Chapter 2: Ex-Boyfriend Returns

“I said,” Yu Yan repeated calmly, “let’s break up.”

He Shuliu snapped out of his daze. “Don’t say things like that to scare me………………”

“I’m not trying to scare you, I’m serious.” Yu Yan said, “We’re not right for each other. I should have realized that a long time ago.”

He Shuliu stared at her intensely. “I don’t see how we’re not right for each other.

“I—”

“It’s just that you don’t see it.” Yu Yan’s tone carried a hint of exhaustion. “Honestly, from the very start, I felt something was off. But back then, I just thought I was inexperienced in relationships. Now I understand—the problem isn’t that at all……………”

“Then what is the problem?” He Shuliu interrupted her urgently. “Tell me, I can change, I’ll change until you’re satisfied……………”

“You can’t change.” Yu Yan suddenly raised her voice. “I asked you not to cling to me, to keep your distance, to stop interfering in my life—can you really do that?”

He Shuliu froze.

As Yu Yan spoke these words, her expression was especially cold, even tinged with impatience, completely unlike her usual gentle, soft demeanor.

Most people who didn’t know her well would assume she was easygoing and pleasant, but only those who got close enough realized she actually kept people at arm’s length. Once she decided to draw a line, there was no turning back.

He Shuliu’s expression grew increasingly panicked, his previously urgent tone now careful and tentative.

“Why?” His eyelashes trembled slightly. “………………Do you not like me anymore?”

Yu Yan didn’t want to make things too final, but she knew, given He Shuliu’s stubborn, persistent nature, if she wasn’t clear, he would never give up.

“I never liked you.” She said blandly, “I just wanted to experience what being in a relationship was like, and you happened to be there, that’s all.”

What she said was mostly the truth.

She wasn’t good at forming close bonds with others, and she never expected to build a brand new, harmonious family with someone in the future.

She didn’t know how to love someone, nor did she possess that seemingly simple skill.

Once, He Shuliu made her think maybe she could give it a try, but now she understood—she still couldn’t do it.

She had never liked He Shuliu, maybe there was a bit of fondness, but at most that made them suitable as friends, never as lovers.

He Shuliu’s face turned pale in an instant.

He was hurt.

Looking at his downcast eyes, Yu Yan felt a moment of softness in her heart. But she quickly suppressed it.

She knew she couldn’t be soft-hearted anymore; she had had enough of these suffocating days of being clung to.

This mistaken relationship had to end.

“If you understand what I’m saying, then leave now.” Yu Yan took a step back, putting distance between them, and glanced out the window. “If you wait any longer, you won’t be able to get a cab.”

The living room fell silent all of a sudden.

Her meaning was clear—she was kicking him out.

The atmosphere became especially stifling. After who knows how long, He Shuliu finally spoke in a low voice.

“But I don’t want to be apart from you.”

His voice seemed a little choked. Yu Yan felt a stir in her heart and lifted her gaze.

He Shuliu was staring straight at her.

Yu Yan noticed his eyes were red, his lashes trembling, and there was a faint sheen of tears in his eyes.

He was actually………………crying?

Yu Yan felt an unprecedented shock.

After half a year together, this was the first time she’d seen him cry. Before this, she’d never imagined what he would look like in tears. After all, he was always carefree, never taking things to heart—she simply couldn’t picture him crying.

And now she saw it, at the moment she least wanted to.

“This isn’t something you can take back just because you don’t want it.” Yu Yan looked away, avoiding his eyes. “Just go. I’m really tired today and don’t want to go in circles with you anymore.”

He Shuliu didn’t move.

He was tall, and as he stood unmoving, his figure cast a long shadow under the light, radiating an indescribable loneliness.

Yu Yan found herself pitying him again.

She couldn’t let herself do that—she had to be firm.

She looked behind her, walked straight to the dining table, glanced around, and picked up the mug.

This mug was one she and He Shuliu had made together at a pottery workshop on a date. She really liked the little dog pattern on it, and used it every day to drink water.

Yu Yan walked over to He Shuliu, stopping about two meters away, and smashed the mug hard.

With a crisp “crack,” the mug broke in half, tiny shards scattering. Yu Yan instinctively stepped back.

He Shuliu immediately grew anxious and tried to step forward. “Are you okay?”

Yu Yan didn’t answer, only asked coldly, “Are you leaving or not?”

He Shuliu halted, lips pressed tight. He looked at her almost pleadingly, his damp eyes blurry, reflecting her excessive coldness.

Yu Yan met his gaze, silently confronting him.

He Shuliu said nothing more.

Before his tears could fall, he turned and left.

Yu Yan watched him walk out, listened to his footsteps recede down the hallway, but didn’t feel any sense of relief.

It was as if she were bullying him.

Yu Yan rubbed her brow, let out a long sigh, and started picking up the broken pieces of the mug.

From that moment on, He Shuliu completely vanished from her life.

She didn’t receive a single message or call from him. The enticing smell of food no longer filled her home, nor did she see his figure downstairs anymore.

She returned to her long-lost solitary life, but something felt off.

This strange feeling persisted until the second week after the breakup, when she accidentally opened the Cloud Adoption App and discovered that the cat He Shuliu had cloud adopted was available for adoption again.

That odd feeling in Yu Yan’s heart surged instantly.

