In that very moment, she overheard his conversation with Fatty and realized that he truly was regretful and ashamed for that night.
He even missed their younger years together as well as the time they missed out on.
So he was serious when he apologized to her that night. On the night of her birthday, when he suggested that they go back to how things were in the past, he was being serious too.
It felt like something crashed softly into her heart, creating ripples upon ripples in her body, which had no way of calming down.
The two people around the corner didn't say anything further. Ji Yi vaguely heard the flick of a lighter as someone lit a cigarette.
She took two deep breaths, trying to calm her nerves but to no avail.
Her heart raced faster, and the waves in her body grew more violent. Her leg started to tremble as she took a step back and leaned against the wall. She stared at the lights on the opposite side of the wall, and memories of every little thing that happened between them flashed across her mind…
She felt like there was a rubber band around her heart being pulled at each end.
Forgive, don't forgive, don't forgive, forgive… It repeated until eventually, her gaze became vacant and hesitant.
After who knew how much time had passed, Ji Yi heard the faint sound of Fatty's voice. "Chen Ge, it's getting late. I should head back now. It's probably bad to leave Ji Yi alone in the room by herself…"
She twitched her brows then heard He Jichen mumble, "Mhm."
Then there were sounds of footsteps.
With her back against the wall, Ji Yi suddenly snapped out of her daze.
If they bumped into her here, wouldn't they know she'd been eavesdropping?
The next second, Ji Yi straightened up and bolted back to the room.
As she sat back in her seat, Ji Yi was afraid He Jichen and Fatty would notice something amiss, so she pulled out her phone in hurry. She randomly opened Weibo and stared at her phone screen, pretending to be deeply invested in what she was reading.
She hadn't taken a single word in when the door behind her was pushed open. One after the other, He Jichen and Fatty walked in.
Ji Yi's back tensed up for a moment as she pretended to be captivated by her phone, not noticing that the two of them had returned. She stared at the phone screen and steadied her haggard breaths from all the running she just did.
Deep down, she was trying to keep it together. Until she was certain she wouldn't expose anything odd about her, she acted as though she didn't realize that they'd returned. Finally, she turned her head suspiciously and stared at the two of them. "Heyyyy, you guys are back?"
It was unclear if it was because Fatty said too much earlier, but there seemed to be a faint hint of sorrow in He Jichen's eyes.
She caught just a glimpse of it on his normally emotionless face, but it was enough to make Ji Yi think back to what she secretly overheard. Her heart suddenly skipped a beat, and her gaze hurriedly darted over to the view of West Lake outside the window. She said, "The food's cold now. Are you guys hungry? Do you guys want to order anything else?"
He Jichen didn't say anything. He pulled out a chair and sat down.
"Nah," replied Fatty.
Ji Yi let out an "oh!" Since she had too many things on her mind, Ji Yi didn't say anything else.
Thankfully, the ever-talkative Fatty was there, so the atmosphere in the room wasn't awkward.