Falling into the rain

Wen Huaixu sat at his desk, watching Yu Tingyu pull out a chair and sit opposite him.

The two looked at each other in silence, seemingly waiting for the other to speak first.

After waiting for a long time, no one spoke. Wen Huaixu raised his eyes and finally spoke first.

Wen Huaixu softened his tone. In fact, he was carefully considering every word he spoke, and he was also observing Yu Tingyu's expression to see if there was anything wrong with it.

"I understand you're going through puberty..."

Yu Tingyu sat stiffly in the chair, her emotionless eyes watching Wen Huaixu's lips move.

I thought to myself, "They've come, just as I expected."

puberty?

Her adolescence ended several years ago and has nothing to do with this.

But how could she dare to say that? Yu Tingyu did not refute, but simply continued to listen to Huai Xu speak.

"So it's normal to develop a dependence on the opposite sex. It's my fault for not guiding you in time, which led to last night..."

He paused abruptly, as if unsure what words to use to define what had happened the previous night.

But Yu Tingyu couldn't hear what he said after that; she only heard the word "dependence" from Wen Huaixu's mouth.

Upon hearing this, Yu Tingyu's last shred of hope vanished.

She knew it would be like this, she just knew it!

Her hands gripped her dress tightly under the table, so tightly that the fine fabric wrinkled. Her voice trembled noticeably. "You think I'm just dependent on you?"

She finally couldn't help but ask directly. She had originally planned to play dumb and get away with it, but things had already come to this point, and there seemed to be no need to keep pretending.

Wen Huaixu looked at her face, which had instantly lost all color, and his brow furrowed. He immediately reflected on what he had just said.

But he didn't feel there was anything wrong with it.

This was the explanation he had been thinking about all day. He wasn't even this anxious when signing the top-secret document, and it made him smoke a whole pack of cigarettes.

Wen Huaixu looked down at her, but his voice unconsciously deepened, "Isn't that right? What else could it be? Tell me."

It is liking.

It is love.

She just wanted to stay by his side as his lover.

But she knew perfectly well that it was not dependence.

Yu Tingyu stared straight at him, her eyes gradually filling with tears, her eyes reddening, but she couldn't utter a single word.

She hated her involuntary tears; before she could even speak, tears would stream down her face, making even when she was right, she seem wrong.

Wen Huaixu frowned slightly, instinctively wanting to raise his finger to wipe away her tears, but Yu Tingyu dodged him.

Why do you think I want to move out?

She fought back tears, looked up at him, and her shimmering eyes trembled slightly in the bright light.

Wen Huaixu narrowed his eyes, and heard her chuckle softly as she continued, "Every time you touch me, I feel scared, not scared of you, but scared of myself."

She didn't reveal what she was afraid of, because she knew Wen Huaixu could guess.

Sure enough, Wen Huaixu's expression suddenly hardened, and a crack seemed to appear on his deep and brooding features.

These are the words Yu Tingyu spoke when she was sober, not when she was drunk.

He suddenly felt a little lost, and even the prepared remarks he had in mind got stuck in his throat.

"But you said it's dependence," Yu Tingyu smiled, "then let's say it is."

She turned her face away, quickly wiping away the tears at the corners of her eyes with her fingers, her voice as soft as a gentle breeze.

She didn't want to hysterically defend herself, saying that it wasn't dependence, but rather an unspeakable love from an adult.

But she couldn't say a single word of these things.

She knew Wen Huaixu too well. If she revealed everything, he would be furious, and the consequences would be a thousand times worse than they were now. Judging from his current attitude, he might pretend that last night's events never happened and they could continue their current relationship. But if she revealed it, it wouldn't be that simple, and they would never be able to go back to the way things were.

Although we can't go back now.

Yu Tingyu's seemingly resigned tone made Wen Huaixu's heart inexplicably heavy and uneasy.

His original intention was not to see Yu Tingyu's tears, but in the end he still made her cry.

Wen Huaixu looked at her silently, unsure of what to say, and the study fell into a speechless silence.

Yu Tingyu glanced out the window. The night was so dark that only the distant lighthouse could be seen, flashing and stubbornly shining in the darkness.

She caught a glimpse of Wen Huaixu through the window. He stood up and stood in front of the French windows, unconsciously rubbing his fingers together a few times, as if he was having a craving for cigarettes.

The next second, she finally heard him say—

"I was also at fault for what happened last night."

Wen Huaixu's voice sounded slightly hoarse in the night.

He didn't know whether the "mistake" he was referring to was failing to guide Yu Tingyu's views on love properly, or failing to avoid her advances in time at that moment.

It turns out he had already attributed last night's events to a mistake.

Yu Tingyu curled her lips, but her smile grew increasingly cold: "You've done nothing wrong, you just don't love me."

"nonsense!"

Wen Huaixu's face tightened, and his words became stern. He turned around and his gaze lingered on her face. He wanted to argue with her forcefully, but when he saw Yu Tingyu's pale cheeks, the words he wanted to say were stuck in his throat.

He suddenly felt powerless, and his steps faltered as he steadied himself against the chair back. "You came into my life when you were nine, and I've been a part of every important stage of your life. How could I not love you?"

Yu Tingyu lowered her head and smiled.

There are differences between different kinds of love.

The kind of love she wanted was never that kind.

Wen Huaixu paused, his voice low and hoarse, "Xiaoyu, it's not that you can't live without your brother, it's that I can't live without you."

Yu Tingyu was slightly taken aback, not understanding why he would suddenly say this.

In fact, Wen Huaixu himself didn't know why he suddenly expressed this. He only knew that he was afraid, afraid that everything would get out of control.

He couldn't tell whether he was saying those words to Yu Tingyu or to himself.

But Yu Tingyu probably understood that Wen Huaixu wanted to use this rhetoric to maintain a relatively stable situation.

Their relationship can only remain as it is now.

If we keep talking, it won't look good at all.

Then she'll lend him a hand.

Shen Sihe's words of advice from earlier that day echoed in her ears. Yu Tingyu took a deep breath and said calmly, "Actually, I mistook you for someone else."

Wen Huaixu narrowed his eyes, not understanding the meaning behind Yu Tingyu's words for a moment.

She knew how weak her words were, and she didn't care what Wen Huaixu would think. She was just trying to cover up her "wrongdoing" with a veil of dignity.

Yu Tingyu smiled slightly, her tone becoming a bit lighter: "I drank too much yesterday and can't tell who's who. Don't take it to heart, just pretend it never happened."

For a moment, Wen Huaixu genuinely doubted the truthfulness of Yu Tingyu's words, but when he saw the tear stains in her eyes, all his doubts were silenced by this silent grievance.

Wen Huaixu watched Yu Tingyu walk out without stopping her.

But as soon as the door closed, he clenched his fist and slammed it heavily on the table, then leaned back in his chair, exhausted.

Can he really pretend that nothing happened?

Some things, once they happen, there's no going back.