. I could only watch helplessly as the two of them packed up their things and left separately, leaving the apartment to me.

That’s right. Like a left-behind child, I watched them glare at each other in mutual disgust while dragging their suitcases away in different directions. And this little home that had carried years of their love was left to me.

Song Yao and Xu Jingnian had bought the apartment back when they were in college.

I didn’t come here often.

But I had a room here.

Now, as I looked at the home that had been emptied out like a burglar had just ransacked it, I didn’t even know which one I was supposed to chase after.

See? This is why you should never date in your own backyard. One breakup, and the whole family falls apart.