Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The moment I left the music room, I blocked both Chen Lichuan and Zhou Feifei.

Unfortunately, roommates saw each other every day. Zhou Feifei apologized in front of everyone and begged me to forgive her.

She said she had always mistaken her feelings for Chen Lichuan for friendship and had introduced him to me with nothing but good intentions. It was only while helping me pursue him that she gradually recognized her own heart.

“Bailu, these two months have been agony. I’ve already been punished enough! Please forgive me. Can’t we stay friends?”

I ignored her. Zhou Feifei then put on a magnanimous expression and said she would give me time.

I buried myself in my studies at the library while Zhou Feifei and Chen Lichuan paraded around as a couple. Whenever Chen Lichuan encountered me outside the dorm, he stopped and looked at me guiltily.

“Bailu, I’m truly sorry, but feelings can’t be forced. I hope you’ll move on and meet someone better someday.”

They performed this routine so often that our classmates gradually began taking their side.

“Bailu, Feifei didn’t do it on purpose. You share a room. There’s no need to make things this ugly.”

Zhou Feifei would shake her head through her tears.

“She still cares about Chen Lichuan. I understand. I can’t force her to watch the man she loves date her friend. That would be too cruel.”

“How many times do I have to say that I don’t like Chen Lichuan?”

Neither Zhou Feifei nor anyone else believed me.

Proud as I was, they eventually cornered me into pretending to be gracious and reconciling with Zhou Feifei. Only then did they decide I had truly moved on.

After that, I spoke to her normally whenever we met instead of treating her as invisible. We maintained that lukewarm peace for years, right up until graduation.

Now Zhou Feifei sent me a private-room number.

[Saturday at six. No one is allowed to cancel. Bailu, I can’t wait to meet your boyfriend! You’ve been single for so long that the man who finally caught your eye must be extraordinary—at least much better than my Lichuan!]

I replied: [Of course.]

Then I left the chat and sent Gu Yunzhou a voice message in my most cautious tone.

“Honey, we’ve known each other for a year and a half. Tell me honestly—how good-looking are you?”

After a pause, he answered hesitantly, “How am I supposed to describe that?”

“Compared with Gu Yunzhou, how do you look?”

“I am Gu Yunzhou.”

What? He was as handsome as Gu Yunzhou?

Delight burst through me.

“Seriously? Say it: Chinese people don’t lie to other Chinese people!”

His indulgent laughter came through the phone.

“Little Deer, after all our video calls, can you still not tell what I look like?”

His clear, refined voice carried the magnetic depth of a mature man. A man with a voice like that could not be too ugly.

Mostly reassured, I arranged to meet him at the Hilton at five thirty on Saturday.

I planned to arrive half an hour early. If the meeting was a disaster, I would take him somewhere else to eat and tell Zhou Feifei that work had kept me away. That would at least spare me her ridicule.

But human plans were no match for fate.

I dressed with great care that Saturday. The moment I entered the hotel lobby, I spotted Zhou Feifei and Chen Lichuan.

Chen Lichuan wore a black suit, his hair combed impeccably into place. He was even more handsome than he had been in college, and many passing women glanced his way.

Zhou Feifei clung proudly to his arm as she greeted me.

“You’re early too?”

She looked around.

“Shen Bailu, where’s that boyfriend of yours who’s supposedly ten times better than our Lichuan?”

My body stiffened. “He—he—”

“Shen Bailu?”

Gu Yunzhou’s familiar voice suddenly sounded behind me.