Chapter 9 Enduring Pain: Something She Couldn't Possess...
The boy took a deep breath and slowly released her, his eyes filled with helplessness; he had no way to deal with her.
"Are you angry?" Tao Jiang blinked, exclaiming dramatically, "You get angry so easily?"
“No,” Qin You said, taking her hand. “What else do you want to play?”
Tao Jiang seemed to have already decided where to go, and said directly, "Let's go play an escape room game."
Qin You readily agreed. He could never refuse Tao Jiang's requests. Even though he wasn't interested in escape rooms, he was willing to spend a lot of time with her. As for the messages from Yu Kui, he had long forgotten about them.
Perhaps he knew that no matter what he did, Yu Kui would always wait for him in the same place, or perhaps he could no longer control his favoritism and was willing to give up those unimportant people and things for Tao Jiang.
Including Yu Kui.
Not receiving a reply, Yu Kui huddled under the covers, feeling sad for a long time. She couldn't believe Qin You hadn't seen the message. During this time, he had always kept his phone in his school uniform pocket, and even during lunch, he would reply to messages. Yu Kui had even asked him who he was replying to, but Qin You acted indifferently, saying that a classmate was asking him a question.
Yu Kui had no doubts; instead, she marveled at how he had always been cold on the outside but warm on the inside, and always willing to help others.
Yu Kui had lost count of how many times he hadn't replied to her messages, but each time he would stand downstairs as if nothing had happened, and he wouldn't explain why he didn't reply unless Yu Kui brought it up.
Perhaps, she should grow up now.
Yu Kui got out of bed, opened her English book and started memorizing words. She spent too much time on Qin You, forgetting that he was no longer the little child who needed company. He had things he wanted to do, while she was still standing still, waiting for him to turn back to her.
This situation is really terrible.
If he doesn't come back to me, what should I do? Should I sit there and wail like a kindergartener, or should I cling to him like a madwoman?
Neither of them is what Yu Kui wants.
What she wants is a healthy and fulfilling relationship, not to wait for someone's pity.
Yu Kui put away her phone, calmed her disappointment, and focused all her attention on her studies. No matter what Qin You thought, she had to do her own thing first.
The next day when she went downstairs, Yu Kui did not ask Qin You why he hadn't replied to her message, nor did she ask him where he had gone the day before. She was still very curious about his itinerary, but she no longer took the initiative to ask.
The two boarded the bus. Yu Kui found a seat and sat down. She subconsciously looked at Qin You, but he didn't sit next to her. Instead, he chose a seat some distance away from her. Yu Kui felt a pang of pain in her heart for a moment, but she quickly turned her head away.
Qin You looked at the message on her phone, "Do you remember what we agreed on yesterday? You're not allowed to talk to Yu Kui today, or I really won't talk to you anymore."
It was a reminder from Tao Jiang. He had upset Tao Jiang yesterday, and Tao Jiang deliberately told him not to pay attention to Yu Kui today, which he agreed to.
After replying to the message, Qin You glanced at the girl sitting by the window. She was wearing headphones, seemingly practicing her English listening skills, and her eyes weren't looking at him. A slight unease rose in Qin You's heart, but he quickly looked away, not noticing the girl's reddened eyes.
Throughout the day, whether it was lunchtime when Yu Kui asked Qin You what she wanted to eat or other questions, Qin You acted as if she hadn't heard her and ignored her.
Seeing this, Tao Jiang looked at Qin You reproachfully, "What's wrong with you today? Didn't you hear what Yu Kui said?"
Qin You pursed his lips, his eyes dark as he looked at her. The reason he was acting this way was because of her. If she hadn't made that request, how could he have ignored Yu Kui? Now that she was on Yu Kui's side, he felt like he was caught in the middle...
Yu Kui didn't notice the ambiguous relationship between the two, but felt suffocated by the air, and her chest ached so badly it spasmed.
She had never felt so miserable before, but at this moment she felt like a joke. What was she to Qin You? Deliberately ignoring her messages, deliberately disregarding her, humiliating her so capriciously—was he still the little boy she knew? Or had she never truly understood him at all?
Noticing that Yu Kui's expression was off, Qin You's pupils contracted slightly. Just as he was about to ask her what was wrong, Yu Kui stood up and didn't even look at him. "I don't have an appetite today. You guys eat."
After saying that, she took the plate and turned to leave.
"Yu Kui..." Tao Jiang called out to her subconsciously, but Yu Kui seemed not to hear and walked straight out of the cafeteria. The blatant prank just now left only an indescribable chill.
Qin You stood up from his chair, about to chase after her, when Tao Jiang suddenly chuckled, "What, you still care about her?"
Qin You froze, looking into her sarcastic eyes, his legs suddenly went limp, and he slowly sat down, looking at the food that was gradually getting cold. "We don't really need to play this game, it's hurtful to her."
