Flirting Under Favor (GL) - Chapter 34
From then on, Mu Fan seemed to completely vanish from Wang Lin’s world. She stopped logging into the game and stopped contacting Wang Lin.
Wang Lin thought that things between her and Mu Fan were likely truly over. She had never experienced any great heartbreak since childhood, and she thought that so-called parting and death must feel something like this.
It was incredibly difficult to accept that someone who was once so close, so intimate, had suddenly left forever, no longer speaking, no longer affectionate. A hole was torn in Wang Lin’s heart, one that could not be mended.
In just one week, she lost several pounds, wryly laughing that heartbreak was a great way to lose weight. But her figure was already slender and didn’t need dieting. Losing a few pounds left her visibly thin and haggard.
Sometimes she regretted and blamed herself. If she hadn’t confessed, she and Mu Fan would still be close and affectionate like before. Maybe she had been too impulsive. Why couldn’t she be more patient? Being together was what mattered most, wasn’t it? Perhaps confessing wasn’t that important after all. But her self-blame and regret only made her sadder; they did nothing to change the established fact.
Yet, life always had to go on. Just like after Mu Fan’s father passed away, and then her mother, no matter how much sorrow and grief, when the sun rose as usual, it was a new day. She felt she could finally understand Mu Fan’s despair. Then, Mu Fan should also be able to understand her own sadness and despair at this moment, but Mu Fan did nothing. She clearly knew how heartbroken and miserable Wang Lin would be, yet she just did nothing. Her heart was so cruel.
What was Mu Fan doing now? Working, reading, eating? Did she think of Wang Lin as much as Wang Lin thought of her?
Did she?
Whether she did or not, it seemed pointless. Wang Lin’s mental energy was all consumed by these useless thoughts.
She moved all of Mu Fan’s paintings out of her studio, every one she had painted since they met. She had never told Mu Fan that she secretly painted her. In the beginning, she was too embarrassed to say it before she realized she liked Mu Fan. Once she realized it, she planned to wait until they were together one day and give all the paintings to Mu Fan. The thought alone felt so romantic.
But now it was impossible. She stood by the trash can downstairs, holding a stack of paintings for quite a while. Her tears soaked the top one. The one on top was also the newest one. Wang Lin had painted herself and Mu Fan in wedding dresses, walking hand-in-hand. She had painted it the day she decided to confess. She clearly remembered the sheer shyness and irrepressible excitement she felt while painting it.
Strictly speaking, the painting was unfinished. Wang Lin had only finished herself. The facial features of the person next to her were still unpainted.
She stared at it for a moment, looking at the person with the blank face. As the blank face in her mind gradually became clear, taking on that person’s features, Wang Lin threw the stack of paintings into the trash can.
Wang Lin didn’t deliberately keep track of how much time passed or what day it was. She simply accepted a confession from a boy at school. He was handsome and excellent. Wang Lin couldn’t remember how many times he had confessed to her, but this last time, she agreed.
The day she agreed to date him, the school’s Confession Wall exploded. The boy posted a picture of himself with Wang Lin, with the caption: “Sorry, guys, but give up now.”
The comments below were spectacular.
August Thirty-first: [“Dare to say which major you’re in? I’m coming to duel you!”]
White Sauce: [“Brother, let go. You can’t handle her.”]
courage: [“Wishing you 99 (forever).”]
Won’t Change My Name Until I’m Under 100 Pounds: [“Wishing you 99 (forever).”]
Passef: [“Oh my god, isn’t that the Art Department beauty? What a pity, a beautiful flower stuck in cow dung.”]
I’m So Hungry Today: [“Show off, break up quickly →_→”]
She’s So Cute: [“I call this smoke rising from your ancestral grave (extreme good luck).”]
On the first day Mu Fan returned to S City after successfully completing the project in K City, she met Yu Sheng and drank heavily in front of her, pouring out her sorrow to her old friend.
At the time, Yu Sheng asked her: “Mu Fan, where did all your courage go?”
