Shen Wang quietly asked Viki why she insisted on him coming.
Viki only pressed a finger to her lips—shh—and said there was a surprise waiting.
Last year, her “surprise” had been a young master who looked almost exactly like Gu Zhong. If anything, it had been more of a shock than a gift.
He didn’t expect anything this time. He only planned to go back and sleep before midnight.
By the time everyone had arrived, Shen Wang was already drowsy. He hadn’t been sleeping well these past two days; exhaustion had settled deep into his bones. He leaned against Viki’s shoulder while she gossiped with the others, half-listening as his eyelids slowly drifted shut.
The sound that woke him was a faint commotion—someone calling out in low excitement.
Shen Wang opened his eyes in a daze. In front of him, he vaguely saw a pair of polished pointed leather shoes. Before he could make sense of it, Viki had already wrapped an arm around his shoulder and whispered brightly in his ear:
“Surprise! If you want to thank me, bring me that bottle of wine you’ve been hoarding at home.”
Shen Wang froze for a moment.
That bottle of wine… he had already broken it.
A beat later, understanding finally caught up with him. His heart jolted as he looked up.
And there he was—Gu Zhong.
Gu Zhong looked like he had just gotten off work. His suit was draped over one arm, sleeves casually rolled up to reveal a warm-toned forearm. There was a faint weariness between his brows.
His gaze landed on Shen Wang—not heavy, not light, just there. Their eyes met for barely two seconds before Gu Zhong looked away first.
Viki immediately stood up and wrapped herself around him familiarly.
“You’re finally here. We’ve been waiting forever. Latecomers have to pay.”
Gu Zhong returned a polite half-embrace and smiled faintly. “Of course. Order whatever you want.”
“That’s what you said,” Viki laughed. “I’m just afraid our group of drunkards will bankrupt Imperial Hall.”
“Then that wouldn’t be bad,” Gu Zhong replied lightly. “I’ll just go back to developing games. Let the old man deal with the headache.”
Everyone laughed openly.
Viki then guided him toward Shen Wang, suggesting he sit in the middle—“the one paying should sit in the center.”
But Shen Wang’s mind was already in chaos. He could barely hear anything clearly. His palms were damp with sweat, and he didn’t dare look at Gu Zhong at all.
Yet Gu Zhong walked past the empty seat and chose the farthest corner of the sofa instead.
“I’ll sit here,” he said flatly.
“Alright,” Viki said, glancing around. The room suddenly felt too quiet. Then she added, almost deliberately, “But you and Shen Wang haven’t seen each other in two years. Aren’t you going to talk?”
Shen Wang instinctively grabbed Viki’s hand tighter.
The question hung in the air, awkward and sharp.
Gu Zhong didn’t respond immediately.
Shen Wang kept his head down, afraid that if he looked up, Gu Zhong would simply turn and leave.
What was there even to say between them?
They had ended things too brutally.
Every word from that time was still carved into memory.
It had been raining heavily that day. Before leaving, Gu Zhong had held him tightly—like it was the last embrace he would ever give in his life.
But Shen Wang had only patted his back, brushing rain off his coat with his fingertips, and said calmly:
“If you fall for someone else in the future… don’t treat them so well. You’ll be the one who gets hurt.”
When he had thought Gu Zhong would stay silent forever, he heard him say instead:
“We ran into each other in New York two months ago. He almost poached my engineer.”
—
Shen Wang didn’t know how to respond. His expression went blank.
Viki stepped in quickly to explain, “Ji Xiao left. He was just upset and went drinking.”
Gu Zhong didn’t react. He simply lit a cigarette and said nothing.
The room fell into a strange stillness. Everyone tried to act lively, but the awkwardness clung to the air like smoke.
Viki kept shooting Shen Wang frantic looks, urging him to say something. But his body felt stiff, his expression likely just as bad.
Finally, she gave up, got up, and moved to the other side—leaving the seat beside Gu Zhong empty.
Shen Wang rubbed his fingers against his trouser seam, then forced himself to sit down.
Only then did Gu Zhong glance at him again—cool, indifferent.
Shen Wang asked carefully, “You’ve been developing games these past two years?”
“Mm.”
“What kind of game?”
Gu Zhong looked at him briefly. “It’s dead. Doesn’t matter.”
“Was it role-playing, or—”
He hesitated, only daring to say what little he knew.
Gu Zhong took a sip of wine. “Besides alcohol, you don’t seem interested in anything. Why are you even asking?”
Shen Wang’s fingers tightened around the glass.
“…So you really don’t want to talk to me.”
After a pause, he still asked, “Have you been doing well these past two years?”
“Yes.”
“Are you still studying in New York?”
“No.”
Shen Wang’s voice dropped slightly. “I thought you’d go back and take the Yale exam again.”
Gu Zhong replied, “That kind of thing… doesn’t really matter anymore.”
Shen Wang looked up at him.
He didn’t know whether “doesn’t matter” meant Gu Zhong no longer cared about Yale—or no longer cared about what he had given up for Shen Wang.
Either way, the man in front of him felt unfamiliar.
The boy who once held an acceptance letter, trying so hard not to smile too widely, was gone.
Shen Wang couldn’t find his words anymore.
Then, in the long silence, Gu Zhong suddenly laughed softly.
“Are you trying to hit on me?”
Shen Wang froze, then gave a small, uncertain sound in response.
Gu Zhong’s smile didn’t reach his eyes.
“If you want that engineer’s contact, I can give it to you. No need to beat around the bush.”
Shen Wang looked at him blankly, still not fully understanding.
Only when he noticed that faint curve at the corner of Gu Zhong’s lips did the meaning turn sharp.
He tugged at his sleeve and asked, almost stupidly, “Do you hate me?”
Gu Zhong answered without hesitation.
“Don’t I have a reason to?”
Shen Wang wasn’t used to this version of him—so sharp, so unyielding. He licked his lips before forcing out a reply.
“If you do hate me… I can make it up to you somehow.”
Gu Zhong crushed out his cigarette.
“But I don’t hate you,” he said calmly. “The one who left wasn’t you. It was me. I don’t have the right to hate you.”
His voice lowered slightly.
“I’m just speaking for the me from two years ago.”
“Because that’s the one thing I regret most in my life.”
Shen Wang blinked. “What?”
“Falling hopelessly in love with you.”
Shen Wang stared at him, as if he hadn’t understood.
“But not anymore, Shen Wang.”
Gu Zhong’s voice stayed steady.
“I know what you and Viki are planning. Whether it’s to mess with me again or something else—I just want to say this clearly.”
“We’re over. Completely.”
“Don’t see me again.”
Shen Wang’s voice came out dry and thin.
“I didn’t… I wasn’t trying to mess with you. I really—”
His words broke off.
After a long pause, he finally asked, almost helplessly:
“…Can’t we even talk?”
