Chapter 88 - Reconcile(1)
Soft-hearted people will fall into the traps set by obsessive lunatics again and again, unable to escape.
Meng Yao’er tightened her arms around Su Qingyao, burying herself in her embrace. “Qingqing, have pity on me, please. I know it was wrong of me to break up with you. I was being selfish, but I didn’t mean any of it. Can we get back together?”
Su Qingyao’s body stiffened. She didn’t push her away.
What was she doing? Hadn’t she decided they should part ways? Hadn’t she said the harshest words already? Wasn’t there no room left for retreat?
Yet here she was, entangled with Meng Yao’er again, a hypocritical sinner trapped in her own guilt.
“Qingqing, why aren’t you saying anything?”
Su Qingyao snapped out of her daze, remembering she should pull away. But Meng Yao’er clung tightly, refusing to let go.
Su Qingyao’s throat felt dry. “Mengmeng, I… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have hurt you and then come back, making you sad again…”
“Qingqing, you still like me, don’t you?” Meng Yao’er looked up, hope shining in her eyes. “Just admit it. You can’t let me go. Let’s not break up, okay?”
“Mengmeng, don’t be stubborn. You’re only twenty-four. There are so many possibilities ahead of you…”
Meng Yao’er had heard these lines countless times and was sick of them. Without waiting for more, she stood on tiptoe and kissed her, silencing her words.
Su Qingyao froze for a second. But as their lips parted, a tremor ran through her gaze. She gripped the back of Meng Yao’er’s head and kissed her back fiercely, turning passive into active, crushing all her guilt and inferiority between their lips and teeth.
In that moment, she was fully aware of her own downfall. A sinful hand reached from the abyss, pulling back the lover she had once pushed to safety.
Su Qingyao knew she had always been a despicable, shameless person.
She had dragged eighteen-year-old Meng Yao’er into the abyss, using her as a shield to escape Lu Shan’en. After breaking free from him, she regained a shred of conscience and tried to push Meng Yao’er away, hoping she’d return to a normal life, to healthy relationships.
But Meng Yao’er would often say she was “bent” because of her and that Su Qingyao had to take responsibility. Like a moth to a flame, she kept coming back, impossible to drive away.
Su Qingyao had been too greedy. After using Meng Yao’er, she still wanted her heart.
She was eight years older. By the time Meng Yao’er graduated college, Su Qingyao was already thirty.
She felt more shameless with each passing day. She had stolen Mengmeng’s most beautiful years. Wanting to break up was just another manifestation of her cowardice and self-loathing.
Meng Yao’er pressed the car key, unlocking the door, and shoved Su Qingyao into the backseat before climbing in after her, slamming the door shut.
The air conditioner hummed, but the lights stayed off.
Meng Yao’er snuggled close. “Qingqing, stop trying to push me away, okay? If you do it too many times, I’ll start to believe you mean it.”
“We’ve known each other better than anyone else for six years. No one knows your body like I do. No one can make you feel the way I do… Qingqing, I take back what I said about breaking up. Let’s go back to how we were, okay?”
Su Qingyao was squeezed against the car door with nowhere to retreat. Meng Yao’er found her usual spot, straddling her with practiced ease.
Su Qingyao was confused. “Why… after everything I said, do you still forgive me?”
“Because I don’t want to lose you.”
Meng Yao’er buried her face in her chest, her voice muffled with grievance. “You always try to leave me. What if one day, when I turn around after a fight, you’re just gone?”
Su Qingyao bit her lip, holding Meng Yao’er gently to sit up straighter.
But Meng Yao’er refused, sinking her teeth into the soft skin before her.
“Even though I forgive you, I’m still mad. Mad that you keep trying to leave me. There can’t be a next time.”
Su Qingyao trembled slightly. The girl clinging to her like an octopus, biting like an angry puppy, unraveled her thoughts.
Was this them getting back together?
Resigned, Su Qingyao closed her eyes, flipped them over, and pinned Meng Yao’er beneath her.
In the dim, lightless car, she couldn’t see Meng Yao’er’s face clearly. But her ragged breathing filled every corner, stirring desires Su Qingyao had tried to bury.
“Qingqing…”
“Mengmeng, there are things I need to make clear.”
Meng Yao’er fell silent, waiting.
“First, I have no intention of being with Lu Shan’en. That dinner we had was because he invited me. He said your liking girls was a stain on the Lu family…”
“So you went because of that?” Meng Yao’er sounded exasperated. “Why would you believe anything he says? Are you breaking up with me because of his manipulations?”
“Not exactly…” Su Qingyao didn’t know how to explain her complicated feelings. When Meng Yao’er brought up the breakup, she thought maybe it was the right choice.
After all, their six-year relationship had never been normal. Breakups were just separations; reconciliations were simply being together again.
They did things couples do—kissing, sleeping together.
But from the start, their bond had been transactional.
Strictly speaking, Meng Yao’er had been her benefactor.
Six years ago, after their first night together, Meng Yao’er had suggested dating. Drowning in guilt for seducing a barely-adult girl, Su Qingyao rejected her without hesitation.
But Meng Yao’er wouldn’t let go, demanding responsibility. Somehow, she even discovered the real reason Su Qingyao had been with Lu Shan’en.
Her father’s gambling debts had driven him to suicide, leaving her with the burden. Despite her fame, the compound interest was crushing. Exposure would destroy her career.
Then Lu Shan’en appeared, offering to pay off her debt in exchange for becoming his companion for a month, then his lover.
At the end of that month, during a party, Meng Yao’er offered to settle her debt—if she agreed to date her.
She said yes.
They had an unspoken agreement: their relationship was neither honorable nor public, not even a formal romance.
Su Qingyao used Meng Yao’er to escape Lu Shan’en; Meng Yao’er used her to spite him.
Back then, their connection was purely transactional, both emotionally and physically.
Six years passed. Their dynamic as sponsor and lover didn’t change, but their feelings did.
They lived like a real couple, with breakups and reconciliations.
But no heartfelt confessions. No official start.
So, at its core, their relationship remained twisted.
“Back then, I felt relieved, thinking you’d finally come to your senses, still young enough to find your way.”
Hearing that, Meng Yao’er laughed bitterly. Su Qingyao lifted her slightly, only to be pulled back down, sharp pain shooting through her chest.
Then came the question: “Relieved? That’s all you felt?”
Su Qingyao lowered her gaze, lips trembling softly. She whispered, “And sadness.”