Chapter Four: Let's Break Up!

The airport was teeming with people, each dragging their luggage behind them. Mai Xijun stood dazedly outside the security checkpoint, as if awaiting her own execution, or perhaps like someone already sentenced to death.

“Xue Lizan, I’m back. After enjoying the romance of Venice, I went to France for an exhibition—and I survived!” she murmured in her heart, though the heaviness within made it hard to breathe.

She lingered for a moment, desperately listing ten reasons why he might not betray or abandon her. Then, she hailed a taxi. Whatever awaited her, she had to face it; there was no other choice.

Familiar city, familiar streets, familiar scenery—but could they still be who they once were to each other? The day she had long anticipated, National Day on May 1st, was irrevocably changed by a single video.

With heavy steps, Mai Xijun climbed the stairs to what had once been, in her heart, the most sacred temple—Xue Lizan’s home.

She instinctively reached for her pocket, only to realize she had already handed the keys to him before leaving the city.

Her lips trembled, her heartbeat erratic. Steeling herself, she raised her hand and knocked on the door.

She and Xue Lizan had been high school classmates for a year, college companions for four, and lovers for nearly a year after entering the workforce. Time had flown—six years of acquaintance, just on the cusp of blossoming in the seventh, making their love all the more precious to her.

But on that Venetian night, she stood by the window gazing at the tranquil world outside, only to receive an anonymous video. The entwined bodies and intimate mingling of the couple within made her sick to her stomach. She wanted to shut it off, but the figures seemed hauntingly familiar.

Two naked bodies twisted like snakes, the man moving forcefully atop the woman, their harsh breaths and moans filling the air. She could no longer hold back and vomited everything she’d eaten that evening.

Mai Xijun swallowed back tears. She hadn’t seen her closest confidante—her mother—in eight years. In her heart, Xue Lizan’s companionship for six years had surpassed everything.

Even so, she was willing to resolve things amicably, if only he could give her a reason—a reason she could believe in, or one that would allow her to let go.

After waiting for some time without any response, she pulled out her phone to make a call. How foolish had she been, waiting so long at the door for nothing?

“Who is it?” At the very moment she pressed the call button, the door swung open and a woman emerged, her voice drifting into Mai Xijun’s ears.

The woman was clad in a sheer silk camisole, her curves faintly revealed, her ample chest unrestrained by a bra. Yet her face… her face made Mai Xijun’s heart tremble, the last shred of hope within her utterly torn apart.

Inside, a familiar ringtone echoed. In that instant, Mai Xijun felt her world spin, her chest contracting with a pain as sharp as if it were being torn in two.

“Oh, Mai Xijun is calling again!” The man’s tone was impatient as he picked up the phone, but something felt off—he heard his own voice through the line.

Xue Lizan immediately grasped the situation. Seeing He Jingjing standing at the door in a daze, his mind went blank. Without hesitation, half-naked, he walked towards the entrance.

Mai Xijun nearly lost her footing, gripping her suitcase tightly as tears welled in her eyes, refusing to fall. “It seems I’ve come to the wrong place,” she said.

Her trembling voice betrayed her inability to accept what she saw. As she turned to leave, the man called out, “Mai Xijun, you must have seen everything clearly. Let’s break up.”

He said it without a trace of feeling, right as she caught them in bed together, mercilessly ending their relationship.

What could be more ironic?

One was the boyfriend she had known for years, the other a colleague and close friend. Neither was someone she ever wished to lose. But faced with both of them appearing before her in seductive attire and intimate poses, she could not accept it. She would rather believe it was all a hallucination.