“What did you say?”

The other three simultaneously widened their eyes and stared at Fu Chuyin.

Fu Chuyin pursed his lips. “Brother, a while ago, I checked the surveillance camera across from the entrance to your residential complex. I found that since last year, that black sports car with the license plate Jing A6377 has been stopping downstairs from your apartment every so often.”

“6377?” Wang Yanjiao exclaimed excitedly. “That’s President Gu’s car! Big Brother Fu, even after you left Beijing, he still parks downstairs at your place, so…?”

Fu Chuyin continued, “Every time, it leaves after five to ten minutes. Not too long, not too short. Brother, I think the owner of that car is… thinking about you. This past year, just like you, he’s gone to work during the day as if nothing happened. But in the quiet of night, he still can’t help but take five minutes to indulge himself, staring in the direction of your apartment and pretending that you’re still living there.”

Wang Yanjiao was dumbfounded. “Oh my god, President Gu actually… He’s so devoted! Brother Fu hurt him so badly back then, yet he still silently thinks about you. I’m so moved… sob… President Gu looks so cold on the outside, but he actually values his feelings so much.”

He gave Fu Yan a playful little smack on the shoulder. “Brother Fu, you totally deserve what you’re going through. Sob… You’re such a scumbag!”

Fu Yan had no energy to argue with Wang Yanjiao. After hearing what Fu Chuyin said, he suddenly sat upright and grabbed his brother’s arm tightly. For the first time in days, a glimmer of light returned to his dull eyes.

“Chuyin, are you sure? Then… has he been here recently?”

Fu Chuyin nodded. “He came a few days ago. I wrote a little alert program. Whenever he comes by, my phone gets a text notification.”

“Holy shit, Chuyin, you’re amazing,” Wang Yanjiao praised.

“And…” Fu Chuyin remembered something. “He came on Christmas Eve, too. That was actually the night I noticed his car and thought it was strange, which is why I decided to check the surveillance footage.”

Wang Yanjiao scratched his head. “Christmas Eve? If President Gu came here that night, then that means he definitely didn’t spend the night at the hotel with Du Zhe? Brother Fu, my information might have been wrong. I may have misled you.”

“Indeed.” Fu Chuyin quickly glanced at his brother before lowering his head again. “I investigated Du Zhe. He and Gu Zhan probably haven’t actually done anything.”

Fu Yan’s voice immediately rose. “Chuyin, if you knew all this, why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“Because… because I didn’t want you to like President Gu this much.” Fu Chuyin seemed to have made up his mind and finally said what had been weighing on him. “Brother, when you were with him, your eyes were always full of him. You weren’t like that before. You used to be so proud of me, and you would never criticize me because of a boyfriend. No matter what happened, you always stood on my side. You used to say that I was the person you liked most. But after President Gu appeared, it felt like you didn’t like me as much anymore…”

His voice grew softer as he lowered his head, looking aggrieved.

Fu Yan sighed and patiently explained, “Chuyin, you’re still the person your brother loves most. But the kind of love I have for you is different from the love I have for Gu Zhan. You’re still young. You’ll understand someday.”

“Really? I’m still the person you like most, Brother?” Fu Chuyin looked at him with reddened eyes.

“Of course.”

Fu Yan gently stroked the back of his head again and again.

Wang Yanjiao burst out laughing beside them. “Chuyin, you should read fewer books and fall in love more often. You’ve studied yourself silly. You can’t even tell the difference between ‘liking’ and ‘loving.’”

Was that really how it was?

Gu Zhan would repeatedly go downstairs to his brother’s apartment after his brother left, reminiscing about the past. His brother would become irritable and depressed because of Gu Zhan. He himself had studied desperately and worked hard to become someone as outstanding as his brother. And his brother had once run all the way from the south of the city to the north in the middle of the night just because of something he had said, simply to buy him his favorite Black Forest cake…

Was “Liking” and “Loving” actually different?

Fu Chuyin was somewhat confused.

Just then, his phone buzzed twice. He glanced at it, then solemnly looked toward his brother.

Gu Zhan had come downstairs again.

Fu Yan’s dark eyes instantly lit up. He jumped to his feet excitedly and was about to rush out.

“Hey, Brother, wait a second.” Fu Chuyin stopped him, lowering his head evasively. “There’s one more thing I’ve never told you.”

Fu Yan hesitated, then sat back down. Knowing his little brother’s habit of dropping bombshells in a low-key manner, he wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving to find Gu Zhan without hearing him out.

Fu Chuyin hesitated. “It’s… about the Youfan bidding proposal from before…”

Fu Yan put an arm around his shoulder. “That was so long ago. Don’t tell me you still want your brother to help you get justice?”

