Chapter 348: But I Love You (1/2)

“Lu Chen…”

Lin Yixin buried her face in my neck before calling out to me.

“Hmm?” I asked, “What’s wrong?”

“About He Yi…” Lin Yixin hesitated for a second before straightening herself and staring at me directly. She bit her lips before asking, “Is she really that important to you?”

“I…” Her question caught me off-guard, but I nodded. “Yeah. After everything we went through, I swore that I would never let her down again for as long as I live.”

“Even if it costs you your life?” Lin Yixin said a bit angrily and tearfully. Her eyes were glowing with a kind of emotion that I couldn’t understand.

“At the cost of my own life, huh…”

I avoided her gaze and looked away. At this point, I didn’t know what I was feeling myself.

Her tears finally burst out in full force, and she hugged me and buried her face deep into my neck. Very soon, a wet sensation started spreading on my shoulder.

Maybe it was because of the alcohol, but I almost couldn’t believe that the calm and courageous Lin Yixin could have a moment like this.

The only thing I could do was return her hug with a bit of trepidation. A while later, Lin Yixin let out a whiny noise before pushing me away from her. Then, she said quietly, “I’m tired. I want to go back now…”

Subconsciously, I felt like she knew something that she shouldn’t know. I hurriedly grabbed onto her hand and asked her, “What do you know, Yiyi?”

“Nothing.”

“But…”

“No buts.” Lin Yixin faced toward me, her face still covered in tear stains. She looked like she was choosing her words carefully as she wiped away her tears. “I know I can’t change the past, but I… I… I still have a life ahead of me, and this is all there is between us, isn’t it?”

“Seriously, Yiyi, what’s wrong?”

“Stop asking!” Lin Yixin said a bit angrily before looking at me. “What… what are we, really? Have you ever wondered what I am to you? Why must I give up the War Holy Temple for you? Why should I accommodate you? Why should I be the one to suffer for your sake...”

I grabbed her hand again. “But…”

“But what? You’re a bastard, you know that?” Lin Yixin glared at me like an angry little lioness.

The words slipped out of my mouth. “But I love you…”

“You!” She burst into tears again and shivered from head to toe. “Is that true?”

“No!”

“You bastard!” Lin Yixin embraced me again in tears and laughter. She actually bit me multiple times on the shoulder so hard that it almost bled, but I endured the pain and continued holding her in my arms.

The trepidation in my heart was growing as I replayed her words in my mind. She was right. What are we, really? Why did I blurt out and said that I loved her? If I really do love her, then what are my feelings for He Yi supposed to be? Loyalty, or love as well?

……

A long time later, Lin Yixin finally got tired of crying and pushed me away again. She stared at me with reddened eyes and asked, “Do you think we’re friends, Lu Chen?”

I nodded. “Mn, I believe we are.”

“What type of friends are we?”

“The kind that are very, very close to each other.”

“Mn.”

It looked like she was satisfied with my answer. She checked the time and said, “We should go, it’s almost 11. Take me home, Lu Chen.”

“Okay!”

When we stepped out of the door, and the cold wind brushed past my skin, I felt as if it were a lifetime ago. Beside me, Lin Yixin had returned to her calm and collected self—the campus belle, the Fruit Knife Goddess—although she broke out her shell temporarily to laugh at me after I scratched my car twice in the process of reversing my car out of the parking spot.

I drove very, very slowly as we made way toward the university campus. On the way, Lin Yixin pursed her lips and asked me, “Let’s level together tomorrow morning, okay?”

“Sure. But promise me you won’t be late…”

“OMG, when was I ever late?”

“Every single time, dammit!”

“Hmph. Get back home and sleep early. If I don’t see you in the game at 9 am tomorrow you’re dead!”

“I got it, I got it!”

I waved my hand. We finally reached the female dorm, and Lin Yixin went back upstairs. Clear Perfume shouted at me from the third floor, “Fuck, took you long enough to give back our Yiyi, Lu Chen!”

I curled my lips, but Lin Yixin looked back and smiled at me. “Be careful on the road.”

“Mn.”

……

It was time to go back to Frost Cloud workshop.

My phone rang without warning. I took a look and was surprised to see that it was He Yi. An international call?

After the call connected, He Yi’s sweet voice entered my ears. “Hey, Lu Chen. How are you doing?”