The Popular/Charismatic Beta Always Thinks They Are Universally Disliked - Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Do You Truly Not Love Me At All?

Wen Zhiyi arrived at the marriage dissolution registry on time.

He wore a casual dark blue backpack and was dressed, as always, in youthful, relaxed attire. He looked less like an adult applying for divorce and more like a high school student who happened to pass by.

Two years had passed. He stood once again at the place where he and Wei Yuzhi had applied for their marriage license. But this time, what he carried was no longer excitement, exhilaration, and apprehension, but a ring, an ID card, and a divorce agreement.

He believed he had arrived at the perfect time, neither late nor early, stepping across the 2:00 PM boundary to appear before Wei Yuzhi.

What slightly surprised Wen Zhiyi was that Wei Yuzhi, who had shown great reluctance and delay regarding the divorce from the very beginning, had arrived even earlier than him. He sat expressionlessly in his iconic silver car, single-handedly supporting his chin, gazing down at the palm of his outstretched hand.

Upon seeing Wen Zhiyi, Wei Yuzhi calmly closed his palm. Wen Zhiyi thus didn’t see what he was looking at, but it didn’t matter, as Little Wen lacked curiosity about it anyway.

He was no longer curious about what Wei Yuzhi was looking at, nor what Wei Yuzhi was thinking.

He politely and lightly tapped on the car window, signaling the person inside that they could enter together.

The car door slid open automatically and methodically to the sides. The tall, long-legged, handsome Omega slowly stepped out. He wore a pure black suit that wasn’t particularly suitable for summer, with the jacket casually draped over the back seat. He was left in a profoundly draping black silk shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, appearing relaxed yet aloof.

There was no discernible emotion on that cold, deep face.

At least, not from Wen Zhiyi’s perspective.

The moment Wei Yuzhi walked up to him, the fragmented sunlight filtering through the leaves was completely blocked. The S-class Omega, with broad, well-defined shoulders and a height reaching 1.9 meters, stood next to Little Wen, who was under 1.8 meters, like a large parasol.

Wen Zhiyi instinctively looked up at him and casually confirmed: “Did you bring everything you need?”

“…”

After a very brief silence, Wei Yuzhi let out a faint “En.”

The sound was so soft, quick, and fleeting that Wen Zhiyi wondered if he hadn’t spoken at all, and the short syllable he thought he caught was an illusion.

The walk into the registry office was only a few steps. He Xin, who accompanied Wei Yuzhi, sat in the car enjoying the cool air, watching the two figures who maintained a certain distance between them. Even the powerful CEO Wei had to personally walk through that door at this stage.

The tall Omega walking beside Wen Zhiyi suddenly stopped. He lowered his head slightly to look at his left elbow. Under the bright, magnificent sunshine, he couldn’t help but recall how Wen Zhiyi had linked his left arm and walked into this symbol of marriage two years ago.

What happened? How is it that his hand is empty now?

Why, why is he unwilling to link arms with him and continue walking?

His right hand, clutching the wedding ring, suddenly trembled. The ring Wen Zhiyi had personally placed on his ring finger two years ago felt so heavy now—so heavy that he had to admit he never had the strength to take it, nor had he made sufficient preparation or effort to take it.

The thing Wen Zhiyi gave him was so heavy. He only realized it now.

What was it like two years ago?

Just as they were about to walk into the marriage registry, Wen Zhiyi suddenly stopped, smiled slightly at him, and held out his arm, saying, “Shouldn’t you be linking arms with me to go in?”

He didn’t react immediately but looked back at Wen Zhiyi, who was smiling at him, and silently recorded the scene, never forgetting a single detail even now.

Wei Yuzhi naturally didn’t choose to link arms with Wen Zhiyi. Instead, he raised an eyebrow and placed the other’s arm into his own. Wen Zhiyi, whose hand was led into this gesture, looked up at him with a gentle smile, just like a spouse linking arms at a wedding.

