Chapter 4 (1/2)

The youth twisted his head to look at her. After a few seconds, a strange smile formed on his lips.

On lowering his eyes, he caught a glimpse of the two loaves of bread Chen Nian was holding in her hands. When Chen Nian caught him staring at her bread, she waved the white paper bag containing the bread in front of his eyes, and asked, “Do you want some?”

The youth furrowed his brows, making no attempt to disguise the look of disdain on his face.

The white paper bag was extremely crumpled, and had a layer of oil and water on the interior of the bag. When Chen Nian noticed the shabbiness of the paper bag, her face gradually turned beet red. Embarra.s.sed, she retracted her outstretched hand, “It’s gone cold.” It was no longer nice to eat.

Having walked a few steps, the youth suddenly asked, “You’re eating bread for dinner?”

Chen Nian nodded her head.

After a few seconds, the youth asked, “Are you deaf?”

Realizing that the youth had failed to see her nod her head, Chen Nian squeaked out, “Yup.” As her reply had come out of nowhere, it was unclear whether she was answering his question about dinner, or his question about being deaf.

The youth slowed down and came to a stop, his brows furrowing in unhappiness. Chen Nian belatedly realized that the youth had been staring at her for some time, and raised her head to return his gaze. Unable to stare a response out of her, he couldn’t formulate an appropriate response and simply continued walking ahead.

Chen Nian didn’t bother to catch up with the youth before her, and trailed behind him slowly. By the time she reached the traffic junction, the youth was already halfway across the pedestrian crossing. As Chen Nian didn’t have to cross the road, she readied herself to turn around the corner and return home. Although she wanted to bid the youth farewell, she felt that there was no need to do so.

After all, there wouldn’t be any other interactions between the both of them in the future. It would be best if they simply parted ways here and now.

The youth slung his jacket over his shoulder. When he reached the midpoint of the pedestrian crossing, he turned back to look at her.

Chen Nian stood quietly at the edge of the curb, her posture upright and erect, as though she was a small tree sapling. Standing there, she gazed at him silently. Her skinny and frail frame was evident even under her large uniform, which billowed around her.

In the afterglow of the evening sky, the youth crinkled his eyes.

She pointed towards her left, indicating that her house was in that direction.

In response, the youth jabbed his thumb in the direction behind him, signaling to Chen Nian that she ought to continue trailing behind him.

Chen Nian’s hands slowly fell to her sides. She hugged her school jacket with both hands and simply gazed at him from afar, unmoving.

In the gentle glow of the evening sun, vehicles and pedestrians swarmed around them.

The youth didn’t bother waiting for Chen Nian’s response, and simply continued on his journey. When he reached the other end of the pedestrian crossing, he turned back to look at Chen Nian, only to discover that she was already in the midst of crossing the road.

He snorted to himself, the corners of his lips curling into a small smile. Sticking both his hands into his pockets, he continued walking forward. Before long, the youth reached the entrance of a small restaurant. Sitting himself down on a plastic chair at the outdoor dining area, the youth pulled out a cigarette and started smoking.

After some time, Chen Nian finally appeared before his eyes. She stood quietly at the side and looked at him.

He raised his eyes and returned her gaze. She had a small and pale face, and her hair was neatly tied into a ponytail. A few strands of hair had escaped her ponytail, and were s.h.i.+ning like gold in the glow of the setting sun.

To him, Chen Nian was like a snail – she was extremely slow in all that she did, regardless of whether it was walking, talking, or some other task that she was focused on. He could even visualize how she would gradually retract her antennae into her sh.e.l.l whenever strangers gave her a slight poke.

After a few seconds had pa.s.sed, he waved his hand at her and indicated for her to take a seat.

“What do you want to eat?”

“Any……anything’s fine.”

“Order the dishes.”

Chen Nian shook her head, and pushed the menu back to the youth. The ‘menu’ was, in actuality, simply an oily piece of laminated paper. The youth glanced at the menu, and casually ordered three dishes.

