Chapter 8 Get Lost
At lunch with the group one day, Senior Sister leaned close.
“Who hired the door god for our lab? Shows up every day, more dedicated than the security guard.”
I was drinking water and choked. After coughing for half a minute, I finally stammered,
“It’s… my ex-boyfriend.”
Senior Sister tsked.
“Then I was wrong. Not a door god—an obsessive ghost that won’t leave.”
Zhou Chaoqing was still standing at the entrance.
His gaze locked straight on our table.
Wen Ci deliberately passed me a pair of chopsticks. Zhou Chaoqing frowned, lips tight, and started typing on his phone.
My phone pinged.
[I brought chopsticks. Don’t use his.]
I ignored it and took Wen Ci’s chopsticks.
Wen Ci stabbed them straight into the rice bowl.
“Can we call an exorcist? He’s ruining the lab’s feng shui.”
“I’m usually so careful and precise, yet lately my experiments keep failing. It has to be him jinxing me.”
He grew more and more aggrieved, then turned pleading eyes toward me.
“Senior Sister, I can bring you breakfast. I’m right here with you in the lab. We don’t need him hovering around.”
“Can you chase him away? Please?”
Looking at his puffed-up, wronged little face—I almost laughed.
But Zhou Chaoqing showing up every day really wasn’t good. Too many curious stares. It was starting to affect me too. I didn’t want to become the center of gossip.
After lunch, I walked to the lab entrance.
Before I could speak, Zhou Chaoqing started first.
“I’m sorry. I made you wait so long before. Back then I didn’t understand. I thought your waiting was just natural.”
He pressed his lips together, voice hoarse.
“Waiting… really doesn’t feel good. But because it’s you, I want to wait.”
Hearing his apology, I thought I would feel wronged or angry.
But I didn’t.
My heart was completely calm. Not even a ripple.
I sighed.
“Stop talking about waiting. You’re disturbing our experiments.”
“So can you please leave?”
He was silent for several seconds. He glanced at Wen Ci standing guard behind me, then at the busy figures inside the lab.
Finally he nodded, voice carrying reluctant defeat.
“Okay.”
“Then I’ll wait downstairs.”
I was stunned by his stubbornness.
“You couldn’t even find time to reply to my messages before. How are you suddenly so free now?”
He explained earnestly.
“Because I stay up all night finishing everything in my own lab. That way I can be here with you during the day.”
I was surprised he would do that. I couldn’t help asking,
“Why go this far?”
Zhou Chaoqing stared straight at me, expression solemn.
“Before, I treated the future plans as too important. I thought as long as I followed the steps everything would be fine.”
“But I forgot the most important thing is the person. I ignored how you felt every single day.”
“When I finally stopped and looked back, you were already gone.”
He sighed.
“Without you, no matter how perfect those plans were, what was the point?”
“So… can you give me one more chance? This time I swear I won’t ignore how you feel right now.”
I stood frozen. My throat tightened. Heat stung my eyes.
We really had planned so much together.
We browsed rental apps, planned to rent an apartment with a huge balcony after work.
I would fill it with tomato plants—I was good at growing them.
We wanted two cats: one orange-and-white, one calico.
That way we’d have two living alarm clocks waking us every morning.
We even planned the wedding, debated children’s names for hours, arguing over which sounded better.
Back then I curled in his arms and laughed, completely believing it would all happen.
But Zhou Chaoqing grew more and more obsessed with those future plans.
He barely cared about the present.
Later we started disagreeing about the future.
He wanted to apply for PhD programs abroad. I wanted to stay at our university.
At the time I didn’t have strong opinions about the future. I thought in love someone always had to compromise.
His plans sounded so dazzling, so I smiled and agreed.
But disappointment after disappointment made it clear.
His plans were built around what he wanted—not what I wanted.
I took a deep breath and forced the heat from my eyes.
“Zhou Chaoqing, I’m no longer in your plans.”
“I have my own plan now. I’m staying here for my PhD. I’m not going abroad with you.”
He froze.
Confusion slowly filled his eyes.
I would no longer follow his plans—so all his efforts were doomed to be pointless.
I sighed.
“Just go. Don’t come find me again.”