Su Yue shook her head. "It's fine. I'm not tired."

Then she tore her gaze away from him and looked at her.

The past few days, they had been so worried about Jiao Chen and they weren't in the mood to do anything else, so they didn't interact at all.

This was the first time both of them were standing there with no one else around.

Su Yue felt extremely guilty as she looked at her.

Jiao Chen got hurt because of her.

"Jiao Chen will be heartbroken if he sees you like this," Jiao Chen's mother said, rubbing her eyes. "He had a soft spot for you."

"Auntie…" Su Yue's eyes turned red.

She didn't know what to say. Apologize? Or say words of comfort?

It seemed like she didn't have the right to.

All this was her fault. She was the one who got close to him because of her own selfish motives.

She only cared about herself and neglected his feelings.

Nothing should happen to Jiao Chen, or else… how was she going to live? How was she going to live in peace?

"I remember in November last year. Jiao Chen was different when he came back." Jiao Chen's mother grabbed Su Yue's hand and pulled her over to the chairs for a seat.

Then she continued, "He didn't have a typical childhood. He has been extremely strict with himself at a young age. He started aiming for scholarships when he started middle school and working part-time when he was in his third year of high school. By the time he entered university, he could fully support himself and often give the orphanage some allowance."

She was full of heartache and self-reproach as she recalled his growing-up years.

"When his older sister called home and told us that he was dating, I didn't believe it."

"I only did when she found your photo on the school forum and sent it to me."

She was smiling and her words insinuated that she liked Su Yue, or at least she had nothing bad to say about her.

"He smiled more during that period, and he often got me to bring braised pork to school. I guess it was for you."

Su Yue bowed her head in confirmation.

It was true. Jiao Chen brought lots of food for her: vegetables, braised pork, phoenix-tailed prawns and chicken wings.

And she had asked him which restaurant he had bought them from.

Jiao Chen's mother talked about their dating moments with such gentleness, could it be… because she didn't know about their break-up?

She remained silent, quietly listening to what Jiao Chen's mother had to say about him.

Jiao Chen's background was shockingly similar to hers.

The only difference was that he had his mother alongside him, loving him the whole time.

She continued. "After that incident, he became very careful in anything he did."

That incident? Su Yue looked at her in confusion and curiosity.

"When he was in fifth grade in elementary school, they called him a b*stard, and they called his mother…" She paused, smiling in self-ridicule. "They called me a mistress. He beat the group of kids up and they got hospitalized. We didn't have any backers so they expelled him. I ended up not eating and ignoring him for two days. From that day onward, he never picked a fight again."

She took a deep breath and said, "Actually, I didn't handle it properly back then. After it happened, I regretted every time I saw him holding everything in despite being ridiculed by all the other kids."

"I see," Su Yue mumbled, bowing her head.

'Unless someone is willing to bear the consequences on your behalf forever…'

She suddenly recalled Jiao Chen's ridiculous words and her heart clenched.