My 'White Moonlight' First Love Came Back, but I Don't Love her Anymore - Chapter 23

“Is being with me that embarrassing?”

Zhou Wanyan suddenly felt a prickly sensation against her back, as if a pair of eyes were burning right through her. She turned around and locked eyes with Luo Yuening’s cold gaze.

Luo Yuening approached her, the rhythmic click of her high heels exuding an aggressive aura. She leaned in slightly, bringing with her a faint, chilled fragrance. A hint of simmering anger touched her exquisite face, making her look cold yet captivating.

“Why have you gone quiet? Weren’t you just talking quite eloquently?”

Zhou Wanyan lowered her eyes, avoiding the gaze as she allowed Luo Yuening to draw closer. She lowered her voice and said, “I just feel that with your current status, you don’t need to participate in this kind of show. Coupling up with me is nothing but a ‘downward pull’ for you.”

A flicker of emotion flashed through Luo Yuening’s eyes. “Don’t worry about that. You are an artist under my company. By giving you exposure, you’ll be able to bring more profit to the company.”

Zhou Wanyan understood. Since Luo Yuening had put it that way, there was no point in being overly sensitive. Besides, bringing more revenue to Magic Fun Entertainment was a promise she had once made.

“Fine, I understand.”

“I will cooperate fully.”

Luo Yuening pursed her lips, swept her long hair to one side, and sat down in the chair next to Zhou Wanyan.

“Sister Li, tell us the general direction of the show.”

Li Wen’s gaze darted between the two of them, sensing the strange atmosphere. From her perspective, Zhou Wanyan’s resistance was genuine, which made her worry for Luo Yuening. She wondered if Luo Yuening’s forceful approach would only push the other woman further away.

Then again, why was Luo Yuening so set on Zhou Wanyan? Perhaps, Li Wen thought, she was just getting older and her ideas on romance couldn’t keep up with the times.

Li Wen began to introduce the details of the variety show. As Zhou Wanyan listened, she pondered the situation.

The show was titled Romantic Skies. As the name suggested, it invited three pairs of celebrities to form temporary romantic relationships for one month to see if any sparks would fly. During this month, they were to act entirely like a real couple, even changing how they addressed each other. The show would also include games designed to test their relationship.

Zhou Wanyan’s brow furrowed, and the look she cast toward Luo Yuening grew complex. She had never imagined playing the role of a lover with Luo Yuening. Despite the six-year gap, they had been friends for years; the idea felt incredibly awkward.

Eventually, Li Wen finished her explanation and took a sip of water to soothe her dry throat.

Luo Yuening rested her right elbow on the conference table, propping her delicate face against her upward-turned palm. She stared directly at Zhou Wanyan, her gaze eventually settling on the smooth lines of Zhou Wanyan’s profile.

“Now, we should discuss how we’re going to address each other.”

That blunt, heated gaze made Zhou Wanyan’s brows twitch slightly. She turned her head, her hair fluttering in the air as her eyes met Luo Yuening’s. Their gazes locked, and the space between them was invisibly enveloped in a warm tension.

“Ningning…”

“Can it be… the same as it was six years ago?”

As the familiar yet distant nickname escaped Zhou Wanyan’s lips, Luo Yuening’s heart skipped a beat. A trace of nostalgia shimmered in Luo Yuening’s eyes.

“Okay.”

Zhou Wanyan curled her lips into a slight smile and looked away.

“Yanyan,” Luo Yuening’s soft voice sounded in her ear.

She replied, “What is it?”

Luo Yuening said, “Nothing, I just wanted to call your name.”

Zhou Wanyan: “…”

Luo Yuening arched an eyebrow and chuckled, “What’s wrong? Are you unwilling?”

Zhou Wanyan sighed softly, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “How would I dare?”

Luo Yuening huffed coldly, “That’s more like it. Sister Li, tell her about the ‘persona’ aspect.”

Zhou Wanyan asked, “What persona?”

Meeting Zhou Wanyan’s questioning gaze, Li Wen explained word for word, “To quickly generate buzz for you, the company has decided that you and President Luo will take the ‘Sweet Pampering’ route.”

Zhou Wanyan’s usually gentle eyes widened instantly. She blinked, silently asking Li Wen if she was serious.

Luo Yuening raised her hand, her slender fingers picking up a strand of her burgundy curls and twining it around her finger. She looked away, deliberately ignoring Zhou Wanyan’s gaze, though the corners of her eyes curved slightly upward.

Li Wen coughed twice, suppressing a smile. “President Luo remains President Luo—no change there. But Wanyan, the new persona the company has assigned to you is…”

“Gentle as water, centered entirely around your girlfriend, incredibly considerate, and polite to outsiders—but extremely jealous. If anyone else tries to get close to President Luo with unfriendly intentions, you need to intercept them to showcase your ‘jealous’ persona.”

