The most beautiful space

4. My ex-boyfriend is such a melodramatic character...

When Su Tong went to the airport the next day, lightly dressed, she couldn't help but sigh that although her space was a bit of a pain, it was still very useful at times.

Shanghai is too bustling and noisy. Su Tong has worked here for five years, but she still doesn't feel a sense of belonging. When she arrived at the airport, Su Tong looked up at the gray sky in the overcast weather and suddenly felt incredibly relaxed. Over the past few years, she had thought a thousand times about quitting here and going home, but in the end, it was for such an unbelievable reason.

Amidst the admiring gazes of men and women, Su Tong, dressed in a sweatshirt, casual jeans, and white canvas shoes, with no makeup, felt as if the five years since graduating from university and starting work had never passed. She felt as relaxed as if she were still studying at Fudan University and preparing to go home for the holidays.

She arrived a little early and found a coffee shop inside the airport, intending to have a drink while waiting. After paying, when the cashier was giving her change, Su Tong turned around out of boredom to look at the passing travelers, and unexpectedly came across a familiar face.

Gu Liang'an, Su Tong's campus heartthrob boyfriend who was popular with all the girls in college, was walking out of the airport. He was wearing a well-tailored casual suit, and his slightly long, choppy hair from college had been cut into a neat short haircut. Beside him was a tall, beautiful blonde woman with blue eyes. The two walked quickly towards the airport while talking intimately with their heads close together. Then Gu Liang'an saw Su Tong and stopped in his tracks.

Su Tong is the type of person who can't be friends with someone after a breakup. When Gu Liang'an resolutely chose to go abroad, Su Tong cried bitterly and vowed never to speak to him again. However, Su Tong didn't have the option to choose whether or not to talk to him. Since Gu Liang'an went abroad when Su Tong was a junior in college, they haven't seen each other for almost six years. Although she still can't see him without any emotional reaction, the joy and sorrow of their college days have faded away.

Reuniting after a breakup is always a challenge.

Although everyone else was in pairs while she was all alone, they were still university alumni, so Su Tong couldn't pretend not to see her. She smiled faintly at Gu Liang'an and greeted him, "Hi, Gu Liang'an, long time no see."

Now the beautiful foreign girl also noticed Su Tong, her beautiful eyes widening slightly, and the two of them walked towards Su Tong.

Gu Liang'an had matured a lot, but when he smiled, his eyes still curved into crescent moons, and he still looked like the warm and innocent boy he used to be. He was pulling a small, pure black suitcase, and there were faint dark circles under his eyes. He stopped in front of Su Tong and said, "Tongtong, I didn't expect to run into you here. Would you mind buying us a drink?"

The foreign girl smiled brightly and warmly at Su Tong, and said in a very familiar manner, "Hey, beautiful!" Her Chinese seemed to be quite good.

Su Tong felt a little uncomfortable. Back in college, Gu Liang'an always seemed indifferent and unambitious. At that time, Su Tong fought almost every day to protect Gu Liang'an from unwanted suitors, but Gu Liang'an never cared. Even after so long apart, Gu Liang'an was still calling her by her nickname. Su Tong felt very awkward, but she smiled and showed them the tea and snack menu on the counter. "Well, we're all alumni, so I'm happy to oblige. But there's nothing particularly good here, so please order whatever you like."

The cashier, who had already given the change, cleverly put the money back into the cash register, intending to settle the bill together after Gu Liang'an and his companion had counted their items.

Inside the store, there were two male and one female uniformed waiters. Unlike the cashier, they didn't need to hide their presence. Instead, they openly stared at the three people, including the handsome man and beautiful woman Su Tong—especially the incredibly exquisite and beautiful Su Tong—and whispered among themselves.

After ordering, the waiter led the three of them to a four-person table. Gu Liang'an sat on one side with the foreign girl, while Su Tong sat diagonally opposite him. The food came quickly; Su Tong's Earl Grey tea arrived first, followed by Gu Liang'an's black coffee and the foreign girl's cappuccino.

Su Tong didn't think there was anything to talk about with them, so she took out her phone from her bag to play a little game to pass the time. Unexpectedly, the pretty foreign girl had already pulled out a DSLR camera and said with an excited smile, "Su, may I take a picture of you?"

"Huh!?" Su Tong was a little surprised. "Me?"