Chen Nian lowered her head and stared at the plastic table cover and the oil stains on it, the honking of congested vehicles and chatter of the crowd surrounding her.

The sun was about to disappear. The final, remnant glow of the evening sun shone on Chen Nian’s face, casting a reddish glow over her face. Chen Nian couldn’t open her eyes.

The youth placed his cigarette on the cheap disposable cup containing his tea. “Which Year are you in?”

Chen Nian lifted her eyelids. His face appeared fuzzy to her in the glow of the evening sun. In response to his question, Chen Nian didn’t say anything, and simply raised three fingers.

“Primary 3?” The youth asked, displaying a rare moment of playfulness.

Chen Nian knew that the youth had misinterpreted her signs on purpose. However, she still chose to play along, and slowly shook her head. “Year 3 of…….High School.”

“You have a very youthful appearance, like a little kid.” His eyes swept over Chen Nian, his piercing gaze seemingly able to look past her clothes. He commented drily, “You’re malnourished.”

Chen Nian felt a red hot wave of embarra.s.sment rus.h.i.+ng over her, as though it as a sudden rash that had unexpectedly broken out on her face. She curved her shoulders inwards even further.

Sensing her shame, the youth changed the topic, “Your graduation exams are nearing.”

Chen Nian nodded her head.

Having finished his cigarette, the youth threw the cigarette b.u.t.t into his cup of tea. He stared at her, “You don’t like to talk.”

“When I…….I talk, others……laugh.”

The youth looked at Chen Nian calmly whilst she formulated her sentence. When she completed her sentence, he responded with a single “Oh.”, without a single expression etched on his face.

After some time had pa.s.sed, he resumed questioning, “Why do they laugh at you? Is it because you’re a Little Stutterer?”

“……”

Chen Nian was never angry with the youth no matter how many times he referred to her as “Little Stutterer”. After all, she was still able to differentiate different types of tones.

When the dishes were served, the youth ordered a bottle of iced beer. Leaning towards Chen Nian, he offered, “Want some?” Chen Nian hurriedly shook her head. The youth didn’t insist on his offer. The two of them proceeded to eat their meal in silence, and when they finished, the youth fished out his wallet to pay for the meal.

Chen Nian wanted to suggest splitting the cost of the meal equally between the both of them. However, just as she opened her mouth, she realized that she didn’t know his name. “Uh……”

He turned his head to look at her. His eyes were extremely dark, and there were hints of harshness in his gaze. He raised his thick eyebrows, “You called?”

“What’s……what’s your…….your name?”

“You don’t know?” His piercing gaze pinned her once more.

Chen Nian was unable to comprehend why he a.s.sumed that she had known his name.

“My friends hollered my name before.” He stated coldly. “Twice.” Once when they were outside the walls of her High School, and once when they were on the street. However, Chen Nian failed to notice on both occasions.

The youth stared at her for a long period of time. He slowly raised himself from his seat, obstinately piercing Chen Nian with his stare all this while. Ultimately, however, he averted his gaze, a deep crease forming on his forehead. He kicked the chair and left.

Chen Nian tottered along behind him.

Their walk was spent in silence.

The youth swayed from side to side as he walked, whilst Chen Nian trailed behind him in an obedient fas.h.i.+on. Once in a while, the youth would intentionally turn back to glance at Chen Nian in a seemingly unconcerned fas.h.i.+on, so as to ensure that she was still following him.

As Chen Nian’s walking speed was terribly slow, the youth had to frequently wait for her. Once, he turned back and stared at her for a few seconds before spitting out his chewing gum and wrapping it in a plastic wrapper. With a flick of his wrist, the plastic wrapped chewing gum flew straight towards Chen Nian’s head. Stunned, Chen Nian froze on the spot as the plastic wrapper grazed her ear and ultimately fell into the rubbish bin right beside her with a loud ‘Dong’.

“……”