Both she and He Shuliu used this app. She had cloud adopted a puppy, and He Shuliu had cloud adopted a cat.

They both really liked their cloud adoption pets. From the time they started until now, it had been almost three months.

The platform’s cloud adoption rules required payment every week. If you stopped paying, the animal you had been cloud adopting would become available for adoption again.

Yu Yan thought, no matter how bad He Shuliu was feeling, he wouldn’t forget something like this.

But the cat he cloud adopted was up for adoption again, which meant he hadn’t logged into the app for at least a week.

What was going on with him now?

Once she realized something was wrong, Yu Yan couldn’t help but worry.

She tried sending He Shuliu a message, and found she hadn’t been blocked, but he didn’t reply.

She called him, and got the same result.

He really seemed to have disappeared, cutting off all contact in an instant.

The more Yu Yan thought about it, the more uneasy she felt, so she decided to go to his place and look for him.

What made her even more anxious was that He Shuliu wasn’t home. Yu Yan asked the neighbors upstairs and downstairs—some didn’t know, others said they hadn’t seen him in a long time.

Where could he have gone?

Yu Yan couldn’t find him anywhere, so she went straight to the Police Station to file a report that very day.

At first, the police didn’t want to deal with her, saying she wasn’t a direct relative of the missing person and brushing her off with a “have a family member report it.” The next day, she went again and told them that He Shuliu had no direct relatives, and she was his closest person. Only then did the police officially open a case and investigate.

Even so, there was still no news of He Shuliu.

A whole week had passed since the police started investigating. During that week, Yu Yan barely ate or slept, and couldn’t focus on anything.

She glued the broken mug back together, kept a close eye on all reports related to missing persons, and even notified the Property Management of He Shuliu’s community, asking them to call her if they saw him.

She even started reflecting on herself.

Though He Shuliu did some things wrong that night, she had been too harsh with her words.

She shouldn’t have said she’d never liked him. Even if it was true, it was still too hurtful to hear.

He was just too clingy.

Actually, she didn’t dislike it that much—she just wasn’t used to it, couldn’t adapt. After all, she’d lived alone for so long, it was hard to let someone else into her life in such a short time.

Like she said, they just weren’t compatible.

She could have told him calmly—there was no need to be so extreme.

Let alone the fact that she had so cruelly kicked him out.

It was already past midnight, the subway and buses had stopped running, and He Shuliu didn’t have a car. The only way home was by taxi.

These days, Yu Yan had read too many news stories—so many about taxi drivers committing murders in a fit of passion, people being kidnapped for organ trafficking, or being sold overseas………………

The more Yu Yan read, the more frightened she became. She wished she could move into the Police Station and monitor the police 24/7 as they searched for him.

But she also knew that pushing too hard would only hinder the investigation.

There was nothing she could do now but wait.

Outside, the rain was getting heavier and heavier. Thunder rumbled, lightning occasionally split the night sky, and the whole city was soaked in endless rain.

Yu Yan sat curled up on the sofa, hugging her knees, staring at the numbers on the digital clock without moving.

It was already two in the morning, but she wasn’t sleepy at all.

What was He Shuliu doing now?

With the rain this heavy, where would he go?

Where could he go?

For the first time, Yu Yan realized just how agonizing waiting could be.

No. She had to go to He Shuliu’s place again.

Yu Yan had always been decisive.

Once she made up her mind, she got up to grab her umbrella, rummaged through her bag for the key to He Shuliu’s apartment, and put both the key and her phone in her pocket, heading for the entryway.

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

Knock, knock, knock.

The knocking was soft and slow, almost drowned out by the noisy rain.

But Yu Yan heard it.

Her heart tightened, and goosebumps broke out all over her body for no reason.

In the middle of the night, with such heavy rain outside—who could it be?

Property Management? A downstairs neighbor? Or the police?

Yu Yan felt all three were unlikely.

So who else could it be?

Could it be……He Shuliu?

Yu Yan’s heart suddenly started pounding.

She knew this was even less likely than the other possibilities, but besides He Shuliu, she couldn’t think of anyone who would come looking for her at this hour.

She turned on the surveillance camera, trying to see what was happening outside the door.

Unfortunately, the camera was just a gray blur—nothing was visible.

Yu Yan checked the Property Management group chat and realized that internet access in their area had been cut off after ten o’clock due to the heavy rain. The network wouldn’t be restored until the rain stopped.

The knocking came again. Yu Yan hesitated for a few seconds, then turned and went to the kitchen to grab a kitchen knife.

The blade was bright and sharp, reflecting her slightly nervous expression.

No matter who was outside, it was better to be cautious.

Yu Yan gripped the handle tightly and walked to the door, her other hand slowly reaching for the doorknob.

With a click, she carefully opened the door. Light spilled out, illuminating the dim hallway.

Standing outside, in the shadows, was a young man with black hair and black eyes.

He was soaked from head to toe, his bangs messy, rainwater dripping from his clothes and pant legs, pooling in a shallow puddle at his feet.

His face was pale, completely devoid of color. His pupils were pitch black and wet, like still black water, but the moment he saw Yu Yan, they lit up.

“Yanyan.”

A voice as familiar as ever, filled with affection.

Yu Yan’s hand, holding the knife, froze in midair:

He Shuliu?