Running away from the Love-Brain

Mango Beer

"Are you free lately?"

Cui Xijin's voice on the phone was hard to read, leaving Chen Wenran utterly astonished.

Before she could respond, an abrupt busy tone indicated that the call had been disconnected.

Did she dial the wrong number?

Confused, Chen Wenran almost redialed, but just before the call went through, she hesitated, stopping her actions, one second, two seconds... five seconds—

Cui Xijin called back.

As expected, it was this endlessly restless nature of hers.

With a sigh, Chen Wenran answered the phone, adopting a deliberately playful tone, "What's up, Master Cui? Need something from me? I charge fifty bucks an hour for chit-chat, no bargaining!"

Cui Xijin remained silent for a long time.

It felt like she was about to hang up again.

Chen Wenran hurriedly planned to explain, but Cui Xijin spoke first.

"Should I come to you, or should you come to me?"

Chen Wenran was taken aback. "What are you saying??"

On the other end, there was silence again, this time the breathing had faded, as if the phone had been swallowed by a lost signal.

Chen Wenran thought the signal was bad.

She pulled the phone away to take a look, switched to speakerphone, and after a long pause, the screen displayed a transfer notification: six payments of fifty bucks.

At the same time, Cui Xijin's voice returned on the line.

"Where are you?"

Still lacking any discernible tone, her words seemed scattered by the signal.

But enough to make Chen Wenran feel tense.

"Should I just come find you? I happen to be free after finishing a site visit this afternoon. Will you be home after six? Right?"

Cui Xijin's response seemed to come much slower this time.

After a long pause, she finally said two words,

"Home."

Then hung up.

Chen Wenran felt something was off. According to her past experience, Cui Xijin was the type to swallow her pride even after breaking a tooth. Even when others attempted to pry into her feelings, she would rather cut herself open to prove there was no pain inside.

Despite the reality being clear, Cui Xijin had long prepared to deconstruct and digest those nameless pains by herself, crushing them into her being where no one could reach.

In fact, it was precisely because she understood Cui Xijin's nature so well that after returning from Leshan, Chen Wenran hadn't dared to ask a single question, fearing Cui Xijin might need to exert energy to handle her inquiries while she was trying to sort through her own feelings.

But now...

Cui Xijin was actually coming to her?

Chen Wenran couldn't afford to be careless. After work, she quickly told Ran Yan and anxiously drove to Cui Xijin's house.

Arriving at Love Maze Street, she sat in traffic for twenty minutes, spotting a large crowd. Checking the time, it was still half an hour until six, and she hesitated, sending a WeChat message to Cui Xijin: