Because I simply love you

"Yukito."

Yukito turned and heard a strained voice calling his name. He saw Wang Ling, and inwardly sighed.

Yang Tian just told me to keep my distance, and here we are. But well, I am in a crowd, and people have already seen her approaching me first, so I am safe.

He simply nodded at her and didn't say anything.

Wang Ling awkwardly smiled. "I…Yukito, I am sorry for the trouble in the interview. I really didn't mean that way when I said that I met you the first time. I don't want you to misunderstand me."

He shrugged. "Doesn't matter."

She quickly said, "Please trust me. Minzhe also didn't mean anything bad. I just saw the Weibo, and it's blown out of proportion. Minzhe and I are completely misunderstood. So, I just…"

"Hm."

Wang Ling didn't understand his lack of reaction.

Yukito was never this way before…He seems too uninterested.

"Can I ask you something?"

Yukito frowned. He looked at the time again.

I will get late for my date.

"Wang Ling. Can we talk later? I am getting late for something, and secondly after all the Weibo backlash, you really shouldn't be here with me. That will just spark more trouble for you, Huang Minzhe, and me."

She froze.

She recalled how Yukito was smiling in a daze.

"Is your appointment important?"

"Of course. Too important to miss it for anything."

She felt a little annoyed and prickly.

"Oh…is it that…special someone?"

Yukito looked at her and raised his brow.

Wang Ling realized. "Oh, I am sorry! You don't have to answer if-"

"Yes. It's the same person," he smiled.

Wang Ling stiffened.

So he wasn't lying about it.

"I see…"

Yukito nodded. "I think you should look for Huang Minzhe now. I gotta go."

"Yukito!"

She tried to hold his shirt to stop him unconsciously, but he immediately noticed it and took a step away. That made her almost stumble, but she somehow balanced herself.

But the thing that shocked her the most was that Yukito didn't even bother to help her.

Oh right…it will bring trouble if anybody saw him holding me…

That dampened her mood.

"S-sorry…"

He nodded.

"I just wanted to stop you because I want to ask you one important thing. It won't take much time!"

Yukito sighed. "Alright."

"Are you still angry at me for…why I broke up with you?"

Yukito blinked his eyes. "Oh…that…"

She felt nervous and was twitching her fingers.

"Well,…at first, I was disappointed."

He didn't hold back any punches.

She stiffened.

"Because I already told you about my past, so I didn't understand why you brought that topic again to break up. I didn't keep you in the dark when you confessed to me."

Wang Ling bit her lip hard. She felt utterly embarrassed.

"But then I thought about it later and realized that it would have gotten difficult for you to accept it—my background. You thought you could handle it because you were too excited at the prospect that you like someone, so it would be easy to let go of it. But then you realized you couldn't after all. And that's fine. I understand your point, too, because you weren't the first one who avoided me."

Wang Ling trembled.

"So don't worry. I don't hold any grudges against you. I already forgot about it seven years back. We were still in high school. Too young to really understand anything, even love. I just take it as a part of my experience now."

Wang Ling was close to crying. Even though he said that he didn't mind it now, his words harshly cut her like thorns.

She knew it was her fault back then. She had completely misunderstood Yukito and his intentions, and that exploded because of her gnawing worry about his reputation. All her high school friends started to ignore her because of her relationship, and they constantly fed rumors about his bad intentions.

Wang Ling regretted it a lot after that.

She confessed to him first, and Yukito was honest about his family situation, yet in the end, she broke up with him for the reason that she already knew.

"Wang Ling…why are you telling me this now?" A seventeen-year-old Yukito asked as she called him to say that she wanted to break up with him, "I didn't hide anything from you, and you said that you didn't mind my past. So why now?"

Wang Ling stuttered. "I…I…I saw you playing with my younger sister that day in the school when we went to pick her up!"

Yukito blinked his eyes in confusion. "So? What's the harm in that?"

She felt awkward and embarrassed. She knew it was a hurtful thing to say, and she had no idea if she was doing it right. She was overwhelmed by all the criticism and taunts by her friends.

"I…I hope you can maintain your distance from her…"

"Distance? I don't-"

But then it suddenly clicked Yukito. He instantly understood what she meant.

"I see…so you think that like that person…my father, I will try to do your sister what he did to Nee-chan?"

Wang Ling froze.

"You think I will harass her like he did?"

"N-no…I-I…"

But Yukito already got his answer. Even if she was going round about it, he knew what she thought about him.

"I see…"

Yukito had to admit that being compared to his father hit him hard. The more he tried to prove that he wasn't like him, the more things got worse. No matter what he did, the stain that Yu Tengfei left on their lives would never wash away.

Wang Ling just proved it. He and Yukira will always be thought of as disgusting and perverts as their father.

After that, Yukito didn't say a word more and turned to leave. But he stopped.

"I guess this is for the best then, Wang Ling. If you feel that way about me, then you are right. There is no point in this relationship."

A pang of guilt suddenly clutched her heart.

"Yu-Yukito…"

But he had already left.