Chapter 75 I Won’t Cling to You

Chapter 75: I Won't Pester You

Guan Junshan spoke slowly and calmly, then closed the folder in his hand and placed it on the marble countertop.

Lin Haoda stepped forward, his lips moving slightly. Guan Junshan's gaze suddenly shifted to the side.

Out of the corner of his eye, Lin Haoda spotted a uniformed security guard. He changed what he was about to say and instead said, "No need to call security, I won't pester you."

Guan Junshan's jaw tightened slightly, his expression still calm. He asked Lin Haoda, "Is there anything else?" then glanced down at his watch and said in a forceful tone that didn't sound like a negotiation, "I can give you two minutes."

Lin Haoda felt a sudden daze, recalling the time when he first met Guan Junshan.

There was no doubt that Guan Junshan's elite aura was indelible; whether or not he had been in a relationship with Lin Haoda, he could always quickly return to his original world.

And this Guan Junshan no longer seemed suitable to be associated with any other identity, whether as a friend or a lover.

So Lin Haoda thought it over and had already made up his mind. The key and the peace charm were both in the same pocket. He reached in, felt the sharp touch, and gripped them in his palm.

His mood was calm. Lin Haoda accepted the fact that Guan Junshan no longer loved him more easily than he had imagined. He extended his hand, palm facing up, to show Guan Junshan what was inside.

"Lin Haoda," Guan Junshan said, his eyes slightly lowered and his eyebrows slightly furrowed. "What is this?"

"The apartment I bought earlier," Lin Haoda replied with a smile, trying to appear relaxed. "While you were away from Hong Kong, I went to check on the renovations."

Guan Junshan raised his head, his eyes fixed on Lin Haoda, motionless.

"Now everything is done." After a few seconds, Lin Haoda told him, "The things in the children's room were bought by me. They won't be needed in the future. If you don't like them, you can throw them all away."

Lin Haoda pressed his lips together, looking very calm. "I'm done."

Two minutes probably hadn't passed, but Lin Haoda felt there was nothing more to add. He extended his hand a bit further. "Mr. Guan."

Guan Junshan remained unmoved by Lin Haoda's urging. In the sunlight, Lin Haoda saw Guan Junshan's thin lips part slightly, and a hint of displeasure rose in his eyes.

If it had been before, Lin Haoda would have pulled himself together to think about which word he had said wrong, but now nothing mattered anymore.

No matter which thing made Guan Junshan angry—whether it was his presumptuous decorating of the children's room, or his insistence on chasing after him to return the keys—none of it had much to do with him anymore.

So Lin Haoda stood close to him, silently meeting his gaze.

"Lin Haoda," Guan Junshan called him, his voice a bit low.

Lin Haoda hummed in acknowledgment and considerately asked, "Mr. Guan, is two minutes up? Are you still timing?"

Guan Junshan's smile was still the same as before, but his eyes were a bit cold. He said, "The apartment is yours now that I've given it to you. You don't need to return it to me. How you decorate it is your business."

With that, he turned to leave, but Lin Haoda stopped him.

The height difference between them meant that Lin Haoda had to tilt his chin up a bit to meet his eyes. In any case, Guan Junshan could see that his gaze was already very different from when he first came to him with a bit of hope.

The atmosphere was silent for a few seconds. Lin Haoda stepped closer to Guan Junshan and said softly, "Since we're breaking up, we should at least owe each other nothing and part amicably."

In the early morning, Lin Haoda woke up in his hotel bed and received a message from Jiang Tianyi. Jiang Tianyi complained that he didn't tell her he was coming to Hong Kong, and then sent him several addresses, asking him to pick one and meet up in the afternoon.

Lin Haoda was selecting flights, originally planning to leave tonight. After hesitating for a short while, he decided to meet Jiang Tianyi first.

They agreed to meet in a high-end shopping mall near Victoria Harbour in the city center. Lin Haoda walked into the café. It was a weekday, so there weren't many people. Jiang Tianyi was sitting under an outdoor awning and waved to him.

As Lin Haoda made his way through the tables and chairs, he realized she was on the phone with someone. He couldn't hear clearly through the glass, but Jiang Tianyi looked unhappy, frowning and arguing a few words with the other party.

He pushed open the door, and a crisp wind chime sounded above his head. Lin Haoda walked over, pulled out a chair, and sat down. The waiter came over to ask what he wanted to drink. Lin Haoda flipped through a couple of pages of the menu and ordered a glass of juice.

After the waiter left, Jiang Tianyi looked up, smiled at him, and gestured that she would be done soon.

"...Alright, that's it for now." She hung up.

"What's wrong?" Lin Haoda looked at her and joked naturally, "A crank call?"

"I'd rather it were." Jiang Tianyi let out a light scoff, exchanged a glance with him, and changed the subject: "Long time no see. What made you suddenly come to Hong Kong?"

"Some finishing work." The waiter brought the juice. Lin Haoda averted his gaze while tearing open the straw wrapper. "I'll leave soon. Won't be staying long."

The atmosphere was silent for a few seconds. Hong Kong Island is at a higher latitude, and the daytime breeze carried a pleasant temperature.

Jiang Tianyi picked up her coffee, stirred it with a silver spoon, and casually asked, "Have you seen Guan Junshan?"

Lin Haoda hadn't mentioned his breakup with Guan Junshan to anyone, but Jiang Tianyi's status was different from others; after all, she was Guan Junshan's nominal fiancée.

Lin Haoda looked a bit troubled and said, "Yes, I have," but then hesitated, as if there was more to it.

