Break-up Chapter 52

Gu Yanting had never thought about what it would be like to see Lin Rui again.

He did treat Lin Rui very well before, and inwardly he had undeniably raised the other man to a very unattainable position in his heart. And although today he still felt that Lin Rui was as holy as a flower on a high mountain, inwardly he had put a “poisonous” note on him because of Tang Yi’s reaction.

So he was quite uncharacteristically about to run.

It just happened that he jumped up the moment the chopsticks were thumped open by Fat Sod, and then he saw a young man in a white shirt and beige jacket pushing the door in.

For a moment, Gu Yanting almost thought it was Tang Yi who had entered. But when he took a closer look, the other party took off his wide sunglasses to reveal a pair of gleaming peach blossom eyes, and the corners of his mouth curved up slightly in reply to everyone’s greeting, revealing a sweet and lovely smile.

“Sorry to be late.” Lin Rui casually closed the door to the private room and smiled at Gu Yanting when he saw him standing in a daze, then naturally sat down across from him.

He was well-dressed and his style tended to be mature nowadays, but he still couldn’t stop the youthful aura that radiated from within him. Lin Rui’s skin had gotten even better in the past two years, making him look like an exquisite frozen beauty, with a touch of men’s perfume in every move.

The entire private room acquired a little bit of a glow to it at once. Skinny Monkey arrived almost around the same time. Once he came, waiters  neatly served all the dishes. It was completely impossible for Gu Yanting to leave. Lin Rui used a lot of careful thought in his outfit today. The table in the private room was not large. Gu Yanting felt the burning gaze from the opposite side, and could only keep turning his head stiffly to watch Fat Sod talk. Several times, Fat Sod couldn’t help but suppress the goosebumps on his arms under this horrifying gaze. It was good that Fat Sod was so quick with his mouth and sincerely trying to help. Lin Rui raised his glass several times to toast Gu Yanting, and Fat Sod followed at once, raising his glass and making each toast into a sincere blessing to the groom.

Later on, Lin Rui took a look at them and stopped talking.

The meal was a bit torturous. Gu Yanting drank in order to talk less, and then lowered his head to eat after drinking. In the second half, when there were not many dishes, he just lowered his head and focused on the chillies. Seeing that, Fat Sod was almost moved to tears. As soon as everyone got up, Gu Yanting grabbed his coat to leave as if he was pardoned.

Lin Rui stopped him as he was about to rush out of the room. His expression was calm but there was some hurt in his tone, “Yanting, are you avoiding me?”

During the meal, everyone who was not blind could see that Gu Yanting didn’t want to face Lin Rui. The others had no idea what was going on with the two of them, but they were all adults and there was no lack of ability to see and act, which was why everyone was intentionally or unintentionally covering up for Gu Yanting.

No one expected Lin Rui, who had always been cold, to ask so bluntly.

Everyone paused while taking their bags and clothes and subconsciously turned their attention to Gu Yanting.

Gu Yanting’s body immediately froze, and after standing still for a moment he finally turned his head back and met Lin Rui’s gaze straight on for the first time. The latter was biting his lower lip, his eyes full of grievances and anger, and when Gu Yanting looked back at him, Lin Rui’s eyes instantly became wet, sad as if he was about to cry in the next moment.

Seeing that something was wrong, Skinny Monkey laughed dryly and tried to speak.

Lin Rui raised his hand to stop him and looked straight at Gu Yanting, saying, “Can you accompany me? Just for a while…” He saw Gu Yanting frown, about to speak, and finally couldn’t help but bite his lower lip and say softly, “Something happened to my mother.”

Twenty minutes later the two changed places. When Lin Rui said this about his mother, everyone was concerned, but they had things to do. Besides, there was no deep friendship between them and Lin Rui and at this time no one could replace Gu Yanting, so they could only say goodbye. Gu Yanting was also a bit confused and didn’t react until he followed Lin Rui in a wooden manner to a coffee shop not far away.

Lin Rui found a window seat and sat down. After Gu Yanting followed him and sat down too, he still looked sad, so Gu Yanting could only order two cups by himself. After the waiter walked away, he turned back to comfort Lin Rui, “Don’t be sad, what happened to your mother?”

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“She has a breast tumour. She had an ultrasound and cytopathology done and an appointment for a puncture next week.” Lin Rui looked at him, then half lowered his eyes and smiled blankly for a long time, “It’s actually fine, we’re all prepared for it. I’m also back. I won’t be going anywhere else from now on. Whether her results are good or bad, I’ll be there for her.”

Gu Yanting nodded and sighed, “Yes, treat your mother well, she’s very good to you.”

Lin Rui smiled when he heard his words and didn’t say anything.

The waiter quickly brought the coffee. Gu Yanting’s hand held the coffee cup, his slender fingers tapping it twice, obviously in some anxiety. Lin Rui gently sipped the coffee unhurriedly, glancing up at him, “Are you in a hurry?”

He lowered his eyes and smiled self-deprecatingly, “If there’s something urgent, just go, don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.”

