Chapter 5 — Eight Years of Secret Love

"Welcome come by next time." He still stood in place, not leaving. "Lan Lan, can we talk for a moment?" Someone pushed the door open and walked in, I reluctantly extended my hand. "Sorry, I don't have time now." Quy Da was not angry, picked up his bag, and waited quietly outside the door. But throughout that morning, customers kept coming in and out. I barely have a minute to spare. It wasn't until nearly noon, when my mother brought me rice, that there were no customers in the store. "Oh, Quy Da, you're here too! Have you eaten?" Quy Da scratched his hair and politely greeted: "Hello aunt, I haven't eaten yet." Mom took the food out and waved to him. "Let's eat a little together, okay? Today I brought quite a lot of food." Quy Da opened his mouth and I immediately interrupted him. "Mom, he has to go home." Okay.” Quy Da carried his bag, a loneliness on his face that was hard to hide. Even the smile at the corner of his lips carried a bit of bitterness. "Yes, I passed by to buy some things, and now I'm planning to go home." He looked at me as I bowed my head to eat, then waved to my mother. "I'll go home first, hello aunt." Maybe because I didn't pay attention to him, he came every day during those days off. This afternoon, he brought some washed grapes to the store. "Want to eat some?" I glanced calmly and shook my head. "No need, thank you." He leaned next to the counter, his voice a bit hoarse. "Lan Lan, I know that no matter how much I apologize, I can't make up for the hurt I've caused you." "But I still want to say sorry." He put his hands on the cashier counter and said sincerely: "Regardless of whether you believe it or not, I still want to say the words that day." That day, it was just something I said when I was angry with my mother." "I never hated you, never." Over the past few days, he had said those words countless times. I was a little impatient and spoke up: "Okay, I forgive you, okay?" "Can you stop being like a gatekeeper every day, standing in front of my store?" His lips moved, showing an extremely bitter smile. "For the last time. Can you hear me tell you the whole story?" I sat back in my chair, scrolling through my phone with one hand. "Okay, tell me." Until I looked at my phone to the point that I almost forgot about your existence, you. slowly spoke up. "You know, my family controls me very strictly." "From childhood to adulthood, every step of my life had to follow their plan." "Before going to college, I lived under such pressure every day. Only when I meet you, my mood gets a little better." 8 His voice was a bit hoarse. "You also grew up later, becoming a very elite girl." "They watched you grow up from a young age, and were extremely pleased with you, so want me to chase you.” His voice was a bit choked. He took a deep breath and continued: "Of course I really like you, but when they said those words, my active choice seemed to turn into a choice made at their request." "My feelings for you also seemed to turn into feelings that appeared because of their request." "I couldn't accept such a result. That day, because I was so angry, I said that I hated you." "Lan Lan..." The person who has always considered himself a person. The brother in front of me rarely sheds tears in front of me. "Over the past month, I've always wanted to find a chance to explain clearly to you." "But I don't know what's wrong with me, I can't take the first step." "You don't know how desperate I was that day, when you said you had a boyfriend during dinner." He raised his hand to wipe the tears from the corner of his eyes. "At that time, I suddenly felt extremely regretful. Why did I have to fight in the past?" gain some dignity?” While he choked up to adjust his emotions, I turned off the phone and looked

"So you want to say that you like me?" His eyes were red, he nodded at me. I stood up, stretched. "Then why did you give the item I gave you to someone else?" He was a bit confused. "What?" I looked up the purchase history of the necklace I gave him and held it out in front of him. "You're not going to say that you don't remember giving it to someone else, are you?" He stood motionless in place, his eyes avoiding, not daring to look directly at me anymore. I immediately continued to ask: "Also, you actually realized long ago that I liked you, right?" "You already knew what my WeChat account meant, right?" "During the class reunion that day, you also deliberately chose a time when there were many people to come to you, right?" He bowed his head, not denying. "But Quy Da, I don't understand." "If you really like me, why did you delete all the posts that I clicked on the day you came to school?" like?” “If you really like me, why do you have time to chat happily with others on your personal page, but don't have time to reply to my messages?” “If you really like me, why do you get hot and cold with me?” His hand holding the phone tightened. “I'm sorry…” Immediately followed by a period of silence. Like that day, he suddenly asked me: