Heartthrob, Your Image is Crumbling!

Chapter 532: Gave It!

Perhaps it was the alcohol, but Shen Yu was feeling a bit impulsive. Head up, she stared at Zhou Yuwen with a firm gaze, as if trying to prove just how serious she was.After finishing her little speech, she took the initiative, leaning in to kiss Zhou Yuwen's lips.

Zhou Yuwen couldn't help but turn his face slightly away. "We can't do this," he said.

"?" Shen Yu froze. She was genuinely stunned. She had already decided not to care that Zhou Yuwen had other women, yet he was actually rejecting her.

This was something Shen Yu simply could not understand.

Zhou Yuwen seemed to see right through her thoughts. "If you had told me this just one day earlier, I might have accepted you," he told her. "But not anymore."

Now Shen Yu was even more confused. She wanted to ask him why.

Before the words could even leave her mouth, Zhou Yuwen answered, "Because of Li Shiqi."

"Because I've already accepted Li Shiqi's confession. If I were to accept yours now, it wouldn't be fair to her. She is my girlfriend now."

Hearing this genuinely angered Shen Yu. She felt that Zhou Yuwen was being incredibly pretentious.

'Are you kidding me?'

'You already have so many women.'

'I am willingly throwing myself into your arms right now.'

'And you actually have the nerve to tell me you have a girlfriend?'

'Am I not pretty enough?'

'Are you looking down on me?'

Shen Yu's expression shifted rapidly, while Zhou Yuwen remained completely calm. But his composure only made her angrier. Unable to hold back, she snapped, "It's not like she's your only girlfriend anyway! What does it matter if you add one more?"

There was another sentence she left unsaid: 'I don't even mind, so why should you?'

Zhou Yuwen chuckled softly. "It's not the same," he replied.

"Su Qing and Yan Yan are my people."

"But I only have one girlfriend."

"And right now, my girlfriend is Li Shiqi."

"So, if I accepted your confession right now, would my girlfriend be you, or Li Shiqi?" Zhou Yuwen pressed further.

That question completely stumped Shen Yu.

She really hadn't thought that far ahead when she confessed just moments ago. Her only thought had been: if Li Shiqi could do it, why couldn't she?

'So what Zhou Yuwen means is...'

'I'm too late?'

'He can accept my confession, but Li Shiqi will still be his girlfriend.'

'Which means I would just be...'

'A mistress?'

As she figured this out, the expression on her face subtly shifted, and she looked at Zhou Yuwen once more.

Only to see Zhou Yuwen nodding, confirming that her assumption was spot on.

Because of this, Shen Yu felt some hesitation.

Her bold confession earlier had simply stemmed from the thought: since Zheng Yanyan and the others didn't care that Li Shiqi was Zhou Yuwen's girlfriend, why couldn't she be the one in that position?

Then Zheng Yanyan, Lu Lin, and the rest could be the women behind the scenes, while she would be his official, public girlfriend.

That had been Shen Yu's actual plan.

Of course, she wasn't scheming; it was just what her subconscious had naturally concluded.

Now that Zhou Yuwen had laid it out plainly, Shen Yu finally understood the hidden dynamics at play.

Seeing her stay completely silent, Zhou Yuwen asked, "Knowing this, are you still willing?"

Shen Yu fell completely silent.

'No one would be willing to accept that. At least Zheng Yanyan and the others had been Zhou Yuwen's girlfriends for a while, getting to be the center of attention among everyone at school. Am I supposed to just jump straight into being his secret lover?'

'A woman who can't even see the light of day?'

'When Zheng Yanyan and the others used to walk around school...'

'No matter where they went, people practically worshipped them, saying things like: "Ah, I envy you so much, you're Zhou Yuwen's girlfriend!"'

'But for me, there would be nothing?'

'Who could possibly stomach that?'

Shen Yu's facial expressions constantly shifted. Just by looking at her, Zhou Yuwen knew exactly what she was thinking. At this moment, she was still half-leaning against his chest.

