I racked my brain, trying to figure out where I had seen him before, but I just couldn’t place him. All I could be certain of was that the last time I saw him, he must have looked quite different. Meanwhile, I noticed that he was studying me with the same inquisitive gaze.
“Let me introduce you! This is the most promising trader at 2882. He’s already made his umpteenth fortune through his stellar deals! Everyone calls him the ‘Rich and Handsome of 2882.’” Ke Fei beamed as soon as the “dream guy” entered the room, throwing her arm warmly around my shoulders to make introductions. “And this beautiful lady is my colleague from 2498. Gorgeous, right? She recently broke up—fresh and available!”
Sometimes, I really questioned what field Ke Fei was truly in. How could she be so fluent in industry jargon and draw such precise analogies for love? If she ever left the tech industry, perhaps she should sell real estate under 9940.
“Hi, I’m Chu Ke Huan,” he said.
Chu. Ke. Huan. Those three words dropped into my mind like three massive boulders: Thud. Thud. Thud. My eyes snapped back to his face. That’s right—this was the Chu Ke Huan I knew. If I wasn’t mistaken, just last month, I’d heard about him from one of my grad school classmates. In this moment, every piece of information I had about him was racing through my mind.
“What’s your name? Have we met before?”
“I need to use the restroom,” I said. The flood of thoughts was overwhelming, making it almost impossible to think clearly. Struggling to keep my composure, I maintained the most graceful smile I could muster and pulled Ke Fei out of the room with me.
Once I was sure the door was shut, I forcefully turned Ke Fei to face me and issued a firm warning: “You cannot sleep with this man. He has a girlfriend!”
Ke Fei looked at me, baffled. “So what? That’s why you dragged me out here?”
“Don’t you understand? This guy went to the same school as me. He’s been in a relationship for over a decade. They’re still together. If you don’t believe me, I can pull up his Facebook profile right now and show you pictures of them together…”
I desperately tried to reason with her, my voice almost hoarse, but Ke Fei’s reaction was disturbingly calm. “So? Is his girlfriend your close friend?”
“No, I’m not that close to her. But they’re going to get married sooner or later.”
“Then it’s fine!” Ke Fei shrugged, her response growing more outrageous. “I’ll just be his last fling before marriage!”
“Stop joking! What do you mean, ‘last fling before marriage’?!” I was stunned. What was wrong with Ke Fei? What was wrong with the world? How could someone in such a stable relationship even attend mixers? Chu Ke Huan’s moral compass was clearly skewed, but Ke Fei—she actually wanted to push the boundaries of morality further?! “Ke Fei, no matter how amazing he seems, you can’t mess with someone like him!”
“Wei Wei, I’ve been meaning to tell you this for a while. One day, you’re going to marry Hao Yi. Don’t you want, before that day comes, to legally sleep with a man you truly desire—to put the perfect full stop on your single life?”
"Never!" I said firmly, my tone resolute. "Hao Yi is my one and only, and that’s something both of us have mutually decided. I know you enjoy playing around, and I respect your freedom to pursue happiness. But don’t impose your values on others—not everyone can accept that! Even if Chu Ke Huan is okay with it, that’s a flaw in his moral compass. But what about his girlfriend? Can she accept it?"
“You’re so certain because, other than your boyfriend, you’ve never met another man who could make your heart race so much that you’d be willing to throw everything else away,” Ke Fei said, her lips curving into a smile, though her sharp eyes bore into me as if she had seen right through my soul. “As your good friend, I actually hope you meet that kind of man before you get married. Otherwise, after the wedding, you’ll either do something even crazier or spend a long, regret-filled marriage wishing you had.”
Ke Fei’s words snapped every nerve in my body. I was seething. I took a deep breath, trying to steady myself as I glared at her. “You want me to do this, right? Fine. I’ll take Chu Ke Huan away right now!”
“You’ve got it wrong! You’re supposed to take the other guy!”
“I haven’t got it wrong. As long as I can stop you from ruining someone else’s happiness, I’ll do whatever it takes!” I shot back coldly. “Don’t forget, Chu Ke Huan was the one you originally wanted to introduce to me.”
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