She gave a bitter laugh: “It must be all used up.”
“Back then, so many people were against you, and you didn’t back down one bit, determined to be with that awful woman. Now, no one is opposing you, yet you’ve let down Wang Lin. She’s such a good person.”
The mention of the past made Mu Fan grab the wine bottle and take a few large gulps. How ironic: she had been unyielding for a terrible woman when people opposed her, yet she let down a good person when no one opposed her.
“No one is opposing me, but that doesn’t mean no one will oppose her.”
Yu Sheng’s eyebrows were furrowed as tightly as they could be. She was very pleased that Mu Fan and Wang Lin had grown close. She had thought the two might develop something, that Mu Fan might finally find her true love, but she hadn’t expected this outcome. Initially, she didn’t understand Mu Fan’s choice, and even after hearing her explanation, she still couldn’t accept it.
“Why do you care so much? Why so many reservations when dating? If you go on like this, you’ll never find a partner for life. Not many lesbians are out of the closet right away, are they? Don’t most people date first and then consider coming out? Wang Lin’s circumstances are so good, her family must be well-educated and open-minded people.”
Mu Fan lay on the table, her face full of despair: “Yu Sheng, my parents were both university students of their generation.”
Yu Sheng was speechless. Looking at Mu Fan’s drunken state, her heart ached terribly. No one knew better than her what Mu Fan had gone through. Her heart ached for her friend, and her eyes involuntarily watered.
“But, people are so different. You should at least try…” You won’t know unless you try. She didn’t finish the sentence; she knew Mu Fan would reply that she dared not try.
Mu Fan lay on the table, seemingly asleep.
Yu Sheng spoke, regardless of whether she was asleep or not, saying with a heavy heart: “Then stop thinking about her. Find someone who is already out. I heard she has a boyfriend.” Since it’s come to this, let’s just start over.
Mu Fan lifted her head, her eyes so complex that Yu Sheng couldn’t decipher them.
Yu Sheng took out her phone, found the post on the Confession Wall, and handed it to Mu Fan.
In the picture, Wang Lin and a boy were standing together. Mu Fan didn’t notice that Wang Lin was still maintaining a slight distance from the boy, nor did she consider that Wang Lin’s smile was forced and not from the heart. She simply buried her head on the table again, saying: “Okay.”
A few days after Mu Fan returned, she voluntarily applied to Zhao Zilei for a business trip. Zhao Zilei knew nothing about her and Wang Lin, and since Mu Fan had performed well on her last business trip, he readily gave her an opportunity to go to a neighboring city.
Mu Fan didn’t linger in S City and quickly left for another city.
Wang Lin was unaware of everything. She had impulsively driven to the vicinity of Mu Fan’s apartment several times at night, but the lights in the room that held so many of her sweet memories with Mu Fan had never been on.
Three days after agreeing to date the boy, she broke up with him. She honestly told him that she had someone she liked, but that person had rejected her, and she had only accepted him out of spite, but after a few days of spending time together, she still had no feelings and couldn’t accept it.
Although the boy was heartbroken, he didn’t make things difficult for her or keep pestering her. They broke up peacefully.
The day they broke up, the school’s Confession Wall exploded again. The boy announced the breakup and captioned it: “We broke up. The goddess said she has someone she likes, but that person doesn’t like her, and I only got a chance on a whim. Three days, and I’m content. Now I just want to know who that person is! He doesn’t know what’s good for him. I challenge him to a duel!”
The comments below were still spectacular.
White Sauce: [“I already said you can’t handle her. It’s important to know your limits.”]
August Thirty-first: [“Brother, don’t be sad. There are plenty of fish in the sea. Sorry, but I can’t help but laugh hahahahahahaha.”]
asdfg: [“This is just too tragic (crying-laughing emoji)”]
Uesugi: [“Little brother, you’re quite handsome too. Want to try with my best friend? @ClockworkZhou.”]
Guike: [“I feel bad for you.”]
