PEERLESS GENIUS SYSTEM I

Chapter 133: Everything has changed

Xiao Luo walked towards where Zhao Mengqi lay, tucked in her bed, asleep. He couldn’t tell if she was in deep slumber. He peered at her face from where he stood, and she appeared pale in the dim-lit room. There was a look of casual indifference on his face, a look that hardly conveyed how much she used to mean to him.

Did he resent her?

To be honest, for a time, he felt bitter. He just couldn’t believe it happened. He kept running it through his mind endlessly. Then the accident happened. That certainly jolted him back to his senses, a new perspective, if you like. He couldn’t keep clinging on to past events that he had no control over. It was time to let go. Perhaps the specter of death does that to a man – it removed the clutter and helped him to see life as it was.

Fate always plays a fickle hand in matters of love. For some people, it’s like two ships passing in the night, while others it may blossom into lasting relationships, only to break apart at the first signs of trouble. Such things have a way of making one grow up. It makes them stronger in the end.

“You’re Xiao Lou, aren’t you?” a voice came from behind him. It startled him somewhat, he wasn’t expecting anyone else. But, he kept his composure, turning towards the direction of the voice. It was Zhao Mingqe’s roommate. She recognized him immediately as Mengqi’s ex-boyfriend. “Her condition deteriorated about half a month ago. When she gets back from work, she’ll be sitting at the table in a daze most of the time. Sometimes she even cries to herself.” She felt compelled to fill him in with the details, her wavy hair framing her exaggerated expression of compassion. Without letting up, she chipped in, “Do you know, she said she was so silly to abandon a good man like you. You are so loving and always doting on her.” As Zhao Mengqi’s roommate, she felt duty-bound to bring the pair back together again, and she was doing so with such high drama!

Xiao Luo stood facing the woman, hands casually in his pockets. He kept a kindly composure, but his face showed no emotions, in a deadpan kind of way. He turned slightly, tilting his head towards Mengqi, and spoke gently, almost to himself, “It’s not too late to start over. Find the love you’re looking for.” He sighed quietly before he continued, “Two months is not a long time to find out a man’s true character, please forget about me.”

Zhao Mengqi stirred as she sensed a familiar presence, but she could barely open her eyes. It took a while to find her focus, then a glow returned to her cheeks. She spoke faintly, “Is this a dream? It’s such a beautiful dream…” she trailed off without completing her sentence.

She shut both her eyes tightly, as if not wanting her dream to end. She thought she was hallucinating. Was that Xiao Luo standing next to her?

“Mengqi, this is not a dream, open your eyes, it’s Xiao Luo. He is here.” The woman had suddenly positioned herself between the two, voluntarily taking on the role of peacemaker.

“Really?”

She was incredulous, and said to her friend in an almost pleading tone, “Don’t you lie to me, Linger.” As tears rolled down her cheeks, she sobbed, “Even if it’s a dream, it’ll be enough for me. Luo, I’m so sorry for leaving you. I’m so sorry…”

At a loss of what to do, she kept her eyes shut, not wanting to know if this was all a dream at all. She just didn’t have the courage to Xiao Luo again.

“You don’t have to be sorry, you just chose your own life and we don’t owe each other anything. I’m here today as your classmate, and I’m asking you to live your life as how you wanted to. As how you should. Have courage.”

“Luo, thank you. You are right. I was naïve and I didn’t cherish what I had. It’s too late for regrets now.” Her voice breaking, she poured out her feelings openly, “If I could start all over again, I’d hold you tight and never let you go again.”