After the Breakup, the Possessive Heiress Regretted It - Chapter 33

Chapter 33: This longing Began at That Moment.

Coincidentally, Wen Su also really wanted to understand the past between this person and Xiaomian.

Since they ran into each other directly, she couldn’t let this opportunity slip away.

“Are you here for the umbrella? The umbrella is at Xiaomian’s house, but…” Wen Su paused, looked at Pei Jinyue, and continued, “I don’t think you’d be that petty.”

During their face-to-face conversation, Wen Su could tell that the person in front of her surely came from an extraordinary background. Her every move and gesture indeed carried the air of a rich young woman.

She figured she wouldn’t have come specifically for an umbrella.

“You guessed wrong, I actually am quite petty, but not for that umbrella,” Pei Jinyue said with a smile, “I just feel that some things that should belong to me will ultimately belong to me.”

Wen Su frowned, feeling that Pei Jinyue’s thoughts were profound and couldn’t be guessed just by looking at the surface.

At first listen, it seemed like a casual joke, but upon closer thought, the latter half was full of confident determination.

Moreover, while this sentence might mean nothing to others, when spoken to Wen Su, it seemed to carry a hint of provocation or warning.

If it were about anything else, Wen Su might have avoided trouble and simply backed down, but when it came to Ji Wanmian, she still wanted to fight for herself.

“Sometimes, what you think belongs to you might just be wishful thinking,” Wen Su replied politely and calmly, completely unfazed by Pei Jinyue’s imposing demeanor.

Pei Jinyue’s smile faded, and she said coldly, “You won’t get Xiaomian.”

Wen Su spread her hands and replied, “Compared to me, your chances are actually even smaller.”

“I’ve known Xiaomian for many years,” Pei Jinyue said, sounding somewhat anxious, “She was very happy when we were together before, happier than now. It was me who didn’t realize my feelings back then, that’s why…”

“Miss Pei, life isn’t a TV drama. No one really has the patience to listen to your long monologue,” Wen Su heard a message notification on her phone in her bag, looked down at it, and casually said, “My cousin told me to go home and cook. See you if fate allows.”

Pei Jinyue said indignantly, “You!”

Wen Su didn’t intend to bother with her, but halfway there, she stopped and didn’t forget to add, “I knew Xiaomian since high school.”

With that, she left without looking back.

Leaving Pei Jinyue alone to fume in the cold wind.

Although, in terms of this conversation, Wen Su did seem to have the upper hand, she actually wasn’t sure what the future held. Her quick departure was merely to cover up her lingering guilt after having delivered such harsh words.

She had thought three years of companionship would be enough to make Ji Wanmian see her true feelings, but today she realized that Xiaomian had indeed seen them, but just didn’t want to face them.

Wen Su wasn’t in a hurry. If worst came to worst, she’d accompany Xiaomian for another three years. If three years wasn’t enough, she could do it for a lifetime.

But then Pei Jinyue appeared.

She had intended to listen to Pei Jinyue describe her past with Xiaomian, but when she actually heard their past moments from Pei Jinyue’s mouth, the bitter ache that welled up in her heart was unbearable. Coincidentally, her phone rang, providing a reason to leave.

Wen Su looked up at the sky, still overcast, as if nothing had changed.

Yet, it also seemed as if everything was changing.

Upon returning home, Wen Su carefully took out the paintings from her bag. Fearing they might get wet from rainwater blowing off trees, she had borrowed a backpack from Ji Wanmian and protected them with a document folder, ensuring they wouldn’t wrinkle before zipping up the backpack.

At that time, Ji Wanmian even laughed at her: “These papers were just torn from anywhere, no need to be so careful.”

How could she not value them?

Even if it was just a casual drawing by Xiaomian, it deserved to be carefully cherished and preserved by her for a lifetime.

“Big Cousin, you’re back so early! I remember I just told you I was home from school, no need to rush back so quickly,” Lin Qiqi heard the commotion and walked over. Seeing what Wen Su had in her hand, she peeked her little head in. “Wow, Pretty Sister gave Big Cousin another painting!”

Wen Su relaxed with a chuckle, ruffled Lin Qiqi’s hair, and said, “How do you know it’s from Pretty Sister again?”