“No.” Fu Chuyin looked directly at him. “President Gu is innocent.”

Fu Yan froze for several seconds. “Why do you say that?”

That night, he had clearly checked Gu Zhan’s computer. The technical proposal had mysteriously disappeared. Gu Zhan himself hadn’t deleted it, and no third person could have touched the computer at his home. The only reasonable explanation Fu Yan could think of was that Gu Zhan himself had accessed the proposal and deleted it.

Could it be that this wasn’t the case?

Fu Chuyin looked embarrassed. “After you and I argued in the office that day, you wouldn’t let me confront President Gu in person. When I went home, the more I thought about it, the more unwilling I was to let it go. So I hacked into his private computer. I discovered that the last time the file had been opened was at the exact time of the video conference that night. In other words, President Gu never touched that proposal.”

“So… you were the one who deleted the proposal from Gu Zhan’s computer?”

Fu Chuyin pouted. “I stayed up all night writing that proposal. Why should I leave it on his computer?”

!!!

Fu Yan was so frustrated that he wanted to smack himself in the head.

He had misunderstood Gu Zhan from the very beginning.

Gu Zhan wasn't someone who would resort to any means necessary for the sake of his career or work. He wouldn't have shamelessly plagiarized his boyfriend's younger brother's proposal just to win a project. He was also willing to risk everything for the person he loved.

Why had he been such an idiot?

If Gu Zhan really valued Slungshot more than him, then why had he chased after his car through the snow that night, desperately begging him not to leave and offering to help the Fu family?

If Gu Zhan had truly chosen to stand with the Fu family at that time, he couldn't possibly have failed to understand how serious the damage could have been to Slungshot.

Between Fu Yan and Slungshot, Gu Zhan had already made his choice.

He had chosen him.

He really was the biggest fool in the world.

He had thrown away a sincere love—a love in which Gu Zhan had stripped away all his defenses and pride for him, willingly placing himself in a vulnerable position he had never occupied before, offering up a burning heart, all for his sake…

And he hadn't accepted it.

Now Gu Zhan's heart was broken. Would he still be willing to stay for him? Had he already gone too far away?

Fu Yan couldn't wait another second.

He rushed downstairs and headed straight for the residential complex across the street.

Wang Yanjiao waved after him. “Hey… Brother Fu… aren't you going to tidy yourself up a little…?”

Hua Jiu stopped him and covered his mouth with a laugh. “No need. With Yan-ge looking like this, it'll only add points, not take them away.”

When Fu Yan reached the opposite complex, he was still slightly out of breath from running. After a year apart, he stared at this familiar yet unfamiliar door.

He let out a quiet breath before solemnly pressing the doorbell.

After the crisp chime came a long silence.

He pressed it again.

Still no answer.

That was impossible.

Before coming upstairs, he had specifically gone to the underground parking garage to check. Gu Zhan's car was there, meaning he was home. He had even peeked through the peephole and seen light inside.

Fu Yan stared at the keypad lock, rubbed the thin layer of sweat from his palms, and, nervous and excited, hopeful and afraid, began entering the password—

Their birthdays.

Back when Fu Yan had moved in with Gu Zhan, Gu Zhan had set the permanent door code as a combination of their two birthdays.

If what Fu Chuyin said was true, and Gu Zhan hadn't forgotten him over the past year, then perhaps he hadn't changed the door code either.

Fu Yan's fingers trembled as he finished entering the numbers.

He unconsciously closed his eyes.

Beep.

The door opened.

Fu Yan couldn't describe what he felt at that moment. Maybe he hadn't eaten properly for several days and his blood pressure was low, because he felt his heart pounding so hard it was about to burst out of his chest, while the blood in his brain seemed to be roaring wildly.

In a daze, he slowly walked inside—

And came face-to-face with a completely naked body wrapped in a bath towel, just coming out of the bathroom.

“Fuck—”

Before Gu Zhan could finish swearing, Fu Yan rushed forward, pulled him into his arms, and tightened them around him, holding him deeply, as though he wanted to crush him into his own body.

Gu Zhan was just about to start cursing when Fu Yan buried his face against his shoulder and began sobbing.

“Gu Zhan… sob… You didn't leave… Thank god you didn't leave.”

Gu Zhan's arms froze awkwardly in midair, not knowing whether to embrace him or push him away.

“Fu Yan, what the hell are you doing now?”

Fu Yan released him and looked at him with reddened eyes.

Only then did Gu Zhan get a proper look at him.

It wasn't his imagination.

When he had just come out of the shower, he had seen a huge, disheveled, unshaven man standing in his home. For a moment, he had nearly thought some animal had escaped from a zoo and wandered into his apartment.

