Where did you go wrong.
1673 Words
Mingke returned to the dormitory at dawn and slept for a full twelve hours. When she finally woke, only Ji Feng was still in the room—Chen Yi had already gone out, leaving behind a lingering trace of perfume in the air. Mingke couldn’t help but sneeze.
The sound drew Ji Feng to pull back her curtain. “Hey, are you sleeping or in a coma? That’s extreme.”
Ji Feng had freshly changed nail polish on all ten fingers, the color bright and eye-catching. Mingke slowly regained her senses, climbed down from the upper bunk, and went to wash up. As she squeezed toothpaste onto her brush, Ji Feng’s curious voice followed her into the bathroom.
“So… what happened with that thing yesterday?”
She had seen Mingke at the club the night before, though like Chen Yi, she had stayed silent. But word of what followed had already spread widely through Chen Yi’s version of the story.
“What did the manager say?”
“He said to follow the rules and wait for further notice,” Mingke replied, the bathroom door cutting off most of the noise from outside. Ji Feng wasn’t malicious, just incurably nosy—one of those harmless but privileged habits of a second-generation rich kid.
Still, she couldn’t resist advising through the door. “This is easy to solve. Just apologize to Wen-ge, or talk directly to the boss. There’s no way you can afford that kind of compensation.”
Mingke focused instead on the small pimple forming on her chin.
Yesterday, Wang Ge had said the same thing—but she knew better. An apology wouldn’t work. She would have to plead with the owner. And even then, it was clear: the man was not angry about a stained jacket alone.
After finishing her wash, Ji Feng had already left. Mingke tidied herself neatly—no makeup, only a clear lip gloss—looking delicate yet carefully presentable. Wang Ge had told her the boss wanted to see her as soon as possible.
He also warned her: the negotiation had gone poorly. The man involved was a friend of the boss’s nephew, and this was no longer just about a piece of clothing.
Mingke thanked him over text before turning off her phone.
The ride was short, yet her mind drifted far.
In high school, Wen Yu had been the only person she had ever liked.
They had some form of connection, yet for the sake of “distance” and appearances, they rarely spoke openly. The so-called school “top delinquent” had actually agreed to her strange, cautious arrangement just to protect her from gossip.
So they exchanged letters instead—always passing them secretly between textbooks during breaks. Those letters were her only joy, the brightest part of her adolescence.
Because she was quiet, people mistook her silence for arrogance. Girls disliked her in groups, boys stayed indifferent.
At first, only her belongings went missing. Later, she was locked in a restroom for an entire day.
Lu Yang was the first to stand in front of her. Wen Yu, however, was the first to tell her to stand up on her own.
A voice snapped her back to reality. The driver barked impatiently, “Are you getting out or not?”
“I’m getting out,” she said quickly, stumbling off the car before it sped away. She already knew where the boss’s office was.
The surname “Lin” was common, yet the moment she stepped inside, she felt as if some invisible thread had already been arranged by fate.
Just like Lu Yang once loved Lin Zhaoyi recklessly—
Just like she immediately recognized, at a glance, the young man standing beside the manager… Lin Zhaoyi himself.
When she entered, Lin Zhaoyi patted the boss’s shoulder. “I’ll come tonight too. I’ll help you take a look.”
“Come if you want,” Lin Zhan snorted. “Now get lost.”
Lin Zhaoyi didn’t recognize her. Yet in the moment he turned aside, Mingke felt an almost uncontrollable urge to confront him.
“So you’re the one handling the complaint?” Lin Zhan said, more reasonable than expected. “That guy is a friend of my nephew. He says you stained his jacket. How about this—I’ll give you his number. The two of you sort it out. I run a business; I can’t afford to lose money over this.”
Mingke wasn’t optimistic. That man—Wen Yu—had become wilder, sharper, impossible to reason with.
“Is there… another way?” she asked softly. “My family isn’t well off.”
She needed money badly.
People like her—pretty girls working part-time jobs—were common here. Lin Zhan usually liked playing the good boss, but even he had limits.
Still, he had just encountered a problem of his own. Perhaps she could help.
Leaning against the desk with a cigarette, he said, “Fine. I can help you resolve this—but you’ll need to do me a favor.”
“What favor?”
