Chapter 18: She has always been helpless, there is no future between them
Downstairs in the residential complex, Gu Weiyi raised his eyes and glanced at Gustav as a greeting. Li Wenjing didn't explain anything and directly asked him what he was doing there.
"I came to Mombasa for work and just happened to stop by to see you. Are you feeling better?"
"That's great. How did you know I live here?"
"I just sent you a message, but you didn't reply, so I asked your friend."
"sorry……"
Li Wenjing pulled her phone out of her bag, and sure enough, his message popped up. She looked up, and he was looking at her, his eyes a touch cold. She was sandwiched between him and Gustav. She should have bought Gu Weiyi a drink, but Gustav was there too. Before she could say anything, he narrowed his eyes, a look of understanding, and said he had work to do.
"You two finally meet... Doctor Gu, you should talk to your father more."
"It's okay, thank you, ma chérie (French: dear)." Gustav kissed Li Wenjing and said goodbye, and at the same time said to Gu Weiyi, "Charles, I'm leaving first. Here's the hotel room card. We'll talk later."
He took out the room card from his chest pocket and held it in front of Gu Weiyi. Even if Gu Weiyi refused to take it, he didn't put it down. Li Wenjing simply took the room card. He smiled, waved to the two of them, and left.
Li Wenjing turned around and handed the room card to Gu Weiyi, but he still didn't take it. Li Wenjing jokingly asked, "If you don't go to your father, where will you stay tonight?"
"To my friend's place."
"What about this room card?" Li Wenjing laughed as she considered the matter, her finger sliding over the hotel logo. "This hotel is so classy! I've only been there for meetings, and I've never stayed in a hotel this nice. You left the room card with me, and told me to swipe your dad's door, didn't you?"
Gu Weiyi didn't laugh and snatched the room card from her hand. As if in revenge, Li Wenjing shook the umbrella at his feet twice, and a few raindrops fell on his shoes. He asked her, "What did you have for dinner?"
"Italian food, Western food. Your dad is so generous to me."
"Is it tasty?"
"It's delicious," Li Wenjing said, "but I'm not full. The dishes are very small and expensive, so I'm embarrassed to say I'm not full."
"There's a barbecue bar nearby. Let's go there and have some more food."
"I think you haven't eaten."
Li Wenjing smiled and opened the umbrella again. He didn't bring an umbrella, but wore a light green windbreaker to keep out the rain. Li Wenjing held the umbrella over to him, but he was very tall, so the umbrella didn't hit his head, only his shoulders. She moved closer to him, and her arm touched his arm. She immediately felt a little hot on her cheek, and quickly took a step to the side, trying not to touch his body. Half of his face was imprinted in her peripheral vision, and when he raised his eyes from his high nose bridge like a sculpture, the heat on her face spread, and she turned her head away, letting the rainy season wind take away the shyness and heat.
A football game was being broadcast on the TV in the bar. The two sat at the bar and watched TV. Beer and skewers were served. Li Wenjing didn't drink and only ordered peach juice.
"Don't you drink?"
"I don't want to drink. It feels just like going to work. When I used to have dinner with my boss, he would always urge me to drink. After a long time, I got tired of drinking."
"You should drink less. It's bad for your health."
Even so, he took several sips of wine, and the players running on the screen reflected in his quiet eyes made him look very tired. He stroked the room card, frowning.
Seeing him in a daze, Li Wenjing said, "You are not drunk, are you?"
"No, it's just that I haven't seen Gustav in a while, and I think it's weird that we talked so much all of a sudden. I've been running into him a lot these days, more than I did in France." He slammed the room card on the table. "Wenjing, stop saying things like 'he's my dad'. It always makes me feel like I owe him something, like the identity of dad was forced upon me."
"It's not something I owe my parents. Like me, I send them money every month to pay off the debt."
"When will it be?"
Li Wenjing shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe until I die."
"Wenjing, I have to say, this is what society, what they forced upon you. I'm a bad kid, and you're the best daughter. You obey this kind of authority, and you even ask me to listen to Gustav. If this continues, I don't think we can be friends..."
He glanced at Wenjing, took a sip of his drink, and suppressed what he wanted to say. Li Wenjing also looked at him, her gaze fixed on his lips, wet with wine. The light from the screen passed over his face, then onto Li Wenjing's. His nose cast a thin shadow on his cheek, trembling with the light of the TV.
She had a urge to kiss him. She didn't know where this strange thought came from, but she swallowed, drank the peach juice in one gulp, and slammed the glass down on the table.
"Why don't you come to my house? My roommate is not here today because he's working overtime."
"No, I'll go to my friend's place, thank you."
The peach juice was a bit bitter, and Li Wenjing wondered if she had picked up the wrong beer. Gu Weiyi avoided her gaze, only looking at the beer in his hand. Li Wenjing felt frustrated. She still didn't feel that he liked her. She tapped the room card on the table twice and said sourly, "I really want to take this room card myself. Your dad is much more interesting. You..."
You are a piece of unmovable wood.
Li Wenjing immediately realized that Gu Weiyi's attraction to her was slowly fading. It was as if he had never accepted her slight affection for him, never even expressed it. A tightness settled in her chest as she recalled every moment she had spent with him, the seemingly happy moments, the fluttering heartbeats, but it felt as if nothing had ever happened. Everything was just a fantasy divorced from reality. A woman in her late twenties, alone in her loneliness, clinging to her fantasy of love, projecting it onto him. He remained calm. She was the only one who was panicked, embarrassed, and embarrassed.
All she could understand was that he was not moved by her.
Li Wenjing rationally understood this, explaining it easily. The gap between them was too great, even for her, she couldn't imagine what the future held for these two people—Chinese, French, and African. Their relationship to the world was like a kite, tied only by a thin string. She drifted here and there, and he also drifted there and back, never letting her decide where to go. There was no future between them.
After drinking, he took a taxi to his friend's house and dropped Li Wenjing off first. As they said goodbye, he leaned in, and Li Wenjing's heart raced. There was no kiss, just a kiss, and he left the room card with her, asking her to return it to Gustave. Li Wenjing got out of the car and watched the taxi drive away until it disappeared. She stood alone under the streetlight, the dim light fragmented by drops of rain. She felt herself gradually getting wet and rotting. First, her dress turned into a sticky blue liquid, then her flesh melted in the water, washed away bit by bit.
"I'm here. Go to bed early. I'm sorry. I drank too much today and said too harsh words."
Only after Gu Weiyi sent a message saying he had arrived did she slowly make her way upstairs. No one was home; Yu Di was working overtime at the company. The energy company's tender was approaching, and everyone was working overtime. Any work assigned to Li Wenjing was automatically prioritized over Gu Weiyi's. Almost everyone at the company felt that maintaining a good relationship with Gustav was paramount, compared to the tender documents. With the two of them now in such a tangle, Li Wenjing felt incredibly overwhelmed. She considered going to the company, but Chuan Ge and Yu Di both said, "No, no, just keep Gustav company."
It was late at night. Li Wenjing took a shower and dived into bed barefoot. She turned off the lights but still couldn't fall asleep. Gu Weiyi's words were still ringing in her ears. He could no longer be friends with her.
At the same time, her father also sent her a message, "Your mother has been in the hospital recently and misses you a lot. She is not in good health and can't work. Junjun is also studying. As his sister, you should give him some money."
Li Wenjing stared at the screen, put down her phone for a while, then picked it up in the dark and replied, "Mom's hospitalization is important, don't keep thinking about Junjun. I'm free this weekend, let's talk then."
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