But on closer inspection…

The animal seemed to be Fu Yan.

Fu Yan composed himself slightly.

“Gu Zhan, when you said you didn't love me anymore, you were lying to me, weren't you? You actually haven't forgotten me this entire year.”

“Don't be ridiculous.” Gu Zhan slapped away the hand resting on his shoulder and turned his head slightly.

Fu Yan noticed his evasiveness.

“Then where were you twenty minutes ago?”

Gu Zhan shot him a wary glance and coughed lightly. “Downstairs having a cigarette.”

“As far as I know, smoking isn't prohibited in your building. Why did you specifically go downstairs to my building to smoke?”

“I didn't want the smell in my apartment, okay? Where I smoke is none of your business. What exactly are you trying to say, Fu Yan? Whatever it is, stop making all these ridiculous assumptions. You broke into my home in the middle of the night. I could report you for trespassing.”

Fu Yan touched his neck and turned his face toward him, looking directly into those dark eyes.

“Did I really break in? Then why are you still using our birthdays as your door password?”

“I forgot to change it. So what? Who do you think you are? We broke up, so we broke up. Was I supposed to go out of my way to change a door code I've been using for years just because of you?”

Gu Zhan's gaze sharpened.

“Fu Yan, I don't care what happened to you today, but I've already made myself perfectly clear about us. Could you stop disturbing me every few days? You're President Fu, after all. We parted amicably. Can't we just leave things that way?”

A trace of defeat flashed through Fu Yan's deep eyes.

“Gu Zhan, please don't say things like that just because you're angry. My heart is fragile like yours too. It hurts. I know I was an idiot a year ago. I let you down. Back then, you were willing to risk Slungshot, ten years of your hard work, all for me. Now… can't you give me even one-tenth of that sincerity and turn around to look at me again?”

Gu Zhan let out a cold laugh.

“Do you deserve it? Fu Yan, can you even count all your ex-boyfriends on two hands? How much sincerity have you ever put into a relationship? And how long does that sincerity actually last? If your sincerity isn't worth much, and I have no shortage of people around me, why should I bother with you?”

Gu Zhan coldly shook off his hand and turned to leave.

Fu Yan instinctively followed him in his haste. Their feet tangled, and both of them fell onto the bed beside them.

Fu Yan lost his balance and accidentally fell on top of Gu Zhan. In a moment of agitation, he instinctively restrained him and said sternly:

“I won't let you find someone else.”

“Won't let me? Who are you to decide that? You’re not my mother”

Gu Zhan gritted his teeth and pushed at his shoulder, trying to get him off, but it didn't work.

“Fu Yan, what are you doing again? Are you going to force yourself on me again? Is that all you're capable of?”

Fu Yan calmed down and immediately released him.

“No… no. I was out of line before.”

He lowered his head, climbed off Gu Zhan, and went over to the clothes rack to take down a bathrobe.

Gu Zhan also got up from the bed.

His black hair was still damp from the shower, his pale skin flushed slightly from their argument, and the bath towel around his waist was hanging so loosely that it looked as though it might fall off at any moment.

Fu Yan's throat tightened involuntarily.

He slowly approached, deliberately avoiding looking at him, and draped the bathrobe over his shoulders. As he passed by Gu Zhan's ear, he muttered quietly:

“Clearly, you were the one… who forced yourself on me…”

“You—”

Gu Zhan's ears instantly turned bright red, and he clenched his fists.

He had absolutely no response to that.

That night, it really had been him who had failed to resist the temptation.

Men really were creatures that thought with their lower halves—saying one thing and doing another, behaving one way in bed and another outside it.

Gu Zhan wanted nothing more than to smash his lust-addled brain with his own fist.

Great.

Now this old bastard Fu Yan was probably going to keep bringing this up and make a whole thing out of it.

Sigh….

While Gu Zhan was still regretting everything, Fu Yan had already put the bathrobe on him and tied the belt.

Seeing Gu Zhan standing there in a daze with a regretful expression, Fu Yan's lips curved slightly. He placed a large hand on Gu Zhan's head and gently smoothed his hair twice.

“Go dry your hair. You'll catch a cold.”

“Stay away from me. You're filthy.”

Gu Zhan frowned and pushed him away. He sniffed his left shoulder, then his right.

“This shower was completely wasted.”

Only then did Fu Yan seem to realize what he looked like.

He glanced down at his greasy-looking home clothes, noticed that his cotton slippers were on the wrong feet, then awkwardly touched his disheveled face and hair.

Embarrassed, he said, “Well… it's getting late. You should go to bed. I'll… I'll head home first.”

With that, he disappeared from Gu Zhan's sight in a flash.