Difficult to Complete chapter 2

“You have two hours to pack your things and then get out of my house.” Gu Yan put away his phone, stood up, and looked down at Shen Qi.

At that moment, Shen Qi suddenly felt that Gu Yan had become a stranger, nothing like the person he had known for seven years.

The Gu Yan he knew was always gentle and considerate; how could he now have such a cruel expression and tone?

But Gu Yan continued to stab him in the heart: “Why are you looking at me like that? Weren’t you the one who wanted to break up? Now you got what you wanted, so get out!”

Gu Yan put on his coat, walked to the entrance, grabbed his car keys, changed his shoes, and then glanced back at Shen Qi with a cold and distant tone:

“Oh, by the way, can you even still get it up with women? Can you satisfy that Lingling?”

Shen Qi had been sitting at the dining table with his face in his hands, but when he heard this, his face instantly turned pale. He looked at Gu Yan in shock, but the latter just sneered, not waiting for an answer before pushing the door open and leaving.

They had just broken up. Gu Yan said harsh words, but his heart was actually in agony. The moment he closed the door, his eyes immediately reddened.

How could he not feel bad? He had pursued Shen Qi relentlessly back then, bringing him breakfast, roses, attending classes together, working part-time alongside him. It took a whole year before Shen Qi finally agreed to be his boyfriend.

Over the years, he had cherished and pampered Shen Qi like the apple of his eye, giving him everything he could.

But this love, which he thought was mutual, turned out to be a scam from the beginning—a one-man show. Shen Qi had been deceiving and playing him all along, and now, not wanting to continue, he just kicked him to the curb.

It really echoed that saying: a dog’s affection gets nothing in the end.

He had never said a harsh word to Shen Qi before, but tonight, he had stabbed him with verbal knives several times. Gu Yan didn’t know if Shen Qi was hurting, but he himself was already in unbearable pain.

Cutting someone you’ve loved for so many years out of your heart is like carving out a piece of flesh, but even though it hurts like hell, you can’t hold back. Because that flesh has gone bad, and if you keep it, you’ll rot along with it.

At a well-known gay bar on Bar Street, Gu Yan sat by the counter, having downed seven or eight shots of strong liquor in just half an hour. Zhang Xin, who had been called out by him, teased:

“Well, isn’t our Gu Ge the model boyfriend? Doesn’t smoke, doesn’t party, never goes out after 8 p.m. What’s going on tonight? Did you have a fight with your guy at home?”

The two had been friends since childhood, so they knew each other inside out. Before Gu Yan got together with Shen Qi, they often hung out together, going to bars, clubbing, doing extreme sports—activities Gu Yan enjoyed.

But ever since Shen Qi came into the picture, it was like Gu Yan had been cursed. He changed everything, constantly doting on his partner.

Shen Qi didn’t like clubbing or extreme sports like skydiving and surfing… In Gu Yan’s eyes, his partner was his whole world, the center of his life, and all else, including his friends, had to step aside.

Since then, Zhang Xin had hardly been able to successfully invite Gu Yan out. Even if Gu Yan did come out, he would definitely bring Shen Qi along, attending to him meticulously. What fun was left in that? They’d end up just eating hot pot and drinking orange juice.

“What are you blabbering about? Drink up!” Gu Yan was clearly already tipsy. After downing another shot, he hooked his arm around Zhang Xin’s neck and slurred, “From today onwards, I’m a free man again. Whatever activities there are, make sure you call me! Cheers!”

They had broken up, so why keep pretending to be the perfect, stay-at-home boyfriend? That would be foolish.

Zhang Xin could tell something was off with Gu Yan’s mood. When he heard this, he immediately guessed what had happened. He raised his glass, clinked it with Gu Yan’s, and probed carefully:

“You two… broke up?”

Gu Yan responded decisively: “Yes! Broke up! From now on, Shen Qi and I are done, bridges burned, roads separated, and neither of us will ever give a damn about the other!”

His glass was empty again, but Zhang Xin, seeing how much Gu Yan had already drunk, signaled the bartender to bring some low-alcohol beer. He opened a bottle for him, thinking that at this point, Gu Yan was too drunk to tell the difference.

