For some reason, Lin Hao drank a bit too much that night. He called Chen Junping around almost eleven o'clock. The two of them strolled around the courtyard of the residential area as usual. The early winter air was a bit chilly, and Chen Junping put his hands in his pockets, smelling the faint scent of alcohol emanating from the person behind him.
"What's up so late?" Chen Junping asked casually.
This wasn't the first time Lin Hao had acted on a whim. Unlike Chen Junping's cautiousness, Lin Hao was a more carefree and passionate person. When the two were together, Lin Hao usually initiated conversations, while Chen Junping simply listened and observed. But that night, Lin Hao seemed somewhat reserved.
"My mom said that one of her colleagues wants to introduce me to a girlfriend."
Chen Junping paused for a moment, then stopped in his tracks.
He felt a strange unease. But he had to calm himself and try to understand the meaning behind Lin Hao's words.
This is actually quite normal. After graduating from university and entering the workforce, people need a proper shift in their focus. Moreover, they've already been working for two years, and it's common for parents to start making arrangements for them in this regard. When Chen Junping occasionally goes home, his parents have intentionally or unintentionally started mentioning it to him. They're both of marriageable age, and this uncertainty is understandably causing their parents to worry.
But from what standpoint can he face this? He's not ready.
"Well... that's good," Chen Junping said hesitantly.
Lin Hao chuckled. After standing there for a while, he walked towards the flower bed. There was a bench and a street lamp there, their usual spot for chatting.
“I didn’t agree, and then my mom started asking me if I was secretly dating someone else because I hadn’t heard anything for so long. And guess what? It turns out she already knew everything. Your existence, your name, your age, your family, she had found out everything.”
Chen Junping was stunned. For a long time, he didn't know what kind of expression he had on his face.
He underestimated his situation. He had always believed that people could live freely and do whatever they wanted. But he hadn't anticipated that the constraints of emotions could bring so many unexpected variables. Unbeknownst to him, those little secrets that were still growing in the greenhouse of his own heart had already matured in the eyes of others.
It was at that moment that Chen Junping realized he had become disconnected from society. A sense of distance had grown between his heart and his surroundings.
"I don't know..." He was caught off guard and could only ask tentatively, feeling an extreme tension for the first time in his life.
“My mom said I’m a fool. She said I’m willingly letting people play with my feelings. I had a fight with her.” Lin Hao took a few deep breaths, leaned against a lamppost, and looked earnestly at Chen Junping: “Aping, do you know what I mean? I want you to tell me, tell me that my persistence is not meaningless.”
For the first time, Chen Junping was directly confronted with this kind of emotional pressure that he could no longer escape. For a moment, he felt completely exposed.
He could tell that Lin Hao's personality indicated he was a dutiful son at home. He must have deliberately downplayed some of his mother's words to avoid embarrassing Chen Junping. But when Chen Junping realized that this nascent relationship would definitely face obstacles, he felt a chill run down his spine.
A suffocating feeling made Chen Junping stand there in a daze for a long time. He sat down in a chair, looking down and remaining silent for a long time.
He never considered himself particularly good, but he couldn't accept being described in that tone. He didn't want to toy with Lin Hao's feelings; he just wanted to wait. But why use such drastic methods to force him to make a decision?
There are still many possibilities ahead, but right now, all he wants is to escape this feeling of panic and disappointment.
"Lin Hao, I still consider you a friend."
I'm still not ready. Can you wait a little longer?
His heart was pounding back and forth, and the vague words he uttered made Lin Hao's eyes suddenly dim.
Then, Lin Hao cried.
He stood there with his head down, his right hand gripping Chen Junping's shoulder tightly. Chen Junping, however, seemed frightened; he sat blankly in his chair, staring at Lin Hao as his shoulders twitched.
"Chen Junping, you..."
Lin Hao shook his head vigorously, but ultimately said nothing.
For so many years, Chen Junping has been wondering what the next part of Lin Hao's unfinished sentence would be.
Lin Hao did lose control of his emotions that night, but after a long period of silent accusation, he still remembered to control himself and send Chen Junping home.
Perhaps that was the path Chen Junping had thought about most. Those fragmented and chaotic thoughts quietly shattered in the night wind, muddling his mind into a jumbled mess. He suddenly longed for Lin Hao to come and hold his hand; perhaps he was beginning to lack such a support.
But as always, countless hypotheses remained only in his mind, never translating into action. His mind kept repeating: "Let's talk about it tomorrow." Yet, even at this moment, he still didn't know: the future holds hope, but it can also utterly destroy that hope.
Chen Junping couldn't sleep that night. When he got up to get a drink of water, he found Lin Hao still downstairs. He sat on the edge of the flower bed, his back slightly hunched, a sliver of scarlet light flickering between his fingers. In a daze, Chen Junping suddenly realized: his long-held belief had finally been answered—Lin Hao really did have flaws. To cultivate a perfect image in Chen Junping's mind, Lin Hao had indeed deliberately concealed many things. But those inherent flaws, once unearthed, weren't the monstrous flood Chen Junping had initially imagined. Instead, they fermented little by little in Chen Junping's heart, gradually becoming a more profound presence.
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
