☆, Side Story 2: One Man's Chaotic Journey (Meng Ruo's Story)

A person can only shoot into another's heart once, and I can never love you the way I first fell in love with you. — Meng Ruo

I can't remember, I can't remember when it started, I only remember that my dependence gradually turned into affection, and then into liking.

Gu Shi is the person who left my entire first half of life stranded.

When I was five years old, I fell into the water while playing and cried loudly. Then he appeared, silently pulled me out, and carried me back to my room.

The young boy seemed to possess boundless power.

I sobbed on his back, and the boy sternly told me to shut up. I pouted and cried even louder, and he said I looked awful crying.

He was seven years old that year.

He probably never imagined that his unintentional act of kindness would lead me to become entangled with him.

When I was six years old, I officially started first grade, and from then on, I officially became his little shadow.

Brother Gu Shi.

A-Shi.

"Forever" has become synonymous with my entire youth.

My impression of Gu Shi: cold, irritable, and bad-tempered.

The real Gu Shi: kind, cute, and sharp-tongued.

When I was nine, I couldn't understand what the net shape of a cube was; I couldn't tell whether a chicken or a rabbit had four legs; I didn't understand diluting with water or concentrating with sugar; I couldn't learn about pursuit problems or problems involving opposite directions...

Those strange math problems are troubling me; I can't figure them out no matter how hard I try, and I'm very upset.

Although my family is well-off and my parents spoil me, my teacher doesn't treat me differently. He often criticizes me, thinking that I'm a good student and shouldn't have gotten such a low score.

I see that all my classmates can figure it out, but I can't. I'm stupid, I can't do it well.

Then he tapped me on the head, took away my workbook full of red crosses, and explained each problem to me one by one.

When I encountered something I couldn't understand, they would patiently explain it to me again and again, making those annoying word problems seem much simpler.

The little boy exudes endless charm at this moment.

He was eleven years old that year.

When I was twelve, my parents went on a business trip, and I ran away from their house to stay temporarily. Since both sets of parents knew each other, I felt at ease.

When it was time to eat, I looked at him pitifully and kept calling him "Brother A-Shi" to ask him to cook.

It just so happened that his parents weren't home that noon, and there were servants at home, but I had a wicked idea to order him around.

I enjoy seeing him do things for me.

He rolled his eyes and muttered, "Fine, I'll make you drool," but he resigned himself to going to the kitchen anyway.

He brought me fruit and milk, put on a movie, and settled me in.

Then we sat side by side on the sofa, eating and watching. I praised him with a smile, "Brother A-Shi is the best."

He scoffed, and I noticed his ears were slightly red.

He was fourteen years old that year.

When I was fourteen, all sorts of rumors suddenly started circulating in my class: so-and-so's parents were called in, so-and-so was dating.

My best friend whispered in my ear and asked, "Xiao Ruo, do you have someone you like?"

I frowned, his image immediately flashing into my mind, but I subconsciously denied it, "No way."

Yes, back then I couldn't distinguish what kind of liking someone truly meant.

Gu Shi and I are friends and family.

My friend pinched my cheek in exasperation, "What about Gu Shi? He's so popular, lots of girls at school like him."

I shrugged innocently and said, "Then the most important person to A-Shi is definitely me."

My confidence comes from the length of time we've known each other and from his care and love for me.

Although he loves to tease me, I know he cares about me a lot.

He was sixteen years old at the time.

When I was fifteen, I officially entered high school. The workload of high school courses increased, and I fell further and further behind in physics and chemistry.

Then, I chose liberal arts.

Without a doubt, Gu Shi chose science.

This is the first time in our lives that we've been apart, even if it's just one floor apart.

We still eat together, go to school together, we're very close, so close that I feel like we could live like this forever.

Until I saw many pretty girls stuffing love letters, chocolates, and gifts into his drawer.

The endless stream of sweet words and the straightforward expression of their true feelings are laid bare on the paper, so passionate and so unrestrained.

Gu Shi has never been wary of me, and I have to admit that I feel a little flustered, with a strong sense of possessiveness enveloping me.

In my heart, Gu Shi belongs to me alone.

I'm afraid someone else will take away his good points.

I admit that my feelings for him have gone beyond mere dependence; over the years, they have changed.

But my worst fears came true. He appeared in front of me with a girl around his waist, and introduced her as his girlfriend.

And I am his sister, Meng Ruo.

The girl's figure was hot and alluring, her beautiful curves were captivating, and it seemed that she could steal one's soul with just a blink of an eye.

How beautiful, I thought.

From then on, I became their little follower. I watched them kiss while eating, I watched them kiss on their way home, I watched them kiss without any restraint in public...

They really love kissing. What do his lips taste like? I don't know.

That year, he was eighteen years old.

Graduation season, breakup season.

They couldn't escape it either. I felt a secret joy in my heart, but I still pretended to comfort him, saying, "Let's find someone better."

He squinted his eyes nonchalantly and patted my head.

At the age of nineteen, I followed in his footsteps and chose to study art.

There were countless beautiful girls in the art department—stunning, alluring, and fiery—Gu Shi was practically spoiled for choice.

With his handsome looks and effortless charm, he seduced one girl after another.

I watched as many different people came and went around him.

Watching them engage in adult romance, I felt a desolate emptiness in my heart; it was only his goodness that made me too greedy.

What if, what if he comes back one day?

What if one day he's willing to take a look at me?

If I leave, will all these years of waiting be for nothing?

I kept reassuring myself, pretending that I couldn't see any of this.

As long as he treats me well, that's enough, even if we're just sisters now.

Until I met a girl named Li Muli.

She was unrealistically beautiful, dignified and elegant, gentle and quiet, yet alluring and captivating, switching effortlessly between purity and desire.

Besides being beautiful, I can tell that she has someone hidden in her heart, someone she loves very much but can't have.

She looks so much like me.

Naturally, the three of us became good friends. Gu Shi had tried to flirt with her, sometimes openly and sometimes subtly, but she remained unmoved.

There's a wall in her heart that no one can enter except the person she loves.

That year, he was twenty-one years old.