Until The Wind Finds Us

A Name From The Past

Curious about what Yu Chen was doing, Wei Wei walked closer to him.

"What are you looking at?" Wei Wei asked with a smile, even though she already knew what he was doing.

Yu Chen, who was focused on his phone, immediately got startled when he heard her voice.

"You scared me."

"Why are you scared? Did you do something wrong?" Her tone sounded like she was simply asking a question, but there was a slight sting hidden beneath her words. Deep inside, Wei Wei knew she was opening a topic that might not be easy to talk about.

"You suddenly appeared behind me..." Yu Chen answered honestly. He did not think that what he was doing was something serious.

However, Wei Wei's eyes had already fallen on the phone screen in his hand.

One name immediately caught her attention.

Tang Ruo Xi.

"Who is Tang Ruo Xi?"

The question sounded simple, but that name had actually been lingering in her mind for a long time.

Yu Chen was silent for a moment.

"Tang Ruo Xi..." He took a small breath before continuing.

"I used to chase after her during college."

Wei Wei was slightly startled, even though she already knew the answer.

Of course, Wei Wei knew.

Back when they were still in university, Yu Chen had once pursued Tang Ruo Xi.

What Yu Chen never knew was that Wei Wei had been watching him from afar for a long time.

......

Her name was Tang Ruo Xi.

She was a beautiful woman, the campus goddess, and someone who always seemed to shine every single day. Wherever she went, there were always many people paying attention to her.

It was not surprising that Yu Chen had fallen for her as well.

However, what Yu Chen did not know was...

The feelings he gave to Ruo Xi were never received with the same sincerity.

Yu Chen believed that the love he gave was pure and genuine. He believed that as long as he treated someone well enough, that person would eventually see his efforts.

But to Tang Ruo Xi, Yu Chen was simply someone she could always rely on.

Ruo Xi knew that Yu Chen would follow her words.

She asked him to buy coffee for her, and he always did it.

She asked Yu Chen to help her with assignments.

Even the most difficult tasks were always completed by him.

Back then, Wei Wei often saw Ruo Xi walking like a flower surrounded by bees.

However, there was always one bee left behind.

Yu Chen.

He walked stiffly while carrying Ruo Xi's belongings. Compared to the Yu Chen she knew now, he was much quieter back then, less confident, and seemed like someone who was afraid of losing the attention of others.

"Do you see that one?" Qiao An Ran said while chuckling.

"He looks the weakest among all of them."

Shen Mei Lin looked at Yu Chen and sighed.

"The most pitiful one is actually him."

"When the 'flower' walks together with all the other bees, he is the one walking behind while carrying all her things."

Wei Wei looked at them with discomfort.

"Doesn't he realize that he is being used?"

"Shouldn't we tell him?" Wei Wei asked them.

"Don't."

Mei Lin immediately answered.

"This is not your business, Wei Wei."

She knew Wei Wei was someone who easily felt sympathy toward others.

"I know you feel sorry for that 'bookworm'."

"But he might not believe you."

Mei Lin's words were not without reason.

Sometimes, someone who desperately wanted to be loved would find it difficult to accept a painful truth.

In the following days, Wei Wei still often saw Yu Chen together with Tang Ruo Xi's group, and everything remained the same.

Until one day, when Wei Wei was alone, she saw Ruo Xi and Yu Chen together in the garden.

"Yu Chen, I can't do this. Can you help me?"

Ruo Xi asked in a sweet voice.

"I... I don't know..."

There was a slight hesitation in Yu Chen's voice. It was the first time Wei Wei realized that Yu Chen did not always want to follow every request Ruo Xi made.

However, when Ruo Xi smiled and touched his hand...

"Are you sure you can't?"

"Don't you love me?"

Ruo Xi caressed his hand and kissed his cheek.

Yu Chen finally fell silent.

"I... I'll try."

Wei Wei could only shake her head.

She felt sorry seeing someone being played like that.

But without realizing it...

Her pity slowly turned into something else.

Something that quietly began touching her heart.

After that day, whenever Tang Ruo Xi's group passed by, Wei Wei's eyes would unconsciously search for Yu Chen.

At first, she did not realize it.

She thought she was simply worried about him. She thought she only wanted to know whether he was still being treated the same way by Ruo Xi.

However, as time passed, Wei Wei slowly realized that her feelings had changed.

She was no longer just feeling pity for someone who was being treated unfairly.

She had started paying attention to Yu Chen's existence.

She started looking for him among the crowd, even unconsciously hoping that she would be able to see him.

Until one day, among Tang Ruo Xi's group, Wei Wei could no longer see Yu Chen.

But strangely...

Her eyes were still searching for him.

At that moment, Wei Wei finally realized that the pity she once felt had slowly transformed into another feeling.

A feeling that quietly grew inside her heart.

......

"She is indeed beautiful."

Wei Wei murmured while looking at Tang Ruo Xi's photo on Yu Chen's phone.

There was a hint of jealousy in her voice, but she herself did not realize it.

"No... no."

"Of course, you are much prettier."

Yu Chen immediately answered.

His hand gently touched Wei Wei's cheek as he smiled.

It was a sincere smile filled with love, completely different from the insecure and hesitant expression Wei Wei had once seen when he was chasing Tang Ruo Xi.

Wei Wei leaned into his embrace.

"Do you like this Tang Ruo Xi?"

Yu Chen was silent for a moment before answering.

"Hm... do I have to tell you about it?"

He asked hesitantly.

He knew Wei Wei would not stop until she got the answer she wanted.

"Alright..."

Yu Chen looked at the photo on his phone before starting his story.

