After She Fell for Me, I Lost My Memory (GL) - Chapter 5

Zuo Mo’s expression was a little innocent. As she said this, she wrinkled her eyebrows as if lost in thought.

For a moment, no one spoke.

Cen Luo looked at Jian Mu, waiting for her answer.

Maybe it was the smoke from the grill, but Cen Luo felt her vision was a little blurry. Jian Mu’s face became indistinct in her eyes.

Suddenly, Zuo Mo covered her mouth as if she had realized she said the wrong thing. She glanced around at the others, then lowered her voice and said to Jian Mu, “You didn’t tell your girlfriend you were with me yesterday, did you?”

Besides the few songs playing in the background, there was no other noise in the restaurant. Zuo Mo’s whisper was heard by everyone present.

When she said this, both Cen Luo and Qin Ran frowned in discomfort.

Anyone could hear the gloating and instigation in Zuo Mo’s voice.

Cen Luo wanted to wait for Jian Mu’s answer, but Qin Ran didn’t.

As soon as Zuo Mo finished speaking, Qin Ran couldn’t help but curse at Jian Mu. “Jian Mu, are you mute? Can’t you speak for yourself?”

Then she turned to Zuo Mo, who was sitting next to her, and said coldly, “Excuse me, but did you take a fancy to someone else’s trash before they could even throw it out?”

Zuo Mo was stunned for a second by her stare, then looked at the silent Jian Mu.

She was elegantly picking up a piece of meat from the grill, seemingly unaffected by the others.

“Jian Mu.” Cen Luo suddenly spoke, looking at Jian Mu.

Jian Mu paused at the sound of her name and then looked at her. “What’s wrong?”

She seemed completely unaware of the tense situation, her tone and expression perfectly calm.

“Are you cheating on me?”

The direct question startled Zuo Mo.

Even Jian Mu was taken aback by her sudden question.

Cen Luo continued to look at her, as if she wouldn’t stop until she got an answer.

Even a passing waiter stopped curiously, trying to hear her reply.

After a while, Jian Mu finally answered, “No.”

After getting her answer, Cen Luo said no more. She picked up her bag from her chair. Just as Qin Ran was about to speak, she cut her off. “Let’s go eat hot pot.”

Qin Ran’s anger instantly died down. She stood up and urged her, “Hurry, let’s go, go, go.”

When they were about to step out of the restaurant, Cen Luo stopped. After a few seconds, she started walking again. In the end, she didn’t say a word.

After Cen Luo and Qin Ran left, Zuo Mo slumped into her chair, her voice full of complaint and confusion. “Couldn’t you have just said you were cheating?”

Jian Mu ignored her.

Zuo Mo’s reaction was too dramatic, and her voice was a little loud. All the waiters in the restaurant looked at her strangely.

Their eyes were filled with condemnation.

Zuo Mo: “…”

Zuo Mo subconsciously covered her face with her hand, then realized it looked like she had something to hide and put her hand down. She cleared her throat and said to the watching waiters, “It’s not what you think.”

The waiters looked away, no one cared about her explanation.

Zuo Mo: “…”

“I’m telling you, couldn’t you have just broken up with her?”

Zuo Mo really didn’t understand. She asked her to help her act, but then didn’t cooperate. When she asked her if she was cheating, couldn’t she have just said yes?

And she truly didn’t understand. Cen Luo was such a good person. She looked so gentle and sweet, and her deep affection for Jian Mu was written all over her face.

And yet Jian Mu was thinking of breaking up with her.

“I promised her I wouldn’t be the one to end it.”

Jian Mu suddenly answered, just when Zuo Mo thought she wouldn’t.

However, this answer left Zuo Mo feeling a little confused.

“So you’re forcing her to break up with you?”

Jian Mu didn’t say anything, which Zuo Mo took as a silent confirmation.

For a moment, Zuo Mo didn’t know what to say.

When Jian Mu asked for her help, she didn’t mention any of this. Zuo Mo didn’t realize she was helping her “do evil.”

After a while, Zuo Mo still felt speechless. She stood up from the table. “I can’t help with this anymore. I can’t force your ‘greatness’ onto someone else.”

Jian Mu ate the last piece of grilled meat that Cen Luo had made, remaining silent.

Zuo Mo walked a few steps, then turned back to Jian Mu and said, “I know you’ll probably think I’m insulting you, CEO Jian, but I sincerely suggest you come to my practice and get a checkup whenever you have time.”

Jian Mu paid no attention to her words. She finished the last piece of barbecue and then paid and left.

As she was leaving, she felt her phone vibrate. She opened it and saw a message from Cen Luo—

[I’m going to stay at Xiao Ran’s house for the next two days. Remember to eat on time (＞_＜)]

It seemed she wasn’t angry anymore.

Sometimes, Jian Mu didn’t know what she was doing.

She wanted her to leave, but she didn’t want her to leave.

Cen Luo and Qin Ran went to a famous hot pot restaurant in Yun City. While they were choosing what to order, Qin Ran saw that Cen Luo seemed to be sending a message to Jian Mu again.

“Weren’t you just angry a minute ago? And now you’re messaging her again.”

Although Qin Ran hated Jian Mu and wished Cen Luo would break up with her, she had never seriously tried to persuade her to do so. She knew Cen Luo’s personality. Persuasion was useless; she had to wake up on her own.

Her role was just to be a catalyst. Over time, maybe Cen Luo would listen to her words and change her mind.

“That was a minute ago,” Cen Luo replied.

Qin Ran pouted. Self-soothing was an art form.

Cen Luo fell silent after sending the message. Qin Ran asked her what was wrong.

Cen Luo then expressed the doubts in her heart. “I just feel like she’s hiding something from me.”

