Itâs like the act of plagiarismâ I stole your work and wrote my name over it. Once you found out about it and you wanted to publicise the fact, I ended up yelling at you for not being âempathetic and understandingâ. You gave in and terminated our friendship, but you didnât want to reclaim your work from me either.
After a while, I fell out with the publishing house because of you. Now that I plan to make things public,you should forgive me because Iâm making sacrifices. Youâve been through the hurt, the pain and the sadness already, so are they trying to make you shed a few tears of gratitude now that theyâre âtryingâ?â
Xu Xinduo kind of wanted to cry. She felt her eyes starting to heat up and murmured in a particularly soft voice, âIf I hadnât returned, would they have not turned out like this? Would they have been happy? I feel like a broomstick star(1)â¦â
(T/N: refers to someone who brings about bad luck. Brooms are used to clean and collect the dust, so likewise, the term refers to someone being the âbroomâ and causing misfortune)
âWhy are you feeling guilty? Donât you think itâs better if that kind of marriage ends?â
âIn the eyes of others, Iâm the one whoâs always weary and brooding right? Iâm the one who canât forget the negative things that happened right? Maybe I can make a move to push things in the right direction?â
âThey werenât the ones who experienced this pain. Every single one of them is better at speaking slanderous words than the other, but maybe they should try to experience the same damn things before trying to convince others to be slightly more empathetic.â
Xu Xinduo was caught in a dilemma, âShould I go to see her?â
âSince you came here to ask me that, Iâm guessing that youâre getting soft-hearted?â
She didnât answer him and submitted to the loud silence.
Tong Yan looked at Xu Xinduo and sighed before he walked over and hugged her. He stated, âIâm very angry because I saw you go through all those horrendous experiences and I know what sort of pain youâre dealing withâ thatâs the reason why Iâm angry. I donât want you to forgive them, nor do I want you to have any sort of relation with them. But youâre differentâ you have always lacked this sort of harsh expression, after all. If⦠if you think that there is a sliver of a chance in forgiving them, then maybe you can try it once.â
Xu Xinduo leaned into Tong Yanâs arms and hugged him tightly.
Tong Yan continued to comfort her, âItâs okay. At any rate, thereâs me and Grandma with you. Iâll always be by your sideâ whatever they cannot give you, I will provide.â
Xu Xinduo felt a lot better, calming down efficiently after Tong Yanâs encouragement and consoling.
She decided to give her a visit and take it as her final attempt at getting along with her real family. That way, she wouldnât feel burdened by it in the future had she not tried.
After making her decision, she pushed Tong Yan away and was preparing to leave. However, she was stopped by him, âWhat are you doing?â
âIâm going home.â
âItâs this late and youâre going home now? Just stay here with me.â
Xu Xinduo looked at his bed that had a width of no more than 1.5 metres. It was kind of cramped for two, wasnât it?
Moreover, staying overnight with Tong Yan?
How could that be possible?
Tong Yan suddenly whispered, âItâs my first time living in the dormitory, so Iâm kind of scaredâ¦â
Xu Xinduo watched Tong Yan for a while before she took out her mobile phone and sent a voice message to Wei Lan,âWei Lan, Tong Yan said heâs afraid of living in the dormitory alone. Can you come and stay with him for a few days?â