Zhou Yuwen gripped her arms with both hands, gently pushing her back to create some distance between them.

He smiled and told her, "You're drunk. Go back to your room and get some good rest."

With that said, Zhou Yuwen completely separated from her and turned to head back to his own room.

As he walked away, Shen Yu wanted to call out and stop him, but the words wouldn't come out.

Because for her, this was truly an agonizing decision.

Every single girl around Zhou Yuwen liked him, but this affection always had a root cause. An eighteen or nineteen-year-old young girl naturally admired strength, wanting a handsome, capable boyfriend. That way, standing by his side, they would become the object of everyone else's envy.

Thinking back to how she had first developed a good impression of Zhou Yuwen, it was simply because she felt he was more excellent than the vast majority of boys, and they had harmonized perfectly when singing together.

Shen Yu also hoped to walk side by side with him, envied by countless people who would call them a match made in heaven.

Yet now, she had made her confession, but she wasn't his girlfriend.

The more she thought about it, the less sense it made.

She felt a pang of regret. 'Why didn't I confess earlier?' she wondered.

But she couldn't completely blame herself. She had no idea that the position of Zhou Yuwen's girlfriend had been left completely vacant.

She could only conclude that the girl named Li Shiqi was far too cunning.

Now, whatever she said would be too late. Zhou Yuwen had already returned to his room.

Returning to her own room, she lay down on the bed.

The more she ruminated on the situation, the more unsettled she felt. She couldn't shake the feeling that she had missed out on something well within her reach, all for the most baffling reasons.

It truly was without rhyme or reason.

Just moments ago, when she had thrown herself into his embrace, she could vividly feel the warmth of his body.

In fact, right then and there, Shen Yu had already made up her mind to give herself entirely to Zhou Yuwen.

This was undeniably a decision she had agonized over for a long time. After all, she had watched girl after girl flock to Zhou Yuwen, while she hadn't even been physically intimate with a boy before.

She was curious about it, and she had certainly entertained fantasies about Zhou Yuwen.

She had even had a dream about him while sleeping.

But every time she woke up...

Her three views would grit their teeth and adamantly declare: 'I absolutely cannot do this!'

'Zhou Yuwen has a girlfriend, I can't act like this!'

Yet the moment her defenses were finally breached and she threw herself at him...

Her body, as a matter of course, had reacted instinctively.

She was ready and willing to accept him completely.

And yet, that was the exact moment Zhou Yuwen told her no.

She had always assumed the door on his end was wide open, and that she was the only one holding back.

Only to find out that Zhou Yuwen didn't take her seriously at all.

At that realization, a profound sense of loss welled up in her heart.

An incredibly overwhelming sense of loss.

Zhou Yuwen practically accepted any woman.

But he specifically did not want her!

Lying there in bed, Shen Yu tossed and turned, utterly unable to fall asleep.

It might have been the alcohol, though she hadn't drunk all that much.

This particular state was actually quite subtle and delicate.

It was the kind of state where you could normally be sleeping anywhere, at any time.

But the moment something started bothering you, your brain would run hot, making it completely impossible to sleep.

For someone like Shen Yu, who had always considered herself highly excellent, this blow was simply devastating.

Sometime past three in the morning...

Shen Yu still couldn't sleep.

When she got out of bed to use the restroom...

She spotted the bottle of whiskey Zhou Yuwen had left in the living room, still more than half full.

She suddenly had the urge to drink. She wanted to get completely drunk.

Right now, she truly felt like a clown.

It turned out that everything had merely been her own wishful thinking.

'How laughable.'

'It's absolutely ridiculous. What gave me the confidence to think Zhou Yuwen would definitely want me?'

The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to cry. She even began to feel incredibly humiliated by her earlier confession to him.

At half past three in the early morning, Lu Lin got up to use the toilet. She was bleary-eyed, still half-asleep.

