Senior, don't be afraid, I'll protect you.

foreign.

Compared to the night in Luoye, the weather here is quite nice, and it's only afternoon, so it's daytime, but it's raining heavily outside the window.

Gu Mingxuan sat in a small tavern, listening to the rain outside the window, seemingly waiting for someone.

Not long after, the wind chimes of the tavern rang, and a young man wearing a raincoat and carrying an umbrella walked in. He looked around the tavern, and when he saw Gu Mingxuan, he walked over with a big smile.

Sitting across from Gu Mingxuan, he smiled slightly and said, "Old Gu, what brings you to the drinking scene?"

"Bad mood."

Gu Mingxuan waved, and a blonde, blue-eyed girl immediately came over.

After arriving in London, this little pub became his regular haunt, simply because the owner was Chinese.

"Hey Gu, what would you like to drink today?"

The young girl's Chinese wasn't very good, but since she worked at a Chinese pub and many of the regular customers were Chinese, she could still speak some common Chinese phrases.

“Whiskey,” Gu Mingxuan said with a deep expression.

"I'd like a Coke. I drove here," the young man in front of Gu Mingxuan said.

"Ok."

After the girl left, Gu Mingxuan glanced at him and said, "You drive? Did you pass your driving test?"

"Haha, an electric scooter is a vehicle too."

"By the way, Lao Gu, why have you suddenly become so sentimental lately? This isn't like you."

"Ugh."

Gu Mingxuan shook his head and said, "I don't know what's wrong, but I always feel empty inside, like something is missing."

"You're just feeling insecure because your younger brother is in a relationship."

Upon hearing this, Gu Mingxuan sighed.

It is said that the eldest brother is like a father. He is nine years younger than Luo Ye, so he naturally watched Luo Ye grow up.

Seeing the little boy who used to follow him everywhere now having a girlfriend, Gu Mingxuan felt that everything had changed.

As people get older, they all have their own things to do: some get married, some start their careers, and relationships seem to become more and more distant.

Of course, true feelings won't fade because of distance, but it's undeniable that distance does exist, and we can no longer be together every day like before.

"In my opinion, Lao Gu, it's time for you to find a girlfriend. Look at me and Lucia, she's about to come back to China and get our marriage certificate."

Upon hearing this, Gu Mingxuan exclaimed in surprise, "Really? Then you two have finally achieved your goal. That wasn't easy."

"Yes."

The young man also sighed with emotion.

His name is Li Cheng. He comes from an ordinary family and got into a prestigious university in China through his own efforts. He secured a place to study abroad and worked part-time to get where he is today.

His girlfriend, Lucia, was a junior he met at the Polytechnic University. She came from a wealthy family and could be considered a noblewoman.

Before long, the little girl brought out the whiskey and cola.

The two raised their glasses and clinked them together. Gu Mingxuan smiled and said, "Remember to treat me to wedding candy."

"Absolutely."

Li Cheng's face was full of enthusiasm.

For someone as strict about interpersonal relationships as Gu Mingxuan to become his friend is enough to demonstrate that Li Cheng possesses certain excellent qualities.

For someone from an ordinary family to be able to meet the heir of a large domestic corporation while in a foreign country is quite an achievement.

"I'm serious, Lao Gu, you should find a girlfriend. You can't stay single for life because of that incident, can you?"

He knew, though others might not.

The real reason why Gu Mingxuan doesn't date.

Because of identity? Family? Personality?

how is this possible.

If someone is unwilling to be in a relationship, there's a 90% chance it's because they have someone in their heart they can't be with.

Upon hearing this, Gu Mingxuan's eyes dimmed slightly, as if a past event had come to mind.

He has indeed never been in a relationship.

And indeed, I have never liked anyone else.

But there was once a girl who liked him and left a deep impression on him, which he still remembers vividly.

The girl wasn't pretty, but she had an optimistic and cheerful personality and was kind and gentle to others.

The reason she wasn't pretty was because she was sick.

Late-stage brain cancer.

At that time, he had just started college and didn't know Li Na yet.

There was a girl in the class who was physically weak and did not participate in the military training.

Every time they had military training, that girl would sit in the nearby rest area, wearing a hat, watching quietly with envy in her eyes.

At that time, she didn't have much time left. The reason she appeared at school was simply to ensure she wouldn't have any regrets.

She wanted to experience university life.

Back then, Gu Mingxuan was just like Shen Qiao is now, no... he was even more famous than Shen Qiao, becoming the campus heartthrob of Jiang University before the military training was even over.

The girl collapsed in the classroom during the first week of classes after military training ended.

Gu Mingxuan was closest to her at the time, so he took her to the medical room and then transferred her to the hospital.

The 300,000 yuan surgery fee was nothing to Gu Mingxuan.

But it was the girl's parents who exhausted all their connections, turned half their hair white, and gave everything they had... and still couldn't raise the amount they needed.

Even if they manage to gather enough, it only prolongs their lives; it cannot prevent death at all.

Gu Mingxuan and Luo Ye are essentially the same in personality. Although they won't help everyone for no reason, they will help if they encounter someone they have the ability to do so.

Because of this, the girl's life countdown changed from a few hours to a month and a half.

After a month and a half, she returned to campus and became good friends with Gu Mingxuan.

However, she always wore a hat and her face was very pale, so even when the two walked together, no one could tell whether she was a man or a woman.

She never confessed her feelings to Gu Mingxuan; their relationship was like that of close friends.

They would occasionally take a walk together, or occasionally have a meal together. She would also joke around like a normal person, as if she wasn't sick at all.

She said that it was her good fortune to have met him in the last moments of her life.

It's a pity.

Because she will never have a future.

Their relationship can only be that of friends.

Even if she had already fallen for Gu Mingxuan, she couldn't possibly say it.

When she passed away, she left a letter for her parents, filled with apologies.

As a daughter, she felt it was her own filial impiety to leave first.

She also gave Gu Mingxuan a letter.

This letter is filled with longing.

If she had lived longer, they could have done so much more together.

The letter, containing thousands of words, did not contain the word "like," but every sentence conveyed the meaning of liking.

She passed away just two months after Jiang University started its semester.

Apart from Gu Mingxuan, no one knew that this person had quietly left this world.

But every time someone pursues him, the image of that girl appears in his mind.

Even now, so much time has passed that he has to think for ages to remember that girl's name.

But that memory remains in my mind, lingering there.