"Not playing anymore?" Tao Jiang was amused by his words. "You were the one who pursued me, promising to do anything for me. Did I force you?"
Qin You's lips twitched, but in the end he said nothing.
"You're already feeling sorry for her before the game is even over, and you say you don't care about her? Do you think I believe that?"
"She's just my friend," Qin You explained patiently. "I have no romantic feelings for her whatsoever, so why does she always have to be involved in our relationship?"
"Because she's had you all to herself for over a decade!" Tao Jiang said coldly. "You two were even closer back then, childhood sweethearts. How can you expect me not to mind?"
Hearing this, Qin You felt a mix of emotions. "The past is the past; the present and the future are more important."
“I need you to prove it,” Tao Jiang said, looking straight into his eyes, “I need you to prove that I am more important than her, not just today, but for countless years to come.”
"Okay." Seeing how much she cared about him, Qin You forgot about Yu Kui again and held her hand tightly under the table. "The only person in my heart is you." The young man's face was calm, but his eyes were as hot as the raging fire of midsummer, almost burning Tao Jiang.
Tao Jiang smiled secretly, thoroughly enjoying the thrill of taking away what someone else cherished.
Yu Kui didn't return to the classroom. Instead, she wandered aimlessly around the campus. She couldn't understand how things had come to this. They used to be so close, but now he was hurting her like this. Had she done something wrong to anger him? Or had he encountered something he couldn't resolve?
However, she couldn't figure it out; Qin You was no longer paying attention to her.
He no longer cared about their friendship.
The girl's innate sixth sense made her clearly aware that something bad had happened between her and Qin You that she hadn't anticipated. She didn't know what it was, nor did she know how to deal with it.
Qin You didn't tell her directly, but he had already gradually excluded her from his life.
Yu Kui sat down on a chair in the corner. A gust of wind blew by, and she shivered from the cold. But the cold she felt at that moment was nothing compared to the chill in her heart.
Qin You still waits for Yu Kui downstairs every morning, but Yu Kui rarely speaks to him. Whenever she sees his icy face, she wants to tell him that if he is unwilling, he should stop waiting for her. They can actually stop being friends and go back to their own paths.
But she couldn't bring herself to say it. A relationship of more than ten years couldn't be built overnight, and giving him up felt like tearing her heart apart.
She couldn't bear to part with it.
Perhaps time will smooth everything over, but for now, let her endure the pain and stubbornly stay by his side.
Yu Kui fell silent. Not only Qin You and Tao Jiang noticed this, but Sun Shuya, who sat at the same table, felt it most clearly. The girl's chubby baby fat gradually disappeared, making her originally cute face slightly pointed, revealing the beautiful outline of a young girl.
“Yu Kui, you’re much prettier than before,” Tao Jiang couldn’t help but exclaim during lunch. “You’ve lost weight, and your features are showing.”
Before, Yu Kui had a chubby face, and the first thing people noticed about her was that she was cute, without really looking at her appearance. But now she's like a lotus by the water, just beginning to show her girlish charm.
Yu Kui didn't notice the changes in herself. It was only when her mother told her that she had lost weight and was going to prepare some delicious food for her that she realized she had grown taller and thinner. But she didn't take these things to heart. Instead, she studied even harder. Only in this way could she temporarily forget the harm caused by Qin You.
"Really?" Yu Kui smiled faintly. "My mom also said I've lost weight."
“You’ve lost too much weight,” Tao Jiang said. “This won’t do. You’re still growing, so you need to eat properly every day.”
Yu Kui nodded and ate an extra chicken leg at noon.
As Qin You looked at her soft, fair face, he realized that she had become dazzling without his noticing.
In the third monthly exam, Yu Kui's grades were among the best, with significant improvements in math and English, which boosted her overall score and propelled her into the top five in the grade. Her homeroom teacher praised her repeatedly, saying she was the only student in the class to make it into the top ten in the grade, and even gave her stationery as a reward.
Her Chinese teacher even encouraged her to participate in essay competitions held in the city and the country. Yu Kui's Chinese grades had always been excellent. When she was in junior high school, she won the first and second prizes in essay competitions. It was only when the class was compiling the list of award winners that they realized she had won so many awards. You should know that the first prize is even harder to get than the second prize. There are very few people in the whole school who have won the first prize.
The homeroom teacher directly assigned Yu Kui to participate in the essay competition, telling her to write the essay first and then upload the manuscript to the computer in the office at noon tomorrow.
When Tao Jiang saw her sluggish progress, she realized that the difference between her and Yu Kui wasn't Qin You, but something else entirely—something about Yu Kui that she deeply resented.
It's as if even though she stole Qin You away, it couldn't diminish the girl's radiant glow.
That was something she could never take away, something she could never possess.
A note from the author:
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