Chapter 1

The pain of three years, the itch of seven years, who hasn’t joked about these relationship crises as a couple? Ji Heyi didn’t expect this problem to occur between him and Chi Yan.

“……..Just as you see, I have fallen in love with someone else.”

Chi Yan patted the man sitting next to him – no, that might just be a boy, with a student-like face, holding a school bag on his lap, hiding behind him and not daring to lift his head.

The lights in the bar were dim and flickering, but Ji Heyi was sure he saw Chi Yan’s expression clearly, indifferent, as calm as telling him that there would be braised chicken wings for dinner.

Ji Heyi took some effort to go over his words in his mind.

Falling in love with someone else.

The day before yesterday, the two had just celebrated their third anniversary.

Yesterday, this person was still complaining about the new drawer of strawberry-flavored condoms he bought, and also ordered a dozen grape-flavored ones online.

Before leaving in the morning, this person still gave him seven or eight good morning kisses, the last one almost led to a gun fire and caused both of them to miss their work.

Now he says he has fallen in love with someone else.

Ji Heyi tried hard to control his facial expression. Even with a good temper, he couldn’t help but want to say some inappropriate words at this moment, but he opened his mouth, then frowned and closed it.

If he had known this day would come, he should have learned all the eighteen types of swear words from Chi Yan first.

……….Calm down, Ji Heyi.

He pinched his middle finger joint, at least to make the situation clear first.

Ji Heyi thought his facial expression should still be okay, because when he sat down, the boy behind Chi Yan finally lifted his head. His eyes were a bit timid, but he didn’t hide.

Ji Heyi admired that he could still give the boy a polite smile at this moment.

The boy instinctively avoided his face, then immediately turned back and returned a shy smile.

Just from the looks, he indeed has the capital to make people fall in love with him.

Ji Heyi poured himself a glass of wine, then pressed his temples. His head, which hadn’t hurt for a long time, started to ache at this moment, adding to the chaos.

“Tell me? How did you two start? It’s not too much to ask for the ins and outs, right?”

Chi Yan had just finished smoking a cigarette. After hearing this, he came to get the wine in front of him and took a sip quite comfortably: “Of course.”

He stood him up for dinner, dumped him, and drank the wine he poured while hugging his affair. This person has not been guilty from beginning to end, and now he still has a calm and elegant demeanor…….. Ji Heyi really wants to applaud this composure.

Nian Zhenyan, Chi Yan introduced the boy’s name.

In the past few minutes, Ji Heyi reviewed his months of getting along with Chi Yan. Recently, he has indeed been busy and has not spent much time with Chi Yan, but the two live together and know each other’s daily whereabouts well. He couldn’t figure out where Chi Yan went to fall in love with someone. Listening to his explanation, it turns out that the situation occurred a month ago when Chi Yan and his family went on a trip to Panama, and Ji Heyi did not go with them due to work reasons.

Nian Zhenyan is the younger brother of Chi Yan’s brother Chi Cong’s girlfriend. The siblings have a good relationship and happened to be taken on a trip. Although Chi Yan didn’t elaborate, Ji Heyi could imagine the scene where Chi Cong, in order to have a world of two with his girlfriend, gave the light bulb to Chi Yan to deal with.

Chi Cong might have also overestimated his younger brother’s integrity, not knowing that he would flirt when he saw a face. In order to have a more satisfying world of two, he inadvertently cut off a friend’s satisfying red line, which is really a big sin.

“………The pain of three years, the itch of seven years, couples always have to quarrel, right? Small things separate a bed, big things separate hands, at least in the third year I gave a quick, did not drag to the seventh year, rounding off I saved you four years of youth?”

Chi Yan was propping up his face, playing with the strap of Nian Zhenyan’s backpack, and by the end of his speech, he had already shown his usual smile, attracting the gaze of the passing bartender for several seconds.

Ji Heyi didn’t laugh. He suspected that if he laughed, he would let out a cold snort: “So, I should be grateful.”

Chi Yan looked at him. His eyes were a bit distracted before, most of his attention was on his new love next to him. Only at this moment did he look directly at Ji Heyi. The smile between his handsome eyebrows hadn’t faded yet, and he said with interest: “It’s rare, are you angry, Ah Yi?”

Ji Heyi didn’t respond to his words.

The bar changed to a new band, the night got deeper, and the music got louder. He felt his head getting more and more painful, a bit unbearable.

He pressed his temples again: “One question, before tonight.” That is, before proposing to break up, “Have you slept with him?”

The boy – Nian Zhenyan was startled when he heard this, he buried his head and stared at the wine glass in front of him, so embarrassed that he seemed to want to drill into the cup.

“Pfft.” Chi Yan’s face was much thicker than his, he even laughed out loud, almost choked by the wine, “No——not every two people on the bed can match like us. After the last few meals of abalone and lobster that I’m used to, I don’t need to rush to uncover the delicacies.” He smiled at Ji Heyi and winked, “Hey, when I think about not being able to eat it in the future, I feel quite regretful.”

Alright, his unusually enthusiastic and opportunistic intimate behavior during this period has been explained.

Spiritual infidelity.

To be honest, Ji Heyi doesn’t quite understand.

He probably knows the feeling of being moved during the period of being single, the appearance and temperament that meet his aesthetics, an expression, a word, all may cause a trace of emotion to sprout. But since he has a lover, a person he has identified, whether it’s behavior or emotion, Ji Heyi will have his own line, and people who suit his taste can’t take advantage of this line.

