Half an hour later, whenever Chen Dao looked at an overturned car, he'd think of that afternoon when his confession failed.

...

Today was a class reunion, the first in three years. Chen Dao had come by to mooch a free dinner, stuffing himself with beef in the corner. But on the way home, he ended up having to ride with his ex-girlfriend.

Chen Dao glanced at the stunningly alluring woman in the back seat, and a question rose in his heart for no reason at all.

How had someone like her not taken the initiative to break up back then?

College group outings always came with truth or dare. Xia Jiuli had bad luck. She drew the punishment of "confess to someone of the opposite sex until the outing ends," so she came to Chen Dao.

And it wasn't until graduation that this fake relationship, born from a game, finally ended with college itself. During all that time, Xia Jiuli had never brought up breaking up, and neither had Chen Dao.

"Sorry for the trouble."

Suddenly, Xia Jiuli's cool, distant voice came from behind him. It was like drifting snowflakes, landing lightly before quickly melting away.

Chen Dao instinctively looked into the rearview mirror, just in time to meet her eyes.

Those deep, dark eyes were as clear and captivating as the night sky. But what filled them was mostly indifference, and dim light.

Chen Dao wasn't the type to get the wrong idea. Of course he didn't believe in some sci-fi fantasy about a girlfriend falling from the sky. But if he had to name one benefit of being with Xia Jiuli, it was probably avoiding pointless socializing.

There was no conflict between them, and no affection either. At most, they were friends.

When old friends met again, especially exes, most people would feel awkward. But a hero couldn't run from the battlefield. Unable to bear the silence, Chen Dao spoke softly.

"Are your grandpa and grandma doing okay?"

He knew about Xia Jiuli's family. Back in high school, her parents had died in a car accident. After that, only her grandparents in the countryside were left.

The year they graduated, he heard she was going back home to take care of them. After that, there was no more news.

And she hadn't come to any reunions in the years since. So if she could make it this time, then the old couple's health had probably improved—

"They were buried last month. Together. At least they had each other."

Her cold eyes swept past the window, caught the glow of the parking garage signs, then settled back inside the car.

Chen Dao suddenly felt like he shouldn't have spoken.

Maybe it was the grief of losing family once again. She gave a small twitch of her nose.

"I-I see... my con... condolences."

He hadn't meant to offend her, but he'd stepped right on a landmine.

The two of them sat in awkward silence for a long time. Then Xia Jiuli parted her lips slightly and broke the stillness.

"I want to go see the sea."

She lowered her head and stared at her toes. Chen Dao could no longer read her expression, but something about it felt faintly strange.

Because she couldn't swim.

"You can't swim. Forget it."

Chen Dao thought about the weather, and with the beach pitch-black at this hour, it was way too dangerous. So he refused.

"Then... if... I mean if—"

"If you had the chance, would you want to live your life over again? You could start from any point..."

Her thoughts jumped so abruptly that she forcefully cut off Chen Dao's train of thought from the previous question.

The car pulled out of the parking space and started up the spiral ramp toward the ground level. The surroundings grew dim, and he couldn't make out her expression in the rearview mirror.

So Chen Dao glanced back directly.

And suddenly saw a blinding light coming from the right—

What the hell?! Who the fuck uses high beams in a parking garage?!

His complaint hadn't even made it out of his mouth before the entire car was slammed violently from the right. His head smashed hard into the left-side window.

The car flipped several times.

And then there was nothing.

...

"Hey! Chen Dao? I'm talking to you!"

A hard shaking hit him. Chen Dao forced his eyes open, and a girl gradually came into view.

She had a pretty, lovable face, slightly flushed cheeks, and a touch of youthful innocence. She wore a blue-and-white school uniform. She was around one-sixty, only reaching his chin.

She stood right in front of him. Her left hand was tugging on his arm, while her right held an unopened cup of milk tea. After shaking him hard and seeing him open his eyes, she puffed up in annoyance, planted both hands on her hips, and snapped,

"This is the attitude you have when confessing to me?"

She shot Chen Dao a glare.

Chen Dao couldn't quite process the situation. In his head, he was still cursing that idiot who used high beams in the parking garage. He only took the scene before him as some dying hallucination.

He looked at the cute little girl in front of him, then glanced around. The place felt strangely familiar.

Xinchi No. 4 High School. The narrow path behind the main building and the indoor gym.

Dead memories started attacking him. As everything before him became clearer, he suddenly felt dazed.

The girl in front of him slowly overlapped with the one in his memory.

Her name was Bai Qiaoqiao. She was the class beauty of Class 8, Year 2 at No. 4 High. She was the girl Chen Dao had liked for three years, and chased for three years.

Among a crowd of high schoolers, she was absolutely the sweet and adorable type. When she smiled, her shallow dimples and little pointed canine teeth made her irresistibly cute.

Too bad her smile was the same for everyone. Chen Dao had only been one of her many pursuers, just another fish flopping around in the pond.

Back then, Chen Dao had studied hard for a long time just so he could get into the same college as her. In the end, she gave him a fake college choice and shook him off.

And it was because he'd been shaken off that, not long after college started, he gave in out of self-abandonment and agreed to Xia Jiuli's confession.

After that, Chen Dao sealed his heart in concrete and started seriously making money.

But now that they were meeting again, he felt annoyed, not regretful.

"Say something! What, are you mute?!"

Seeing that Chen Dao wasn't reacting at all, Bai Qiaoqiao shouted.

"Not yet."

Chen Dao brushed her off, then raised a hand and tugged at his own cheek. It hurt like hell.

So this wasn't a dream.

But that pain also made him realize something.

When you're young, you don't know how good a rich older woman is. You mistake a little girl for treasure.

Looking at her now, he couldn't help comparing her to Xia Jiuli, that solitary yet cold and elegant woman.

Smaller chest. Flatter butt. Not even that tall. How the hell did I ever like this girl?

"I said I'm rejecting your confession, but we can still be friends!"

She clearly thought she was being tactful. But hearing the word friends come out of her mouth only made Chen Dao want to laugh—

Because those two words were exactly how she'd kept him tied down.

When she was upset, he had to buy her milk tea to cheer her up. When she was happy, he had to take her out to celebrate. Even on her birthday, he had to rack his brains to make her happy.

But now that he'd been reborn, he wasn't going to keep carrying this regret and anger.

"Do whatever you want. I don't care."

He frowned and looked at the petite girl with cold indifference.

"Chen Dao! I said I'm rejecting— uh... rejecting your confession..."

She couldn't believe the boy in front of her could look at her so coldly. For a moment, she was at a loss, and couldn't even get the second half of the sentence out properly.

"Yeah. I don't care."