How come you're also my ex-girlfriend?

slam-la-

Ripples spread across the lake, and the mirror-like surface reflected the small boat carrying a man and a woman.

The summer breeze would blow aside the girl's hair, revealing her fair cheeks and glistening earlobes.

Holding the oar, Xu Yan felt that she should be perfect, every smile and frown touching, before she said those words.

"Xu Yan, I actually know what you want to say."

She spoke with slight hesitation, and the supposedly hot wind already made him feel a bit cold.

"We all came here today to go boating on the lake. It should have been a normal and harmonious day, creating precious memories... You shouldn't have done these things."

The fair-skinned boy moved his lips, but it seemed as if he had a fishbone stuck in his throat, and he couldn't open his mouth no matter what.

The summer sun is so bright, really.

At this moment, Lin Jia showed a kind smile, as if to prove that she did not blame the boy.

"They also cooperated by giving us some private space, which is actually good. This way, I can talk to you normally without having any other concerns."

Xu Yan seemed to hear the sound of pebbles falling into the lake and sinking to the bottom.

Turn your head slightly, and you'll see nothing but the breeze blowing through the willows by the lake.

When she turned back, she seemed to have finished her decision, her eyes slightly lowered, not looking directly at him.

"I've always considered you a good friend, and I've never had any other thoughts about you."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I shouldn't have only thought of these things when we got too close. Maybe it's also because... I was partly hoping for the best."

So what is she hoping for?

Xu Yan frowned.

It seemed that she had noticed the boy's micro-expression.

Lin Jia sighed softly, then looked at him sincerely.

"We became friends because I felt you were too lonely, and it made me... a little heartbroken. But things are better now, and you have many friends. I don't think we should let our precious friendship turn into something else... There's no need for that, and you should understand what I mean."

Xu Yan was all too familiar with that look. He had used it when he asked Xu Yan to help him with his chores, and he had used it when he asked Xu Yan to help him move books during the monthly exam.

It's a pity she never appeared when others privately teased Xu Yan for being her simp.

"So... let's go back like nothing happened, let's pretend this conversation never happened, and we'll still be good friends, okay?"

She smiled faintly, but her eyes trembled, as if testing the waters, like a timid, cautious plea.

It's hard not to feel sorry for her with that look in her eyes, but Xu Yan couldn't sense her sincerity.

What exactly is sincerity? Xu Yan didn't know either.

"I..."

He put down the oar and tried to speak.

Lin Jia quickly interrupted, "Please don't do anything rash. I just feel that we'll be in our final year of high school soon, and we shouldn't waste our energy on relationships. I don't want to ruin everyone's future because of this... Please don't think about jumping."

Xu Yan couldn't help but look at her, "What if I wanted to push you down?"

"what?"

Lin Jia was stunned.

Xu Yan realized that the fear in her eyes at this moment was real.

So you really think you're that kind of person? Well, I guess I'm good at being misunderstood.

In the end, no one fell into the lake; there were already too many tears in that lake.

He picked up the oars again and rowed the boat back to shore. When he got off the boat, Xu Yan walked off on his own without looking back or trying to help him.

Lin Jia, who had also reached the shore, reached out and touched the strands of hair beside her ear, revealing her smooth, fair arms and slender, shapely legs beneath her pleated skirt. She seemed to have truly put everything that had just happened behind her back, and said with a light laugh, "I still had a lot of fun today."

Where's the joy? Is it in the one-sided humiliation? That's certainly quite enjoyable.

Xu Yan turned around, thought for a moment, and said, "Actually, I didn't mean to confess to you. I also understand that we don't have any special relationship, so there's nothing to it."

Hearing Xu Yan's words, Lin Jia blinked. Her gentle and beautiful face was indeed unmatched in the class, which was probably why her classmates felt that it was no problem for her to fawn over him and act like a simp.

As expected, the girl simply smiled and said, "I know, it's okay."

Xu Yan seemed to see a turtle lying in the grass on the shore, its shell carelessly scratched by a falling willow leaf.

"...Alright then."

Xu Yan was too lazy to explain these things anymore.

He now feels that he is not a Gold Saint at all, and that people will step into the same river twice.

"Hey, aren't we going to go and meet up with them?"

Seeing the direction Xu Yan walked, Lin Jia couldn't help but ask.

Xu Yan glanced back at the girl, who was still beautiful in his memory but whose image was now somewhat blurry in his vision, and said, "I'm not going. I suddenly remembered that I didn't go for my morning run today. I need to exercise."

"Training? Training at this time? You don't look too good..."

Xu Yan stopped, turned around, and pointed a finger. "You can't outrun me, do you believe that?"

Lin Jia: ...

Ignoring Lin Jia's slightly embarrassed expression, Xu Yan left the lake alone, leaving this heartbreaking park.

The summer heat is so intense it feels like it's evaporating you, and your soul is about to leave your body.

Actually, Xu Yan wasn't sure what his true emotions were right now; he didn't feel that sad. As for whether he admitted to having fantasies about Lin Jia... he probably had.

Imagine a teenage boy who only has one beautiful girl as a friend, someone who consistently provides emotional support and interaction, creating the illusion that she's different in his presence. It's hard not to have some fantasies, right?

I really wasn't prepared to confess... Maybe I was just hoping that as long as I didn't say anything, as long as things continued like this, there wouldn't be a day when things would fall apart?

But why did she bring it up today?

At the bus stop, a fair-skinned, slender young man waited for the bus for a long time, the outdoor heat making him drenched in sweat.

When it was finally time to board the bus, I saw two figures walking towards it through the window.

