Xie Ge believed in the arrival of good luck—and indeed, life hadn’t treated him unfairly. Standing at the shop entrance, he carefully compared it to the photo. Every detail matched.
That saying, “Near home, the heart grows timid,” seemed to describe exactly how he felt now. Xie Ge regretted arriving a little too late, but he also felt that this kind of subtle near-miss wasn’t entirely a bad thing. If he was going to meet Xu Miao, he wanted it to be a little more formal.
Ever since Xie Ge found out there was a high chance Xu Miao was in City A, he started coming here frequently—on weekends, holidays, even during any random bit of free time.
Once a person begins to hope, they also start doing some very deliberate things… and imagining all kinds of possibilities.
Xie Ge often wondered—among all the people he brushed past, could one of them have been Xu Miao?
Maybe.
That’s how he spent another year, full of quiet hope. A lot happened that year—some good, some bad. But the one thing he couldn’t forget… was their first fight.
Though, calling it a fight might be too generous—since he was the only one who was angry and talking nonsense.
Starting in April, Xu Miao became constantly busy—so busy that sometimes he wouldn’t reply all day, or go half a month without even a single phone call. He kept saying “I’m sorry” and trying to make up for it with money.
Xu Miao didn’t tell him anything.
Every day, Xie Ge would share his life with Xu Miao—but had no idea what Xu Miao was even doing. He’d clutch his phone all day, from morning until night, just to receive a single message from Xu Miao: “Sorry, I was too busy today to check my phone.”
[ATM]: You’re always saying you’re busy, busy.
[ATM]: When will you actually have time?
[ATM]: Can’t you even spare a tiny moment to reply?
[ATM]: Not even half a minute?
Every message he sent felt like a stone dropped into the ocean—no echo, no reply. Xie Ge was so frustrated, he paced around his room and typed so hard it was like he wanted to poke a hole in the screen.
[ATM]: Sometimes I don’t even know what we are anymore.
[ATM]: Do you really care about me?
[ATM]: What am I to you? What do I even mean to you?
He fired off message after message in a fit of rage—only to regret it the moment he was done, and quickly started deleting them one by one.
While deleting, he even joked bitterly to himself: At least Xu Miao doesn’t reply instantly, so he gets time to take back his words.
[XM]: I saw them.
[XM]: Do you want to break up?
When Xie Ge saw Xu Miao’s messages, he was scared to death. He fumbled to catch his phone that nearly fell to the ground and hurriedly typed out a reply.
[ATM]: That’s not what I meant.
At the very moment Xie Ge sent the message, a money transfer notification popped up.
[XM]: [Transfer]
[XM]: Don’t break up, baby.
[XM]: I’ll properly adjust my schedule.
[XM]: I’m sorry for making you sad.
The messages that should be read always get read slowly, and the ones that shouldn’t be seen get seen right away. Xie Ge’s face drooped, feeling really down. He blamed himself for being impulsive and not controlling his mouth — and also blamed Xu Miao a little bit for neglecting him over the past few months.
[ATM]: I was just speaking out of anger.
[ATM]: Just pretend you didn’t see it, okay?
[ATM]: If you take it seriously, I’ll be heartbroken [crying][crying][crying]
[ATM]: Let’s forget those messages, alright?
[XM]: What messages? I didn’t see anything.
After sending that, Xu Miao’s furrowed brow relaxed. All of a sudden, he felt like he had figured a lot of things out.
He really was busy, but not so busy that he couldn’t spare even a little time to reply during the day. The longer they were together, the more he realized he wanted. Rather than eventually having the mask torn off in some ugly fallout, it might be better to just let things slowly fade.
After all, it was just an online relationship. They’d never met. After breaking up, they’d be forgotten quickly. Not a big deal.
Xu Miao had always thought that the one who wouldn’t be able to let go would be Xie Ge — but unexpectedly, it was himself.
According to his plan, after Xie Ge said those things, he should have ended the relationship gracefully. But the first thought that popped into his head was to make up.
Xu Miao didn’t want to keep forcing himself, or deliberately end things early. Taking it one step at a time was fine too. Not everything needs to be planned in advance, foreseen, and avoided.
Embarrassment is fine — he’d apologize and make up for the lies. If he wasn’t forgiven, that was okay too. He could accept all the bad outcomes.
The osmanthus trees by the roadside were all in bloom, fragrant and sweet. Xu Miao stopped avoiding buildings on purpose, took a photo, and sent it to Xie Ge.
【XM】：[Picture]
【XM】：The flowers are blooming. If we have a chance to meet in the future, I will give you a bouquet of osmanthus.
