Chapter 13 — Today, I’m Done Waiting

On the birthday of Jia Mu, Wen Xuan had reserved the entire grand estate. When I arrived, the entrance was strewn with cascading white roses, bearing an uncanny resemblance to the wedding scenes found in romance novels. Even the background music remained unchanged. It was the very same melody we had listened to during our first college date. In the past, I had adored it. Later on, whenever Wen Xuan managed to provoke my anger, he would always instruct the staff to play this specific tune. It was as if the mere swell of the music was enough to force me into recalling the sweet echoes of the past, thereby coercing me into forgiving the bitter realities of the present. Jia Mu, dressed in a sharp little suit, came running out of the banquet hall to greet me. I gently instructed him to go play with the other children before stepping alone into the grand hall. Wen Xuan was standing before a towering wall of roses, holding out a beautifully wrapped gift box. Inside lay property transfer deeds for two adjoining commercial storefronts alongside a five percent share of the corporate conglomerate. He softly explained that Rou had already departed, urging me to return to his side so we could mend what was broken and begin anew.

I do not need any of this. Wen Xuan’s smile stiffened instantly. What did you say?

The storefronts and the corporate shares, I want none of them.

Whatever terms were originally stipulated in our divorce agreement shall be executed to the letter.

Man Hua stepped forward, attempting to mediate the mounting tension, but I paid her no heed. Wen Xuan reached out and firmly grasped my arm. This place is your home. I yanked my arm away from his grasp.

Wen Xuan.

When you meticulously prepared all of these grand gestures, did you operate under the absolute certainty that I would simply surrender and agree?

His lips pressed tightly into a thin, unyielding line.

You knew that I still loved you.

And I love you too.

We merely stumbled and took a wrong turn down a stretch of the road.

The one who strayed from the path was you.

It was not both of us.

His expression grew increasingly dark and brooding. I pressed on, refusing to relent.

You have known for a long time that we are merely characters confined within the pages of a book.

On the very day of our grand wedding, consciousness abruptly dawned upon you.

The assembled guests within the banquet hall exchanged bewildered, uneasy glances, utterly incapable of comprehending the cryptic exchange. Yet, Wen Xuan understood every single word.

Qing Sui. His voice dropped to a low, warning whisper. Do not speak of this here.

Why on earth must I remain silent?

Could it possibly be because you are consumed by fear?

Are you terrified lest others discover that every single time you repeatedly abandoned me for Rou, it was never out of genuine love?

It was simply because she never existed within the original manuscript.

Therefore, whenever she cried out for you, you invariably rushed to her side.

You desperately sought to prove to yourself that you were not merely some deeply devoted male protagonist conjured entirely by an author's pen.

You wanted to believe you possessed absolute free will.

The color drained entirely from Wen Xuan’s face, leaving him deathly pale.

Yet, every single time you crawled back to me, you begged for my forgiveness.

Because you simultaneously required validation for an entirely different truth.

You needed to prove that no matter how erratically you chose to behave, the female protagonist would invariably remain bound to the male protagonist, never truly leaving his side.

His jaw tightened, the muscles clenching in rigid defiance.

That is not how it was.

Then how would you care to explain it?

I never loved Rou.

And the thought of marrying her never once crossed my mind.

I merely utilized her existence to demonstrate to myself that I could break free from the predetermined narrative.

Just as I utilized you to prove that I would never forfeit my ultimate ending.

Wen Xuan suddenly let out a hollow laugh, though his eyes remained utterly devoid of even a shred of genuine mirth.

Do you genuinely believe you understand me so thoroughly?

At the very least, I understand the truth now.

You understand nothing at all. His voice grew progressively colder, freezing the air around us. Do you have the faintest idea what it felt like when awakening struck me on our wedding day?

When I suddenly comprehended the profound reasons behind why I was drawn to you.

Why I was destined to relentlessly pursue you.

Why every single time you were in distress, I miraculously materialized at precisely the right moment.

Every single of those moments had been meticulously scripted by someone else's hand.

Even the simple utterance of the words I love you sounded hollow, no different than rehearsed lines from a script.

The surrounding atmosphere plunged into an absolute, suffocating silence. Man Hua parted her lips to speak, but Wen Xuan silenced her with a sharp flick of his hand. His burning gaze remained locked onto me, his eyes bloodshot and raw.

I refuse to live as a mere puppet dangling from someone else's strings.

I simply needed to discover whether, stripped of the author's invisible hand, I would still willingly choose you.