Chapter 5
What Is There For Me to Be Delusional About?
The sun was getting hotter as it approached noon.
Lin Jiao covered her forehead with her hand and slowly followed Pei Zhi into the car. In just a few steps, she was already sweating.
“To Lufu Bay?” Pei Zhi asked as he delivered a tissue to Lin Jiao.
Lin Jiao shook her head and took the tissue.
She wiped her forehead, turned on the GPS, and showed it to Qu Shao. “Gu Quan has booked a restaurant. I have to meet him first.”
“Sure,” Pei Zhi said, his expression unreadable.
He leaned against the back of the chair and placed his slender hands casually between his knees. “Do you need me to wait for you?”
“No need.” Lin Jiao did not want to waste his time. “Go home and rest. I’ll treat you to a meal another day.”
“I’m free tomorrow.”
“Huh?”
“Didn’t you say you would treat me to a meal?” Pei Zhi asked seriously, not hiding the smile in her eyes.
Lin Jiao said, “Yes.” She looked at his side profile. “What do you want to eat? Chinese or Western?”
“I’m fine with either.”
“Then I’ll send you a message after I pick a restaurant.”
Pei Zhi agreed readily.
Sensing that he was in a good mood, Qu Shao deliberately slowed down driving.
Through the rearview mirror, he glanced at Pei Zhi from time to time and kept making hand gestures at him, wanting him to take his time talking.
From Lin Jiao’s angle, Qu Shao looked like he was having a hand cramp.
She leaned forward and asked with concern, “Brother Qu, are you having a hand cramp?”
Qu Shao was speechless.
He stretched his fingers and replied, “Yes, I’ve been a little deficient in calcium recently.”
“Have you seen a doctor?”
“I did. It’s not a big problem.”
“That’s good.” Lin Jiao was really afraid that he would accidentally cause a car accident. “Make some bone soup when you go back. It’s rich in calcium.”
Qu Shao touched the tip of his nose. “Sure.”
After about ten minutes, they finally reached the restaurant.
“Uncle, I’ll get going first.” Lin Jiao put her phone in her bag and opened the car door.
Pei Zhi nodded. “Remember to take your medicine.”
“Yeah.” Lin Jiao smiled. “See you tomorrow.” The sun shone on her face, making it radiant.
The breeze fluttered her dress, and everything around her seemed to become her background.
It was just an ordinary sunny day, but it left a beautiful image in his heart that he could not forget for a long time.
“Boss.” Seeing that he was lost in deep thought, Qu Shao clicked his tongue. “Why don’t you go in to have lunch and pretend you don’t know she is in there? That way, you can meet again.”
Pei Zhi gave him a side glance. “Drive.”
“Where to?”
“Company.”
“It’s Saturday.” Qu Shao didn’t want to work on Saturday.
“So?”
Qu Shao gripped the steering wheel and reminded him, “You already promised Miss Lin to go home and rest. You can’t lie to her, right?”
Pei Zhi remembered having said that to Lin Jiao.
He lit a cigarette. “Then go home.” Before Qu Shao could rejoice, he continued, “After sending me home, go to the company and help me get the documents.”
“What documents? Is there no PDF version?”
“No.”
Qu Shao was speechless.
he stepped on the accelerator, letting the wind carry away his sorrowful mood.
*
In the dining room of the restaurant, melodious music sounded.
Sitting alone at the table, Lin Jiao took two sips of the lemon tea brought by the waiter and waited for Gu Quan to appear.
She waited for nearly half an hour and called Gu Quan a few times, but no one answered.
In the past, she would find excuses for him, such as he might be stuck in a traffic jam, have something to do at the company, or have turned his phone to silent mode.
But now… she began to wonder if he was with that ‘her’.
Once the seed of doubt was planted, it would only grow bigger and make the imagination wilder.
From then on, it was just endless paranoia.
“Lin Jiao.” A man’s voice was heard, bringing Lin Jiao back to her senses.
She looked up and saw He Qi’s smiley face. “Why are you here? Where’s Gu Quan?”
“He can’t come.”
“What do you mean?”
“In a literal sense.” He Qi pulled out the chair and sat down. “I’ve never eaten in this restaurant before. It looks good.”
Lin Jiao clenched her fists. “Where is he?”
“To pick up someone at the airport.”
“Pick up who?”
“Su Tian.” He Qi flipped through the menu and said calmly, “Don’t you know it?”
He said it casually, but his words made Lin Jiao’s heart sink to the bottom.
She pursed her lips, her hands trembling uncontrollably. “What’s their relationship?”
“Lovers?”
“What about me?”
“You?” He Qi crossed his legs and ordered two dishes with interest. “At most, you’re just a distraction in his life.”
Lin Jiao bit open her lower lip. The strong smell of blood made her feel nauseous.
She closed her red eyes and felt an unprecedented sense of humiliation. Her dress was wrinkled as it was grabbed tightly by her.
Seeing that she was silent, He Qi continued with a smirk, “Do you know why Brother Quan is with you?”
He unlocked his phone and sent her a photo.
Her tone became even more disdainful. “They all say that you look like Su Tian, but I think you’re far inferior compared to her.”
The notification that popped up on her phone was especially glaring.
Lin Jiao hesitated for a long time before clicking on the photo.
The background of the photo was the airport. A woman in a white dress with the same style as her was facing the camera. She had one hand around Gu Quan’s waist and a shy smile on her lips, as if she was playing cute.
Lin Jiao fixed her eyes on the man next to the woman. Gu Quan’s expression was affectionate as he looked at the woman. Lin Jiao felt like she was being pushed to the abyss by someone he loved the most.
With the truth in front of her, she realized that her two-year relationship was just a joke. Even though she was prepared, it was still difficult for her to accept it.
“Lin Jiao.” He Qi tapped his fingers on the table. “It’s impossible between you and Brother Quan. You’d better not have any delusions about him.”
Lin Jiao sneered. She didn’t shed a single drop of tear as she said sarcastically, “What’s there for me to be delusional about?”
“Anyway, I’m warning you. Even if you want to kick up a fuss, don’t mess with Su Tian.”
When he mentioned Su Tian, the affection he unintentionally revealed made Lin Jiao feel a little strange.
She thought of the photo she saw in Gu Quan’s bedroom and seemed to have found the source of his aggressiveness towards her.
“Why? Do you like her?”
He Qi’s expression suddenly took a drastic turn. “Lin Jiao, be careful with what you say. You don’t need me to teach you what is appropriate to say and what is not, do you?”
“Why did you get triggered?”
“Who is triggered? I am not triggered.”
Lin Jiao raised an eyebrow. “He Qi, it doesn’t feel good to have an unrequited love, right? You can only watch her be intimate with another man, but you can’t do anything about it. How pitiful you are.”
“Me? Pitiful?” He Qi pointed at himself as if he had heard a joke.
He said sarcastically, “No matter what, I’m still better than you who is just a replacement of someone else. What’s funny is that you even thought you found your true love.”
“At least I once had him. What about you?” Lin Jiao raised an eyebrow. “You don’t even have a chance to live with her. Who’s pitiful?”
He Qi, who had been poked in the sore spot, flew into a rage out of humiliation. “You’re just a plaything. What makes you think you can talk to me like that?”
Suddenly, the lemon tea in the cup was splashed out by that slender hand on He Qi’s furious face.