Chapter 2 — When You Shine, I Am Still Here

What is there to hesitate about? With a man of such privileged background, the more agonizing the breakup, the deeper his resentment. And if he feels no resentment at all—well, that is even simpler. Once you part ways, he simply replaces you with someone new. I spoke with absolute finality. The phone remained silent for a long time. I pulled it away to check, seeing the call was still connected. With a sharp click, I abruptly hung up. Then came a swift sequence of maneuvers: block, delete, and sever all ties.

I feigned a carefree demeanor as I strolled back to the dormitory. The young mistress was already messaging, relentlessly urging me to make progress. Reluctantly, I tapped on the contact card for Aaron. Was it really necessary to send a friend request just to connect? The moment I sent it this time, he accepted instantly, following up with a cheerful greeting sticker. My spirits were quite low at that moment, plunging into an unmitigated abyss. Driven by a mischievous, spiteful impulse, I strung together a series of situational stickers to form a taunting sentence: "Do you see this flower? Even if I throw it away, I'm not giving it to you..."

After sending it, I simply stared blankly at the chat interface, my mind drifting. Clearly, I should have listened to the young mistress and tried to woo Aaron. I ought to have buttered him up with sweet words. Yet, I lacked the strength. A persistent urge to weep welled up inside me—I merely held it back.

"Alright then, where did you throw it?"

"Let me go pick it up."

Aaron sent a voice message.

As the campus heartthrob, Aaron’s voice carried the effortless clarity of youth, lazy and bright like sunlight filtering through leaves. It was entirely unlike the deep, magnetic, and seasoned cadence of Arthur. Besides, his casual remark just now… was undeniably flirtatious. But the real problem was that he did not even know who I was! He had started flirting based solely on a WeChat avatar. I lowered my gaze to inspect my profile picture: a gloomy little black rabbit, devoid of any charm whatsoever.

So, this person really was not picky at all. He cast his net wide, shooting his shot with everyone—the quintessential school idol approach. As it turned out, the man adored by the young mistress amounted to nothing more than this.

"Added him yet? Take a screenshot and send it to me," the young mistress texted.

I did not dare send the sequence of stickers I had just dispatched, terrified of earning her wrath. Once I finally forwarded a proper screenshot of the added contact, she responded with surprise, "Huh? Aaron actually sends stickers? And he initiated it too?! Oh my god, my little baby's heart is fluttering!"

If you had heard that voice message, your heart would truly be fluttering... I toyed with the notion of blocking Aaron as well, deleting him entirely to leave no loose ends. In the end, however, I restrained myself.

Ever since breaking up with Arthur, I had virtually stopped stepping outside. My daily routine was restricted to a triangular circuit: dormitory, library, cafeteria. I could not even muster the energy to properly cater to the young mistress.

"Xixi, head over to the Whispering Pavilion tonight. I'm attending a banquet, so wait for me in the main lobby. If you're too late, there won't be any cabs back. You must be there!" the young mistress commanded. Her orders were as unyielding as steel.

Following my rupture with Arthur, I had convinced myself I ought to stop acting as a handmaiden in the young mistress's shadow. What if I were to run into Arthur? Should the truth come to light, the consequences would be catastrophic. The vengeance of the young mistress… I truly dared not imagine it. I desperately wanted to decline, yet she afforded me no room for refusal.

"Oh, right, Xixi! Aaron doesn't seem poor at all! I just saw him standing next to Elder Chen. I think he might be his grandson?! Let me look into it further, so hold off on pursuing him for now!" the young mistress announced over the phone, her voice brimming with excitement.

I breathed a long sigh of relief—she was finally granting me a reprieve from this absurd pursuit. I nodded repeatedly, "Shall I delete him then? Honestly, I always thought you and he were a match made in heaven. Now that the two of you belong to the same social sphere, it's just wonderful!"

"Delete him then, Xixi. I know you never really liked him anyway; don't force yourself," the young mistress laughed. "Oh, right, remember to block him first and send me both screenshots and a screen recording, so I know you aren't harboring any lingering attachment."

"Very well."

I had indeed been merely going through the motions over the past few days. I ignored every single greeting from Aaron, actively dodging any scenario where our paths might cross. Truly... it was all far too awkward.

Once I hung up with the young mistress, I initiated a screen recording, dragging Aaron into the blacklist before permanently deleting him. I captured a screenshot of the blocked list and forwarded it to her for verification. Suddenly, a profound sense of impending doom washed over me. I hurriedly switched on my phone to double-check. The ominous feeling only intensified.