His tone of voice and expression didn’t look like he was fine, so Gu Yanting stopped saying “yes, there is something” awkwardly. After a long pause he still said, “Yes, there is something urgent. Do you need a long time to finish? How about I call someone to come and pick you up?”

When Gu Yanting had something on his mind, unless he had to hide it, it would be written bluntly on his face. He saw Lin Rui turn pale, hesitated, and then asked, “Where’s your boyfriend? Shall I call him for you and ask him to come over to keep you company?”

Lin Rui choked for a moment, and after a long time said, “We broke up a long time ago.”

“What about your ex-boyfriend? I remember you were quite close to them all,” Gu Yanting said, “Ex-ex-boyfriends are fine when you’re insecure like this.”

“……” Lin Rui stopped talking. He bit his lip and turned his head to look out the floor-to-ceiling window, and only after a while did he utter in a somewhat resentful voice, “I won’t hold you up for long.”

He said that, but he didn’t speak for a long time again. Gu Yanting waited and waited, and finally got really anxious and in the end couldn’t help but sigh, “Lin Rui, you…”

It’s not that he didn’t know Lin Rui’s intention. He got along with him for years, he was not a fool. In the previous years Lin Rui would come to him for comfort every time he broke up with his boyfriend, and every time he had the same look. What Gu Yanting had said to Tang Yi was not contrived, he did meet Lin Rui early and the latter did look beautiful at the time, so back then Gu Yanting really liked him.

However, like is like. If at the beginning Lin Rui had responded to him, it might have been different. But then Lin Rui was obsessed with all kinds of handsome guys and gold masters. In his eyes, Gu Yanting was probably not as reliable as a rich second generation.

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Lin Rui didn’t pretend to be a statue anymore. He quickly responded. Before Gu Yanting finished speaking, he turned his head, smiled bitterly, and said slowly, “When my mother went to the hospital for an examination, my stepfather was in some starlet’s bed. She went to the hospital alone and waited for the results alone. At the end, she called me in a peaceful tone and told me about her savings and the properties she bought in the past two years, and then asked me to come back when I had time, to transfer them.”

“I was in Shanghai at the time and was sad and cried when I finally found out about her situation. My mother said that she realised that when something happened, she was alone and couldn’t rely on anyone. In fact, I know that. I grew up following her and was called ‘a mistress’ son’ all the way. I knew everyone despised me, and all these years I just wanted to find someone who would treat me well and spoil me and be devoted to me, but…”

He paused, and then said after being silent for a while, “I finally found out that if one day I get a terminal illness, there are really too few things I can’t let go of. Except for her, it is you. ”

Gu Yanting was really stunned this time.

The meaning of Lin Rui’s words was very clear, yet he found himself unable to understand it for a moment. For a while, he even felt like his soul was out of his body, coldly looking at the scene in front of him, and coldly turning the pages of time, to the time when he was most infatuated with Lin Rui.

Many, many thoughts and emotions slowly poured back from the depths of his brain and then slowly rolled through every pore of his body. In a daze he forgot to put down the cup he had picked up, and all that remained on his face was a huge and empty astonishment.

Lin Rui silently looked up at him, and finally Gu Yanting saw his lips open and close as he said quietly, “You have always been very kind to me, and I cherish that in my heart. It’s just that back then I didn’t know whether you were just grateful to me or whether you liked me, so I was hesitant to respond. When I asked you to take me home from that party, I wasn’t drunk. It was the first time I took the initiative and the first time I took someone home while being drunk. If you had done it then, I would have cooperated… You didn’t, and I wanted to ask you then, ‘Why didn’t you do it, didn’t you want me?'”

“When I left, you said you would wait for me to come back and said you would come out of the closet. I almost refunded my ticket on impulse. Yanting, you know what I mean. I won’t force you now, I’m just asking, does what you said before still counts?”

Lin Rui had never been so direct. It was always Gu Yanting who ran the errands for him; all he had to do was raise his hand and say something. In everyone’s eyes, it was just a matter of reaching out and Gu Yanting would be his, but now that he had said so much, Lin Rui was rarely nervous.

Gu Yanting looked a bit dazed and didn’t speak. Lin Rui also waited in silence for him to think. After a long time, he saw Gu Yanting’s gaze gradually become clearer and then a little deeper.

When Gu Yanting put down the coffee cup in his hand, his arm felt a little numb. After he returned to his senses, his movements were much more fluid. First he slowly took out his mobile phone, looked at the time, then wiped the screen and put it in his coat pocket. He then straightened his collar with both hands, clearly preparing to get up and leave.

Lin Rui finally sensed that something was wrong, and even his breathing unconsciously hitched.

Gu Yanting hesitated for a moment, seemingly wanting to say a lot of things but not knowing where to start, and finally could only cough lightly and try to explain that initial doubt Lin Rui had first.

“That night I didn’t touch you…” he said after a pause, “It wasn’t that I was afraid of you getting hurt, I was afraid for myself.”

“I’m quite afraid of AIDS.”