“Does there have to be someone else between us?”
The last time she resolved to end things, Jiang Mian finally asked the question that had weighed on her heart for years.
All she got was silence.
Over ten years of breaking up and getting back together, Jiang Mian had done countless things that anyone would call awful.
At a gathering with friends, she left An Rou behind and went home alone.
When they fought and broke up, her words hurt a hundred times more than An Rou's.
When An Rou was sick and on an IV drip, someone else took her to the hospital.
She was exhausted, but she didn't think she was in the wrong.
No one could tolerate a third person in a relationship, not even if An Rou called her a “soulmate.”
*
Jiang Mian and An Rou met in high school.
Back then, Jiang Mian was a problem student. An Rou understood her, accepted her, and stood by her without hesitation.
When An Rou wanted to paint, Jiang Mian would keep her company in the studio all night.
They held hands as they slept in the same bed. Jiang Mian saved up to buy An Rou birthday presents, and An Rou took her to the far north to see the aurora.
Later, An Rou met Yu Zhao.
“She’s my muse, the source of my inspiration,” she said, her eyes shining with a light Jiang Mian had never seen before.
It was even more beautiful than the aurora they had seen that year.
*
What does the most perfectly matched couple you’ve ever seen look like?
At the International Modeling Competition, Yu Zhao, a newcomer who had debuted just two years earlier, rose above the rest. She shone on the awards stage, and her acceptance speech brought the audience to tears.
“If it weren’t for An Rou, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”
An Rou was her figure model. She gave Yu Zhao the courage to stand onstage. In the eyes of the whole world, they were made for each other.
The moment the two of them held hands, Jiang Mian turned off the TV.
It was a scene she had imagined countless times.
They had once shared that kind of understanding, too.
But the person by An Rou’s side would never be her again.
*
Surgeon (Jiang Mian) X genius painter (An Rou). Extreme rationality X romanticism.
Realistic fiction, undecided ending.
2023/3/27
Theme: At every stage of life, different people will be there to accompany us.
The Green Tea Stand-In
Forced Landing (Aviation Rescue)
No Defying Your Superior! (GL)
Substitute Lover [GL]
Moonlight Like You (GL)
She Owes Me 50 Bucks and Won't Pay Me Back
Moonlight Rose: Republican Era
Clouds and Mud [Entertainment Industry]
The Concert at the End of the Century
After the Breakup, I Got Hooked by a Scheming Student
Silent Tsunami