“Maybe she’s cheating?!” Qin Ran got a little excited.

Cen Luo glanced at her and said calmly, “No, I mean about what happened today.”

“I guess I’ve experienced this many times. You know she’s not good with words. She never really explains things.”

After hearing Cen Luo’s words, Qin Ran sneered. “What’s this ‘not good with words’? She just doesn’t care. Tell her to chase you and see. I bet she won’t be a mute then.”

As soon as she said this, Qin Ran blinked, realizing her words were probably even more hurtful.

“Oh, I didn’t mean it that way. You’re right, she’s just not good with words and can’t explain things.”

Afraid that Cen Luo was sad, Qin Ran quickly explained.

However, Cen Luo didn’t look sad. She just replied, “I hope it’s nothing major.”

Well, she and Cen Luo were clearly not on the same page.

“You want to know what she’s hiding from you? I’ll give you a suggestion,” Qin Ran handed the menu to the waiter and then said, “How about this: you bravely leave her, make her regret it, and then she’ll tell you the whole truth. How does that sound?”

“No,” Cen Luo replied, with determination. “I don’t want to make her sad.”

“Well, how come she never thought about making you sad?” Qin Ran mumbled.

“What did you say?” Cen Luo didn’t hear her clearly.

“Nothing.” Qin Ran sighed.

As much as Cen Luo loved Jian Mu, Qin Ran hated her just as much.

Qin Ran still couldn’t understand why someone would so recklessly hurt the person who loved them just because they were loved.

More importantly, this was a love that Jian Mu had actively accepted herself.

Qin Ran still remembered. One day, when they were about to graduate, Cen Luo suddenly said she had decided to move back to Mencheng. Her flight was in three days, and she would leave after the graduation party. If all went well, she would live there.

Qin Ran was familiar with Mencheng. The reason she and Cen Luo had been separated for a while was that Cen Luo’s grandmother was sick, so Cen Luo had transferred her enrollment and studied there for two years.

But her grandmother still passed away in the spring two years later.

Cen Luo’s parents were busy with work, so she would spend every winter and summer vacation at her grandmother’s house. Cen Luo was a nostalgic person. Since then, she would go back to Mencheng for a while every spring.

Mencheng held her most beautiful memories.

So when Cen Luo said she wanted to go back to Mencheng after graduation, Qin Ran wasn’t surprised.

Even though she was sad, she respected her decision.

Going back to Mencheng not only meant leaving Yun City but also meant she might not see many people again.

After graduation, they might never meet again.

The relationship between Qin Ran and Cen Luo meant they could see each other whenever they wanted, but there were some people she might never get the chance to see again.

For example, Jian Mu, whom Cen Luo had been chasing for seven years.

All their interactions were orchestrated by Cen Luo.

Coincidental meetings in campus corners and on competition stages, sitting next to her in the viewing area, purposely adapting her hobbies to match, and the “coincidence” of being on the same travel route…

Going back to Mencheng meant there was a high chance they would never see each other again.

At the time, Qin Ran asked Cen Luo playfully, “So you’ve finally given up on Jian Mu, huh? Did you say goodbye to her?”

Back then, Qin Ran still disliked Jian Mu, but her hostility was not as strong as it was now. She could even smile when she occasionally saw her.

“I said goodbye to her,” Cen Luo said, looking up at the sky from a bench on campus. “I wished her a bright future.”

In the graduation season, a “bright future” mostly carried the meaning of a farewell.

Cen Luo couldn’t bring herself to say a proper goodbye to Jian Mu. In front of Jian Mu, she always put on a happy face and didn’t want Jian Mu to sense her unhappiness.

She was also afraid that Jian Mu would think her goodbye was insignificant.

That day, Qin Ran listened to Cen Luo talk for a long time and remained silent for a while. The words she remembered most clearly were Cen Luo’s quiet sigh: “Why couldn’t she give me just a little reaction? Just a little, and I could have held on for a little longer.”

To this day, Qin Ran doesn’t understand what Cen Luo truly loved about Jian Mu, or how a love so profound could make her persevere for ten years.

The only time Qin Ran had a vague understanding was when they were filling out college applications. To make Cen Luo be more rational about her choice, Qin Ran hid her application booklet and threatened her to either tell her the reason or not follow Jian Mu’s application.

Cen Luo finally gave in, but she only said vaguely, “I just feel like Jian Mu needs me.”

What did it feel like to hear that at the time? It was probably something like, Who do you think you are? You’ve been chasing Jian Mu for three years, and have you seen her react? Where does she need you?

But when Qin Ran met Cen Luo’s eyes, she couldn’t say a single word.

Maybe Cen Luo had once seen a different Jian Mu, or maybe it was a fleeting moment of infatuation that a stubborn person like Cen Luo had turned into an eternity.

If she could, Qin Ran wished that moment had never happened and that Cen Luo was still the happy, carefree little princess they had always protected.

Qin Ran thought that would be the last time Cen Luo ever talked about Jian Mu, but to her surprise, Cen Luo was late on the day she was supposed to drive her to the airport.

Later, Cen Luo told her that Jian Mu had agreed to be with her and had asked her to stay in Yun City.

Seven years of pursuit and companionship were no match for one drunken night.

Anyone who saw it would find it ironic.

At that moment, although it felt absurd, Qin Ran thought that Cen Luo had finally reached her happily-ever-after.

But she didn’t expect that even after they were in a relationship, Cen Luo’s situation hadn’t changed much.

It was as if she was living out Cen Luo’s sigh from back then: As long as Jian Mu gave her a little reaction, she could hold on for a little longer.

From then on, Qin Ran’s dislike for Jian Mu grew stronger.

If possible, she wished Cen Luo had never met Jian Mu. Without Jian Mu, Cen Luo could have been free forever.