How About A Divorce? - Chapter 26.2
Chapter 26.2: Love Letter [VIP]
“You said his legs are short, but I didn’t get a good look at how short they are,” Wen Yu said. “Are they like a bullfrog’s?”
“Not as good-looking,” Lin Yanqing said.
“Wow, classmate Lin, you have a sharp tongue.”
They smiled at each other. Wen Yu used Lin Yanqing to float in the water. “I’m not learning to swim today. You can just float me around.”
“I’ll go find a swim ring for you,” Lin Yanqing said and got out of the pool.
Wen Yu clung to the side of the pool, watching Lin Yanqing leave. Water droplets slid down the latter’s long legs, and Wen Yu suddenly felt a little thirsty.
She followed Lin Yanqing ashore.
After walking through the disinfectant pool, Wen Yu went into the locker room, wanting to grab a bottle of water. She turned a corner and saw Lin Yanqing standing in front of a locker, holding an envelope.
It was a love letter—no one would use an envelope with a heart on it to hold math problems. They were sold at the school store, and Wen Yu had received several of them.
Did Lin Yanqing receive a love letter?
As soon as Wen Yu had this thought, before the emotions could even brew, she saw Lin Yanqing open the envelope, pull out the letter, and take out a pen to start writing. It was a love letter written by Lin Yanqing.
For whom?
As soon as this thought arose, Wen Yu found the reason for that secret expectation.
For me.
Wen Yu thought, it can only be for her. Lin Yanqing is only good to her.
Suppressing the sudden surge of joy, Wen Yu went back to the pool and waited for Lin Yanqing to bring the swim ring.
Lin Yanqing finished writing the last word and reached out, pulling out a deflated swim ring. As the light shifted, she was standing in front of a bookshelf. The air in the room was stuffy. Her fingertips landed on a book. She pulled it out and opened it. Inside was a letter.
“A love letter?” Zheng Xin was surprised. “You’ve written one of these?”
“Mhm.”
“Does Wen Yu know?” After saying that, Zheng Xin realized her foolishness. “She must not know, otherwise you wouldn’t be this useless.”
“Many people asked me to help them deliver love letters to Wen Yu,” Lin Yanqing said, a little confused.
Did I look like a matchmaker in high school?
“Maybe they saw you as a mini-mother-in-law,” Zheng Xin said. “If it came from you, it would be more convincing.”
“Then they miscalculated. I threw away all those love letters.”
“You’re quite proud of yourself.”
“Wen Yu gave me special permission,” Lin Yanqing said with a smile. “I can be a little proud.”
Yang Ming also asked her to deliver one. At the swimming pool, he had just asked her when he realized her feelings for Wen Yu and that he was asking his love rival to deliver a love letter.
At the same time, in the bathroom, Wen Yu’s palm pressed against the mirror. She thought of something and said softly, “…It was that love letter.”
With this clue, the events of that day became concrete.
…
Lin Yanqing went back with the swim ring and saw Wen Yu obediently waiting for her in the same spot. Her heart softened.
She put the swim ring in the water. Wen Yu climbed on with her hands and feet, flipped over, and nestled in the ring, letting Lin Yanqing pull her around.
But she didn’t float for long before Wen Yu started to complain. “I’m tired. Let’s go back.”
“Okay.” Lin Yanqing pushed the swim ring to the handrail at the edge of the pool.
Wen Yu climbed out, her hair barely wet, and pulled Lin Yanqing back to the locker room.
“Take a shower first,” Lin Yanqing said, shoving her into the cubicle. The two of them were close together, sharing one set of toiletries. It was impossible to tell whose scent was whose.
“Hair tie,” Lin Yanqing took the hair tie off her wrist and handed it to Wen Yu.
Wen Yu quickly tied up her wet hair and put on the shower gel.
After they finished showering, Lin Yanqing came out first, grabbing a towel to dry herself. Wen Yu was a step behind, her eyes sparkling as she stared at Lin Yanqing.
Lin Yanqing laughed at being stared at. “What are you looking at?”
“Don’t you have something to give me?” She couldn’t hide her thoughts and was practically giving her a hint.
Lin Yanqing subconsciously looked at the locker. Wen Yu followed her gaze and caught the corner of a piece of paper.
