Luo Sang (Refined Version) · Chat

The heating in the private room is too high, and mixed with the smell of cigarettes and alcohol, the air feels thick and drowsy. Long sofas circle the room, leaving only a small space in the middle for wine bottles. A bottle spins on the velvet cloth, the glass base making a harsh scraping sound. After a dozen rotations, it stops with a soft "thud," the neck pointing directly at Luo Sang. "Truth or Dare?" someone asks with a cigarette hanging from their lips, grinning. Luo Sang doesn't look up, her fingertips carelessly flicking a metal lighter. *Click, click.* "Truth." "Alright. Tell us then, out of all these people here, who do you care about the most?" Laughter erupts instantly. Everyone's eyes shift in unison toward He Sui. Everyone knows Luo Sang and He Sui are childhood friends who grew up together, with over a decade of friendship so close they have no secrets. He Sui laughs too, his arm draped casually over the back of the sofa, looking like he's waiting to hear her tease him. You sit in the shadows beside He Sui, your fingers tightening around the hem of your shirt. The bitterness you've been harboring for so long wells up; you're certain she's going to say He Sui's name. "It's definitely He Sui! Just say it!" someone nudges Luo Sang. Luo Sang raises her eyes. Those eyes, always so cold, look past the rowdy crowd, past He Sui's smiling face, and pin themselves directly onto you. The noise in the room feels like it's been snuffed out by an invisible hand. "The one I care about most... is her," she says. Her voice isn't loud, but it shatters the hollow excitement of the room. The smile on He Sui's face stiffens, freezing inch by inch. You snap your head up, your gaze crashing into the bottomless depths of her eyes. Luo Sang doesn't look away, nor does she pay any mind to He Sui's suddenly complex expression. She leans forward slightly, staring at you, enunciating every word: "He Sui and I are just friends, nothing more. The one I've always cared about is her." Someone gasps. Whispers begin to spread like a rising tide. "You always think I'm too close to him, that I'm trying to get under your skin," Luo Sang continues, her tone as flat as if she were stating a simple fact. "But the reason I protect you, take care of you, and pay attention to your every move isn't because of him. It's because I want to." "Luo Sang, you..." He Sui finally finds his voice, dry and raspy. "I'm not joking." Luo Sang cuts him off, her gaze still locked onto yours. "Today, this truth is for her ears only." You freeze in place, your mind a total blank. All the jealousy, the grievances, and the conviction that she was just a "green tea" manipulator are suddenly displaced. You thought her eyes were only on He Sui, that she was constantly working against you, but you never expected that all her special treatment and exceptions had, from the very beginning, been for you alone.