Upon hearing this, Zhou Wanyan felt as if the strength had been drained from her. Her voice was thin as a thread. “That’s… quite a lot of traits.”

However, these traits actually suited her true personality rather well.

Seeing this, Luo Yuening hesitated, wondering if she was asking too much. “Yanyan, actually…”

“I can do it!” Zhou Wanyan stood up, her voice firm. “I will keep my persona in mind at all times during the show. Don’t worry, Sister Li, I can do it.”

At those words, Luo Yuening and Li Wen exchanged a look. Luo Yuening then looked at Zhou Wanyan with a hint of concern. She thought silently: I haven’t driven Yanyan crazy, have I?

Zhou Wanyan quietly lowered her head, her black hair falling over her chest. When living under someone else’s roof, one must bow their head, she reminded herself. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you. She used these two proverbs as a constant warning to herself.

Luo Yuening’s voice carried a faint chill, the ending note rising with an alluring quality. “Yanyan, let’s start today then. Get familiar with your persona in advance, otherwise, I’m afraid you’ll forget it when we start filming the day after tomorrow. Consider this a rehearsal.”

“What do you think?”

Zhou Wanyan forced a smile. “I think it’s a great idea.”

With her goal achieved, Luo Yuening couldn’t hide her joy; even her brows were tinged with delight. “Then let’s play a game today.”

Zhou Wanyan asked, “What game?”

Luo Yuening replied, “A game that can quickly make up for the six years we’ve missed in each other’s lives. Do you dare to play?”

Zhou Wanyan tucked her long hair back, revealing the shimmering diamond stud on her earlobe. She smiled gracefully. “There isn’t a game I don’t dare to play.”

A flash of triumph crossed Luo Yuening’s eyes.

Zixi No. 1.

Night fell. In the unlit room, only the warm yellow glow of candlelight flickered on the long table, reflecting off exquisite crystal goblets and silver cutlery. Steaks were beautifully plated. The goblets were empty, and there was no sign of red wine on the table.

Zhou Wanyan remarked, “This feels a bit like a candlelight dinner.”

Luo Yuening tilted her head slightly, her burgundy curls sliding down to reveal her snowy-white neck—a subtle, flirtatious move. “What if I said this is a candlelight dinner?”

Zhou Wanyan leaned back slowly. “Stop joking. What game are you actually playing?”

Luo Yuening pulled back her smile and reached down. A bottle of elegantly packaged 50-year-aged Moutai appeared on the table.

“50-year-aged Moutai. Well? Do you dare to drink it?”

Zhou Wanyan remained calm and composed. “Why wouldn’t I dare?”

Soon, a scene unfolded at the long table: Moutai was being poured into the wine glasses, the bubbles from the pour yet to dissipate. The rich aroma grew more intense, wafting into their nostrils. As the first sip went down, a wave of heat instantly rose to Zhou Wanyan’s face. Whenever she touched alcohol, no matter how little, a flush would appear on her cheeks.

Luo Yuening set down her glass, a faint smile playing on her lips. “Each person asks one question, and the other must answer truthfully. If you can’t answer, you have to drink a glass as punishment.”

Zhou Wanyan readily agreed. “Fine. You go first.”

The candlelight highlighted Luo Yuening’s exquisite features. Her originally cold face was granted a mesmerizing allure by the warm yellow light; every movement was captivating.

“Six years is enough time to change a person. Zhou Wanyan, in these six blank years, I don’t know how much of my understanding of you is left. So…”

“In these six years, have you ever gone to the rice noodle shop at the entrance of Haicheng No. 1 High School?”

There was a shop called Haiyuan Rice Noodles at the entrance of their high school. It was a place they frequented after school, and it held beautiful memories unique to them. Luo Yuening couldn’t bring herself to ask directly, so she phrased her curiosity this way.

The question plunged Zhou Wanyan into a brief silence. Her heartbeat became erratic.

“I have.”

Every time she went, her high school memories of Luo Yuening would play over in her mind. Along with them came the memory of Luo Yuening’s sudden distaste for her during university. Her confusion had deepened over time, eventually accumulating in the depths of her heart, hidden away and swallowed in silence.

Luo Yuening’s heart raced. She hurried to ask the next question, “And were you always alone?”

Zhou Wanyan stopped her. “That’s already the second question. I refuse to answer. It’s my turn to ask.”

Having received the answer she wanted, the tension in Luo Yuening’s brow slowly smoothed out.

Zhou Wanyan asked, “In these six years, what do you consider your happiest moment?”

Luo Yuening’s first thought was—the news that Zhou Wanyan and Yan Jiuqing broke up. Of course, she couldn’t say that out loud; she could only keep it to herself.

