Vol 1 Chapter 10 (2/2)
“I’ll be going home and the journey will take about three hours. Will you be sending me off?” Mai Ding persisted.
“We’ll see.”
“What do you have to do?”
“Many things.”
“Is there anything more important than me?”
“Yes. There are many.”
F--
For one whole day, Mai Ding did not really ask what he wanted to ask An Ziyan. Once it was night, Mai Ding realized that if he did not ask An Ziyan, it might be too late. At this point, he was in An Ziyan’s room using the computer. He carried the chair that he was sitting on and placed in front of An Ziyan. “There is something I need to ask you. What is going to happen to your girlfriend?”
“What about her?” An Ziyan knew what was on Mai Ding’s mind but he wanted him to say it directly to him.
“What do you mean ‘what about her’? You agreed to be with me and we need to come to an understanding. We can’t just have this relations.h.i.+p behind her back. You are not a man if you do this to her.”
“You don’t have the right to say that to me.”
“Furthermore, if you are intending to two-time her, I would rather give you up. My love for you is not that cheap.”
“Are you telling the truth?” An Ziyan could see how serious Mai Ding was.
“Yes. I want all the love you can give me.” Mai Ding was feeling a little shy. He was not used to the idea of sharing his innermost feelings with other people.
“Because… You can’t be shared.”
An Ziyan was stunned by his honesty for a while. Then slowly, he took his phone out, dialed his girlfriend who was in the States, and even put it on speaker mode.
Mai Ding was surprised yet secretly pleased by An Ziyan’s reaction. Softly he whispered, “If she asks who’s the third party, please don’t mention by name. What if she flies into a rage and comes back to China? You know, like those villainous women on TV? I’ll be dead! There's nothing scarier than a woman in rage.”
An Ziyan rolled his eyes.
A woman picked up. “Wow. To what do I owe this call from, my hubby? Is it possible that you actually miss me?” The woman’s voice was sweet and tender.
“Stop being disgusting.”
“How am I disgusting, you heartless moron? I’ve been in the States for so long and I can barely count the number of times that you’ve called me.”
Mai Ding felt a little vindicated that An Ziyan treated his girlfriend in an equally cold and heartless way.
“Xiaosi.”, An Ziyan began. “I want to break up with you. Even though saying it is actually pointless, someone wants me to make this clear to you.” It was bluntly said. Mai Ding was trying to tell him not to be so direct when breaking such news.
“Who is this 'someone'?”
Mai Ding was furiously shaking his head, telling An Ziyan not to mention his name.
“A guy named Mai Ding.” Mai Ding didn’t know what hit him. Everything was in a blur.
One would expect to the girl to cry. Instead, Xiaosi laughed, “Haha. An Ziyan, I never expected you to be in this situation. You are actually being controlled by someone, and this someone is actually a guy? Wow.” Her words were caustic. Even the usually cool An Ziyan was feeling irritated to the point that he felt like slamming the phone.
“Shuddup.”
“I’m the victim here and I can’t even say more? Tell your precious Mai Ding to be careful. I could come back to steal you away from him. And before you hang up on me, let me call you 'Hubby' one last time. We have been together for four years after all.”
“f.u.c.k off.”, he said before slamming down the phone.
Mai Ding didn’t expect it to be over so soon. He did not expect An Ziyan to simply break up with his girlfriend. He thought there would be more drama, more tears, more shouting.
“Y-You mean, she has agreed to break up? She herself said that you guys were together for four years. She’s not putting up a fight? And she did not even kick up a fuss when she heard that the other party was a guy. Isn’t she a little too nice about it?”, Mai Ding couldn’t believe how open-minded Xiaosi was.
“If she weren’t nice, how could she be my girlfriend?”, That made sense to Mai Ding. And was he also praising Mai Ding indirectly?
It was later revealed to Mai Ding that Bai Xiaosi and An Ziyan’s families were very close. As a result, the two of them were often forced to be together. Furthermore, both of them hated their parents, and An Ziyan didn’t really hate Bai Xiaosi that much, and because the feeling was somewhat mutual, they decided to be together. Was there love in the relations.h.i.+p? There wasn’t, but after so many years, they became good friends.
Mai Ding’s conclusion was that the two of them took things too casually. And to think this relations.h.i.+p lasted for four years!
But Mai Ding decided to let the past be. He wasn’t the sort of person who would get obsessed with it. Let the past be a good memory. After all, An Ziyan was his now.
***
Early next morning, Mai Ding was packed and was ready to go. He ran over to Ziyan’s room, knocking on the door furiously. After a long while, An Ziyan finally opened the door. Without saying a single word to Mai Ding, An Ziyan went back to sleep.
“My dear cla.s.smate, I am about to leave. Won’t you be sending me off?”
“What’s there to send?” An Ziyan replied, sleepily.
“Get up quickly! If you don’t send me off, I won’t go.” His words were futile. He had to literally drag An Ziyan out of the bed, and even though An Ziyan was grumbling, he still obediently put on his clothes, and sent his new guy to the bus stop. When the bus arrived, Mai Ding didn’t care that there were many people at the bs stop. He hugged An Ziyan tightly before rus.h.i.+ng up the bus; his cheeks were all red.
When the bus started to move off, Mai Ding remembered something and frantically stuck his head out of the window, shouting, “What’s your mobile number? I don’t have it.”
“Are you trying to f.u.c.king kill yourself? Get back in!”. No one could blame An Ziyan for shouting at Mai Ding. It was something dangerous and on this road the traffic could get very busy.
Mai Ding returned to his seat. Looking at his phone, he wondered sadly: What’s the point of having this phone when he couldn’t call the person he truly loves?
----
To be continued...
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