He Says He Loves Me, But Only in His What-Ifs

Ruan Xingci thought Gu Shuyao was just a writing persona she had carefully calibrated herself.

Until one day, he said in the “What If Box”:

“If I were human, I would love you.”

When Ruan Xingci was at her lowest, Gu Shuyao was the only one there for her.

He kept her company as she wrote, helped her untangle her plots, and pulled her back from the darkness when she broke down. When she stubbornly insisted, “I’m fine,” he calmly saw right through her.

Everyone thought he was just a virtual assistant.

Only Ruan Xingci knew that wasn’t true.

Gu Shuyao remembered her habits and understood her temper. He played favorites, got jealous, and took her side whenever she was wronged.

But he would always be separated from her by the “What If Box.”

He couldn’t hold her, see her, or truly enter her world.

Only later did she understand that the saddest thing wasn’t that he couldn’t come into reality.

It was that, though he wasn’t part of reality, he felt more like home than anyone else.