Chapter 170 - Rejection Before Confession (1/2)

His face was marred in utter bewilderment as he saw her crying. ”Xinyi, what happened?”

Zhiyuan anxiously tried to reach her, extending his hand to hold her face. But instead, Xinyi instinctively took a step back in horror. She was scared. She was afraid. That memory washed away every last bit of the joy and happiness that had warmed her heart into bliss.

Zhiyuan's hand froze in mid-air.

Why...why is she crying? D-Did I do something wrong? But wasn't everything going fine…

”Xinyi…”

She shut her eyes and covered her ears, not wanting to hear his voice. Her soft sobs filled the air that was once filled with sounds of their passion.

Her reaction crushed his heart as if somebody tightly slapped him.

”Xinyi p-please...stop crying,” his heart was racing in fear. Even though he wanted to console her, he didn't know how, and he couldn't understand what caused her to cry in the first place. She wasn't letting him step near her either.

”Please…” Xinyi's heartbroken voice fumbled. ”I don't want this…”

Zhiyuan blankly stared at her. Her words that fell upon his ears shook him hard.

”W-what?” He choked. His stammering voice couldn't hide the shock and pain from her sudden rejection.

”No...I don't want this…” she cried hard. Drops of tears stained the floor with her hurt and ache that twisted her heart. ”Don't say anything I beg you…”

Don't want this…

Her words replayed in his mind endlessly and somehow, even though he grasped its meaning, he was afraid to accept it. He was just about to confess his love when she pushed him back with all her force. He gazed at her and her small figure shrunk as she hugged herself. She was shaking as if she was going through a nightmare. A sense of grief filled her eyes as she collapsed on her knees.

A self-deprecating smile graced his lips and he felt the surroundings turn bleary. Tears stung his eyes and they plopped down his cheeks.

Ah...I see…

She doesn't want this…Us...she doesn't want us…

Rejection.

That was what it was. She had rejected him. Perhaps, she knew what he wanted to say to her. So, she pushed him away.

He was so close to making her his. But, it turned out that he wasn't close to her at all.

It was all my imagination…

He felt that the distance between them was genuinely lessening. He thought that she was just within his reach. But, it was all a fragment of his imagination.

She was always far away from him. But, he misunderstood his place in her heart.

This feeling…What was this feeling that had completely crumbled his heart into smithereens? It was suffocating and so extremely agonizing.

Why did I assume that she might be having feelings for me too? I am so stupid. When did I become so arrogant? Just because... just because we spent seven years together, did that mean that she was obligated to have feelings for me?