Chapter 767: 766 Ranran...I'm sorry
Chapter 767: 766 Ranran…I’m sorry
Back in the hotel room, Wen Ran received a message.
It was from Mo Xiuchen.
Just like the first text she received from him, it was only two characters long. However, these two characters were worlds apart from the content of the first message.
Perhaps it was unsureness or testing the waters, the earlier “hello” was imbued with unfamiliarity and courtesy.
But at this moment, Wen Ran was locked onto the two words gracing her phone screen, absent of punctuation and context, with emotions surging within her like tumultuous waves.
How long had it been since she had heard him call her this way?
And how long had it been since she had seen him address her in such a manner in text messages?
It felt like a century had passed, and only in the depths of midnight dreams could she hear him murmur “Ranran.”
She was reminded of every instance when he held her, tender yet passionate, murmuring, “Ranran,” in a low soothing voice. Tears inexplicably started sliding down her cheeks.
It seemed that he really enjoyed calling her name. During those passionate nights of love, lying in each other’s arms, he would surge with intensity yet repeatedly whisper, “Ranran, Ranran, I love you” in her ear.
When he was feeling insecure, he would hold her tightly, crying softly, “Ranran, Ranran,” as if fearing that she might leave him at any moment.
When he was happy, he would still hold her, and affectionately murmur, “Ranran.”
This utterance of “Ranran” carried the depth of his love for her, each time it would soften her heart, making her wish to love him more even if it meant depleting herself completely.
But, for the past couple of months, she no longer heard Mo Xiuchen call her.
All she could do was replay the past, even if every rememberance brought with it further pain that seemed to eat at her soul. She couldn’t control herself.
She lifted her hand to wipe away the tears on her face, fondly gazing at the two characters on her phone screen that were sent by him: Ranran!
Did he remember her? The answer, of course, was no.
Wen Ran knew that Mo Xiuchen’s message, like the first one he had sent her, was probing for an answer.
Only, what was being probed this time was different.
If Mo Xiuchen had remembered her, he wouldn’t have just sent a text like this. At this moment, he probably would have knocked on her door, appearing before her.
The man who was so devoted to her that he would even disregard his own life.
With every thought of him, her heart ached.
Despite his absence, she dared not neglect herself, fearing that the least bit of disrespect to herself would be a betrayal to him.
The sudden ring of the phone jolted Wen Ran.
The phone in her hand vibrating with a wailing ring, the name familiar to her soul kept flashing on the screen, making her hand tremble.
Looking at the caller ID, she couldn’t decide whether to answer the phone or not.
The reason Mo Xiuchen sent the message was to confirm if she was the person he had been texting with.
If she answered, it would mean she had lied to him previously. If she didn’t answer, she was afraid he would be disappointed and upset.
Looking at the flashing name on the screen, Wen Ran’s mind was filled with conflicting thoughts; she was torn on what to do.
Like that, she watched as the phone rang until it stopped. Wen Ran didn’t have the courage to press the answer button, and simply responded with another message after the ringing ceased, “You got the wrong person.”
“I’m sorry.”
A minute later, Mo Xiuchen replied with these three words.
Struggling to hold back her tears, they finally broke free due to these three words.
She knew that he had concluded she was Wen Ran, the one he had forgotten, and that’s why he was apologizing to her.
Sorry, he’d forgotten her.
Wen Ran buried her face in her palms, her sobbing unpreventable, the suppressed sounds echoed through the spacious room.
She wanted to call him, to tell him: Xiuchen, you don’t have to apologize to me. It’s not you who have forgotten me, it was me who asked my father to erase your memories.
When I jumped off the cliff, I never thought I would survive. Fearing that you would forever live in the pain of losing me, selfishly, I wanted you to forget me.
If only I had known that the bomb on me was a bluff, that jumping off the cliff wouldn’t kill me, I would never have let my father wipe Xiuchen’s memory.
But, the world doesn’t entertain “ifs”, nor does it offer any antidotes for regret.
Not only had she made Xiuchen forget her, but she had also promised Cheng Jia that she would never be with him again, that she would not disturb him. Perhaps, she couldn’t even exchange messages with him in the future.
She had allowed herself to contact him, to come to D Country to see him, but she couldn’t allow the indulgence to continue.
**
In the same city, in a high-end apartment.
Mo Xiuchen sat alone in the living room, staring at his phone screen. The depths of his eyes were shrouded in silence. His handsome face was expressionless. He held the phone in one hand, the other pressing against his temple.
In front of his eyes, images surfaced of Wen Ran’s flustered and excited face when she saw him outside the hotel earlier. A myriad of emotions swiftly crossed her beautiful face.
As he approached her, although she had regained her calmness, the trail of her emotions was still visible in her eyes.
Mo Xiuchen had seen the same emotions in Cheng Jia’s eyes when she looked at him. The thrilled happiness mixed with the desperate attempt to hide her fluster.
Also, that unhidden tender love that she dared not express.
Actually, she wasn’t good at hiding her emotions.
The conflict in her eyes, the struggle in her heart, he had captured it all.
Mo Xiuchen didn’t know what the relationship between them was before he lost his memory.
But he was confident that the source of the emptiness and loneliness he felt after losing memory was her.
He must have loved her.
However, he didn’t feel the intensity of that feeling now. The only feeling he had was an uncontrollable sense of compassion for her.
He wasn’t sure why she was avoiding him.
On his way back, he kept repeating “Ranran” in his mind and found that the sound of these words did not feel strange. On the contrary, it felt familiar and intimate, as if he had called her countless times before.
That’s why he had sent that message.
But Wen Ran’s reply was still the same: “You got the wrong person.”
A bitter smile surfaced on the corner of Mo Xiuchen’s mouth.
He felt a strange tightness in his chest. He thought that she must be angry because he forgot about her, so he sent another message, “I’m sorry.”
Little did he know, those three words of apology resulted in Wen Ran’s tearful breakdown.
The phone in his hands buzzed abruptly again, and the ringtone came to life.
Looking at the caller-id, Mo Xiuchen’s handsome face darkened slightly. He did not ignore it but pressed the answer button, his voice coming out coolly, “Hello.”
“Xiuchen, it’s me.”
From the phone, Cheng Jia’s gentle voice echoed. Mo Xiuchen’s thin lips tightly pressed together and his eyes darkened. His voice asked, “What’s the matter?”
“Xiuchen, I miss you.”
Seemingly oblivious to the impatience and coldness in Mo Xiuchen’s voice, Cheng Jia continued to express her yearning with what she assumed to be a charmingly seductive voice.