The memory, like a bright flash of light reflecting off a knife blade, cut cleanly into his core with unpitying, ungentle force. In this indescribable pain, Wei Yuzhi finally remembered that Wen Zhiyi, who was now determined to divorce him, had once willingly walked into the marriage hall with him, and had promised before the priest to love him forever, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health.

Extreme regret, extreme pain, extreme remorse… These emotions, so weak that Wei Yuzhi found them despicable, poured down on him like an incessant heavy rain. He was the one walking through it without an umbrella.

Wen Zhiyi felt Wei Yuzhi’s pause and turned back in confusion. He didn’t notice that their current positions were exactly the same as two years ago, except that the person who turned back was him, not Wei Yuzhi.

He saw the Omega, whose pupils were a grayish-green, say to him:

“Do you want to link arms with me to go in?”

Wen Zhiyi was utterly startled and confused, abruptly gripping his backpack strap. He couldn’t understand the meaning of Wei Yuzhi’s question, nor the scorching, hot emotion in it that almost burned him. But he also remembered the scene from two years ago, when he linked arms with the other and stepped lightly into the marriage registry.

He remembered too.

But remembering was useless.

If memory alone could replace other things, then Wen Zhiyi would have long forgiven everyone who had hurt him.

He looked up, examining Wei Yuzhi’s face closely. With this gaze, he unexpectedly glimpsed emotions he had never seen before on that infinitely familiar face. He saw the loss and regret, pain and confusion that surfaced, wondering for the umpteenth time what the other person was thinking.

Why, why must he look so pained?

Why show reluctance and a desire to hold on?

But, was this truly reluctance and a desire to hold on?

Wen Zhiyi didn’t believe it.

He was unwilling and unable to believe, so he instinctively turned to the Hostility Value that had helped him see through countless people’s true intentions. Seeing the progress bar still full, he sighed in relief, unable to name the emotion.

He could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

It really wasn’t reluctance or a desire to hold on.

He felt he should have mocked Wei Yuzhi’s poor acting, ruthlessly rejected the other person, and walked into the divorce registry without stopping. But an undeniable, suffocatingly heavy sensation prevented him from speaking easily, from brushing it off effortlessly.

He felt he should be serious.

He felt the moment deserved his seriousness.

Thus, Wei Yuzhi heard Wen Zhiyi say gently, calmly, and frankly:

“No. Not now, not ever, and not then either.”

He stood rigidly in place, like someone suddenly deprived of hearing and comprehension, staring blankly at Wen Zhiyi.

What…?

It was as if the whole world suddenly plunged into darkness, as if the single full sun abruptly set. The indescribable and unspeakable pain prevented Wei Yuzhi from maintaining his surface indifference any longer. He urgently and eagerly looked down at Wen Zhiyi’s face, searching for pique or jest, but his near-collapse made him unable to do so calmly.

He found no trace of jest on Wen Zhiyi’s face.

He knew Wen Zhiyi was serious.

But he was still unwilling, still needing to ask the question whose answer he already knew. He could finally ask the question, but only when he could no longer get the answer he wanted:

“Do you truly not love me at all?”

Do you truly not love him at all?

Wen Zhiyi should have answered immediately without hesitation. On the day their marriage was about to end completely, he should not give this man any more hope.

He looked at the undisguised pain and anticipation on Wei Yuzhi’s face, thinking: So, Wei Yuzhi would also ask such a question. So, Wei Yuzhi also cared whether others loved him. So, Wei Yuzhi also needed other people’s love.

Wen Zhiyi didn’t answer the question directly but looked up at the cloudless clear sky above. This kind of good weather was common in the summer of Jing City, so it wasn’t precious or rare, and its loss wouldn’t be regretted.

Because everyone who ignored it knew they would encounter even better weather later.

But it would never reappear. Even if there was better weather, it would no longer be the sunlight of this very moment.

Even if a better person appeared in Wei Yuzhi’s life, it would no longer be the Wen Zhiyi of this very moment.

