Back Then, I Adored You

She accepted without the least bit of hesitation…

Although she had replied to him without much emotion, he could still sense her rejoicing.

Lu Bancheng found it difficult to breathe, as if something was stuck in his throat. When Xu Wennuan noticed that he did not show much reaction, she stopped speaking and opened the car door and got out. Just when she was about to shut the door, Lu Bancheng suddenly stopped her by calling out, “Nuannuan.”

Xu Wennuan turned around. Lu Bancheng opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but no sound came out and, after a pause, she said, “See you on Monday.”

“Okay,” he replied. Xu Wennuan nodded her head and shut the car door before walking briskly into the subway station. Lu Bancheng stared at the entrance of the station for some time watching people coming and going. Finally, he shifted his gaze away and toward a tall building nearby.

He actually had stopped her after she had gotten out of the car with the intention of apologizing to her but, by the time the words came to him, he had suddenly realized that they were unnecessary.

It does not concern me as to whether or not she would forgive me. All that matters is that she has a good life.

……

On Monday morning, Xu Wennuan received a text from Lu Bancheng asking her to meet him at the entrance of the Municipal Civil Administration Bureau at 9:00 a.m.

Xu Wennuan called her supervisor and requested an hour’s leave before she left her home with her household register and boarded the subway to head to the bureau. Once she arrived, it was peak rush hour, thus the traffic caused Lu Bancheng to be 20 minutes late. She finally spotted him slowly driving up to the bureau’s entrance.

After parking his car, Lu Bancheng open the car door, got out, and then bent over into the car to dig out his household register and wallet from the console before he walked over to Xu Wennuan.

“Sorry. Caught in a traffic jam,” Lu Bancheng said absentmindedly. Xu Wennuan didn’t respond and merely turned and entered the bureau. Thirty minutes later, they had completed their application for divorce and found themselves back outside.

Lu Bancheng had originally wanted to give Xu Wennuan a ride, but after some consideration he dropped the idea. She exhibited her typical behavior of saying nothing to him and heading to the curb to hail a taxi. The scene reminded Lu Bancheng of the afternoon they had obtained their marriage certificates: After they’d received them, she hadn’t shown a trace of joy and merely had said she was tired and wanted to head home to rest. And within a mere few months, everything had turned upside down between the two of them.

A taxi stopped in front of Xu Wennuan within no time. As she walked up to it to get in, Lu Bancheng could not stop himself from calling out to her. “Xu Wennuan.”

She turned and gazed at him with a hint of surprise, as if she was puzzled about why he would still be standing at the entrance of the bureau. Lu Bancheng stared at her without blinking and, after a long time, he then said, “Goodbye, Nuannuan.”

Xu Wennuan couldn’t tell if it was her imagination or not, but she felt that something was odd about Lu Bancheng at that instant that was hard to put a finger on. Strangely, this made her heart skip a beat, and it took her a few moments before she managed to say, “Goodbye.”

Lu Bancheng suddenly felt a stinging sensation in his eyes, and he nodded his head gently. Without speaking any further, his gaze shifted and landed on a car parked nearby. Xu Wennuan continued to stare at Lu Bancheng’s profile for a few seconds and only pulled open the car door and got in hurriedly when the driver urged her with his car horn.

The taxi drove farther away as Lu Bancheng watched, standing rooted to the ground like a statue outside of the bureau with the divorce certificate in his hands.