After the An family left Lu Feiran and Gong Yijun alone to close their shop while Shen Yi waited outside, Lu Xinyi sat and waited for Gong Yijun to break the awkward silence between them.
“What do you want to talk about?” The man looked away. After weeks of not seeing Lu Xinyi, she looked better and happier than when she was still his.
“Meng Jiao is dead.” Lu Xinyi lowered her gaze as if her fingers were more interesting to see than the man across her.
“I know… did President Shen…?”
“No,” Lu Xinyi denied the accusation against her husband at once. Even if she hated Meng Jiao for her actions, that didn’t mean she wanted her dead. Shen Yi wouldn’t dare to bother to kill Meng Jiao. It was the Sun family that Meng Jiao offended anyway.
“The Shen family has nothing to do with her death. However, the last person she met that rainy night was Sun Feiyan,” she added.
Gong Yijun closed his eyes. Lu Xinyi had no idea what he was thinking about. Was he mourning over Meng Jiao’s death? Did he regret it now that he cheated on her and took Meng Jiao as his other woman?
“Meng Jiao has paid the price for her sins.” That wasn’t what Lu Xinyi was expecting to hear from her ex-boyfriend. Just what had happened between him and Meng Jiao that his tone was filled with contempt for her?
“I say she deserves it,” Gong Yijun continued.
If he was thinking straight and clear before, he would have seen how Meng Jiao used him against Lu Xinyi. His eyes only torn open when Meng Jiao chose to abort their child and seek her chance to attend Silver Leaf Academy with Lu Xinyi.
“Why…?” Lu Xinyi asked. Why, indeed?
Why had this happened to three of them? The happy memories they shared together seemed almost like a dream for her. She’d always thought that she was lucky to have Meng Jiao as a friend and Gong Yijun as a supportive boyfriend until she found out about their affair.
Gong Yijun smiled bitterly. He also had no idea how did they end this way.
“Tell me, when did your affair start? I refuse to believe that it was the first time you slept with her.” Lu Xinyi confronted him.
Gong Yijun lifted his head up to see a glimpse of Lu Xinyi’s face. Her eyes reminded him of the day he fell in love with her.
Yes, he really loved her before. It took him a long time before he was able to make Lu Xinyi agree to become his girlfriend.
However, this girl was blank as a sheet of paper. She knew nothing about intimacy or love. Lu Xinyi had spent most of her time with her several jobs to support herself financially, and that put a strain on their seven long years of relationship.
“A month after we celebrated our second anniversary,” he admitted.
Lu Xinyi blinked twice and rendered speechless. She had no idea that for all that seven years, five years had also been shared with Meng Jiao. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
“Why?” She needed to know why. Why, of all people, did he choose to have an affair with her best friend?
“Because it was Meng Jiao who confessed her love for me. She told me it hurt her to see me with you, knowing you don’t reciprocate the feelings I have for you. She insisted on becoming my other woman, knowing that it was unfair for the two of you.”
“You’re telling me this is all my fault?” Her brows drew together.
So she was partly responsible for his actions?
Yeah, maybe she was partly at fault for it. If she had known that Meng Jiao was pining after him, she wouldn’t have accepted his confession of love. Maybe if she had chosen the other path, she wouldn’t lose Meng Jiao this way.
However, that would also mean that she wouldn’t have had a chance to encounter Shen Yi on that cruise. No. Lu Xinyi shook her head. If there was something in her life she would never regret, that would be meeting and marrying Shen Yi.
“Xinyi, you have to admit we all have contributed something to this mess.”
“Then why did you still keep me even if you have Meng Jiao with you?” she asked bitterly. The two played her heart well. Not only they ruined their relationship but also her ability to trust people around her.
“I did love you, Xinyi. That was a fact, but as time passed, I started to develop feelings for Meng Jiao. She was there for me when you aren’t, always ready to listen to me when I need help… Xinxin, in our seven years of relationship, you never opened to me like you do with President Shen.” The man chuckled amusedly.
Lu Xinyi had only known Shen Yi for a week and yet married him in a heartbeat while he took painstaking weeks and months just to get her approval. How laughable his situation was.
“You spend most of the time at work. Only going back to our shared apartment to take a nap before going to your next job. Do you know how frustrating it was to see you? I felt cheated, Xinyi…” He paused as he tried to gauge her reaction.
“If it wasn’t for the fact that you are the third miss of the Sun family and have your father’s recipe books, I wouldn’t have stayed too long with you.”
If Gong Yijun had told her these before meeting Shen Yi, Lu Xinyi was sure she’d be crying in a mess. Only keeping her because of the gain they could get from her? Ah, he and Meng Jiao had really played her well for a long time!
She knew she’d never been a good girlfriend for him, but that didn’t give them the right to abuse her! He kept him because he was hoping she’d, one day, rekindled with the Sun family and gain social connections through her? Gong Yijun was really an ambitious bastard!
“Tell me, Xinyi. For the past seven years we’ve been together, have you come to love me? Or did you also keep me for your own advantage, too?” It was now Gong Yijun’s turn to ask.
Lu Xinyi was startled by his question, but her face never showed her reaction as it remained impassive. There was a moment of silence between them before she answered him truthfully. He was finally clearing up the things between them, it was only appropriate for her to answer him.
“I never loved you.” It came out almost like a whisper, but Gong Yijun was able to hear it clearly.
As if ashamed of what she said, Lu Xinyi avoided his eyes and looked somewhere else. She never knew what love was until she met Shen Yi. They were married for about half a year now, and she couldn’t find it in herself to regret being with him.
She was ashamed though, realizing that she also used Gong Yijun for the longest time they’d been together. Seven long years with one’s partner and not once did they share intimacy except for some stolen kisses between them.
Gong Yijun chuckled on her answer. He’d long expected this from her.
“How cruel of you, Madam Shen.”