Lin Qiqi pouted and said, “Please, you’ve put Pretty Sister’s paintings almost everywhere in the house. I practically know her art style by now!”

Wen Su, looking for three picture frames, asked, “I haven’t even taken you to meet her, so why do you have such a good impression of her?”

Lin Qiqi also followed behind Wen Su and replied, “Because you like her very much.”

Wen Su’s hand, holding the picture frame, trembled, almost losing her grip.

Lin Qiqi added, “Since you like your friend so much, of course I have a good impression of her too.”

Wen Su sighed in relief, patted Lin Qiqi’s head again, and said, “You child, how do you know everything?”

Lin Qiqi covered her head, mumbling, “Big Cousin, if you keep doing this, I won’t grow taller.”

Wen Su smiled and said, “Sorry about that. I’ll put the paintings away, and then I’ll make you something delicious.”

“That’s not bad,” Lin Qiqi nodded, satisfied with the compensation.

Wen Su held the picture frames, hesitated for a moment, and then walked into the room, deciding to place them alongside that black and white sketch.

She stood in front of the sketch, and in a trance, she seemed to return to her first year of high school.

At that time, she was still very introverted. Sitting beside Xiaomian, the only time she mustered up the courage was to praise her drawing as beautiful.

She remembered that day Xiaomian’s eyes were sparkling, and she excitedly said she wanted to give her that painting.

Counting it up, twelve years had passed.

It was perfectly normal for Xiaomian to forget what the painting was about.

But Wen Su would never forget. Even if she hadn’t received that painting that day, she would never forget Xiaomian smilingly telling her—

“This is me, painted by me. Do you think it’s pretty? I want to be a cartoonist in the future, I think that kind of life is so cool.”

Beautiful.

The painting was beautiful, and the person was beautiful too.

“Big Cousin, what are you thinking about?” Lin Qiqi asked, standing at the doorway.

Of course, she was thinking about the pretty sister.

But she couldn’t tell the child these things for now.

Wen Su smiled, just about to make up some random reply to Lin Qiqi, when her phone rang. She picked it up and looked, her heart trembling, the smile slowly disappearing from her face.

She took out her phone with a trembling hand. Before answering, her gaze fell once again on the paintings.

The story in the paintings was not yet over.

But in that instant, the worst possible ending flashed through her mind.

She used to never know how to describe this adoration.

After answering the phone, she finally understood that perhaps this was meant to be an endless longing.

On the other side, Ji Wanmian sneezed.

The drawing pen almost slipped from her hand and fell to the floor.

Could it be that she caught a cold from the slight rain earlier?

She just wanted to get up and grab a tissue to wipe her nose, but before she was fully upright, her neck and back were already aching faintly. It felt extremely uncomfortable to move even a little, and her eyes were dry and painful, making it a bit difficult to see clearly.

This job is truly torturous, Ji Wanmian looked at the fallen hair on her desk and couldn’t help but sigh to the heavens—who’s childhood dream was it to become a cartoonist anyway?

Ji Wanmian temporarily put down her brush, stood up to stretch her limbs, and replied to some messages.

As she was replying to messages, she “accidentally” opened a video app and “accidentally” scrolled down.

These past two days, it hadn’t pushed any flowers to her. Now, recalling that last nightmare, she couldn’t help but shiver, not even daring to look at the small flowers by the roadside for too long.

After scrolling for a while, nothing caught her attention. Just as she was about to put down her phone, a drawing video popped up.

She stopped and watched the entire video intently.

It was an art vlogger, telling their story through their paintings.

But in a six-minute video, at least five and a half minutes were spent apologizing.

Ji Wanmian initially thought it would be a tear-jerker, but in the end, she laughed out loud, finding one of the female protagonists incredibly cute. Her variety of apologies, including kneeling in apology, made her laugh every time.

She watched the entire video with a smile, feeling it wasn’t enough, so she clicked into the person’s homepage. She opened every video one by one. Although the first half of the story didn’t particularly appeal to Ji Wanmian, the apologies in the latter half were a must-watch.

It was too amusing! Coupled with the vlogger’s username, “Has she forgiven me today?”, she shouldn’t even be called an art vlogger. She should just be called an apology vlogger; she might even stand out and carve her own niche.

After watching all the videos, Ji Wanmian didn’t forget to hit “follow,” thinking she’d come back to watch them again when she was feeling down.

