BXBX NOVEL Chapter 95 - Ninety-Five: Sharing
Yun Nan saw that Shi Nian seemed quite happy carrying the bags, so she left him to it. She took out the lollipops and peeled off their wrappers before she stuffed one into her mouth and held the other to Shi Nian’s mouth.
Shi Nian spotted a photoflash nearby from the corner of his eyes, so he openly popped the lollipop into his mouth.
“It’s delicious, isn’t it?” Yun Nan asked, and Shi Nian nodded. Yun Nan continued, “Fang Xi said these peach-flavored lollipops are good. You can’t go wrong with anything she recommends.”
‘Oh, so the lollipops were recommended by FangXi,’ Shi Nian thought. “Do all girls like sweets?” Shi Nian inquired.
Yun Nan shook her head. “I don’t know. Fang Xi and I eat sweets to keep us awake and boost creativity. Fang Xi likes to suck on lollipops because it reduces her cravings for a cigarette. She used to smoke, but she quit after she met her crush. The only good thing I can say about that man was that he got her to stop smoking. ”
“Has she gotten over her breakup?” Shi Nian inquired. He Imew that Yun Nan must be in a pleasant mood because she was sharing these stories with him.
Yun Nan shook her head and replied, “I don’t think she can. Although she looks fine on the surface… Fang Xi is the type to hide her negative emotions, so the more composed she appears to be, the more hurt she is on the inside. She loves that man very much. She gave her entire heart to him, and he broke it.”
Shi Nian felt moved by Fang Xi’s tragic romance and questioned, “Does she hate him?”
Yun Nan twirled before Shi Nian, light-footed as a butterfly, and answered, “Hate him? No! She’d already spent all her power loving him. Where would she find the energy to hate him? She’d die from exhaustion.”
Fang Xi’s tale suddenly reminded Shi Nian of Xi Cheng. “I have a friend who broke up with his girlfriend because he was pressured by his family,” Shi Nian offered. “He’s now engaged to another woman and has completely changed.
He’s very depressed, and his relationship with his fiancée is very strained.”
Yun Nan was surprised; this was the first time she heard him mention his friend. “He doesn’t like his fiancée? Then why did they get engaged? Does his girlfriend love him very much?” Yun Nan probed, curious. She didn’t expect there would be a real-life version of such a melodramatic love story.
Shi Nian thought of how dispirited Xi Cheng was recently, sighed softly, and told Yun Nan, “His mother likes his fiancée. His girlfriend’s family doesn’t have much power or influence, so she got chased away by his mother. Before she moved away, she left behind the money his mother gave her and the money he’d given her during all those years they lived together. I once found that friend of mine grieving alone in the house they used to share. He even forbade me from opening the bedroom door because he feared the girl’s scent would dissipate.”
Yun Nan honestly didn’t expect such a plot-turn. “He really loves that girl,” Shi
Nian added.
“Then why didn’t he go look for her?” Yun Nan asked.
“He had no choice but to do as his mother wished and be with someone else,” Shi Nian explained.
Yun Nan shook his head. “I disagree. I don’t think he truly loves his girlfriend. He’s just trying to fool himself with his act of deep love so he’d feel better about himself. How is this true love? He felt powerless against his parents and expressed his misery as his deep love for his girlfriend, but his girlfriend knew nothing about it. If he loved her so much, why didn’t he let his girlfriend know?”
Yun Nan continued, “Because, if his girlfriend found out how miserable he was without her, she would return to him, and he doesn’t want that. There was no place for her by his side because he didn’t dare to stand against his parents and break things off with his fiancée. He didn’t want to admit that weakness, so he put on an act for himself and his friends to create an image of a man deeply in love when, in fact, he only loves himself.”
Shi Nian stopped in his tracks and looked at Yun Nan. She sighed and commented, “I hope your friend’s girlfriend can be like Fang Xi and move on from that relationship—rip off the plaster quickly and let it go. If she can’t move on… Well, you don’t need love to survive. In short, she needs to cut her losses and stop wasting her time and emotions on him. A man like that isn’t worth loving.”
Shi Nian was deeply shocked by Yun Nan’s perspective. He didn’t understand or approve of Xi Cheng’s actions, but the guy was a close friend he had grown up with, so he naturally stood on his side. He didn’t have a good impression of Xi Cheng’s current fiancée, Lin Yu, or that girlfriend he had never met before because they had hurt his best friend.
However, Yun Nan didn’t even know these people. She had hit the nail on the head and pointed out the essence of this matter just from the brief words he shared. Shi Nian had to admit Yun Nan’s every word was a gem.
“What about you? What kind of love do you hope to find?” Shi Nian asked.
“Me? I don’t want love,” Yun Nan replied without hesitation.
“Why? Have you also been hurt before?” Shi Nian asked.
Yun Nan smiled. “I’ve never had a romantic relationship, but I have eyes. I’ve seen too many examples of people hurt by love. I’ve seen so many true and false love stories that I’ve become immune. This is a big world, and there are so many important things to do. Why should I waste time on love?”
Shi Nian suddenly felt the shopping bags in his hands were unusually heavy. Shi Nian had never expected the words ‘a long way to go’ would one day be the label on his journey to love.
He truly did have a long way to go..