"Back then, she was the campus goddess. Many people chased after her, and I was one of them."

He paused for a moment.

"And we... we used to date."

"But not many people knew about it."

"You two dated?"

Wei Wei asked in surprise.

All this time, she thought Yu Chen was only one of Tang Ruo Xi's many admirers.

"Yes."

Yu Chen nodded slowly.

"Even when we were dating, there were still many people chasing after her. I couldn't stop them because she liked that kind of attention."

Wei Wei smiled slightly.

"Yet you are so protective of me."

She laughed softly.

Deep inside, Wei Wei felt a little happy knowing that the current Yu Chen treated her so differently compared to how he treated Tang Ruo Xi in the past.

"You are different from her."

Yu Chen looked at Wei Wei with love in his eyes.

"You are kind."

But as he remembered the past, his expression slowly changed.

"But she was different."

His hand unconsciously tightened into a fist.

"She was manipulative and always used me."

"She made me carry her belongings, hold her bag, and finish her assignments. Sometimes, the guys around her even saw me as nothing more than her servant."

Yu Chen lowered his gaze.

Even though many years had passed, the shame and pain from that time were still buried deep inside him.

"Eventually, I ended the relationship and distanced myself from her."

He smiled bitterly.

"But I still feel terrible about it."

"Was I really that pathetic?"

Wei Wei immediately shook her head.

"No."

"How could you be pathetic?"

"Back then, you were just someone who loved another person. You only gave what you thought was right to someone you cared about. That was not your fault."

Wei Wei tried to comfort him.

"But I still feel terrible."

Yu Chen looked down at his own hands.

"I was a man..."

"But I still ended up bowing down in front of a woman like that."

"Chen..."

Wei Wei hugged him tightly. Yu Chen returned the embrace, holding onto the warmth that only the woman beside him could give him.

"Can I see Tang Ruo Xi's social media?"

Yu Chen nodded and handed her his phone.

Wei Wei opened Tang Ruo Xi's profile and slowly scrolled through her posts.

"She really is beautiful," she murmured. After a few seconds, she added quietly, "But she's poisonous."

She kept scrolling until something caught her attention.

Almost every single one of Ruo Xi's posts had been liked by Yu Chen.

"I see you've liked her photos." Wei Wei gently pulled away from his embrace and looked straight into his eyes. "Answer me honestly. Are there still feelings left?"

Yu Chen's expression immediately turned panicked.

"I don't like her. No. No." He shook his head repeatedly, afraid Wei Wei would misunderstand him.

"I don't love her anymore."

He paused for a moment, trying to explain what he truly felt.

"I don't love her anymore. I just... still check her account sometimes. I want to know if she's doing well without me." Yu Chen lowered his gaze. "If she's really doing well... then maybe I was never the problem."

Even Yu Chen didn't realize why those words came out of his mouth.

He was simply saying what had been buried deep inside his heart all this time. It wasn't because he still loved Tang Ruo Xi. A part of him was simply still trapped in the wound she had left behind.

But to Wei Wei...

Those words sounded completely different.

Like a knife slowly cutting into her heart.

"So..." Wei Wei stared at him without blinking. "You've been looking for an answer about your relationship with her all this time?"

"No." Yu Chen immediately shook his head. "That's not what I meant."

He started to panic. The more he tried to explain, the more tangled his thoughts became.

"I... I just wanted to know..." His voice grew quieter. "Whether... after I was gone... her life became better."

Silence.

Wei Wei closed her eyes for a brief moment, then let out a soft laugh.

A laugh that carried no happiness at all.

"Then what's the difference?"

Yu Chen froze.

"If her life hadn't become better..." Wei Wei's voice trembled. "...what would you have done?"

Yu Chen opened his mouth, but no words came out.

"Would you have felt guilty?"

"Or..."

"Would you have gone back to her?"

Wei Wei had been holding back her emotions this whole time. Deep down, she knew that wasn't what Yu Chen meant. She knew he loved her.

But what hurt her the most was realizing that he was still carrying something from his past with Tang Ruo Xi.

Her chest tightened.

The more Yu Chen tried to explain, the more she felt there was a part of his heart she had never truly seen.

Yu Chen was startled by the change in her expression.

His fear of losing her instantly took over.

"No... that's not it..." He shook his head desperately. He didn't even know how to explain what was in his own heart anymore. The harder he tried to fix his words, the more they fell apart.

"I... I just wanted to know how she was doing. Maybe... maybe it's just become a habit. I never meant anything by it."

But that explanation only disappointed Wei Wei even more.

"A habit?" She let out another bitter laugh.

"You don't even realize why you're still looking at her."

Yu Chen froze.

"What does it have to do with you if she finds someone else? If she's unhappy, is that somehow your responsibility?" Wei Wei's breathing became uneven. "If you still feel like you have to make sure she's okay... then maybe you should just go back to her."

She knew that wasn't what Yu Chen meant.

She knew the man in front of her loved her.

But the disappointment that had been building inside her finally overwhelmed her emotions.

She couldn't shake the feeling that Yu Chen was still hiding a part of himself from her.

"Wei... that's not it... that's really not it..."

Yu Chen grabbed her hand tightly. His face was filled with panic and fear.

"I only love you. Please... believe me."

Wei Wei looked at him in silence.

"You know what? Tang Ruo Xi isn't the reason I'm angry."

She took a slow breath.

"I'm angry because what you just said disappointed me."

Yu Chen opened his mouth again, but not a single word came out.

For the first time since they had been together, he realized that a truth spoken too late could hurt just as deeply as a betrayal.