Chapter 90
The air pressure inside the hotel room was stiflingly low. Thick curtains tightly blocked out the outside world, as if trapping a storm within this tiny space. The online debate over "Ling Yao or Shen Qingyuan" continued to rage, with endless speculation and analysis. While absurd, it pinned the two of them firmly to the top of the trending search list, leaving them with nowhere to escape.
Su Rui sat on the edge of the bed, fingers twisted nervously together, face pale, but eyes etched with a resolute determination. He raised his head and looked at Ling Yao, who was standing by the window with his back to him. His voice trembled slightly with nervousness, but he managed to keep it clear:
"Ling Yao... the current situation may be chaotic, but perhaps... perhaps this is an opportunity." He took a deep breath, as if he had exhausted all his strength. "Why don't we... take this opportunity to go public?"
Ling Yao's back stiffened for a moment, and he didn't turn around.
Su Rui continued speaking, with a hint of pleading and a faint hope for the future in his tone: "We have been together for so many years and love each other, don't we? We have come through so many difficulties before... I don't want to hide like this anymore, running away like a thief every time I am photographed, and even... even being mistaken for someone else..." At this point, his voice was filled with a hint of uncontrollable grievance.
"Once it's public, we won't have to be afraid anymore. We can be together openly, without having to plan every meeting, and without having to worry about the paparazzi..." He tried to paint a brighter future, even though he knew there were many difficulties.
"no."
Ling Yao's voice was cold and harsh, like a huge rock, suddenly shattering all of Su Rui's carefully planned suggestions and fantasies. He finally turned around, his face expressionless, only filled with extreme exhaustion and... icy determination.
"The company has made its position clear and strongly opposed it. Absolutely not," he repeated, his tone leaving no room for maneuver.
Su Rui's heart sank suddenly, and she stood up anxiously: "But..."
"No buts!" Ling Yao interrupted him abruptly, his voice rising a few notches with an irrepressible agitation and anger. "Su Rui, wake up! Announce it now? When my acting career has just started to pick up a bit and I've just gotten rid of the 'traffic' label? You want me to admit that I'm in a relationship with a man now?! What will happen to all my previous efforts?!"
He walked towards Su Rui step by step, his eyes as sharp as a knife, and every word hit Su Rui's heart: "Yes, we have been together for many years! We have persisted no matter how hard it was! But precisely because we have persisted for so long, I can't give up now!"
His tone grew agitated, even tinged with a hint of disbelief. "Do you know how hard it is to get what I have now? Do you know how many people are waiting to bring me down? If I admit it, all my reputation, all the scripts, all the commercial endorsements... it's all over! I'll be instantly reduced to my original state, even worse than before! What will I be then? A 'former' celebrity who dares to come out publicly after having a faded trend?!"
Ling Yao gasped, his chest heaving violently. He looked at Su Rui's face, which had instantly lost all color. A trace of complex pain flashed across his eyes, but was quickly covered by a stronger fear of the destruction of his career.
He turned his head away, avoiding Su Rui's desperate gaze. His voice lowered, with an almost cruel calmness: "I'm sorry... Rui Rui. It really can't be done now. I can't... I can't gamble everything I have."
The last word "I'm sorry" was light, but like an ice-hardened dagger, it accurately pierced Su Rui's last line of defense.
All his courage and all his hopes for a bright future were crushed at this moment by Ling Yao and the mountain called "career" behind him.
It turned out that the relationship between him and him for many years was ultimately the option that could be sacrificed, abandoned, and easily dismissed with a "sorry" in front of Ling Yao's "hard-earned" career.
The room fell into a deathly silence, with only the heavy and painful breathing of the two people as the only sound.
Su Rui stood there, motionless, as if his soul had been drained away. He looked at the man he had loved for so many years and had given his entire youth to, and for the first time, he felt so strange and... hopeless.
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