My Girlfriend is the Cutest in the World

 “… What’s wrong with you?”

    A hand’s shadow suddenly waved in front of her eyes.

    Lu Yuanyuan came back to her senses. Her eyes focused on the person in front of her, “Hmm?”

    Su Lin put the phone back into his pocket and walked closer to her.

    It was more or less dark outside. The street light next to the supermarket lit up, so he clearly saw the expression on her face.

    Obviously, she was still very animated before, but suddenly she looked like a different person. Her eyes were empty and she looked at a loss.

    The point is, he didn’t know why.

    He seemed to feel… that she seemed to be on the verge of tears.

    The words were stuck in his throat. He said tentatively: “… unhappy?”

    At first, Lu Yuanyuan wanted to shake her head.

    Halfway through shaking her head, looking at his slightly furrowed brow and the concern in his eyes, she suddenly didn’t want to hold it in.

    She wanted to talk to someone.

    It was too uncomfortable to hold it in.

    “Mhm. Unhappy.”

    Su Lin froze. Before he could say anything, she added quickly, “Senior, you can listen to what I say and then forget about it.

    “For so, so long, I didn’t know what I did wrong, but my dad just doesn’t like me that much.

    “If he doesn’t want to care about me, then okay, he can just forget about me, but he still remembers to call me and ask me how much money I need.

    “He asked me how much money I wanted, but I guess he didn’t even want me to say a number.

    “Because he doesn’t have much money to give me.

    “I knew all about it. That’s why I got a tutoring job…”

    “…”

    She said one sentence at a time, and he went from being taken aback at first to stunned at the end.

    Her voice was not loud, and her tone was not that fierce, with just a little bit of aggravation and complaint.

    It swiftly reminded him of the words she said when she was lying on his back when he carried her home earlier.

    — “My dad wouldn’t be so nice to me.”

    He couldn’t say what he was feeling inside.

    It was like a rock weighing on him, making it hard to breathe, like a thread winding around and around.

    In short, it was a little overwhelming. 

    He didn’t make a sound the whole time, watching as Lu Yuanyuan released a long breath after she finished speaking. She lowered her head and raised it again, smiling as if a weight was lifted off her mind, “I haven’t been very happy today. Now that I’ve talked about it, I really feel a lot better.”

    “Thank you, senior,” she hesitated then added, “Now that you’ve listened, just forget about it okay.”

    “… Mm,” Su Lin nodded, wanting to say so much, but not knowing where to start. In the end, he only said a word, “Okay.”

    Forgetting was impossible, but he didn’t want to ask anymore when she was in this state right now.

    Lu Yuanyuan walked out and reached out to test the rain. She withdrew her hand, turned back, and smiled: “The rain has lightened up a lot. Senior, should we go in and buy an umbrella then go?”

    Su Lin nodded: “I’ll go buy it. You can wait for me here.”

    Lu Yuanyuan stood under the eaves of the supermarket, looking at the students with umbrellas who passed by from time to time. The drizzling rain pitter-pattered to the ground.

    After venting just now, the depression in her heart was much better.

    She had never actually mentioned these things to anyone she knew in college. The chatter in the dorm rarely involved family, and it was hard for her to talk about it.

    But for some reason, when she was facing him, it came out so easily.

    “I’ve bought it.”

    A familiar voice came to her ears, and she turned around to meet the source of the sound.

    Su Lin had long legs. In a few steps, he walked in front of her, giving Lu Yuanyuan the chance to see the object in his hand.

    All those thoughts from a moment ago, whether it was relief or unhappiness, all flew away. Gone.

    All that was left in her cognition was the thing in his hand…

    It was a pink umbrella, a girlish pastel pink.

    She took a closer look. The umbrella handle was actually… also printed with strawberries?

    Seemingly sensing her gaze, he lifted the umbrella in his hand, shaking it open while asking, “Like it?”

    “… Like it.” Lu Yuanyuan paused and added: “So cute ah.”

    Anyway, praising… was the right thing to do.

    He opened the umbrella, and Lu Yuanyuan followed him under the umbrella, thinking about what she had written down for him in her notes.

    What she thought was right, without a doubt.

    Although she didn’t know the reason, Senior Su really really liked pink!

    –

    It took ten minutes for them to walk to the tree where Su Lin had previously bicycled her back to her dorm.

    There were two people walking in their direction. They could tell that they were a man and a woman, behaving very intimately, holding a black umbrella together.

    As they brushed past, Lu Yuanyuan heard their conversation.

    “Look! Other people’s boyfriends are using pink umbrellas! Must be for his girlfriend. I asked you to use a yellow one and you were unwilling! You had to use this boring black one, ugly!”

    “Hey now, it’s just one color, don’t get hung up…”

    “No. Another day I’m going to buy a pink umbrella. When it rains again, let’s see if you’ll use it or not!”

    “Great aunt, spare me…”

    The couple’s voices gradually diminished until it was no longer possible to hear their conversation.

    Boyfriend…

    Senior Su should have heard it too.

    On the way back, when they occasionally encountered cyclists, Su Lin would place the hand not holding an umbrella on her shoulders, slightly pulling her in.

    In fact, she counted.

    A total of three times.

    Lu Yuanyuan’s face warmed up for no reason.