Mr. Lu Was Devastated After I Left - Chapter 1

Xu Zhuoyang gripped his phone, his expression unsettled as he checked the screen every thirty seconds.

The messaging app remained open on the conversation screen, displaying the message he had sent two hours ago. Since then, there had been no response.

The young assistant driving the car had long since noticed the restlessness of the man in the backseat. He teased, “Brother Yang, it is late at night. You went out to buy groceries and meat right after work. Were you not full from dinner?”

Xu Zhuoyang replied with impatience, “This is called enjoying life. What do you know?”

The assistant rolled his eyes with disdain. “Enjoying life? You are exhausted from filming all day like a dog, yet you call this enjoying life.”

Xu Zhuoyang sighed.

Enjoying life?

He would have to be insane to be this exhausted, only to return home in the middle of the night to spend time braising meat and chopping vegetables for a midnight snack.

He had a mouth to feed waiting at home, but he dared not let the assistant know about that.

It was only a few minutes before midnight. After days of hard work without a proper rest, his eyelids were heavy and he was on the verge of falling asleep. Suddenly, his phone vibrated with a message notification, jolting him wide awake.

Xu Zhuoyang: Brother, I can come home today. Are you asleep? Are you hungry? Shall I cook you a midnight snack when I get home?

Lu Beiye: No need.

After a two hour wait, only three cold and indifferent words appeared.

Xu Zhuoyang looked down at the bag of vegetables and meat beside him with a sense of loss. He withdrew his gaze and began typing rapidly. The message was filled with nothing but words of concern. When he reached the phrase “Did you miss me?”, he typed it, deleted it, and typed it again. After repeating this several times, he hesitantly deleted the six characters and sent the message, waiting anxiously for a reply.

He could not help but despise himself.

This relationship was truly pathetic.

The result was the same as before, sinking like a stone into the ocean. There was no movement from the other side, and yet he sat there clutching his phone like a fool.

He did not understand how a five year relationship could change so drastically. He felt he was gradually becoming nothing more than a sycophant to that man.

The gossiping assistant in the front stretched his neck to look through the rearview mirror again. “What is going on? Is the great star Xu Zhuoyang in love?”

This struck a nerve, and Xu Zhuoyang quickly denied it. “I am not. Do not talk nonsense!”

He had wanted to go public years ago, but the person at home would not allow it. He had even threatened to break up if the relationship was exposed. Now, Xu Zhuoyang did not dare say a word, terrified that the secret would leak.

“Then why are you staring at your phone so intently? Is someone not replying to you? A man should have his own stance! You absolutely cannot lower your head. Do not go wagging your tail just because someone waves at you.”

Xu Zhuoyang muttered, “You sure have a sharp tongue.”

Although he said that, he tossed his phone to the side and stopped touching it.

The assistant was right. A man should have his own stance!

However, he still had the special notification sound turned on.

The phone rang at an incredibly inopportune moment. Xu Zhuoyang glanced at the assistant in the driver’s seat and sheepishly picked up the phone again.

The person on the other end was not interested in his long winded concerns. He only coldly instructed him to open the door quietly when he returned, not to make too much noise, and to remember that there was an important meeting tomorrow so he should not disturb his rest.

Xu Zhuoyang felt a tightness in his chest, as if something were stuffed inside.

He had been away for half a month, yet this long awaited reunion amounted to nothing more than this.

The two had met in college and had been together since then. Back then, Lu Beiye was not the Lu Beiye of today. They were worlds apart.

Xu Zhuoyang could not help but wonder: if it were the Lu Beiye from back then, he would probably be waiting downstairs at the apartment building, and as soon as he saw him, he would have rushed over to hug and kiss him.

But now.

The assistant dropped him off downstairs quite mercilessly and drove away. Left standing before the empty apartment entrance, Xu Zhuoyang felt a sense of powerlessness. He looked up, and when he saw the warm glow of the lights through the window of his apartment, his heart suddenly warmed, and his previously dejected face brightened up.

It seemed that the current Lu Beiye was not quite that bad after all.