Would five years be enough?

"I was sitting near the front at the freshman welcome show that day."

Wang Xiaoliang finally found the words.

"I wasn't supposed to sit there, but I'd done some calligraphy for a teacher advising the student council, so he arranged a seat for me in the second row at the last minute."

"That was the first time I saw you."

"You were wearing a white dress, standing in the middle of the stage. You were so poised and natural as you hosted, and your voice was beautiful, clear and strong, yet gentle."

"I remember thinking, how could a girl this beautiful exist?"

"At the end of the show, you sang a song called 'Father.'"

"You said that now that we were in college, far from home, it was even more important to remember everything our parents had done to raise us."

"As you sang, you started crying."

"In that moment, your own singing brought you to tears, and my heart ached for you."

"I fell for you that day."

"Then one weekend, my roommates tricked me into going to the little park behind campus. It was April Fools' Day."

"I saw you there again."

"You were sitting on a bench by the lake, quietly reading. The sunlight fell over you, and you looked so beautiful."

"I didn't dare go over and bother you. All I could do was watch you from a distance and admire you."

"After that, I went to that park every weekend, and every weekend, I saw you."

"I'm an utterly ordinary person. There's nothing particularly outstanding about me, and my family's circumstances are average. I didn't think I was good enough for you. All I could do was keep my feelings hidden."

"Then, a few days ago, you suddenly came to me and asked me to pretend to be your boyfriend."

Wang Xiaoliang gave a self-mocking smile.

"I told myself that this might be the greatest kindness heaven would ever show me."

"Even if I could only be your boyfriend for a day, it would still give these four years of loving you in secret a perfect ending."

When he finished, silence fell again.

This time, it was Wei Zijin's turn to be stunned.

She never could have imagined that the secret she had guarded so carefully had an identical counterpart in his heart.

All along, they had been secretly loving each other in their own ways.

All along, they had been watching each other in the park every weekend.

What was this?

Were their hearts in sync?

Wei Zijin suddenly smiled. There was shock and emotion in that smile, but above all, a complicated bitterness she could not put into words.

"Today... I hadn't planned to tell you any of this."

Her voice was very soft, almost distant.

"Because right now, I don't want to be in a relationship."

"I never expected things to turn out like this."

Wang Xiaoliang's heart sank. The elation that had just soared to its peak was instantly doused with ice water.

She didn't want a relationship?

What did that mean?

"Xiaoliang, do you know?" Wei Zijin looked away from his face and into the darkness in the distance. "I need to make something of myself. Only then can I bring peace to my parents' souls in heaven."

"I used to think that as long as I excelled at school, earned the highest scholarships, and took part in every activity that could help me grow, I would be sure to have a bright future after graduation."

"I admit, those things have given me a lot of opportunities, including this internship at the television station."

"But once I actually got there, I realized nothing was the way I'd imagined."

A deep weariness seeped into her voice.

"It's not just full of talented people. The web of connections there is more tangled and complicated than I could ever have imagined. Creating a show of my own and letting everyone see what I can do is simply impossible."

"So I still have to fight. I have to work harder than everyone else and seize every possible opportunity."

"I really... don't have the time or the energy to think about anything else."

She paused there.

"Of course, I can't rule out finding a rich husband as a shortcut, either."

Wang Xiaoliang felt as though his blood had almost frozen.

A rich husband...

Those words drove into his heart like sharp nails.

He felt crushed, but even more than that, he could not accept it.

He understood what Wei Zijin meant.

This love they had only just confessed to each other, which had not even officially begun, was about to end in the very next moment.

He wanted to fight for it.

He could not just give up.

"Are you sure your parents in heaven want to see you working yourself to the bone, exhausted in body and mind?"

His voice trembled, but his reasoning was remarkably clear.

"Wouldn't they rather see you safe, healthy, and happy?"

Wei Zijin went still for a moment.

Wang Xiaoliang's words had clearly touched the most tender part of her heart.

She was silent for a moment, then turned back to look at him again.

"Are you sure you can make me happy?"

That single question left Wang Xiaoliang speechless.

Happy?

What happiness could he give her?

He was just a poor student who needed makeup exams to graduate, with only 1,500 yuan a month to live on.

Seeing his embarrassment as he struggled to answer, Wei Zijin smiled, a trace of poignant sadness and acceptance in her expression.

"See? You can't answer."

"Chen Xiaoying, Wang Fen, Li Lanxiang-in my eyes, their relationships are all naked exchanges of self-interest."

"Even though we're about to end, there's no self-interest mixed into what we have. In that respect, our feelings are pure."

"So we've already done better than they have."

With that, she stood.

Wang Xiaoliang instinctively stood with her, his heart feeling as though an invisible hand had clenched around it, hurting so badly he could not breathe.

Wei Zijin did not look at him again. Instead, she stepped forward and gently nestled into his arms.

Her body was soft, carrying a faint, sweet fragrance.

Wang Xiaoliang went rigid, not knowing what to do.

She rested her head against his chest and whispered close to his ear, in a voice only the two of them could hear.

"Goodbye, Wang Xiaoliang."

Then she lifted her head slightly, and something soft and warm brushed gently against his cheek.

The kiss was featherlight, over almost as soon as it began.

She turned and walked away without hesitation.

Every click of her high heels against the ground felt as though it landed on the most tender part of Wang Xiaoliang's heart.

"I can!"

Just as her retreating figure was about to disappear into the night, Wang Xiaoliang roared with every ounce of strength he had.

"Wei Zijin, I love you! I can make you happy! But you have to give me time!"

Wei Zijin stopped.

The night breeze lifted her long hair, and her voice drifted back to him, carrying something he could not quite read.

"Would five years be enough?"

Without waiting for Wang Xiaoliang to answer, she continued.

"But in another five years, I'll be old."

"Maybe... I'll already be married by then."

"I can't promise anything, either."