After She Fell for Me, I Lost My Memory (GL) - Chapter 20.1

When she arrived at her apartment building, Cen Luo first went to the repair shop downstairs.

She was told that her camera hadn’t been fixed yet and would be ready in two days.

Due to the negligence of a staff member, the photo album hadn’t been organized yet.

While Uncle Liu apologized profusely, Cen Luo shook her head and told him it was okay.

After that, Cen Luo returned to her apartment.

During this time, Cen Luo’s phone kept ringing. Ever since she told Qin Ran that she wanted to try to stop liking Jian Mu, Qin Ran’s messages hadn’t stopped.

No matter whether Cen Luo replied to her or not, Qin Ran just kept sending messages on her own.

The content was nothing more than: You’re finally sober. There are plenty of older sisters in the world. We don’t have to hang ourselves from one tree.

After Cen Luo finished washing up, she lay on the big bed and started reading the messages Qin Ran had sent her from the beginning.

Her mind was a little empty and a little sleepy.

Cen Luo yawned, lay on her stomach, and replied to Qin Ran: I’m tired and want to sleep.

[Then get some rest. Good night. See you tomorrow.]

[Good night. See you tomorrow.]

She said good night, but Qin Ran didn’t actually go to sleep or stop sending messages to Cen Luo.

Cen Luo heard a series of vibrations. When she opened her phone, she found that Qin Ran had sent her pictures and text.

[Turn on silent mode and go to sleep. I’ll send them to you first. Let me know which one you like, and I’ll help you get in touch with her. Let’s give it a shot.]

Cen Luo didn’t know where Qin Ran found so many pictures of girls.

She had just said good night, and Cen Luo was not interested in this right now.

After replying with “Okay,” she placed her phone on the nightstand beside the bed.

Cen Luo was indeed very tired. For the past few days, she had been interviewing an average of four or five people a day, writing dozens of high-quality articles, and dealing with her own personal emotions.

She had been under a lot of pressure during this time.

But after closing her eyes, Cen Luo couldn’t fall asleep.

In the dark night with the lights turned off, Cen Luo rolled around in bed twice and finally had to open her eyes and let out a long sigh.

Why can’t I sleep?

Cen Luo sat up in bed and checked the time on her phone. It was 8 p.m.

It seems a little early.

So, Cen Luo took out the rose-scented candle from her nightstand.

She thought that with the faint fragrance, she would be able to fall asleep better.

But as soon as she lit the candle, Cen Luo’s body froze. A scene from the past suddenly flashed in her mind.

When they first lived together, Jian Mu would often wake up in the middle of the night.

Jian Mu never said anything, and Cen Luo didn’t know about it.

It was only when Cen Luo got up in the middle of the night to get some water that she saw Jian Mu sitting on the sofa, staring into space.

It was the middle of the night, and the living room lights were off. When she suddenly saw a blurry figure in the darkness, Cen Luo was startled and thought there was a burglar.

Before she could even turn on the lights to check, Cen Luo heard Jian Mu call her name.

“I can’t sleep.”

Her voice was different from usual; it was a little sad.

This made Cen Luo chuckle a little. It was rare to see Jian Mu so sad.

But on second thought, not being able to sleep when you want to was indeed a form of torture.

Especially for someone who could fall asleep as soon as their head hit the pillow.

It was already 2 a.m. at that time. Cen Luo heard that honey water could help with sleep, so she warmed up a glass of honey water for Jian Mu.

But she didn’t expect the honey water to not be very effective. Jian Mu still couldn’t sleep after drinking it.

Cen Luo, on the other hand, was extremely sleepy.

She had no choice but to yawn while searching for the lullabies her grandma used to sing to her, trying to coax her to sleep.

It was indeed helpful for sleep, but not for Jian Mu.

After Cen Luo finished singing the lullaby, she fell asleep sitting on the edge of the bed. Her head almost hit the edge of the bed, but Jian Mu reached out and held her chin.

As soon as Cen Luo woke up, she heard Jian Mu’s faint, sad voice: “I still can’t sleep.”