Jiang Tianyi sat across from him and observed him for a long time, as if she could see through him. She put down her cup and asked, "You chased him all the way to Hong Kong, but didn't get a clear answer?"

Lin Haoda instinctively tried to evade, saying, "Ask what?"

Jiang Tianyi sighed softly and after a moment said, "I'm not trying to speak for him."

Lin Haoda's lowered eyelashes trembled, and he lifted his eyelids to look back at her.

"He didn't do well during that more than a month abroad. His mother underwent several surgeries, but there was no sign of her waking up. The doctor said the best case might be just this—if they were willing to spend money on the latest drug treatments, the probability of her waking up would be at most twenty percent."

"As for the company matters, on the surface it looked like he temporarily stepped down voluntarily—of course, that's what the newspapers all wrote." Jiang Tianyi smiled, her expression complicated. "The media were paid off, so they wouldn't write about Guan Yongyue forcing him to give up his shares."

Lin Haoda's fingers slowly curled under the table. After a moment of silence, he suddenly spoke: "I didn't know any of this."

Jiang Tianyi stared at him. "Now that you know, will it change your decision?"

Lin Haoda's lips moved, his voice a little low. At first he said, "I'm not sure," then thought for a moment and admitted, "Probably not."

Jiang Tianyi didn't seem surprised at all. Instead, she let out a sigh of relief and nodded. "That's good."

She caught Lin Haoda's slightly complicated gaze directed at her, smiled, and then explained, "Although I do have my own selfish motives, I really can't bring myself to push you into a fire pit just to avoid getting married."

Lin Haoda's smile became a bit more genuine as he slowly repeated that word: "Fire pit."

Perhaps Jiang Tianyi was describing Guan Junshan's current predicament, but Lin Haoda felt that whenever Guan Junshan said he liked him, said he cared, his own heart was also pushed to the edge of a cliff.

Knowing full well it shouldn't happen, he watched helplessly as it fell.

Reason and emotion tore at each other repeatedly. To Lin Haoda, Guan Junshan truly seemed like a bottomless whirlpool, a pitch-black hole without end.

"Hao Da," Jiang Tianyi called him again.

Lin Haoda looked up at her. Jiang Tianyi pushed aside the cold coffee in front of her, rested her elbows on the table, hesitated for two seconds, and then slowly asked, "If you have a chance to meet again, would you want to ask for clarity?"

Ask what? Lin Haoda thought blankly. The real reason Guan Junshan gave up on this relationship?

If it wasn't because he had a change of heart and suddenly fell in love with Jiang Tianyi, nor because the fame and power he could have given up became attractive again, then what was the real reason Guan Junshan couldn't wait to get rid of him and erase this relationship?

He should have shown he didn't care, a voice in his heart said. But as soon as Lin Haoda closed his eyes, the image suddenly appeared in his mind of Guan Junshan standing not long ago in the cold wind, in the middle of a huge lawn, speaking of love and caring with that tone and expression. As if still carrying the lingering warmth of the wind, Guan Junshan's presence enveloped every sense of Lin Haoda's body, and also addicted Lin Haoda to a habit that was hard to break.

This made him feel it was hard to keep deceiving himself. He wanted to know.

On Friday evening, Lin Haoda took a car to a private club in the suburbs.

The sky was neither fully light nor dark, and the traffic was already clogging the entrance; Jiang Tianyi's driver deliberately avoided the media at the front door and dropped him off at the side entrance.

An attendant came forward, and as the car door opened, letting in a slight evening breeze, Lin Haoda got out of the car, reaching up to button the bottom of his tuxedo jacket. The streetlights on either side glowed dimly, the fountain at the entrance was illuminated, and the surrounding greenery rustled softly.

Faint music came from the front hall, and Lin Haoda followed the sound and lights to the entrance.

To enter the banquet, an invitation was required. Lin Haoda handed his to the staff; perhaps due to his attire, they didn't check too carefully and welcomed him in. Lin Haoda had a face that people naturally liked, although he often wore an old-fashioned pair of glasses and tasteless hoodies and shirts—most of the time just to avoid the trouble his looks brought.

Many VIPs and celebrities were present that evening. As soon as Lin Haoda entered and took a brief turn around the buffet table, many eyes followed him.

The formal wear was chosen by Jiang Tianyi—a light champagne color with a subtle shimmer under the lights, making it hard to ignore even in the shadows.

Lin Haoda knew nothing about it. When Jiang Tianyi booked the entire VIP fitting floor and had the season's haute couture sent over, he was like a puppet, obediently doing whatever he was told.

So when Guan Junshan stepped into the banquet hall, this was the scene he saw.

Lin Haoda was holding a champagne flute and looked a bit helpless as a woman in front of him pestered him.

The people coming up to chat with him included both men and women; Lin Haoda was busy rejecting them one by one. All the dance slots were already reserved. The tall man standing beside him was the one who had approached him earlier, because when Lin Haoda accidentally smeared cake cream on his sleeve, that man happened to be nearby and struck up a conversation.

He spoke like a gentleman and took Lin Haoda to the restroom. After cleaning up and with wet hands just as he was about to leave, Lin Haoda met the man waiting at the door. The man lent him his handkerchief and took the opportunity to ask if he had a dance partner. Having attended few such events, Lin Haoda was inexperienced and accidentally told him the truth.

Guan Junshan stood at the entrance, his gaze lingering briefly. Recognizing the man as some second-tier actor, he immediately texted Yang Yue to check which entertainment company the man's contract was with.

Lin Haoda was still completely unaware; tired from talking, he lowered his head and took a couple of sips of champagne, having no idea that Guan Junshan had appeared and was approaching.