The youthful and beautiful figures are Lin Jia and her best friend Xiao Yujie, a girl with medium-short hair who looks a bit like a mushroom.

They were walking onto the bus together, arm in arm, with smiles on their faces.

I'm so happy! Did you just find some money?

Thinking this, Xu Yan hid himself by the window.

He didn't know why he had this subconscious hiding reaction. He hadn't even confessed his feelings... and he was inexplicably drawn out of the picture. Maybe he felt a little ashamed?

In short, Lin Jia and Xiao Yujie, who got on the bus, did not notice that Xu Yan was also on the bus.

They sat down to the side in front of Xu Yan, and Xu Yan could even smell the fragrance of their hair wafting over.

They must have gotten off at an earlier stop than us, so there was probably no chance of bumping into each other... We unconsciously held our breath.

Xu Yan planned to hide until they got off the bus. He wasn't really nervous, and even a little absent-minded. He didn't listen carefully to what they were talking about, which were probably just some girls' topics.

Until—"By the way, why did Xu Yan go back first? What did you guys talk about while you were boating? I'm so curious."

Xiao Yujie asked this question.

Then came Lin Jia's voice, "It's nothing..."

He spoke with a slightly flippant tone, which was noticeably different from when he spoke to himself.

"Hey~ you're still not going to tell me, huh? You two aren't already together, are you?" Xiao Yujie said with a grin.

"How could I possibly be with him!"

"Oh, so he really confessed to you, huh?"

"Well... I did have that idea, but I found out about it, so I interrupted and rejected it in advance."

"You rejected him? You two usually get along quite well, and Xu Yan isn't bad-looking either, he's quite tall. You still rejected him?"

"There are plenty of good-looking guys out there, he's not the only handsome one. Besides, there's no point in dating him. I'd be embarrassed to ask him to pay for a meal, he really doesn't have much money. And I know his family situation, it's a very ordinary family, and his grades are just so-so, not even as good as mine. He's more suitable as a friend, but dating him is out of the question."

"That makes sense, but since you've thought it through so clearly, why are you getting so close to him? A lot of people in the class say he's your simp."

"..."

There was a full five seconds of silence.

Five seconds that felt incredibly long.

Xu Yan felt his slumped shoulders stiffen and ache, and suddenly wondered if prisoners waiting for the judge's verdict in court felt the same way.

Then her verdict was announced.

"But what does that have to do with me?"

The window, which requires a safety hammer to break, has developed a crack. Oh, is that frost formed from cold air? The air conditioning is still too cold.

"Huh? Is that so?"

"Is it fair that I made him bear this reputation just because I was willing to be good friends with him?"

"So he deserved it?"

"You can't say that... it's just that the person he approached was me, so there was nothing I could do."

"Ah... speaking of which, you just felt that you rejected him right before he confessed, right? Isn't that a bit too much..."

From an angle that Xu Yan couldn't see, the girl's brows furrowed slightly, and she only pursed her lips for a moment.

He quickly and firmly shook his head.

"No, I've seen too many guys like that. And even if it wasn't this time, it would have happened sooner or later. I'd have said those things eventually anyway. So there's no difference."

"What if things don't go as planned, and something else happens between you two later? I'm worried that it might be a bit too early for you to be saying all this now."

"progress?"

This time, Lin Jia didn't need to be firm. Her tone was relaxed with a hint of disdain: "Is it that I'll fall for him, or that he'll meet a girl who's better than me and likes him? Don't be ridiculous."

"That's true..."

Xu Yan stopped listening to what they talked about after that.

Until they got off the bus first.

Xu Yan slowly sat up straight, staring blankly out the window.

It was probably because the air conditioning was on; it was so cold that it made my blood freeze and my heart stop beating.

After a long while, he couldn't help but touch his nose.

"Damn it, where did my red nose go?"

Right now.

"Creak—!"

The bus suddenly braked, and Xu Yan's body lurched forward violently. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and grabbed the handrail in front of him, so that his head only hit the back of his hand and he was not involved in a collision.

Just as the driver in front was cursing loudly at the window, Xu Yan raised his head and shook it.

A sudden car accident gave you a new lease on life at 38, a man who had accomplished nothing.

Xu Yan: ? ? ?

That slightly mechanical AI voice wasn't an illusion; it was still echoing in my head.

You are reborn back to your seventeen-year-old self. Looking back on your past life, you see too many messy relationships, too many unfulfilled promises, and countless missed opportunities and missed chances with those who were hurt by you. The faces of those who hurt you and those who were hurt by you constantly flash before your eyes. You finally realize that this shouldn't be your life. Indecisiveness leads to gaining nothing and losing everything you cherish. You must live a life without regrets, free and unrestrained, without any constraints or pain.

[Task: A confession that was rejected before it could be spoken.]

[You've never lacked good or bad romantic encounters in your life. Lin Jia is the girl you'll always think of when you're seventeen. You can't forget every word she said to you that summer when you were boating on the lake, but you know clearly that all the ambiguous feelings she gave you were just illusions. You lived almost entirely in the illusions she created for you throughout high school. Now it's your turn to make a new choice. Whatever that choice may be, after all, the best time to plant a tree was ten years ago, or even now.]

[Reward: 1000 yuan.]

no...

Xu Yan stared blankly at his reflection in the window.

Rebirth? Really?

Just then, my phone vibrated, and a message popped up on the screen.

This comes from Lin Jia, who got off the bus a long time ago.

……

P.S.: I've released a new book! Long time no see, please add it to your favorites~ Please, please.