Cen Luo: “…”

She drank the honey water, and I sang a lullaby. Why can’t she sleep?

“Look, the doctor said honey water helps with sleep, and I fell asleep just by listening to that lullaby. So…”

“Is there something wrong with you?”

“There’s nothing wrong with me.” Jian Mu seemed to not want to talk to Cen Luo anymore and turned off the bedside lamp.

The room suddenly fell into darkness. Only the faint moonlight from the window shone into the room, reflecting on the bed.

Cen Luo’s original intention was to ask if she couldn’t sleep because she was thinking about something.

But she didn’t expect Jian Mu to react so strongly.

The moonlight reflected on the side of the bed, also illuminating Jian Mu’s face.

Jian Mu’s eyes were tightly shut, as if she was trying hard to fall asleep.

Jian Mu didn’t say anything else. Cen Luo didn’t know if she should leave or continue to coax her to sleep.

The sleepless Jian Mu seemed to be even more unpredictable than the cold and indifferent Jian Mu during the day.

Why couldn’t she sleep?

Was she troubled by something? Or was she under too much work pressure?

Cen Luo guessed for a while but couldn’t figure out the reason, so she just stopped guessing.

After a long time, there was no sound in the room. Cen Luo saw Jian Mu suddenly open her eyes.

Ten minutes had passed, and Jian Mu still hadn’t fallen asleep.

Cen Luo sighed, sat on the edge of the bed, and reached out to touch the tear mole at the corner of Jian Mu’s eye.

In elementary school, there was a girl in her class who cried all the time. Everyone said it was because she had a tear mole and that her life would be full of trouble and tears.

Because she thought the tear mole was beautiful, Cen Luo had always remembered that saying.

At that moment, Jian Mu was very well-behaved. She didn’t say anything as Cen Luo touched her.

She’s so well-behaved. I really want to kiss her.

Cen Luo got up and walked to the other side of the bed. She lifted the blanket and got in.

Her body instantly became much warmer, and she could smell Jian Mu’s familiar scent.

Cen Luo felt that Jian Mu’s body seemed to have frozen for a moment when she got under the blanket.

“Can’t I sleep here?”

“No.” Jian Mu shook her head. From Cen Luo’s point of view, Jian Mu’s lips were tightly pursed.

In this instant, Cen Luo was wide awake.

The tear mole at the corner of Jian Mu’s eye seemed to be glowing, tempting her to have a taste.

Cen Luo couldn’t help but kiss her tear mole.

Afterward, she even accused Jian Mu with a bit of grievance: “You’re tempting me.”

Jian Mu that night was no longer as cold as she usually was.

Cen Luo couldn’t remember the specifics of what happened after, but she only knew that neither of them was able to sleep that night.

The next day, Cen Luo took Jian Mu to buy some sleep-aiding scented candles.

On second thought, there were times when Jian Mu was actually very nice to her and very obedient.

And it was because of this faint kindness that Cen Luo always felt that she could warm Jian Mu’s heart.

Year after year, this was what Cen Luo had held on to for many years.

Cen Luo pulled back her thoughts. She fanned the scent of the candle with her hand and took a deep breath.

Now I should be able to sleep, right?

As soon as she closed her eyes and emptied her mind, Cen Luo heard her phone vibrate.

The moment she opened her phone and saw the message, Cen Luo thought she had seen it wrong.

Jian Mu: [Are you back?]

The last time they had talked was more than half a month ago. They hadn’t spoken at all in between.

She also hadn’t told Jian Mu that she was returning to Yun City, like she used to.

How did she know?

A while later, Cen Luo suddenly remembered a post she had made on her friends’ feed ten days ago.

In it, she had mentioned that her business trip had been extended for a few days.

And when she first went on the business trip, she had mentioned to Jian Mu when she would be back.

Putting the timeline together, it seemed that she could have figured out that she would be returning to Yun City today.

But would Jian Mu pay such close attention to her?

On the other side, Jian Mu had just left a meeting and was sitting in her office, working on some documents. After she sent the message, Jian Mu placed her phone to the side.

The screen remained on, and no new messages appeared.