Although it seemed like she and this foreign girl were ex and current, Su Tong couldn't bring herself to dislike her because of her bright and cheerful smile. The girl looked at Su Tong with sparkling eyes and said in fluent but not-so-standard Chinese, "Yes, you are very pretty, so I want to take a picture of you."

"Come on, Serena," Gu Liang'an said affectionately, pressing Serena's hand holding the camera down. "Put your camera away. Don't let your professional instincts kick in every time you see someone good-looking. Tongtong is a bit shy."

Su Tong initially thought taking a picture wouldn't be a big deal, but since Gu Liang'an had already declined on her behalf, Su Tong nodded to Serena and said, "Yes, I'm sorry."

Serena reluctantly complained to Gu Liang'an in English at a fast pace, saying things like, "Gu, how could you do this!", "I finally met such a beautiful Eastern girl and you won't help me!", "Gu, you're so annoying!" before reluctantly putting away her camera.

Anyway, Su Tong's English was only so-so in college, so she pretended not to understand. Then she heard Gu Liang'an's clear voice say, "Tongtong, how have you been lately? I heard you're working as a human resources manager at a well-known company."

Unexpectedly, Gu Liang'an knew where she was making a living. Su Tong hadn't heard much about Gu Liang'an in the United States in recent years, but that wasn't surprising, since he always had a wider circle of friends than she did. Su Tong smiled and said, "Yes, that's right."

"I didn't know your company had such good benefits, giving us a holiday so early." Gu Liang'an said with a smile.

Su Tong had no choice but to tell the truth: "Oh, no, I resigned not long ago. If I were still at the company, I would have been on vacation for a long time."

After chatting for a few more minutes about trivial work-related topics, Gu Liang'an suddenly sighed and said, "Tongtong, it's been six years, and you're still so young, while I've grown old."

When he started saying this, Su Tong was completely flustered. But she knew herself that she was much prettier now than she was in her prime during college. However, Gu Liang'an's words made her feel very strange. They reminded her of college, when she was the one who admired this senior from the first year of high school. No matter what department or activity Gu Liang'an participated in at school, Su Tong would follow along regardless of her own interest. Back then, in order to join the photography club with him, Su Tong worked part-time for three months and asked her parents for some money, sparing no expense to buy a high-performance Nikon SLR camera.

Later, on Valentine's Day, Gu Liang'an suddenly appeared downstairs at Su Tong's apartment and called her down. Su Tong was so happy she almost jumped off the sixth floor. He then simply confessed his feelings to her, asking if she would be with him. Su Tong didn't care about the lack of roses, candles, or balloons, nor did she care about any girl's modesty; she agreed without hesitation. The two were indeed very sweet together. Gu Liang'an would spend time with her whenever he had it. However, she never imagined that after three years of relationship, he would discard it like trash just to go abroad.

Now that Gu Liang'an was reminiscing about the past, Su Tong's first reaction was to look at Serena, since Serena was the one in charge now. Unexpectedly, Serena, who had just been angry with Gu Liang'an, was engrossed in her phone and completely ignored both of them.

Su Tong could only politely reply, "Hehe, I've been standing still all along, Gu Liang'an, you've matured so much. And you're still so handsome."

Then Su Tong heard her phone beep with a notification sound. Li Tian's profile picture with a cute photo of Xin Xin was flashing. Su Tong clicked on it and saw a few simple words that made a lot of sense. They were nothing like the words of that shrewish Li Tian.

She said, "I don't know why you've become so much more beautiful lately, but be careful, being too beautiful isn't always a good thing."

"Also, I know you've wanted to go back for a long time, so don't overthink it when you resign this time."

"Life is still your own, try to follow your heart and don't care what others say. Look at me and Lao Xiao, so many people didn't think we'd make it, but now we're doing better than anyone else."

"I'm rooting for you, sis!"

Su Tong immediately felt relieved. Yes, since she didn't want to reminisce about the past with Gu Liang'an, and damn it, they weren't really friends anymore anyway, why bother arguing with him? Su Tong quickly stood up and said to the couple opposite her, "You two enjoy your drinks. My flight is about to take off, so I'm leaving now!"

Then Gu Liang'an stood up and said, "Wait!", before Su Tong had already run out.

We're about to go home, why bother with these worries?

As the plane soared into the azure sky, a new chapter began in Su Tong's life.