But he didn’t use his own principles to demand other people’s habits, especially people like Chi Yan who do whatever they want.

Spiritual infidelity and physical infidelity are not the same. Whether to see a person, whether to hold hands, hug, kiss, make love with a person, all can be self-restrained and controlled; but for most people, emotions are uncontrollable. You can’t delete a name and face engraved in memory like deleting a phone number, and you can’t suppress complex emotions that appear with memory like pushing away a hug.

In Ji Heyi’s view, although spiritual infidelity is not a behavior he agrees with, it can also be given one or two points of understanding.

Falling in love with someone else, calmly informing, breaking up as soon as possible. For Chi Yan, who often tests the moral edge on emotional issues, this is already a decent way of handling it.

Ji Heyi poured himself another full glass of wine, took a sip, and then stopped drinking. His headache was already giving him a stern warning.

It’s a bit strange, before his emotions were burning like a fire, but now they have completely cooled down, which made him lose all interest in talking and staying there.

When it comes to this point, it seems that there is nothing more to say.

Breaking up is not something that can be ended by saying goodbye. The luggage and items from living together, the joint fund projects, the shared account passwords, the linked bank cards, the associated phone numbers…….. Three years of dating has entangled their lives. Ji Heyi doesn’t like to drag things out, he intends to resolve all the follow-up issues of breaking up immediately, but he is a bit tired now, from his head to his stomach, he really wants to be able to return home and soak in the bathtub within half an hour.

He put down his glass and stood up.

Chi Yan, leaning on the sofa, looked up at him and asked slowly: “Are you leaving?”

“It’s late, it’s too far from your home, take the key to Xiyuan first.” He threw a key over.

Chi Yan reached out to catch it, didn’t catch it, picked it up from the ground, and threw it again.

Xiyuan is where the two of them live together. Ji Heyi has lived in the house for eight years since college. Little by little, Chi Yan has occupied his territory by placing a sofa here and adding a wardrobe there. But Chi Yan never has the habit of carrying keys. He doesn’t even have the habit of carrying things like wallets and ID cards. When he goes out, he always uses his phone for everything.

“I will stay in a hotel this week, you can go back to Xiyuan tonight.”

He glanced at Nian Zhenyan, who was shrinking to one side, “He can also go back with you, but it’s best for you two to sleep in the guest room. A week’s time is enough for you to pack up. I will talk to Chi Cong about the breakup. The house in Tianhe Residence – or is it Tianhai Residence – will be taken care of by him. It should be livable in a week.”

Finally, he glanced at the bottles of wine scattered on the table and saw that the glass of wine he hadn’t finished was taken away by Chi Yan.

“Remember to find a designated driver.” He said this while looking at Nian Zhenyan. The boy was sipping his wine. Ji Heyi paused, “Don’t drink and drive – are you of age?”

Nian Zhenyan was stunned: “Yes, yes……..I’m twenty.”

Ji Heyi nodded, not saying anything more.

After paying the bill at the bar, he was called out as he passed by the booth where Chi Yan was sitting.

“Ah Yi.”

He stopped and looked back.

Chi Yan, with his back to him, leaned his head on the sofa and looked up at him. Ji Heyi could tell that he might be a bit drunk. He counted the bottles of wine on the table, which was enough for him to get drunk. But his drunkenness never showed on his face, except for a little redness in the corners of his eyes, his complexion was as usual.

This is a very familiar posture.

The sofa in the living room of Xiyuan is also at a height that is very suitable for leaning one’s head. When Chi Yan is bored and sitting on the sofa watching TV, he would always call out to Ji Heyi who is going to the kitchen or study, then he would tilt his face up, beckon with his hand, and Ji Heyi would naturally bend down and lean in for a deep kiss.

The bar lights were dimly lit, and at this moment, Chi Yan, who was drunk, beckoned to him just like countless times before.

Ji Heyi looked at him for a moment, slightly bending over.

He didn’t hear what Chi Yan said, but saw him suddenly lift his face and lean in. Ji Heyi promptly held his shoulder, stopping his approaching lips.

“Chi Yan.” He called out without emotion.

“Won’t you even give a goodbye kiss?” Chi Yan rested his head on his hands that were originally hooked around Ji Heyi’s neck, “It’s so rare, a textbook-like peaceful breakup, I give both of us a hundred points.”

“A goodbye kiss will deduct points, especially in front of your current one.”

He didn’t have much patience left, the words he spoke were not so much his usual gentleness, but rather a soft whisper caused by a headache.

But Chi Yan was still smiling: “Then give me a chance to score points in front of my current one? To ensure a pleasant experience tonight, can’t we really sleep in the master bedroom? The bed in the guest room is very uncomfortable.”

“It’s over, Chi Yan, there’s no need to make the scene ugly.”

“Ah, I see, we can still be friends after breaking up.” He exclaimed, “Those who splash wine and slap faces should come and see the cultivation and demeanor of my ex.”

Then he put down his wine glass, turned around, and asked with a raised eyebrow while lying on the sofa: “Can I use the things in the master bedroom? I just ordered a dozen grape-flavored ones.”

Ji Heyi didn’t look at him again, he stepped away and said, “Suit yourself. You can ask your little friend, maybe he likes strawberry flavor.”