But Jian Mu noticed that the top of the page showed she was typing.

Usually, after work, Cen Luo would reply to her messages very quickly.

A few minutes later, the “typing” disappeared from the top of the page, and no new messages appeared on her message page.

Cen Luo didn’t know if she should reply to Jian Mu’s message.

She was a little worried that her resolve wasn’t strong enough and that she would go back on what she had told Qin Ran.

Although Cen Luo hadn’t replied to all of Qin Ran’s messages, she had read them all.

One of them was no longer from the perspective of how Jian Mu was unworthy of her, but it said:

[Maybe you two should try being apart for a while. Maybe while she’s tormenting you, you’re also tormenting her. Have you ever thought that she might need a chance to meet other people, people who might be more suitable for her?]

[The way she treats you might be because you two aren’t a good match.]

This was the harshest and most useful thing Qin Ran had said to her in years.

Maybe she had indeed been standing in Jian Mu’s way, using her promise from back then to tie Jian Mu down.

Maybe they both needed to try other people. Maybe they would be able to find someone who was a good fit.

At the beginning, her only wish was for Jian Mu to be happy.

What did ten years matter? If they weren’t a good match, they just weren’t.

Thinking of this, Cen Luo felt a little sad.

Jian Mu waited for a long time for Cen Luo’s reply.

“Knock, knock—” A knock came from outside the office.

“Come in.” Jian Mu looked up at her secretary standing outside the door.

“CEO Jian, you might want to take a look at this.” Yang Qing walked in from outside with a tablet.

She then placed the tablet in front of Jian Mu so that Jian Mu could clearly see the page.

The topic of Jian Mu Ding Yue Hotel had been on the trending list for almost five hours.

Due to the gradual decrease in popularity, the topic had dropped a lot and was now in the thirties.

No matter how little Jian Mu paid attention to entertainment news, she knew about the basic trending topics.

After clicking on it, Jian Mu frowned while reading the blog posts in the topic.

“What is this?”

Jian Mu was not asking what the trending topic was, but why such a topic had appeared.

Yang Qing bent over and made a guess. “It might be a stunt from Ding Yue’s side. I saw someone say that Ding Yue gained almost three million followers in one afternoon.”

Jian Mu frowned. “How long has it been trending?”

“About five hours.”

Five hours…

“Should we remove it?” Yang Qing asked.

Everyone who needed to see it had already seen it.

“Clarify it.”

Yang Qing responded and then asked, “Are we continuing the endorsement deal?”

“Change it.”

After that, Yang Qing left the office.

Cen Luo still hadn’t replied. A sudden, unknown panic rose in Jian Mu’s heart.

[Do you need me to pick you up?]

This was the first time Cen Luo had received a consecutive message from Jian Mu.

Not to mention that she was offering to pick her up.

Did something really happen, so she suddenly feels a little guilty?

Cen Luo couldn’t think of any other reason for Jian Mu’s unusual behavior.

Cen Luo: [I’m back.]

Jian Mu: [At home?]

Cen Luo: [No.]

Five hours had passed, and during these five hours, Jian Mu hadn’t received a single question from Cen Luo.

She didn’t ask her why she had seen Ding Yue, nor did she ask her about the trending topic.

It was as if she didn’t know about it at all.

Perhaps Cen Luo had just gotten off the plane and hadn’t paid attention to the trending topics?

Jian Mu: [Did you just arrive?]

Cen Luo: [Yeah.]

It’s been more than two hours since I got off the plane. I guess you could say I just arrived.

Cen Luo didn’t take the initiative to find a topic, and the atmosphere between the two of them instantly became cold.

Only Cen Luo knew how much she was holding back at that moment.

She really wanted to question Jian Mu and also wanted to find an excuse for her.

But she couldn’t. She wanted to try.

Try to set each other free.

Jian Mu looked at their chat and didn’t know what to talk about.

Maybe Cen Luo was tired from her flight.

She just placed her phone next to her computer and prepared to work on her documents.

After a long time, Jian Mu received another message.

Cen Luo: [Are you free tomorrow? My friends are celebrating my birthday with me.]

