The actress is reborn and is chasing after her husband.

Schimerling rested his forehead on his hand, the effects of the alcohol gradually creeping in.

"Because I don't like it, because I don't love it..."

Fang Tian lowered her eyes and said in a low voice, "I know she doesn't love me. She has always treated me like the girl next door, but so what? I won't pester her."

Ximerlin, equally engrossed, said, "My sister... she's really just my sister. No matter how much time passes, my relationship with her will never change. She won't contact me, and I have no right to contact her... Anyway, I've decided that her affairs are no longer my concern. Whoever she dates, I will unhesitatingly wish her well..."

Fang Tian was a little confused, but then she said firmly, "Blessings... I can't have her, and I won't give my blessings. Why should I bless her and others? Why is the person she likes not me?"

Xi Molin sighed, then shook his head with a smile: "You don't understand. When you truly like someone, you don't want to put them in a difficult position or put them in a predicament. When I was dumped, I couldn't accept it either. I wanted to confront her, I wanted to cry to her. I didn't even go home during my holidays; I just ran off to find her. But she wouldn't answer my calls or reply to my messages..."

Fang Tian looked up at her, then leaned back in her chair: "And then..."

Schimerlin gulped down several mouthfuls of wine, tears streaming silently down his face: "At the time, I really wanted to know why she suddenly wanted to break up with me. We were so happy and joyful together before. I thought we would go on like that forever, even if we encountered obstacles and setbacks. Maybe I was just being too wishful..."

She wiped away her tears, took a deep breath, suppressed her emotions that were on the verge of collapse, leaned back in her chair, tilted her head back, and refused to let the tears fall again.

"She told me that we agreed to give it a try, but since there were no feelings, forcing ourselves to be together would only cause more pain. Besides, in her heart, she always saw me as a younger sister, not a lover..."

"Do you know, when I was far away, watching that dazzling, elegant, and beautiful figure standing on the huge awards stage... she had finally won her first Best Actress award, holding her trophy, speaking humbly and politely... I knew that everything I saw was something she couldn't give up. Because she couldn't have me and these things that proved her worth at the same time, she chose to give me up..."

Fang Tian propped her chin up, staring intently at her.

"I could tell she was determined. I was terrified and wanted to leave. I was afraid that if she said 'let's break up' to me, there would be no way to get her back..."

Fang Tian felt a little dizzy, but her mind was clear. Somewhat confused, she asked, "So, the person you like is your sister..."

At first, she thought the person she liked was Shu Xiangjun, but the more she listened, the less it seemed like him. When she heard about the awards ceremony and the best actress, a name immediately popped into her head: Shu Xiangyu.

She was just like me, attracted to the same sex, and even bolder and more daring than me, as she actually liked the older sister she grew up with.

"I liked her from the first moment I saw her, and over the long years that followed, my affection for her only grew stronger..."

"Merlin, did you also confess your feelings to her?"

Fang Tian couldn't imagine how she had spent these years; she probably couldn't finish telling her story of unrequited love even if she talked about it all night.

"Hmm...she's a big star, and I'm just a lowly armed police officer, and we're only nominally sisters. Am I some kind of sinner who doesn't deserve her kindness towards me at all..."

Schimerling sighed, and even with his head tilted back, tears still streamed down his face.

"You don't need to belittle yourself like that. There's nothing wrong with loving someone, but the world we live in is influenced by identity, status, environment, and societal norms. Whether you like a man or a woman, who can truly be completely satisfied..."

Fang Tian tried to comfort her with a clear mind, but in her heart she was also suffering greatly.

Schimerling sat up straight, raised the bottle, and said with a bittersweet laugh, "I knew she was the sister I should respect and love, but I still developed feelings for her that went beyond what was allowed... She calmly apologized to me, saying she couldn't accept this deep love. I asked her if she had ever loved me at all..."

She downed another bottle of beer, trying to suppress the deep pain.

The wine was quickly emptied, and as she stared at the bottle in her hand, those chaotic memories came back to her clearly once again.

"She said... I will always be her dearest sister, and she has no other liking for me, let alone love, and told me not to continue this mistake... I asked her what our past meant to her, what my feelings for her meant to her, was it all fake, I don't believe she never loved me... but she said it was to find inspiration for a movie role, and she never said she loved me... she never loved me."

She finally confided her long-hidden secret to her best friend.

Those emotions that had been suppressed for too long, too heavy, and too intense had occupied almost all of her thoughts in the past, and she could not let them go no matter what.

She could no longer suppress the deep pain in her heart and burst into tears.

"Merlin..."

Seeing her usually strong friend become vulnerable and in pain, she felt deeply empathetic, and tears streamed down her cheeks.

Shu Xiangyu's nonchalant declaration that he had never loved her was like a slow, agonizing torture of her passionate love. In the days that followed, whenever she thought of it, she felt an excruciating pain.

"I crave the warmth and love she gives me. I'm terrified of losing her, even more terrified that she'll never speak to me again... But I have no right to demand that she love me. I know her difficulties. I understand her choice not to have me, I just can't accept it right now... We've only been together for a few months, nearing graduation, and we've barely even seen each other a few times before she leaves me... I can accept a secret relationship that will never be seen in the light of day. I won't let her career be hindered, I won't be a burden to her. I just want to stay by her side, at least not as a younger sister in her heart..."

"So the reason you haven't come back these past few years is to avoid her."

Fang Tian wiped away her tears, asked the waiter to bring another case of beer, and opened a few more bottles for her, determined to let her drink to her heart's content.

Ximerlin rarely drinks in the brigade, and his alcohol tolerance is not as high as before. Tonight, he drank so much that his head became dizzy, but his consciousness became clearer.

“What else could I do but hide? After we broke up, she completely lost contact with me. I still have all her contact information, but I never looked for her again. She was even less likely to look for me. Later, I returned to Jiangyan, thousands of miles away from her. I was busy with training, so I could only keep her in my heart and pretend that nothing had happened.”

"what about now."

Fang Tian asked her softly.

Shermerlin smiled at her, her eyes glistening with tears, a sense of relief born from pain. Her voice was low and hoarse: "To say I don't love you would be a lie, but I've truly let go. These past years of clinging on have made me completely lose myself. It's time to start anew..."

Fang Tian raised her glass, smiling brightly: "Come on, let me toast you. Congratulations on your new life."

Schimerlin raised his glass to her and said, "Sweetie, thank you for listening and supporting me. It makes me feel much better to be able to talk to you about those painful memories."

The two drank the wine in one gulp.