My Youth Began With Him

"sure, miss zeng."

"please don't hurt su yu… no matter what happens, don't hurt him. he's in a lot of pain."

"i won't, he's one of my best friends," huo mian said without hesitation.

"thank you for listening to me blabber on and on. i'm going to go now." zeng rou then stood up to leave.

"miss zeng."

zeng rou turned around slowly upon hearing huo mian call her name.

"are you leaving the city?"

"yes, i'm going home now. i don't belong here."

"will you come back?"

"i'm not sure. if after a few years su yu wants to get married and i'm still single… i would still come back." then, zeng rou smiled faintly and turned around to leave.

she really did come just to give huo mian the shoes.

after zeng rou left, huo mian stared at the shoes on her desk. she opened them and felt a surge of warmth upon seeing that none of them had heels.

su yu was very considerate and always good to her, but… he couldn't stay single for the rest of his life.

after some thought, huo mian took out a pair of shoes and put them on. they were exactly her size, and the soles were really soft. she knew the brand - they weren't cheap.

huo mian took a photo of herself wearing the shoes, and sent the photo to su yu.

he quickly responded: "?"

huo mian: "are they pretty?"

su yu: "are you talking about your feet or your shoes?"

huo mian: "haha, my shoes of course."

su yu: "they're not bad."

huo mian: "thanks for the shoes."

su yu: "um, what? did i give them to you?"

obviously, su yu had forgotten about the shoes; to him, all shoes looked alike.

huo mian: "zeng rou's just left, and she gave me three pairs of shoes. she said you bought them for me."

su yu: "come on, don't listen to her. she's mad at me, i'm sure that's why she said all that. i bought those shoes for her. mian, i don't want you and qin chu to misunderstand."

su yu had obviously overreacted; he was afraid that his present would cause a misunderstanding between qin chu and huo mian, so he kept denying that the shoes were for her.

huo mian knew what su yu was trying to do, so she went with it. she didn't want things to be awkward for them.

huo mian: "that's perfect, you guys fought and i got presents. they're very comfortable, i love them."

su yu: "oh, i'm glad you do."

huo mian: "what happened between you and zeng rou?"

su yu: "what… did she tell you?"

su yu wondered how much zeng rou told huo mian; after all, she was a blunt person.

huo mian: "nothing much, she told me your personalities clashed and she didn't want to stay any longer. so, she's going home."

su yu: "she's going back to her city?"

huo mian: "mhm, she is. if you feel bad, you should ask her to stay. she's not a madwoman, you guys should try dating. what if you develop feelings for her?"

su yu: "forget it, we're not a good match, and i don't want to date her. i can be friends with her, but dating her is a different story."

huo mian: "fine then, i know you're a picky person. but you're not that young anymore, you should find someone to settle down with. oh, i have an idea. let's hold a pageant for you so you can pick someone, like the emperors used to do, what do you think?"

su yu: "forget it, you're blabbering. go back to work, don't worry about this stuff with me."

upon realizing that su yu didn't want to talk about it, huo mian changed the subject and hung up after exchanging some niceties.

although what happened made su yu feel awkward, he was still delighted that those shoes ended up on huo mian's feet… since he originally bought them for her.

"yu, yu!" tang chuan suddenly burst into su yu's office.

"what's up?" su yu put away his phone.

"do you love me or not?" tang chuan tilted his head and asked coyishly.

"why are you being such a pervert?" su yu glared at him.

"come on, tell me, do you love me?"