When Li Zhou pushed open the glass door of the cafe, the crisp sound of the wind chimes was drowned out by the muffled thunder of the approaching rainstorm.
He was holding in his arms the anniversary gift he had just received - a custom silver chain with the pendant having the abbreviation of Lin Xiaoman's name and the date of their first meeting engraved on the inside.
Thinking of the surprised expression his girlfriend might have when she saw the gift, the corners of his mouth unconsciously rose.
The smile froze when he saw the scene at the window booth.
Lin Xiaoman was looking at the same mobile phone with a strange boy, head to head. The boy said something that made her cover her mouth and laugh, and he even naturally helped her tuck the hair around her ears.
Li Zhou stood there, his fingers tightening unconsciously, and the gift bag made a slight friction sound.
"Zhou Zhou!" Lin Xiaoman looked up and saw him. Her smile froze, and she stood up in a panic. The boy also stood up. His figure, half a head taller than Li Zhou, gave him a natural sense of oppression.
"This is my internship mentor, Senior Chen, whom my cousin introduced me to." Lin Xiaoman's voice was an octave higher than usual. "He happened to be nearby, so I arranged to ask him some interview questions..."
Li Zhou nodded and hid the gift bag behind him.
He noticed the Rolex on Chen Xuechang's wrist and his arm casually draped over the back of Lin Xiaoman's chair. The air conditioning in the cafe suddenly became very cold.
"Hello, Xiaoman often mentions you." Senior Chen held out his hand, his watch gleaming brightly in the light. "She said you're very caring."
The handshake was firm, yet Li Zhou felt a pain in his knuckles. He saw a faint trace of perfume on the man's collar—the same citrus scent Lin Xiaoman had been wearing recently.
On the subway on the way back, Lin Xiaoman kept explaining how rare the internship opportunity was, and that the seniors were just eager to help. They were really just looking through the interview question bank.
Li Zhou listened quietly, his nails leaving half-moon-shaped indentations on the gift wrapping.
"You don't believe me?" Lin Xiaoman suddenly raised her voice, drawing the attention of the surrounding passengers. Her eyes shone in the pale light. "Li Zhou, what's wrong with you lately?"
The roar of the train entering the station drowned out the rest of his sentence. Li Zhou stared at their distorted reflections in the windowpane, recalling Zhou Hui's subtle and intentional hints over the past two weeks.
"Young girls are always vulnerable when faced with temptation," and "Seniors in the workplace know best how to impress interns." These words took root in his heart like seeds.
"I don't doubt it." He finally spoke, his voice so soft that it was almost inaudible, "It's just..."
His phone vibrated, interrupting him. Zhou Hui had sent him project revision suggestions, with a note saying an international brand was looking for a new designer. Lin Xiaoman glanced at the screen, her lips curling into a straight line.
"Mr. Zhou again?" Her voice suddenly became sharp. "How many times have you worked overtime in the past two weeks? And every time it was with him!"
Li Zhou opened his mouth. He couldn't explain why every time he wanted to refuse Zhou Hui's invitation, he always came up with an offer he couldn't refuse—last week it was a spot at an industry summit, the day before yesterday it was an introduction to a creative director he admired, and today it was...
"Are you in love with someone else?" Lin Xiaoman asked with a trembling tone.
The train was shaking violently, and veins popped out on the back of Li Zhou's hand as he held onto the railing.
He wanted to say that it wasn't like that, that he felt guilty every time he saw the night light she left on after working overtime, that he had kept the custom necklace in his pocket for three whole days. But in the end, he just lowered his head and let the silence stretch between them.
The hallway light in the rental apartment was broken again. Standing in the darkness, Li Zhou heard Lin Xiaoman's suppressed sobs coming from inside the house. He fumbled for his key, but found the door was locked.
"Xiao Man?" He knocked gently on the door. "Let's talk..."
There was a dull thud of something hitting the ground from inside the door.
"Go find your Mr. Zhou!" Lin Xiaoman's sobbing voice was distorted through the door. "He can give you anything anyway!"
Li Zhou rested his forehead against the cold door. He wanted to say that he just wanted a better future for both of them, that every time he accepted Zhou Hui's gift, he couldn't sleep.
Li Zhou was walking aimlessly along the park trail when the first raindrop hit his nose. He recalled Lin Xiaoman braving the rain to bring him an umbrella during his junior year, and the two of them sharing oden under the eaves of a convenience store.
The heat from the memories blurred his vision, and when he came to his senses, the heavy rain had soaked him completely.
My phone vibrated in my pocket. It was a message from Zhou Hui: "There's an urgent change to the plan. Can you come to the hotel conference room?" It came with a location.
As the rain dripped down Li Zhou's hair into his collar, the clock tower in the park rang the eleventh time.
He stopped beneath the plastic slide in the children's play area—the only place that offered any semblance of shelter, but the sloping roof had already been penetrated by the rain.
Every time the wind blew, cold water droplets hit the back of his neck, like countless tiny needles.
The phone screen flickered on and off. Seventeen missed calls from Lin Xiaoman lined up on the lock screen. The latest message read, "Come back, let's talk."
Li Zhou stuffed his phone back into his pocket, his knuckles banging against the velvet jewelry box. Three months' savings, half an hour of comparing prices at the counter, now all a joke.
"Ahem...!"
A violent coughing fit forced Li Zhou to hold onto the edge of the slide. The area where his palms touched was covered in moss and slippery, just like his life, which was constantly falling.
The symptoms of fever became more and more obvious, my temples were throbbing with pain, and my throat felt like a ball of burning cotton was stuck.
In the distance, there was the sound of a car running over a puddle. Li Zhou looked up slowly and saw two glaring headlights piercing the rain.
The black car slowly stopped at the park entrance, casting a swaying reflection in the stagnant water. When the car door opened, he vaguely saw someone walking towards him with an umbrella.
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