49. Fireworks

After all, they would be working together in the same office in the future, and she didn’t want things between herself and Li An to become so unpleasant.

Let this drink be a toast to a new colleague. “Let’s have one together, shall we?”

Li An only smiled, said nothing, raised his glass to clink with hers, and downed it in one gulp.

With this round of toasts, Wang Panpan was now officially part of the West Wing office.

The conversation soon drifted from one topic to another as drinks continued to flow.

“Sister Xuan, aren’t you drinking anymore?”

After seeing Chen Xuan switch to soft drinks after two bottles, Wang Panpan asked curiously.

Chen Xuan was in high spirits tonight, but she replied, “If I drink any more, I’ll get dizzy.” As she spoke, she instinctively glanced in Li An’s direction. But he wasn’t looking at her; he was discussing computer issues with Xu Hongxin.

By the time they were well fed and tipsy, it was past midnight, and the group dispersed.

Xu Hongxin and Wang Panpan shared a cab since they were headed the same way, while Ma Tao rode off on his electric scooter.

After seeing the three off, Li An hailed a cab. Once Chen Xuan got in, he shut the back door and took the front passenger seat.

The ride home was tinged with awkward silence.

Their small talk made Chen Xuan feel uncomfortable.

But then she thought, Li An was always busy, and lately he had to prepare for a skills assessment, so he must be exhausted.

Once they got out of the car, she took the initiative to ask, “Has your piano practice been rough these past couple of days? I heard you seemed to be stuck on something?”

“Yeah,” he nodded, “just a minor issue. How about you? How’s it going?”

Seeing that Li An didn’t want to talk more, Chen Xuan didn’t press. “Not bad, I haven’t practiced the flute this much since my graduation concert, and I’m close to forgetting some pieces.”

As soon as they stepped out of the elevator, they heard a cat meowing from the crack beneath the door of 2501.

“Does he know you’re back, or is he just hungry?” Chen Xuan wondered.

“Probably just hungry.” Li An waved his hand as they stopped in front of his door. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, see you tomorrow~”

After entering her apartment, Chen Xuan washed up, got into bed, and checked her phone for the delivery status. The litter box she’d ordered for Ba Wan would arrive the day after tomorrow.

She felt happy.

The night passed uneventfully.

...

The next morning, Wang Panpan woke up early. The drinking from the night before left her head throbbing.

Maybe that wasn’t real liquor, she thought.

She drove to work, and when she stopped for a red light at the intersection by the east gate of Wanhe Residence, she instinctively looked toward the spot where she’d last said goodbye to Chen Xuan.

And suddenly, she felt terrible.

She actually saw Li An and Chen Xuan walking out of the community gate together, chatting and laughing...

All sorts of scenarios flashed through her mind like a film reel.

No way...

For the entire morning, Wang Panpan was distracted, mulling over what she had seen.

First, she was certain they weren’t a couple.

Second, the two of them had left together after drinking last night.

Lastly, they came out together from Chen Xuan’s community gate in the morning.

So what else could it be?

With her own biases, Wang Panpan immediately concluded that Chen Xuan was definitely not the type to be careless about such things, so it must have been Li An taking advantage of her.

The thought made her inexplicably angry. Scum would always be scum.

Any impression Li An had managed to change in her mind the night before vanished completely.

She didn’t know if Chen Xuan was aware of Li An’s past, but as a friend, she felt obliged to warn her.

Having made up her mind, she went to Chen Xuan’s classroom at noon and invited her to lunch. Chen Xuan didn’t think much of it, set down her water bottle, and left with Wang Panpan.

They went to the same rice noodle shop as last time.

After ordering and sitting down, it wasn’t long before the owner brought two steaming bowls of noodles.

Casually picking up her chopsticks, Wang Panpan said, “Sister Xuan, I saw you and Senior Li coming out of the community together on my way to work this morning.”

Chen Xuan explained, “We live in the same building. We ran into each other in the elevator this morning and just walked out together.”

“Huh?” Wang Panpan was stunned. “So that’s what happened.”

Chen Xuan said, “What else could it be?”

Wang Panpan immediately relaxed. “I was worried for nothing.”

She quickly reverted to her usual straightforward self and explained the whole story to Chen Xuan.

Afterward, she let out a deep sigh. “Anyway, it’s good there’s nothing between you two. Maybe Senior Li is very focused on his career, but when it comes to relationships, he’s really terrible.”

Chen Xuan exhaled softly. “We’re just colleagues. Let’s eat.”

She picked up her chopsticks, but the rice noodles that had tasted so fragrant last time now felt dry and tasteless in her mouth.

If not for Wang Panpan’s timely reminder, who knew how much emotion she would have invested before learning all this?

And if she found out then, what kind of scene would it have been?

She didn’t know.

Suddenly, a long-buried doubt in her heart was resolved—

Why had Li An become so distant ever since Wang Panpan joined the office?

Li An was avoiding her. He knew that with Wang Panpan’s arrival, she would eventually hear about his past.

Chen Xuan never imagined that the first person she had feelings for would actually be like this.

After hearing Li An’s story, Chen Xuan couldn’t quite describe what she felt.

A bit sad, a bit disappointed, and something else she couldn’t name.

Maybe it was regret.

She wasn’t naive—she could sense that Li An had developed some feelings for her.

She had thought it was a spark slowly ignited between two hearts.

But now it felt like nothing more than a fleeting firework.

A few dazzling moments, and that was all.

Let it be.

“Panpan, aren’t you afraid I’ll tell Li An you told me all this?”

On the way back to the office, Chen Xuan asked Wang Panpan.

Wang Panpan hadn’t even thought of that, but she was certain Chen Xuan wasn’t that kind of person.

Finally, Wang Panpan asked Chen Xuan if she’d ever had a boyfriend.

Chen Xuan said no. Wang Panpan believed her, but wasn’t satisfied, so she asked if Chen Xuan had ever liked someone.

“Of course I have.”

Before getting in the elevator, the two agreed to keep their lunchtime conversation a secret.

After exiting the elevator, Chen Xuan didn’t return to the office but went straight to her classroom.

Wang Panpan went back to the office and saw Li An slurping instant noodles at his desk, a strange emotion flashing through her.

“Senior Li, can you really live on instant noodles every day?”

“Why not?”

Li An put down his lunch box and wiped his mouth. He knew the two women had gone to lunch together and asked without thinking, “Where’s Ms. Chen?”

Wang Panpan lowered her head to organize some progress reports on her desk. “Sister Xuan went straight to practice her flute.”

Li An noticed her avoiding his gaze and after a moment, his eyes landed on the water cup on Chen Xuan’s desk.

Chen Xuan always took her water cup with her for practice.

After sitting for a while, he got up, took Chen Xuan’s cup, emptied it, refilled it with warm water, and left the office under Wang Panpan’s watchful gaze.

He walked to the door of Classroom 4. It was quiet inside.

After a moment’s hesitation, he knocked.

The door opened.

Chen Xuan’s eyes fell on the cup in Li An’s hand. “Thank you, just a moment.”

She took the cup and handed him a metronome.

Their eyes met.

In that instant, Li An understood.

Chen Xuan knew, and she had made her choice.

To end things before they even began—perhaps that was for the best.