Jian Mu looked at her calendar. Tomorrow was the press conference for the new bracelet series.

In the past, Cen Luo didn’t celebrate her birthday with a party.

Jian Mu’s aura didn’t match well with others. Sometimes, Cen Luo would neglect her friends to accommodate her.

Sometimes, she would also neglect Jian Mu for her friends.

And Jian Mu didn’t really like the places they went to.

So, over time, Cen Luo didn’t really let Jian Mu celebrate her birthday with her friends anymore.

After that, they would celebrate her birthday separately.

One celebration with her friends where they would have fun, and another where she would have dinner with Jian Mu.

Sometimes, due to Jian Mu’s busyness, they would just casually celebrate.

But Jian Mu also didn’t really care about her own birthday, so Cen Luo had never complained about her.

Jian Mu: [I have a press conference tomorrow.]

Cen Luo stared at those few words for a long time.

A press conference.

The press conference is the most important.

Cen Luo felt a little self-mocking.

Cen Luo: [Can’t you reschedule?]

Normally, Cen Luo would have thought about her own reasons and felt that she was being unreasonable.

But now…

Didn’t Jian Mu set the time for the press conference?

Does she not remember her birthday, or does she think her birthday is not important?

Oh, right. Jian Mu had never cared about it on her own. Every birthday, she was the one who reminded her.

If she were to act on impulse, Cen Luo felt that no other time could compare to the impulse she was feeling now.

[Jian Mu, I think we need to calm down.]

[No, I need to calm down.]

[Let’s talk tomorrow.]

Jian Mu didn’t understand what she meant, but from all the messages she was sending now, it wasn’t a good thing.

For no reason, Jian Mu’s heart began to panic even more.

[What’s wrong with you?]

What was wrong with her?

Cen Luo didn’t know what was wrong with her either.

She just felt a little tired.

She wanted to warm Jian Mu’s heart, but after ten years, she suddenly realized that Jian Mu seemed to have no heart at all.

Five hours had passed, and there was no explanation, no action taken.

And now she was asking what was wrong with her.

In the end, Cen Luo didn’t reply to her message.

Waiting for Cen Luo’s reply, Jian Mu didn’t work on the documents in her hand anymore.

However, after a long time, Jian Mu didn’t receive a reply from Cen Luo.

This situation made her feel confused and helpless.

In the past, Cen Luo would always speak her mind, and she would be able to answer the questions she asked.

But now, Cen Luo’s words made her feel uncertain.

Faintly, Jian Mu realized that things might be going the way she had thought before.

The last time she met Zuo Mo, Cen Luo’s attitude hadn’t been this strange. She had even asked her directly if she had “cheated.”

But now, why was she suddenly acting this way?

Jian Mu had never heard Cen Luo say something like “calm down.”

Cen Luo’s change made her feel scared.

It was as if Cen Luo was going to break up with her at any moment.

The fleeting thought she had before of letting Cen Luo be the one to break up with her… if it came true…

What would happen? She didn’t know.

The feeling she had right now was a little similar to the feeling she had when she heard Cen Luo was going back to Mian City after graduation.

It made her feel annoyed.

“Knock, knock—”

“CEO Jian, this is the schedule for tomorrow’s press conference.”

Jian Mu’s eyes lingered on the schedule for a long time. She suddenly said, “Postpone it.”

“Huh?” Yang Qing thought she had heard wrong. Postponing a press conference was not a small matter. “Did you say to postpone the press conference?”

Jian Mu didn’t say anything.

Postponing a press conference meant notifying the relevant media and attendees, especially since it was already almost 9 p.m.

Was it really okay to stand people up like this?

Yang Qing had never seen Jian Mu act so capriciously. She stayed in the office for a while. Seeing that Jian Mu had no intention of changing her mind, she responded and left the office.

She didn’t go home. Maybe she went to the apartment.

Jian Mu had always known that Cen Luo had bought a small apartment on West Street.

But Cen Luo hadn’t told her, so she had always pretended not to know.

Jian Mu opened her map app and typed “West Street” into the search bar.