“Drink! It’s on me!”

“Fine, fine, let’s drink! Tonight, I’ll drink until I drop, alright?”

That night, Gu Yan got dead drunk and was carried home by Zhang Xin and the designated driver. The next morning, he woke up with a splitting headache, instinctively reaching out for Shen Qi beside him. But his hand found nothing but air, and only then did he abruptly remember that they had broken up the night before.

It was Saturday. Gu Yan lay in bed for half an hour, then got up to brush his teeth and wash his face.

He opened the refrigerator to make himself breakfast, but the hangover still tormented him. His stomach churned, and his head throbbed, so he closed the fridge again, losing his appetite.

He wandered slowly around the apartment. Shen Qi had only taken his clothes and shoes, but it felt like half of the place was suddenly empty, cold, and unfamiliar.

One of the two suitcases, one black and one yellow, in the balcony storage cabinet was missing. Shen Qi had packed his things in the yellow suitcase.

Gu Yan grabbed a trash can and threw away the extra toothbrush, rinse cup, towel from the bathroom, magazines on the sofa that weren’t his, the extra set of dishes and cups in the kitchen… Everything that didn’t belong to him went into the bin. Passing through the living room, he saw the bright red roses on the dining table and tossed them out too.

Finally, he spent the entire afternoon cleaning the apartment. He found Shen Qi’s ties, socks, cufflinks—things he had misplaced and couldn’t find later—and of course, they all went into the trash.

Out of sight, out of mind. He wanted to remove everything that didn’t belong in this home, to make a fresh start.

When he loved, he loved with all his heart, and when it ended, it ended cleanly and with dignity. He wasn’t one to drag things out or cry over it.

…..

The next time they saw each other was half a month later, at a welcome party for a mutual friend.

His close friend, Tang Yan, was originally Shen Qi’s roommate. When Gu Yan was pursuing Shen Qi, he often bought off Tang Yan, ensuring that whenever Shen Qi got breakfast or a late-night snack, Tang Yan also got the same.

Later, as the two got closer, they often hung out together, and their relationship gradually became strong. Shen Qi even joked with Gu Yan before, saying:

“Are you sure it’s not Tang Yan you’re trying to pursue?”

After graduating from university, Tang Yan followed his family’s wishes and went abroad to further his studies. He completed both his master’s and doctoral degrees, and now that he had finally graduated and about to return to the country, the first people he contacted were Gu Yan and Shen Qi.

That day, Gu Yan was taking a nap when he received a message from Tang Yan:

“What’s going on, Gu Yan? I asked Shen Qi for the two of you to come over for a meal together, and he told me to contact you myself. Did you two have a fight?”

“That can’t be right. Given how you pamper Shen Qi like he’s your son, and spoil him like he’s a young master, how could you two possibly argue? Was he being unreasonable?”

“I’ve always said you should take it easy on him, don’t spoil him too much. But you didn’t listen, saying that you just love spoiling him and doting on him. See, didn’t I warn you?”

The only person Gu Yan had mentioned his breakup with was Zhang Xin when he got drunk that day, and he hadn’t told any other friends about it because there was no need. But since Tang Yan asked, he didn’t plan to hide it either: “We broke up.”

There was silence on the other end of the phone for quite a while, probably because Tang Yan was stunned by the news and didn’t know how to respond.

After a long pause, Gu Yan finally saw a message from Tang Yan: “Well, despite that… we’re still friends, right? Give me some face and come out for a meal?”

Gu Yan agreed with Tang Yan’s sentiment. After all, just because you break up doesn’t mean you have to replace all your friends, right? Things should just go on as usual. There was no need to avoid each other like it’s a big deal.

“Okay, I’ll be there.”

Only then did Tang Yan feel completely at ease, sending over a bunch of middle-aged memes, with screens full of “Cheers to our friendship,” “Long live friendship,” and “Ah, my dear friend…”

Gu Yan rubbed his temples hard, thinking that his judgment was really poor—he was blind in choosing a boyfriend and just as blind in choosing friends.

He wondered if it was too late to regret agreeing to that meal.