She reached out and pulled it out.
“For me?” Wen Yu raised her eyebrows, her smile wide.
Lin Yanqing glanced at the envelope, then reached out and pinched it, as if to measure its thickness. She then said, “I’ll throw it away for you.”
“No, don’t! Why would you throw it away? Someone worked so hard to write it!” Wen Yu hid the love letter behind her back and said with a smile, “Sending a love letter in a swimming pool, how interesting.”
“The college entrance exam is coming up. Don’t look at these useless things,” Lin Yanqing said.
Wen Yu held the love letter in front of her eyes and began to pull the letter out of the envelope. As she did, she said, “It’s not like a few more days will make a difference. It’s the same whether I say yes sooner or later.”
Lin Yanqing was stunned. “You’re going to say yes?”
“I have to try. I’m going to fall in love sooner or later,” Wen Yu said, only looking at Lin Yanqing’s expression. She didn’t look at the envelope and naturally didn’t notice the name at the end of the letter.
Lin Yanqing pulled the letter back and crumpled it into a ball.
She said, “This isn’t for you.”
Wen Yu didn’t react. “What?”
“The person who wrote this letter doesn’t want to be in a relationship with you. He just gave it to the wrong person,” Lin Yanqing said, lowering her head and tearing the letter into pieces. The shreds of paper fell from between her fingers and stuck to the drain grate.
The larger pieces of paper were thrown into the large blue trash can by Lin Yanqing, mixed with empty shampoo bottles and tampons.
The smile on Wen Yu’s face was still frozen. The girl, who was not yet an adult at the time, had never seen such a scene. It was as if a basin of ice water had been poured over her head. Her hands and feet felt numb.
She asked, as if unconsciously, to break the awkward silence, “Then who is it for…”
“It’s not for you, so don’t think about it.”
Lin Yanqing’s voice was so cold that Wen Yu, who didn’t even know what love was at the time, tasted the bitterness of crushed hope.
It was bitterer than an iced Americano.
She pushed Lin Yanqing away and shouted, “Are you crazy?!”
Her voice attracted the attention of others, but Wen Yu didn’t care. However, she couldn’t say anything else. Because it was her own wishful thinking, she had no right to blame Lin Yanqing.
“Wen Yu, do you really like—” Lin Yanqing’s words were cut short.
“Shut up!” Wen Yu suppressed the sourness churning in her chest, word by word. “I’m not talking to you anymore.”
Wen Yu pulled off her hair tie, threw it into the drain, quickly put on her clothes, and ran out with her bag.
Leaving Lin Yanqing alone.
The girl ran forward with her hair down, running for eleven years, thinking she had left everything behind, but she still couldn’t run out of the strange circle named Lin Yanqing.
In the fourth year, she married Lin Yanqing.
Seven years later, she found out that Lin Yanqing had someone else in her heart.
Now that she thought about it, the love letter she had opened on her own must have been for Lin Yanqing to give to the person she loved.
A part of the unknown flutter died in the blue trash can, and another part went down the drain with the hair tie. It should be swirling in the Pacific Ocean right now, and today, it came back to life like a zombie.
So untimely, Wen Yu thought.
“It was untimely after all,” Lin Yanqing said.
She opened the envelope and pulled out a thick stack of letters. Every page started with Wen Yu, and the signature was Lin Yanqing.
“I read every love letter I handled for Wen Yu,” Lin Yanqing said. “Every time I read one, I would fill in the gaps and write a new one.”
“Are you practicing your writing, you lovesick person?” Zheng Xin was stunned.
Lin Yanqing ignored her and continued, “I blocked so many bad flowers for her, but in the end, I couldn’t get myself to her. Maybe it’s because I did too many bad deeds.”
After that day, Yang Ming personally delivered another one, but Wen Yu rejected it.
When Lin Yanqing found out, she was greatly relieved.
She wanted to find a way to break the ice with Wen Yu, just like before, with three candies, without saying much.
Unfortunately, the three candies were thrown in the trash, and Wen Yu went abroad after the exam. They didn’t see each other for three years.
“Do you know? These days have been so happy, it’s given me a false sense of security,” Lin Yanqing’s voice suddenly softened.
Zheng Xin got goosebumps. “What are you talking about?”