Having laughed enough, she resumed her crestfallen expression and sat back down at her desk to prepare for work. But as she picked up her brush, she suddenly remembered her promise to Wen Su. Since most of her work was done for the day, why not paint a picture for Wen Su?

She looked up at the ceiling, spinning in her chair, pondering how to paint the almost perfectly well-rounded Little Wen Su.

She couldn’t paint before because she was worried. Since Wen Su herself said any way was fine, she decided to let her imagination run wild, painting what she envisioned in her heart.

With skilled strokes, Ji Wanmian quickly sketched out a draft: a girl constantly running forward.

The Wen Su in her mind was someone who ran hard, who would never stop.

Actually, after picking her up at the train station, she had already guessed that the very good car was bought by Wen Su herself.

After three years of interacting, she had long known that the current Wen Su was no longer the introverted girl with limited means from before. She was an independent and decisive career woman of talent and capability.

Wen Su was the most emotionally stable person she had ever met. It seemed that any major hardship would quickly pass in front of her, and she would not allow herself to become pessimistic.

Ji Wanmian felt a bit thirsty while painting, so she poured a glass of water and placed it nearby.

When she brought it over, a single drop of water remaining on the rim of the glass happened to fall onto the painting, spreading into a blur.

Ji Wanmian quickly moved the water glass to the other side, held up the painting, and examined it in the light.

Oh, why did this drop of water land right on the cheek of the girl in the painting, looking very much like a large tear falling from Wen Su’s eye?

Ji Wanmian painfully tossed this discarded draft aside, took out a brand new sheet of paper, and continued to draw according to her original concept.

Because she believed that Wen Su would not cry, and that even the most difficult things would pass.

She wouldn’t cry.

She shouldn’t cry, right?

She could only hope that she wouldn’t be sad in the future.

No matter how much Ji Wanmian tried to fool herself, she knew very well what she truly felt inside.

She didn’t think Wen Su wouldn’t cry, but rather that she was afraid of Wen Su being sad. She truly couldn’t bear to see a look of disappointment on Wen Su’s face.

Wen Su was so good to her, trusting her, caring for her, looking after her, accompanying her.

Not family, but better than family.

But she also didn’t want to keep playing dumb. This self-deception of three years should have ended long ago.

Was Wen Su’s kindness towards her truly just friendship?

Ji Wanmian didn’t believe it.

She could tell that Wen Su likely liked her.

Only with love would someone willingly give so much to a person with no bl00d relation, would they be willing to spend so much time accompanying them, and would they say that phrase, like a confession, “I will be willing to believe anything you say.”

But Ji Wanmian had always been afraid to confirm this, even hoping that it was all just her overthinking.

Because she knew very well that she didn’t love Wen Su.

She had never felt that kind of emotion for Wen Su; in other words, she had not felt the same way she felt when she liked Pei Jinyue.

That feeling was incredibly tormenting, yet unforgettable.

Unable to sleep tormented by not seeing her, overjoyed by merely a distant glance—she only felt this way about Pei Jinyue.

Even though she hated Pei Jinyue immensely now and didn’t want to see her, she could still identify her feelings for Pei Jinyue. Even her hatred was different from how she felt about others.

This was why, even after three years of not meeting, she could instantly recognize Pei Jinyue’s voice, and identify Pei Jinyue just by looking at her eyes through a mask.

Perhaps she would never love Pei Jinyue again.

But she had indeed only loved that one person.

After the last stroke, Ji Wanmian put down her brush and carefully looked at the painting. Although she should have been satisfied with her excellent work this time, she couldn’t bring herself to be happy. A faint sadness inevitably arose in her heart.

I’m sorry, Little Wen Su.

You’re so excellent, you should fly higher.

Never stay put for someone who isn’t worth it.

Ji Wanmian sighed, picked up her phone, typed a line of text in the chat box, and then silently deleted it.

She agonized for a long time, still unsure how to subtly tell Wen Su not to waste her time on her, to go and enjoy her own life, to love someone who deserved her love.

Since she didn’t dare to send a message, she might as well just call directly.

Ji Wanmian took a deep breath, finally managing to relax a little. But once the call connected, her voice couldn’t stop trembling.

“Xiaomian, what’s wrong?”