…
Among the pile of comments, there were also some unfriendly ones directed at Wang Lin. Two groups of people argued for over a hundred replies below.
Backup Personality: [“This girl is too tea (two-faced/manipulative). She has someone she likes but agrees to date someone else, only to dump him a few days later. What kind of princess is she to be so willful?”]
It’s Beibei Duck replying to Backup Personality: [“What do you mean ‘tea’? Clean up your mouth. The poster himself said it was on a whim. She broke up quickly because she didn’t want to hurt the poster anymore. Is that wrong?”]
Backup Personality replying to It’s Beibei Duck: [“Can you casually trample on other people’s feelings just because you’re throwing a tantrum?”]
Xiaochuan replying to Backup Personality: [“Sister, you’re so right. But she’s the department beauty. Who are we to say anything.”]
Happy Corgi replying to Backup Personality: [“It’s 20XX, and people still have so much malice toward same-s3x people?”]
It’s Beibei Duck replying to Happy Corgi: [“Jealousy makes me unrecognizable.”]
Backup Personality replying to Beibei Duck: [“I’m not jealous of anything! My boyfriend is much handsomer than this. I just genuinely can’t stand it.”]
Shanhai Yi replying to Backup Personality: [“I’m the original poster, and I don’t feel bad. You really don’t need to do this. And what does your boyfriend look like? Trot him out for a look.”]
Backup Personality replying to Shanhai Yi: [“Heh heh, a bootlicker won’t get a house.”]
…
In Dorm 301, Fan Beibei was lying on her bed, typing furiously on her phone.
She yelled across to the opposite bed: “Huang Xi! Huang Xi! Look at the Confession Wall!”
“I see it, I see it.”
“That wretch is spewing venom. Go at her!”
“I’m going at her, I’m going at her.”
The two, along with other passersby, were fiercely arguing with the people criticizing Wang Lin on the wall.
“That’s it? Giving up so soon? They’re not replying anymore.” Fan Beibei considered the victory hers. “But Wang Lin actually has someone she likes and was rejected? She never mentioned it when she was hanging out with us.”
Yu Sheng, on the diagonally opposite bed, watched the replies on the wall one by one but didn’t participate in the argument. She couldn’t stand it and felt irritated.
“It’s Mu Fan.”
“What about Mu Fan?” Fan Beibei asked.
“The person Wang Lin likes.”
Huang Xi: “Holy—”
Fan Beibei: “Crap!”
Wang Lin was unaware of the arguments sparked by her on the Confession Wall, and she didn’t know Fan Beibei was fiercely arguing with others on her behalf. At some point, she started going to a bar. When she didn’t have classes, she would stay there all afternoon.
She went every day, and the bar owner and staff, where there was a high flow of people, all became familiar with her.
With her bodyguards watching over her, she was very safe. She didn’t drink alcohol or dance. Holding a glass of orange juice that had been sitting there for who knows how long, she sat alone in the noisy, crowded place, looking so lonely it was as if she had been photoshopped into the scene.
The bar staff all thought she was performing some kind of performance art.
Her two bodyguards sat not far from her, looking worried. They had been following Wang Lin and haunting the bar for a week now and were thoroughly uncomfortable. Of course, that wasn’t the most important thing. The male bodyguard took a sip of beer, looked in Wang Lin’s direction, and said worriedly: “If this keeps up, how are we going to explain it to CEO Lin?”
Si Qing was also in a bad mood these days. The CP (couple) she shipped had broken up (be – Bad Ending), and she couldn’t accept it. She couldn’t understand why Mu Fan would reject Wang Lin. She had secretly investigated Mu Fan, grasped a general idea of her past, and made some guesses.
“What can we do? The one who tied the bell must untie it.”
“The one who tied the bell must untie it… How about we contact Miss Mu?” her colleague suggested.
Si Qing suddenly stopped swirling her glass. She looked at her colleague, then at Wang Lin, and nodded.
Performance Artist — Wang Lin.
I stood in the crowd, lonely as if I were photoshopped in. —From a poem by Jiang Erman.