Chapter 37.2 - Swarovski (2)
“He gave it to me—Swarovski. Pretty, right? But one of the wings has a tiny chip, see? The amazing part isn’t just that he gave me a swan. The crazy part is that he and my dad gave me the exact same one for my birthday! Hahaha, tell me, should I wear the one from my dad or the one from him? Honestly, even though not everything’s perfect, life still feels so happy, don’t you think?”
Luo Zhi felt a moment of disorientation, looking at Ye Zhanyan’s radiant smile beside her, the sparkle of tears still in her eyes. She smiled too and said, “Yeah, be happy. Your parents gave you a name like that so you’d always shine.”
Ye Zhanyan suddenly turned to look at her, slowly, but stopped smiling. Her eyes stared into Luo Zhi’s as if trying to peer into her soul—direct and intense.
Luo Zhi froze, but she didn’t look away. She met her gaze calmly, without flinching, without asking why.
“Ye Zhanyan, hurry up! We’re all waiting for you!”
“You’re really something,” Ye Zhanyan said under her breath—so softly it was barely audible. Yet Luo Zhi still heard it, as if it were a hallucination.
Then she was called away, back to drinking. Luo Zhi was struck by the odd fact that in every conversation, just when things get too deep, someone always comes in to interrupt.
That’s why the world is never short of stories, each one more dramatic than the last, always keeping the stage lively.
She realized her hands and feet were icy cold.
That became her final impression of Ye Zhanyan—she never understood why she had looked at her that way. Maybe it would remain a lifelong mystery.
When Luo Zhi left the reunion, she wandered through twists and turns to the cosmetics and jewelry section on the first floor of Shuise Tower. Though she often came here, she rarely browsed. Her mom worked at the Chow Sang Sang jewelry counter here.
She went to look at the Swarovski section she’d never paid attention to before.
A sleek black display, dazzling crystals. But Luo Zhi knew—the true beauty wasn’t in the crystals, but in the spotlight behind them.
Just like how she didn’t envy Ye Zhanyan’s beauty or charisma. What she sighed over, even admired, was the support behind it all.
It was the spotlight that made the crystal sparkle. And there were reasons why Ye Zhanyan had grown into who she was.
Luo Zhi returned to find her mom.
“Where’d you go?” It was 4 p.m., and the mall was quiet. Her mom was in a great mood, affectionately stroking her daughter’s head, smiling warmly.
“Crystal shops and glassware stores.”
“You reminded me! The mall’s doing a promotion—discounts and cashback. There’s a crystal shop and a jade shop, I know the girls there. They might give you a better deal. Want a birthday gift? Gaokao’s over and I haven’t bought you anything.”
“It’s okay. I don’t want anything.” She smiled.
After starting college, Sheng Huainan had quietly faded into her heart, like he’d been forgotten. Even when she heard he’d broken up with Ye Zhanyan, she hadn’t stirred at all.
She thought she was doing well. At least she thought so. But why did it feel like she was so easily shaken?
Sheng Huainan and some student council seniors pushed open the door of a barbecue shop, chatting as they walked back toward campus.
Suddenly, he saw a girl in a white sweater. Her tall, slender figure in the wind looked so familiar.
He told them, “You go ahead. I just remembered I should grab more wings for the dorm.”
He walked closer. The girl was standing still, looking up at Chiba Tower. The spotlight from above fell across her face, outlining her features and revealing two bright trails of tears.
Sheng Huainan looked up too, but all he saw was a mess of camera and makeup ads.
Luo Zhi, dazed, walked down a dim path on campus. Suddenly, she heard someone step on a dry branch behind her.
She didn’t panic. Instead, she calmly walked a few more steps, then suddenly started to run. After some distance, she turned around—and the figure under the streetlamp
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