Damn it! I knew I had forgotten something!

The second person on that blacklist… was it not Arthur’s WeChat account? The very brother of the young mistress! More than two minutes had elapsed, rendering the message irreversible.

On the young mistress's end, an unusual silence hung in the air. She did not reply. Had she seen it? What was she thinking? Why wasn't she asking me about it? Clutching my phone, my heart felt as though it were burning in a fire, already conjuring a myriad of catastrophic scenarios: the young mistress flying into a rage, interrogating me, exposing my secrets, destroying me entirely...

Time dragged on heavily. I was consumed by panic, too terrified to initiate contact.

"When you reach the Whispering Pavilion, tell Old Zhang to bring the card up to me."

"Oh, Xixi, Aaron hides his background so well! Turns out he's Elder Chen's own grandson! I never imagined someone with a pedigree like that could be so modest at school. I like him even more now, I'm completely head over heels!"

Just as I was suffocating with tension, the young mistress abruptly sent two consecutive messages, acting as though nothing at all had happened. She had completely missed the other name!

I gasped like a fish stranded on dry land suddenly tossed back into the water. I could finally breathe. Quietly, I dispatched a string of adorable stickers, deliberately burying that incriminating message beneath a cascade of silent spam. Finally, I sent an animated graphic of a motorcyclist zooming forward at full speed.

"I have arrived, my dearest mistress!"

"Who would have thought our school idol had such an elite background? Naturally, he's a man worthy of the young mistress's discerning eye. Simply marvelous!"

A qualified handmaiden always had to deliver. Emotional labor had to be supplied in full measure, and whatever sentiments needed voicing had to be phrased with utmost tact. The young mistress invariably relished that kind of flattery.

My emotions had just ridden a roller coaster from sheer precipice to profound relief, and only now did I deflate like a punctured tire, collapsing limply onto my bed. The dormitory lights had already flickered on. Yet, the moment I relaxed even slightly, my thoughts drifted back to Arthur. Hmph. I truly was a hopeless case.

I hastily applied a light layer of makeup, dragged my weary body out of the dormitory, and prepared to fetch the young mistress. At the Whispering Pavilion restaurant, I encountered Old Zhang, who handed me a set of keys accompanied by an access card.

"We had to rush over this time, so I brought Chief Chu's everyday official car. Miss Chu, are you comfortable driving this? If not, I can have someone swap it for another vehicle."

My fingers instinctively tightened. Arthur's car?

I reacted on pure instinct, clutching the keys tightly before hurriedly pushing them back and shaking my head vigorously. "Uncle Zhang, you know I wouldn't dare."

Uncle Zhang looked rather troubled, pondered for a moment, and pulled out his phone to make a call. "That's right, Chief Chu's official car is here at the Whispering Pavilion. Are you heading over now? Very well, I'll wait for you to come swap the vehicles."

Ending the call, he turned to me, "Miss Chu, please wait a moment. Young Zhang is driving the young mistress's car over to make the exchange."

Young Zhang?!

A thunderclap seemed to detonate inside my head. Wasn't that Arthur's personal driver?! During our year of clandestine romance, whenever I was ferried to private villas or hotels, he was the very man behind the wheel! And now I was expected to stand here and exchange keys with him? Are you kidding me?!

I made a split-second decision—run!

"Uncle Zhang, I'm in a rush, I'll head up first! Please leave the keys at the front desk once the swap is done, and I'll pick them up later!"

I bolted like a gust of wind, leaving Uncle Zhang standing there completely bewildered. Pausing to catch my breath in the second-floor lobby, I raised my head and froze: Aaron was standing right around the corner. He was leaning against a windowsill, seemingly smoking a cigarette. One hand rested against the glass frame, his gaze drifting distantly outward in deep thought, entirely oblivious to the ember burning dangerously close to his fingers.

Had I not previously witnessed Arthur’s devastatingly lethal level of handsomeness, a bright, warm-hearted fellow like Aaron… would likely have made my heart skip a beat. Recalling how I had just blocked him—even though he remained utterly clueless that the culprit was me—I still felt a peculiar pang of guilt.

Stealthily, I tiptoed around in an attempt to slip toward the main hall. But his hearing proved terrifyingly acute; a single sideways glance locked onto me instantly.