She vaguely heard rustling sounds coming from the living room—it sounded like crying. Through the crack in the door, she could see a faint sliver of light.

Lu Lin glanced back and saw Zheng Yanyan wrapped around Zhou Yuwen on the bed, sleeping soundly.

That meant the person out in the living room couldn't be Zheng Yanyan or Zhou Yuwen.

Only then did Lu Lin remember that Shen Yu was staying with them tonight, which made things even stranger.

'It's the middle of the night. Why is she crying?'

Curious, Lu Lin stepped out of the bedroom.

In the living room, only a small lamp out on the balcony was turned on. Shen Yu was curled up on the single sofa on the balcony, sobbing quietly. Next to her sat the uncapped half-bottle of whiskey.

Perplexed, Lu Lin walked over and asked what was wrong.

By this point, Shen Yu's face was already streaked with tears. She felt like an utter failure in life. Seeing Lu Lin tilt her head in concern...

She suddenly felt that she wasn't even as smart as Lu Lin.

In that moment, Shen Yu embraced Lu Lin, feeling wronged like a helpless child.

Completely bewildered, Lu Lin could only stroke her head to comfort her, gently telling her to stop crying.

"Did something happen?"

A sudden suspicion crossed Lu Lin's mind. 'Could it be that Zhou Yuwen lost control of his animal urges tonight and forced himself on her?'

'But that doesn't make sense. If he had actually forced her, it would have caused a huge commotion. How could he be sleeping back there as if nothing happened?'

'Besides, if Zhou Yuwen really wanted to sleep with Shen Yu...'

Lu Lin genuinely felt he could do it effortlessly; there'd be no need for force at all.

Meanwhile, Shen Yu kept sobbing, wiping her tears away.

Filled with a feeling of being wronged, she recounted everything that had just happened. With a touch of self-deprecation, she called herself foolish, wondering what she could have possibly been thinking, and lamenting that she never should have made her confession to him.

"I kept saying I would never steal someone else's love," she sniffled.

"Yet just now, even knowing perfectly well that his girlfriend is Li Shiqi..."

"...I still gave my confession to him."

"Thinking I could somehow snatch him away from her."

The more she spoke, the more wronged Shen Yu felt. She insisted that she was definitely not that kind of person. If she was, she would have simply stolen Zhou Yuwen away back when he was dating Zheng Yanyan.

But in Zhou Yuwen's eyes, she must surely look like exactly that type of woman now.

Shen Yu kept wiping her tears, incoherently spilling out her grievances. She mumbled a few times that she felt she would never have the face to see him again.

It made sense.

They were originally meant to be two parallel lines, never meant to intersect at all.

After listening for a while, Lu Lin finally pieced the story together. It turned out Zhou Yuwen hadn't forced himself on Shen Yu at all.

Rather, Shen Yu had wanted to do that with him.

And Zhou Yuwen had shot her down.

Hearing this, Lu Lin couldn't help but inwardly complain, 'Shen Yu is so foolish.'

'Zhou Yuwen was just busy with me and Zheng Yanyan in the room.'

'How would he have any energy left to deal with you?'

'Confessing to him at a time like this... it would be a miracle if he agreed.'

But seeing Shen Yu appearing so pitifully, she genuinely looked pathetic.

Shen Yu spent the next few minutes muttering, pouring out every single inner thought she'd had, including how she would have made her confession ages ago if she'd known his official girlfriend slot was vacant.

"In the past, you and Yan Yan used to hang out with me all the time," she sobbed. "But now, neither of you ever looks for me."

"Back in our freshman year, out of the four of us in the dormitory, I always thought I was the most level-headed one."

"Now that I think about it, I'm the most foolish one of all!"

The more she thought about it, the harder she wanted to cry.

Because at that moment, she had suddenly stumbled upon a very hard-to-accept truth.

Which was the strong possibility that out of their dorm's four girls, she would end up the worst off in life.