Instead, she said something contrary to her heart: “You joining my company.”

Zhou Wanyan blurted out instinctively, “Why?”

Luo Yuening squinted her eyes slightly and smiled, her voice soft in the air. “That’s the second question. I refuse to answer~”

Finding her own words thrown back at her, Zhou Wanyan shook her head, her eyes full of tenderness as she sighed. “Fine. Your turn.”

Luo Yuening asked, “Have you ever taken anyone else there?”

Zhou Wanyan replied, “No. I only ever went by myself. What about you? Why is my joining your company your happiest moment?” Was she unhappy throughout those six years? Zhou Wanyan held back the last part. Their current relationship wasn’t stable enough to support such a question.

Luo Yuening had hated her, distanced herself, and deleted her contact info without any explanation. A flood of questions rushed in. Perhaps fueled by the alcohol, Zhou Wanyan’s desire to speak her mind grew heavier. Why was Luo Yuening saying things now that made her mistakenly think she wanted to reconcile?

Luo Yuening’s eyes flickered. Instinctively, she chose to evade the question. Following the rules, she drained her glass, and a blush instantly covered her cheeks.

Zhou Wanyan didn’t understand. Why let her heart soar only to let it crash? She picked up the bottle and drank half of it in one go. Panting slightly, she spoke the words buried deep in her heart, numbed by the alcohol.

“Luo Yuening, why?”

“Why do you say things that make me misunderstand, yet offer no explanation? Do you know how I felt when I heard you say that just now? I thought… maybe Luo Yuening wants to make up with me. But then, you choose to escape.”

“Six years ago, I wondered what I had done wrong to make you suddenly delete me for no reason. Do you know how it felt to send you a message only to see nothing but red exclamation marks? I even went to your house like a fool to find you, only to hear you say you hated me and didn’t want to be my friend. I remember your voice perfectly; I couldn’t have misheard it. I couldn’t find a reason to tell myself I was wrong.”

“Luo Yuening, you said I was your best friend. Why did you unilaterally end this friendship without even giving me a reason why you hated me?”

“And now? You helped me get away from Yan Jiuqing, helped me pay the breach of contract fee, helped me escape the industry blacklist, and took care of me when I was drunk. How do you explain all of that? Don’t tell me there’s no reason, or that you’re just being charitable to an old friend… Do you really not want to reconcile with me?”

Zhou Wanyan put heavy emphasis on the word “friend.”

“Luo Yuening, why did you unilaterally break our friendship back then?”

By now, Luo Yuening’s eyes were already red from Zhou Wanyan’s questioning. She bit her lower lip, and tears welled up uncontrollably, sliding down her fair cheeks. Her eyes were full of grievance.

“What right do you have to question me?”

Wasn’t it because of you? You clearly saw my love letter, yet you didn’t show any reaction at all.

Doesn’t that just tell me you don’t like me?

Back then, she had only been angry at Zhou Wanyan’s lack of response. Those words she said were just spoken in anger, and she had no idea that Zhou Wanyan had ever come to look for her. In her world, after that rainy day, Zhou Wanyan and Yan Jiuqing became the most envied couple in school, and she had lost Zhou Wanyan completely.

“Where is the love letter I wrote you? You didn’t give me a single word after reading it. Don’t you think my heart hurt, too?”

“I only deleted you because I wanted you to come ask me like you used to. To coax me. I didn’t know you had come to my house; I had no idea you were there. What you heard was just me talking out of anger.”

The words “love letter” exploded in Zhou Wanyan’s mind, scattering all her thoughts. She stood up, walked over to Luo Yuening, and slowly crouched down. She tilted her head up, her gaze falling on Luo Yuening’s tear-stained face. That cold, elegant face looked even more pitiful in the candlelight, like a plum blossom trembling in the frost.

In an instant, the resentment in Zhou Wanyan’s heart vanished entirely. She truly hadn’t known about the letter.

She spoke, her soft voice slightly raspy, “Luo Yuening, I never received that love letter. I didn’t know how you felt about me back then.”

Zhou Wanyan’s head was a mess, her heart a tangle of emotions. She had never imagined that Luo Yuening liked her. As it turned out, they had both lost that mutual affection in the torrent of time. Her chest felt incredibly tight, then began to ache, a stinging pain that stimulated her nerves.

Luo Yuening’s lips parted slightly, her pupils shrinking as tears continued to fall. Her first thought was that the six years she and Zhou Wanyan had missed were one giant, cruel joke. Her love letter had never even reached Zhou Wanyan’s hands. The reason why perhaps only the person who stole the letter knew.

Luo Yuening hated that person to death.

“Then, now that you know my feelings from back then, what are you going to do?”

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