My Youth Began With Him

“Don’t say that, it’s not your fault. Even the most careful of celebrities are stalked and photographed by paparazzi, and there’s really nowhere you can hide. Right now, we need to talk about a remedy to this situation. Mian and I came up with two solutions, and you can make the choice.” Su Yu then told Ni Yang what he and Huo Mian talked about that afternoon.

After hearing his options, Ni Yang answered without thinking, “President Su, I want to go public.”

“No, you can’t do that, it’ll affect your career! I can’t allow it… President Su, you can’t let him go public, tell your PR team to issue a statement saying that I was the one using Ni Yang for clout. I don’t want to ruin his career.” Chen Jie was so mortified that her face turned white; she knew she would die of regret if Ni Yang threw away his future for her.

“No, I can’t let you take all that pressure. Plus, we’re dating… I’ve been wanting to go public for a while now, and I have had enough of sneaking around… This is for the better, we’re getting married anyway, so it’s best to go public,” Ni Yang said, his grip around Chen Jie’s hand tightening.

Chen Jie, however, kept shaking her head in disagreement as tears circled in her eyes. She felt desperate. “Mian, talk to him, he can’t do this for me…”

Huo Mian completely understood that Ni Yang was thinking in Chen Jie’s shoes, and vice versa. Therefore, she consoled her, “Jie, don’t be nervous. Ni Yang’s a grown man, and it’s not like you guys can keep this underground forever. If you’re photographed again after you guys deny that you are dating, then he’ll lose his reputation. So, I think it’s a good idea for you guys to go public… It means you’re more important than his career. You should be happy that someone loves you this much.”

“I get that, but still, I…” Chen Jie said as she choked back her tears.

“Come on, Jie, didn’t you hear what Mian said? It’s really okay, right now money and fame isn’t the most important thing in my life. Even if I stopped being a celebrity altogether, I’d still have enough money to spend until I die… So what are you so worried about?” Ni Yang lifted a finger; then, he gently and lovingly stroked Chen Jie on the tip of her nose.

“But I don’t want to weigh you down…” Chen Jie sobbed as she leaned against Ni Yang’s shoulder.

“Idiot, you’re not weighing me down… do you know how happy I’ve been since I met you? I feel like the entire world warmed up…” To Ni Yang, the most important thing was Chen Jie’s happiness. Therefore, after the scandal broke out, he even considered retiring, if it meant that Chen Jie didn’t have to face all the blame on her own.

“So, you plan on going public?” Su Yu asked again to make sure.

“President Su, I’m sorry for being so selfish, and I know this might negatively impact the company’s profit… but I can’t let Jie take all the blame after all that she had been through with me. I can’t even go to the movies with her like normal people, we have to wait until everyone goes in before we do, and everyone leaves until we leave. She can’t upload photos onto WeChat and comment on my Weibo because she’s afraid of others finding out. This is not the kind of relationship she deserves. She’s the woman I want to be with, the woman I want to marry. I was actually going to propose to her during vacation this year, so this scandal is a good thing. We’ll just take this opportunity and go public with everything.”

Ni Yang’s apology was extremely sincere because he knew he was being stubborn and selfish. But from his attitude Su Yu and Huo Mian knew that he was determined to go public – right now, nothing was as important as Chen Jie.

“Ni Yang, how can you be this stubborn? You’ve worked so hard to get to where you are, you can’t throw all this away for me…”

“I don’t care, these things are nothing, as long as I’m with you.” Ni Yang gently smoothed out Chen Jie’s bangs.

“So, you guys are here to flaunt your love and make the only single person in the room feel bad, right?” Su Yu suddenly said.

Upon hearing this, Huo Mian couldn’t help but laugh out loud.