“Not long ago, I came back from a series of nonstop work at Zero One, and Wen Yu started to get close to me,” Lin Yanqing said. “Just like we used to be.”
“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”
“But today, Wen Yu feels the same as when we had that fight. I feel like she’s going to leave without saying goodbye again.”
“She probably won’t,” Zheng Xin comforted her. “You’re married.”
“Does she care about that?”
Zheng Xin was silent. “Sister, I don’t have anything good to say. It feels like a dead end no matter what. I can only go to church and pray for you.”
“Does God handle these things?” Lin Yanqing joked.
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way. I’ll ask an old person to send a message to the Buddha.”
“What?”
“May all your wishes come true,” Zheng Xin said mysteriously.
Lin Yanqing smiled. “Thank you.”
“Just lay your cards on the table, Lin Yanqing. It’s a knife either way.”
“…I can’t say it until the very end.”
“Bah! That’s all I have to say. My wife is calling me.” There was some static on Zheng Xin’s end, and she hung up after she finished speaking.
Lin Yanqing stood there, flipping through the love letters she had written. When her eyes touched certain words, her expression unconsciously softened. The words contained emotions. The feelings that had been sealed for eleven years touched the present Lin Yanqing across the long stretch of time, causing a stir.
The study door suddenly opened.
Lin Yanqing turned around and saw Wen Yu standing in the doorway, her hair still dripping water.
Their figures overlapped. Lin Yanqing was in a trance, as if Wen Yu had come from eleven years ago, and her hair should still be tied with her hair tie.
She said, “Let’s talk, Lin Yanqing.”
Wen Yu pushed her wet hair back.
The letters were tucked into the pages of a book and couldn’t be put back into the heart-patterned envelope. Lin Yanqing quietly closed the book.
Wen Yu just glanced at it and didn’t care.
The two of them walked out.
“You should dry your hair first,” Lin Yanqing said.
“We can do that later.”
Wen Yu sat down first, poured herself a glass of water, and had a serious expression.
She spoke. “Lin Yanqing, have you ever thought about divorce?”
Buzz. Wen Yu’s voice seemed to become a collection of abstract characters, which Lin Yanqing barely managed to catch.
The world collapsing was nothing more than this.
The Sword of Damocles finally fell, landing squarely on her.
Lin Yanqing lowered her head. The trembling in her hands was something only she could feel.
Zheng Xin’s words rang in her ears.
It’s a knife either way.
The moment Lin Yanqing wanted to lay her cards on the table, Wen Yu said again, “I don’t want a divorce.”
Lin Yanqing was stunned and looked up at her sharply.
Wen Yu: “To be honest, a divorce right now is not good for either of us. There are a lot of things that need to be divided. You know that.”
Lin Yanqing didn’t say anything, but she knew that Wen Yu wasn’t the kind of person to care about these things.
The real reason was coming.
Wen Yu took a deep breath and threw out the key point. “I also need to go through withdrawal.”
“…What do you mean?” Lin Yanqing tried to suppress the unsteadiness in her voice.
“I’m used to having you around. We’ve known each other for so many years and are familiar with each other. If we suddenly get a divorce, I won’t be used to it,” Wen Yu said. “I need some time to adjust to my life rhythm.”
“You…”
“Your current emotional state is temporarily within my acceptable range,” Wen Yu said. “Once I’ve adjusted, we can talk about divorce. The agreement will expire soon anyway.”
“Wen Yu…”
“Don’t say anything yet. I don’t really want to hear your voice. We’ll follow the agreement, and we’ll talk about everything then.”
Lin Yanqing fell silent.
Wen Yu pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes.
Instead of not wanting to hear Lin Yanqing’s voice, it was more that Wen Yu couldn’t accept that she would make such a decision—that she could accept Lin Yanqing having someone else in her heart.
Wen Yu admitted that she couldn’t bear to leave Lin Yanqing.
Early memories were brought up. Wen Yu had been replaying them constantly in the past hour and finally accepted this fact.
Just like raising a dog. You get attached to a dog too, Wen Yu comforted herself.
There were still three years left on the agreement. In three years, she could get used to another dog and get used to having a different person around.
There would always be someone better than Lin Yanqing.