“I told you about ‘love’ and ‘like.’ I said it to you, and you said it to me, but neither of us ever believed it,” Wen Zhiyi slowly unclenched his hand, looking up at Wei Yuzhi’s shocked and pained eyes with a calmness that bordered on gentleness. “It took me a long time to accept this fact. You shouldn’t take longer than me, right?”

Until today, they hadn’t had a calm conversation like this for a long time. Wei Yuzhi was stung by the return of Chen Que and Gu Yansheng, so he couldn’t speak to Wen Zhiyi rationally. And Wen Zhiyi was tired of Wei Yuzhi’s stubborn and dominant refusal to back down or compromise.

As Wen Zhiyi said, he was indeed a person with a very good temper, so when Wei Yuzhi could speak properly, he could also communicate calmly.

“Regarding your question, I suppose, yes, that is indeed the case.”

“But I still—”

“No ‘buts.'” Wen Zhiyi rarely showed such a forceful demeanor. He looked Wei Yuzhi squarely in the eye, interrupting him seriously and absolutely non-negotiably. “The word you were about to say should not appear again.”

“Fine, I won’t say it.” Wei Yuzhi decisively chose to concede. He no longer attempted to utter that word but tried another route. “But I need to know why you don’t believe me—”

“Because I don’t have a single memory of you compromising,” Wen Zhiyi answered just as readily. He said softly, “Truly, not a single one.”

And he believed that there was probably no person in the world who, upon seeing their lover disappointed, sad, or heartbroken, would still refuse to yield.

In all the arguments and disagreements he could recall, Wei Yuzhi had never once compromised.

That statement seemed inaccurate, as just moments ago, the other person had chosen to back down and not say that particular word.

“I can change.”

The sentence was forced out, as if squeezed little by little from his core. In truth, until this moment, Wei Yuzhi had never thought he would say such a thing. He certainly wasn’t planning to divorce Wen Zhiyi obediently. In his original plan, he should have used all sorts of means to make Wen Zhiyi actively return to him, to make Wen Zhiyi understand that he was the only one in the world who treated him best.

Isn’t there a thirty-day cooling-off period for divorce?

Wei Yuzhi didn’t believe he would be so incompetent as to be unable to change Wen Zhiyi’s mind in a whole thirty days.

Therefore, the divorce registration now was merely a temporary compromise. He would ultimately be able to sustain this marriage.

That was his original assumption.

But, just as a person cannot predict how many shooting stars they will see in their lifetime, Wei Yuzhi had not anticipated that, even with a temporary compromise, he would be unable to calmly watch Wen Zhiyi let go of his hand.

He had become dependent on this Beta to such an extent.

“I can change.” Before Wei Yuzhi himself could fully process it, his voice, trembling slightly at the end due to its urgency, had already betrayed his emotions. He could no longer maintain his arrogance and indifference, the refusal to back down no matter what, desperately throwing out all the chips he could offer at this moment.

“Everything you hate, everything you dislike, everything you don’t believe—I will change it completely. It doesn’t matter if you love me or not, as long as I still love you—”

He eagerly reached out to grab Wen Zhiyi’s arm, like a drowning man finally grasping the last piece of driftwood within reach, mistakenly believing he had seized the core reason for the other person to stay reassured.

Wen Zhiyi did not dodge Wei Yuzhi’s outstretched hand.

He looked at the other person’s trembling arm and the no-longer-indifferent eyes, suddenly recalling a conversation he had with a therapist a long, long time ago.

At that time, Little Wen was ordered by Wen Zhijie to see a psychologist because of prolonged insomnia, and it was this very conversation that convinced Little Wen that the doctor was absolutely unprofessional.

“If you are lucky, people will love you in the way they know how; only if you are very lucky will people’s way of loving you be exactly what you hope for.”

“What if it’s not what I hope for?”

“I think you should be content. To be loved is already very fortunate.”

You should be content.

But Wen Zhiyi simply couldn’t.

He looked Wei Yuzhi in the eye, frankly and completely exposed, and then told him: “It’s not enough.”

To be merely loved was far from sufficient.