“My family is forcing me to go on a blind date tonight. I can’t refuse. You’re pretty enough—just pretend to be my girlfriend and help me get through it. I’ll handle the rest.”
Mingke visibly relaxed the moment she heard it.
“No problem. Send me the time and place. Thank you.”
She bowed slightly and left.
Lin Zhan chuckled. The girl was surprisingly polite.
By 5:30 p.m., Mingke was back at school. She had time to prepare.
She knew how to dress up—more than most people realized. When she had free time, she even livestreamed as a dance creator and makeup tutor online.
But most of the time, she was simply performing different roles for others.
Sometimes she accompanied patients to hospitals. Sometimes she acted as a fake girlfriend. Those jobs paid well.
That was also how she often ran into Chen Yi—
and how the rumors about her “messy private life” began.
For tonight’s role, Lin Zhan needed her to look clean, elegant, like a proper young lady.
So she dressed accordingly: light makeup, long hair down, no accessories, a white knee-length dress, simple light-colored shoes.
The perfect “first love” aesthetic.
She arrived on time.
His blind date was already there—a slightly plump but sweet-looking girl sitting across from Lin Zhan.
Lin Zhan greeted her warmly, even attentively. Though sharp-tongued and provocative at times, his wealth and looks alone were enough to keep attention on him.
Mingke could feel sharp glances from the girl across the table.
She didn’t mind. She simply enjoyed the convenience of her temporary “girlfriend” identity.
She didn’t know that not far away, in a corner overlooking the scene, Wen Yu and Lin Zhaoyi were watching everything unfold.
Lin Zhaoyi laughed until his shoulders shook. “See? My uncle never listens. But who’s that girl? Pretty, huh—so fair.”
“Like you like anyone who’s fair,” Wen Yu replied coldly, jaw tightening.
From the moment Mingke appeared at the door, he had already seen her.
And she had smiled at Lin Zhan.
Smiled.
Lin Zhaoyi didn’t recognize her—that was normal. She had changed too much, and back then, he hadn’t cared enough to remember.
“Where are you going?” Lin Zhaoyi asked, noticing Wen Yu heading downstairs.
“Smoking.”
“Smoke yourself to death.”
Lin Zhaoyi laughed, but Wen Yu didn’t respond.
He had changed.
In high school, he wasn’t like this—he wasn’t this dark, this sharp-edged. It was only after a girl left him that he became what he was now: half-alive, half-broken, like a cactus in a desert—prickly, defensive, untouchable.
He wanted to see her.
The blind date was over quickly. Lin Zhan looked satisfied, while the girl across from him sat teary-eyed.
Mingke stepped outside for air.
She knew her part was done. The job had gone well.
The wind was cold. She hugged herself lightly and looked up at the sky.
Lu Yang loved stargazing.
She always liked things that were distant and unreachable—just like how she herself had been trapped by love.
After her accident, Lu Yang’s parents became hers. That was also why she worked so hard for money.
Her phone buzzed. She transferred funds to Lu’s father, then recorded a voice reply.
Before she could finish collecting herself, footsteps approached from behind.
She moved aside instinctively.
When she looked up again, she met a familiar gaze.
Wen Yu.
Dressed in black, leaning against the car, he looked sharper than before—colder, more dangerous.
“……”
Mingke thought: *What a cursed coincidence.*
She decided to pretend not to know him.
But the next second, he walked straight toward her.
Unavoidable.
“Sir,” she forced a polite smile. “About last time—our boss said he’ll handle it. Please be magnanimous and let it go.”
Wen Yu let out a faint, mocking laugh. “What am I to you?”
“A… distinguished VIP of the nightclub?”
Her usual tricks didn’t work on him at all.
“I should go back in now,” she said quickly.
But before she could move, her back slammed hard against the wall.
Pain shot through her spine.
“You—”
“Shut up.”
His hand hovered at her throat, not fully pressing—just enough to trap her presence there. Under his palm, he could feel her pulse beating steadily, alive and warm.
His gaze moved slowly over her face, then downward.
“Did you change something?” he asked quietly. “You look really pretty now, Mingke.”
His grip tightened slightly.
“Without me… how did you end up doing so well?”
“And somehow,” he murmured, almost to himself, “that really pisses me off.”
- Writer
