Chapter 37: Lin Lin

“Tiantian, give me a chance, okay? We agreed to be together back then, didn’t we?”

The female voice on the other end of the line suddenly became a bit more urgent. Luo Tiantian suddenly remembered who it was.

‘Lin Lin. It’s her.’

The friend who had occupied nearly her entire life from elementary school through high school, only to treat her with the deepest coldness and distance in the end.

They had agreed to be together after graduating high school, but that had turned into a unilateral declaration of separation and a subsequent year of complete neglect and avoidance.

Lin Lin was always like that. Her passion was impossible to refuse when she drew close, yet her withdrawal was more absolute than anyone else’s. Worst of all, she had her own logic, packaging all the avoidance and hurt as something unavoidable or “for your own good.” Back then, Luo Tiantian couldn’t even find a place to anchor her resentment, leaving her with nothing but chilling confusion and self-loathing.

“…”

Luo Tiantian opened her mouth, but her throat was dry and painful. She couldn’t make a sound for a moment.

The person on the other end seemed to hear her heavy breathing and paused. Her tone became even more urgent.

“Hello? Who is this? Where’s Tiantian? Let him take the phone.”

Luo Tiantian closed her eyes. The past was in the past. She was no longer the Luo Tiantian who would chase after Lin Lin, trying to understand why she had been suddenly cast aside again.

Currently, she didn’t even know where she would be tomorrow. She had no interest in settling these old scores.

“He’s not here. I’m his girlfriend. Do you need something?” Luo Tiantian said softly.

The other end fell silent for more than ten seconds, with only the faint sound of static.

Clearly, this answer was completely unexpected for Lin Lin.

“Girl… girlfriend?” Lin Lin’s voice was filled with disbelief. “Tiantian… he has a girlfriend? Since when? Why didn’t I know? Who… who are you?”

The shock in her tone even carried a hint of offended questioning, as if Tiantian finding a girlfriend was a scandalous act that had to be reported to her.

Luo Tiantian almost wanted to scoff, but the high fever made even the effort of moving her lips feel like a waste.

“It doesn’t matter who I am. He moved away. He hasn’t lived at his old place for a long time. Don’t call again.” After she finished, she prepared to hang up.

“Wait!” Lin Lin shouted hurriedly. “Moved? Where did he go? Is… is he still angry with me? Let him answer; I’ll talk to him. I was wrong back then, but I had my reasons. The pressure was too much, and I didn’t ignore him on purpose…”

‘The same old rhetoric.’

“He’s not angry,” Luo Tiantian interrupted, her voice turning cold. “He just thinks there’s no point in staying in touch. That’s all. I’m going to rest now.”