Shen Heyu, what did you just say? Could I have heard wrong?" Lu Yi’s voice trembled as he turned his head, looking at Shen Heyu in disbelief, thinking he must have suffered a hallucination.
Shen Heyu knew Lu Yi would find it hard to accept her choice, but their current situation left them with no room to choose.
"I’m sorry," Shen Heyu apologized to Lu Yi.
"No! You haven’t wronged me. You’ve wronged yourself. You struggled so hard to leave him; why would you easily go back to his side now? It was my mistake; I shouldn’t have hit him in a moment of impulse."
"I am the one who did wrong. Let me bear the consequences, please? Promise me you won’t go back, okay?"
Lu Yi’s hand, shaky and unsteady, lifted in an attempt to grasp Shen Heyu’s shoulder, trying to read the expression on her face. But before he could touch her, Pei Yansi had grabbed his wrist.
"Didn’t you hear what he just said? He said he’s coming back with me." Pei Yansi forcefully shook off Lu Yi’s hand.
"He’s clearly not willing to leave with you; he’s under your coercion. Doesn’t your conscience hurt? You know full well he doesn’t want to stay by your side!" Lu Yi almost roared, breaking from his usually gentle and composed demeanor, losing control for once.
In reality, Shen Heyu felt pained seeing him . Her heart ached as if it were being cut by a knife. She tried to persuade Lu Yi to calm down.
"Lu Yi, please be calm. Even if I go back with him, nothing is going to happen. The rescue vehicle should be here soon. Can you wait here a little longer?"
Shen Heyu felt distressed seeing Lu Yi , aware of the guilt weighing on him.
"But how can I calm down? Just thinking that it was my fault for pushing you back to Pei Yansi’s side, I just..."
Lu Yi’s voice trailed off, his head involuntarily bowing down; such a tall man looking downcast, akin to a wilted tree.
Shen Heyu suddenly felt a twinge of heartache. She pulled out a tissue from her bag and held it out to Lu Yi. "I’m not going away forever. You just have to wait a few days, okay? Trust me, I will handle this situation well."
"But..." Lu Yi took the tissue from Shen Heyu with a feeble grip. When he looked up, Shen Heyu was startled to see his eyes filled with tears.
Shen Heyu paused, and as Lu Yi reached out to embrace her, Pei Yansi finally couldn’t stand it any longer. Watching the woman he loved struggle to part from another man was like several heavy blows to his heart.
"I’ve given you both enough time. It’s time to leave."
He grabbed Shen Heyu’s wrist and swiftly ushered her into the car. By the time Lu Yi realized what was happening, he immediately gave chase, but the car was already speeding away.
Shen Heyu turned her head, watching the person chasing after the car behind her. She immediately took out her phone and called Lu Yi.
When Lu Yi picked up, he finally stopped chasing the car and came to a halt.
Over the phone, Shen Heyu could hear the sound of the wind around him and his heavy breathing.
"Lu Yi, stop chasing. Just stay there and wait for the rescue. Give me three days, just as you promised, and I will definitely come back for you, okay?"
Shen Heyu was sitting beside Pei Yansi. Pei Yansi felt a cold frown come over his brow as he heard Shen Heyu make that promise to another man. He directly snatched the cellphone from Shen Heyu’s hand and hung up the call.
"What are you doing? This is my phone. What right do you have to hang up the call for me? Give me back my phone right now."
Shen Heyu knew that Lu Yi was deeply devoted to her and that he had been by her side for a very long time. Now, seeing Shen Heyu forced to return to Pei Yansi’s side because of his own issues, he must be feeling terrible.
Without Lu Yi by her side, Shen Heyu was really worried that Lu Yi might do something foolish. She just wanted to offer some words of comfort to Lu Yi over the phone, but when she turned her head, she was met with Pei Yansi’s dark, brooding face.
Pei Yansi read the expression on Shen Heyu’s face. He really was concerned about that man, and he suddenly smirked sarcastically.
"We were together for three years. Was it all just a dream to you? How long have you been with him? Not even three months, right?" Pei Yansi didn’t give the phone back to Shen Heyu; instead, he put it into his own pocket.
"I’m telling you, some feelings can’t be measured by the length of time. Even if we had a past that lasted three years, what of it? Those three years..."
Shen Heyu suddenly choked up and stopped speaking. Pei Yansi’s eyes grew cold, and he grabbed her wrist tightly.
"What about those three years? The three years you spent by my side—did you never truly enjoy a single moment?"
Pei Yansi was desperate to get an answer from Shen Heyu. He couldn’t believe that everything in their past was false. Was it all just his own wishful thinking?
"Let’s leave the past in the past. There’s nothing more to say. We both have new beginnings now. Why dwell on the past?"
Shen Heyu, enduring the pain in her wrist, lowered her eyelashes and didn’t attempt to break free from Pei Yansi’s hold.
"Tell me, during those past three years, didn’t you once truly feel happy? I don’t believe it!" Pei Yansi clenched his teeth fiercely.
He thought they had three beautiful years of memories, but now his belief was shattered. To Shen Heyu, perhaps those three years were nothing more but punishment.
Shen Heyu took a deep breath and looked up at Pei Yansi. "Are those three years really so important to you? But I don’t want to dwell on the past anymore."
"Were those three years just empty to you? I thought that even if we parted, we at least had three years of shared, beautiful memories."
Pei Yansi unconsciously tightened his grip. He suddenly saw pain cross Shen Heyu’s brow and instinctively let go. Shen Heyu pulled her wrist back and saw that it was red from the pressure.
"Mr. Pei, I hope you won’t force others . I’ve already said I don’t want to answer that question," Shen Heyu said, looking at the swelling on her wrist without any particular expression.
Shen Heyu had grown numb to the pain on her wrist when suddenly, a sentence that she thought was a hallucination came from beside her.
She looked up at Pei Yansi in disbelief.
Under her gaze, Pei Yansi slowly uttered three words, "I’m sorry."