Wen Su’s voice was a little hoarse, but Ji Wanmian at the moment didn’t notice this. Instead, she asked as calmly as possible, “Are you busy?”

Wen Su on the other end of the line replied, “Not busy. Is there something you need me for?”

“I…” Ji Wanmian swallowed, the words she had been holding back for a long time still couldn’t come out. But the call was connected, and she couldn’t just say nothing. As she was feeling utterly helpless, her gaze fell on the painting in front of her, and a flash of inspiration struck, “I painted a picture for you. How about I bring it over myself? I haven’t been to your house yet.”

After saying this, Ji Wanmian slapped her forehead in annoyance for speaking too quickly. She was clearly going to help the other person out of their misery, yet she sounded like a child going to a friend’s house to play.

“Okay,” Wen Su agreed, then added, “I’ll pick you up.”

Wen Su was too kind.

The more she thought this, the more Ji Wanmian felt the need to sever everything completely.

Before, she deliberately avoided thinking about it, and could accept it with a clear conscience. But ever since Pei Jinyue returned, she often recalled the painful time of unrequited love, and thus she didn’t want Wen Su to suffer the same way.

“No need, just send me your location, I can come by myself,” Ji Wanmian said.

“Alright,” Wen Su didn’t argue further, letting Ji Wanmian have her way.

Come on.

It would come eventually.

Might as well face it sooner.

After sending her location, Wen Su calculated Ji Wanmian’s arrival time, then went to each room, removing the picture frames one by one.

Every time she put one down, tears uncontrollably fell.

But she didn’t want her tears to fall on the picture frames, so she could only turn her head and look out the window as she cried.

“Big Cousin…” Lin Qiqi stood at the doorway, took out candy from her bag, and softly said, “This is the reward I got before, I’m giving it all to you. Don’t be sad anymore.”

Wen Su wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes and tried to force a smile. But when she saw the candy in Lin Qiqi’s hand, an uncontrollable wave of sadness surged, almost drowning her.

“Big Cousin, it’s all Second Cousin’s fault, don’t blame yourself.” Lin Qiqi walked into the room, struggled to stand on her tiptoes just to pat Wen Su’s head, hoping to stop her cousin from being sad.

“If you do that…” Wen Su wiped away her tears, feigning a casual tone, “I won’t grow taller.”

“At a time like this, you’re still joking,” Lin Qiqi pouted, but her eyes couldn’t hide her heartache. She murmured, “Why do you have to suffer so much…”

“Alright, what are you thinking, child? I’ll take the candy, okay? The pretty sister you always talk about is coming soon, she likes this candy, so make sure to be in a good mood when you see her.” Wen Su took the candy Lin Qiqi offered, and casually pinched her cheek.

“Are you really okay?” Lin Qiqi didn’t even bother with her pinched face, looking at Wen Su worriedly.

Wen Su smiled and nodded: “I’m fine.”

She was fine.

Hadn’t she gotten through all those hardships and difficulties before?

Many things were already destined, so why wallow in self-pity?

For example, family.

Family seemed like people destined to be entangled in a past life. The bl00d-thick bond of kinship was unbreakable, no matter how hard one tried to avoid it, they would be pulled along by the rope called “family.”

When a child came into this world, no one asked if they were satisfied. But later, when the child broke down in despair because of so-called family, they were bound by these bl00d ties, their legs shackled, with no right to even run.

The hardships she endured, the exhaustion she suffered, were indeed trivial.

But the love she received was even scarcer.

She never felt pessimistic because her family background wasn’t good. From a young age, she was hardworking and diligent, obedient and sensible, working tirelessly, just wanting to ease her mother’s burden, wanting her mother to also cherish her.

She indeed had a mother who loved her children.

But she loved her younger brother.

Favoritism causes pain.

Just as she hesitated whether to even ask for a new piece of clothing, she came home to see her younger brother’s new game console.

People weren’t born introverted and sensitive, afraid to talk to new classmates. It was because from a young age, she didn’t know how to get along with friends, how to open up and accept others’ kindness.

As she grew older, Wen Su slowly closed off her heart, not wanting to communicate with anyone.

But then, suddenly, someone walked into her heart.

This longing began at that moment.

Wen Su unwrapped a piece of candy and put it in her mouth.

Why was this candy so bitter?