Chapter 297 - 297 Truth and Confession
297 Truth and Confession
The night was as dark as ink, and the moonlight cascaded down on the cypress forest.
Now, Shen Ruojing lifted her head and looked at the man before her.
Chu Cichen’s originally tense body was slowly relaxing. His phoenix eyes were immeasurably deep, like the vast sky that was filled with stars. There seemed to be starlight gathering in his eyes.
His voice quavered a little as he asked, “518, do you want to see the Northern Lights?”
Shen Ruojing started. She fell silent for a moment before replying, “Yes.”
“Do you want to see the pyramids of Eygpt?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to see the Babylon Skypark?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to see the blue flames of the Ijen Volcano?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to go to the Cape of Good Hope and surf the seas there?”
“Yes.”
The man’s voice, which was originally trembling from nervousness, gradually calmed down. The emotions in his eyes also shifted from passionate to extreme focus. He enunciated each of his words slowly, “Actually, I’m not really keen on such adventures, but I want to go there with you and travel the world together. I wish to accompany you at your side, starting from us falling in love until both of us turn old and gray with age. Are you willing?”
Shen Ruojing didn’t understand why he suddenly confessed to her once more. For a time, she didn’t know what she should reply.
Chu Cichen didn’t wait for her response. After he finished saying all these, he suddenly laughed in a carefree manner. “This was the confession I prepared for you back then. I once practiced the words before a mirror many times. Sadly, I didn’t manage to use them.”
Shen Ruojing clenched her fists tightly. “In that case, why are you saying them now?”
Chu Cichen shifted his gaze away. “Because I’m afraid that after telling you the truth, I won’t have a chance to say these words anymore.”
Shen Ruojing lowered her eyelids.
Chu Cichen then smiled and continued, “I’ve investigated the truth of what happened back then. Lu Cheng has indeed found witnesses who saw the dates between you and him. The canteen auntie from Ford City Music Academy was once a cleaner at the park where the two of you dated. She also revealed the identities of a few of her ex-colleagues, so I got Lu Cheng to investigate them. All of them expressed that they have seen you and him together. Hence, the relationship you had back then was real.”
He stretched his hand, wanting to touch Shen Ruojing’s head.
However, Shen Ruojing took a step back and evaded it.
Chu Cichen’s eyes dimmed. After that, he continued, “I’ve always been worried that you might have imagined the whole thing due to some psychological or mental problem. But now, I can finally be at ease after learning that you are healthy.”
Shen Ruojing stared at him. “Continue speaking.”
Chu Cichen then said, “I didn’t return to the country during those years. For this point, my subordinates around me and the plane tickets are all evidence. In fact, I even suspected that I had a problem. I also went to do a mental check-up, but everything about me was normal. There are no problems with our memories because…”
He paused and really didn’t want to continue telling her.
He had been avoiding Shen Ruojing because he was afraid of this very moment. But right now, he couldn’t hide it from her anymore. He turned his head away and slowly spoke, “Because…during that half a year when you were dating. The person that you dated wasn’t me.”
“…”
The atmosphere fell silent. Only the sound of the wind and leaves falling could be heard.
For an instant, Chu Cichen felt as though his heart got squeezed. He knew that after he revealed the truth, it would be equivalent to him pushing this woman away personally.
All this time, her tolerance and fondness of him were only because she thought that he was her lover.
Earlier, she said that he was her only one.
However, that answer actually made his heart turn cold.
This was because, the one in ‘only one’ wasn’t referring to him.
Shen Ruojing still remained calm. She quietly looked at Chu Cichen’s handsome face and asked, “Who is he?”
“I’m still investigating. The person who truly vanished all those years ago was him.”
Chu Cichen didn’t dare to look at her eyes because he was afraid of her looking at him like a stranger.
However, Shen Ruojing was analyzing the facts logically. “So, in the country, the one I was dating was him. But when overseas, the person I met was you. I was actually dating two of you at the same time?”
“Hmm.”
“The person who proposed was him and not you.”
“Hmm.”
“The one who went on dates with me every weekend, the one who sent me voice messages at night, was him and not you.”
“…Hmm.”
Shen Ruojing suddenly took a step forward. “In that case, the person who confessed to me then was him and not you?”
Chu Cichen clenched his fists. “Hmm.”
When he returned to the country, he felt that Shen Ruojing was lying and pestering him every day. But now, he wanted nothing more than to believe that the ‘lie’ was true. He wanted nothing more than for the person who had accompanied her for half a year back then to be him.
However, the truth was just so cruel.
He suddenly didn’t know how to face her…he also didn’t know how she would view him.
This was the reason why he kept hesitating and was unwilling to say the truth.
He was afraid.
He was afraid that she wouldn’t love him after learning the truth.
He was afraid that from now onward, she would treat him as a stranger.
During this period. Chu Cichen had been troubled every day.
The moment he learned this truth, his first reaction was to conceal this matter.
In any case, that person had vanished completely as though he had never existed before. In that case, if he pretended to be him and used amnesia as a reason or just said that he couldn’t remember the details clearly, he would be able to keep Shen Ruojing by his side.
He even went to find the canteen auntie, preparing to pay a fee to seal her lips.
But despite going to the canteen twice, he wasn’t able to bring himself to do such a thing.
This was because he had once promised 518 that he would never lie to her in his entire life.
He could only listen to the canteen auntie’s story, hearing her describe the dating process between Shen Ruojing and that man. The two of them really liked strolling around aimlessly to various places.
Every time, it was unknown what the man said and Shen Ruojing would always listen with a smile on her face.
After that, there was a time when the man confessed to the girl.
Because the distance was too far, the canteen auntie and her colleagues could only see the guy blushing, lowering his head and muttering something. The bunch of staff secretly gathered in the park’s resting room and stared at the couple from afar.
The girl nodded and the staff all smiled.
The staff felt that the couple matched each other very well, and they agreed that both of them would go far together.
The more Chu Cichen heard about their past, the more he felt like he was an outsider.
The happier they sounded, the more sorrowful Chu Cichen felt.
The girl in her dreams had agreed to be together with him even before he confessed.
He had originally thought that both of them were fond of each other, and as long as he showed some initiative, she would seize it and they would be together. Sadly, from the start until the end, it was a case of mistaken identity.
Chu Cichen lowered his head in disappointment.
He didn’t know if he still had a chance, but he wasn’t willing to let go. He looked at Shen Ruojing and asked, “Jingjing, do you feel that I can continue pursuing you?”
Shen Ruojing didn’t speak and continued staring at him.
Chu Cichen’s heart slowly began to sink…
Just when he thought that she wouldn’t agree, Shen Ruojing suddenly spoke, “If you are not him, why is your confession the same as his back then?”
Chu Cichen abruptly started in shock. He lifted his head. “What did you say?”