Lu Lin felt very helpless hearing this. She thought to herself, 'There's nothing anyone can do about it; that's just your personality.'

It wasn't hard to guess that back during their freshman year, Shen Yu must have carried a huge sense of superiority.

So Lu Lin asked her, "So what are you going to do now?"

"What else can I do? I'm too embarrassed to ever see him again. Once the dorms open at six in the morning, I'll just hurry back." Shen Yu wiped her eyes with some tissues as she spoke.

Looking at her sitting there—her beautiful legs positioned with her thighs pressed together and her calves slightly parted—coupled with the way her small face was flushed red from crying, she really did evoke a sense of tender affection.

Lu Lin asked her, "Do you really want to sever all ties with us?"

"Us?" Shen Yu was confused.

Lu Lin explained that since she no longer wanted anything to do with Zhou Yuwen, she inevitably wouldn't want anything to do with them, either.

Because they and Zhou Yuwen were practically a package deal now.

Otherwise, no matter which one of them she contacted in the future, there would always be a chance she would run into Zhou Yuwen.

"I..." Put that way, it did seem to be the case.

It would mean her entire university experience had been for nothing, as her three roommates would suddenly become complete strangers to her.

Naturally, Shen Yu was reluctant to let that happen.

Lu Lin could clearly see what she was thinking.

"If you don't want that," Lu Lin offered, "there's still one more option."

Shen Yu immediately looked at Lu Lin, her eyes filled with hope, desperate to know what this option was.

Lu Lin didn't speak. She merely turned her head to look toward the bedroom door, which was still left slightly ajar.

She hadn't said a single word.

Yet it felt like she had said everything.

Unfortunately, Shen Yu failed to grasp her meaning.

So Lu Lin finally laid it out clearly for her.

"Zhou Yuwen is sleeping in the inner room right now."

"If you've truly made up your mind, just charge right in there."

"Li Shiqi only officially confirmed her relationship with him tonight, but I guarantee absolutely nothing physical has happened between them yet."

"So if you want to take a gamble, you can absolutely give it a try."

"I know Zhou Yuwen's personality."

"If you sleep with him tonight..."

"...do you really think he'd refuse to take responsibility and let you suffer a grievance?"

Hearing this, Shen Yu stared at her in disbelief at first, before a wave of hesitation washed over her.

Lu Lin still wore that drowsy, half-awake expression. Seeing her hesitate, she added, "This is your absolute last resort."

"If you think you can do it, I'll help you. If not, then forget about it."

In Lu Lin's eyes, Shen Yu becoming Zhou Yuwen's girlfriend would be vastly superior to that Li Shiqi taking the role.

No matter how innocent of a white lotus Li Shiqi appeared to be, they had never actually interacted with her. Who knew what her true personality was really like?

Elevating Shen Yu to act as his nominal girlfriend...

...was infinitely better than him finding a girl they didn't even know.

However, seeing her still dawdling in indecision...

Lu Lin didn't press the matter further. Instead, she yawned.

She prepared to head back to the room to get some rest.

But just as she was turning to leave...

...Shen Yu's voice drifted faintly from behind her: "Would that really work?"

"That's up to you," Lu Lin replied.

Leaving those words hanging in the air, Lu Lin walked right back into the bedroom.

Shen Yu sat in the living room for a little while longer.

She thought over what Lu Lin had said, and then realized that if she really did head back to school tomorrow morning, the two of them would truly never cross paths again.

If she followed Lu Lin's idea, the situation might genuinely turn around.

Even if Zhou Yuwen ended up not accepting her...

...she could simply treat it as paying the price of her youth. What did it matter if she gave herself to him anyway?

It was definitely better than going on a blind date in the future and ending up with some guy she didn't even like!

'I have to be crazy at least once!'

At this thought, her eyes were no longer confused.

She downed the remaining half-glass of whiskey in a single gulp.

And knocked on the room door...