That night, Ji Siyue called Jin Zhiyan out.
In the bar, lonely souls were frantically shaking their bodies. In a booth in the corner, however, two women seemed rather silent. One was drinking juice while the other was drinking alcohol.
After a while, Jin Zhiyan couldn't hold it back and scolded her, "You look like a decadent non-mainstream now."
Ji Siyue forced a bitter smile. "I can't stand this disgusting self of mine either. I was the one who left voluntarily, but now I'm the one who can't let go."
"So, you called me, a pregnant woman, out to accompany you to the bar. What on earth for?"
"I want to learn from you."
"Learn what?"
"How did you move on after that person left?"
"To be honest, I've never really moved on. But there have indeed been some changes."
"What changes?"
Jin Zhiyan hesitated for a while, then picked up a bottle of beer and brought it to her lips.
Ji Siyue instinctively wanted to stop her, but before she could reach out, the other had already put the beer down and obediently switched back to the juice.
"Time is the best medicine for all wounds. When I thought about it back then, I cried like a complete fool and cursed out all the swear words I could think of in my life. But so what? That person couldn't hear me anyway.
Now when you talk about it, you can act all calm.
Actually, there's no so - called secret to learn. It's either to be together or not. You made your own choice, so don't blame him for being too heartless."
Ji Siyue nodded.
"To be honest, I feel disgusted with myself for being so obsessive. I was the one who chose to leave... But I won't be like this anymore."
"Will you go to his wedding?"
"With what identity should I go?" Ji Siyue stared blankly at Jin Zhiyan. "As a friend, a family member, or a classmate?"
"Why can't it be as his ex - girlfriend?" Jin Zhiyan said. "You once loved each other. That's an undeniable fact. Even if you still can't let go, if you do go, I hope you can go as his ex - girlfriend and sincerely bless him. I think that person hasn't moved on either, but if you act like you've already moved on, maybe he'll suffer less. Consider it as atonement for yourself."
Ji Siyue lay on the sofa, drinking bottle after bottle of alcohol. She went to the bathroom several times and came back to continue drinking until she vomited like a sea cucumber.
Poor Jin Zhiyan, being several months pregnant, had to pitifully help her out, flag down a taxi, grab her collar, and forcefully ask for her address. It took three hours before she finally got her into bed.
"You really don't pick the right people for help! You're such an inconsiderate friend!"
After complaining, Jin Zhiyan still helplessly took off Ji Siyue's coat, wiped her face with a towel, placed a glass of water on the bedside table, covered her with the quilt, and then closed the door and left.
As soon as she stepped out of the door, Jin Zhiyan ran into Xiao Zhang who was coming out of the next - door room.
"Did you bring Miss Ji back?"
Jin Zhiyan looked at him warily.
"Who are you?"
Xiao Zhang spread out his arms and showed her the door behind him. "As you can see, I'm her neighbor."
"I'm asking what your relationship with her is?" Jin Zhiyan still felt uneasy.
Ji Siyue had always been a bit naive. A strange male neighbor suddenly asking if she had been brought back would naturally make one wonder about their relationship.
"Of course I'm her friend. Why do you look like a mother hen protecting her chicks?" Xiao Zhang laughed.
Jin Zhiyan glared at him angrily. "You're the mother hen! Can't you talk properly?"
"Sorry, it's my fault!" Xiao Zhang opened the door behind him. "Do you want to come in and have a cup of hot water? Poor you, being several months pregnant and still having to bring back a drunk. As her good friend and neighbor, I'd like to invite you for a cup of hot water."
Jin Zhiyan glared at him again. "No need. You don't know the door code, do you?"
"How would I know the code to her room?"
"That's good!"
Jin Zhiyan didn't want to talk to this person anymore, so she just walked out on her own.
She didn't notice that the man stood at the door, staring meaningfully at her back for a long time before turning back into his room.
Ji Siyue had drunk so much the night before that when she woke up the next day, she felt like her brain was about to explode and couldn't help complaining.
"Damn it! Why did I drink so much? I regret it so much!"
But there's no medicine for regret in this world. One has to bear the consequences of what they've done.
Ji Siyue dragged her weak and sore body into the bathroom for a shower. Only then did she feel a bit more awake.
She remembered that Jin Zhiyan had brought her back last night.
She was pregnant, and yet Ji Siyue had caused her so much trouble.
Although they were good friends, Ji Siyue felt that she should apologize to her and ask if she was okay, both morally and emotionally.
Ji Siyue sent a WeChat message.
[Ji Siyue: You brought me back last night, right? I'm sorry for drinking so much last night. Even though we're good friends, I still want to say thank you and sorry. I'll treat you to dinner some other day.]
A reply came back quickly.
[Jin Zhiyan: That person is coming back.]
Ji Siyue couldn't help but be stunned. She quickly guessed who that person was.
Bai Yu. After experiencing great family and life changes, he had run away to a foreign country like a coward. After several months, he was coming back.
Ji Siyue couldn't imagine how Jin Zhiyan on the other end of the phone was feeling at the moment, but it should be as earth - shattering as how she felt when she learned that that person was getting married.
[Ji Siyue: What are you going to do?]
[Jin Zhiyan: I'm going to act like nothing happened and accept him. Of course, if he doesn't love me anymore, I won't tell him that the child in my belly is his. I won't cause him any extra trouble. I'll just say I've fallen in love with someone else.]
Ji Siyue looked at the cold words on the phone screen and couldn't help but feel a lot of emotions.
Jin Zhiyan used to be the proudest one among the four girls in the dormitory and the happiest one in everyone's eyes.
Now that things had developed to this point, Ji Siyue could only sigh, "Damn life!"