Chapter 12 (1/2)

Having locked the door of her home securely, Chen Nian walked to the stairwell – only to find Bei Ye patiently waiting for her to appear. The overnight rain had cleansed the dirt from the yard. The flowers were in full bloom, adding dashes of bright colors to the yard. Bei Ye was carefully selecting various flowers when Chen Nian approached him, so focused in his task that he failed to notice the sound of her approaching footsteps.

When Chen Nian squat beside him, Bei Ye had already plucked two flowers, curving and twisting them into a long and elaborate ear cuff. He helped her put on the ear cuffs, and commented, “It looks good on you.”

Chen Nian: “……”

Chen Nian touched the flowers on her ears. Although the flowers were mildly itchy, she didn’t take them off.

She was extremely careful when putting on her helmet.

The two youths rode on Bei Ye’s motorcycle, only stopping when they were one street away from the school compound.

“Let’s get off here.” Bei Ye suggested.

“Sure.” Chen Nian replied softly.

She knew that he didn’t want her friends to gossip about her when they saw her together with him.

Hopping off the motorcycle, she returned the helmet to him. He pa.s.sed her the bread and snacks which he had earlier purchased for her, meticulously instructing her, “You must finish all the food.”

“Okay.” Her voice was as soft as silk.

She peered into the bag of snacks, and inhaled the scent of the freshly baked bread. Bei Ye began to explain, “I got you a new flavour, red bean buns. – Do you like red bean?”

“I do.” Chen Nian nodded her head.

“Oh, and this.” Bei Ye retrieved a hair clip from his pocket. The hair clip had a rather simple design, and was light green in colour.

Slightly stunned, Chen Nian retrieved the hair clip from Bei Ye.

“You……” Bei Ye pointed to her fringe, “When you lower your head, your fringe always falls before your eyes.”

“Thank you.” Chen Nian felt her face growing hot, and lowered her head.

Bei Ye turned away, a small smile forming on his lips. When Chen Nian raised her head, she discovered Bei Ye’s small smile, and stared at him.

“What are you looking at?”

“Why are you……smiling?”

“Little stutterer, I always feel like laughing aloud every single time I hear you speak.”

The laughing that Bei Ye referred to was different from the laughing that Chen Nian referred to previously.

Flus.h.i.+ng, Chen Nian lowered her head once more. As she looked down, her attention was caught by the silver key that hung from her neck. Although she hadn’t found an occasion to use the key, she simply wanted to keep the key hung around her neck. He too, wanted her to keep the key hung around her neck.

Bei Ye stared at the key hanging from Chen Nian’s neck, his heart seemingly entangled by the string from which the key hung. Gently caressing the key with his hand, Bei Ye spoke up after some time, “Go on.”

Chen Nian walked a few steps before turning back to look at Bei Ye. With his hands in his pockets, Bei Ye quietly followed her from a distance (about five to six metres) away, with a calm expression on his face. His eyes seemed to possess a mysterious power that could calm and soothe all of Chen Nian’s fears and worries.

Taking a deep breath, Chen Nian began walking towards the school compound, knowing that Bei Ye would always be following her from behind.

When Chen Nian was 10 metres away from the school compound, she suddenly spotted Wei Cai. With a cigarette in hand, Wei Cai leaned against the walls of the school compound, surrounded by a bunch of female hooligans. When she saw Chen Nian, her lips formed into a nasty smirk, and she began to start towards Chen Nian. However, before she could even close the distance between her and Chen Nian, Wei Cai’s gaze s.h.i.+fted to the person behind Chen Nian. Seemingly startled by what she saw, Wei Cai ground to a halt.

Safe in the knowledge that someone had taught Wei Cai and her friends a ‘lesson’, Chen Nian calmly walked past Wei Cai and her group of friends. Safely entering the school compound, she turned back – only to discover that once again, Bei Ye still trailed behind her from a distance away.

Pressing her lips together, Chen Nian left. After some time, she couldn’t resist the urge and turned back once more. This time, Bei Ye was already gone.

Chen Nian walked to the cla.s.sroom, a overwhelming sense of security and safety filling her heart. Seating herself down, she took out her textbook and started revising her languages. It was only during self-revision time in the afternoon when Xiao Mi discovered the flowers hanging on Chen Nian’s ears.

“Nian, what are you wearing on your ears?”

Stunned, Chen Nian hurriedly removed the flower cuffs from her ears.

Xiao Mi peered over, “Wow, flower cuffs! They’re so pretty. I used to wear flower cuffs a lot when I was younger, but I stopped wearing them after I grew up. Ah, Nian, you’re sill so young at heart.”

Xiao Mi wore the flower cuffs for a short period of time before returning them to Chen Nian.

Chen Nian found the thickest textbook in her drawer – the Oxford Advanced Learner’s English Chinese Dictionary – before carefully pressing the flower ear cuffs between the pages of the dictionary. She hid the dictionary in its original spot, as though it contained a small, special secret.

Just as she returned the dictionary to its original spot, her mobile phone rang. Hurriedly retrieving her phone from her bag, she discovered that the caller was Zheng Yi. Chen Nian shot a quick glance at Xiao Mi. Xiao Mi nodded her head, indicating that she would help Chen Nian stand guard.

Chen Nian bent her body till she was well hidden by her desk before picking up, “h.e.l.lo?”

“Chen Nian,” Zheng Yi’s voice rang out, “I’ve been extremely busy the past two days, so I couldn’t check on you. Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m alright.” Chen Nian replied in a low voice.

“I hope nothing bad happened to you on your way to school today.”

“Nothing.”

“That’s great. I’m going to be extremely busy with a huge case for the next few days, so I won’t have time to drop by. However, please do not hesitate to give me a call if you encounter any form of difficulty or trouble – I’ll rush over at the very first instance.”

“Sure.”

Chen Nian squirrelled out from below her desk. As she was feeling mildly peckish, she retrieved her bag of food from her schoolbag. Peering into her bag of food, she discovered that there were four huge buns in the bag. As there was absolutely no way she could finish four buns on her own, she gave Xiao Mi two buns.

“Ah, this is great! I haven’t had the opportunity to eat breakfast today.” Xiao Mi bit off a huge chunk of the bread, exclaiming in delight, “This is so yummy! Where did you buy it from?”

Chen Nian didn’t respond, and thought internally – freshly baked bread was way more delicious.

The bell rang, signaling the start of cla.s.s. When Chen Nian reached into her schoolbag to retrieve her textbooks, she found the packet of dried plums which Bei Ye had previously pa.s.sed to her. Acting on impulse, Chen Nian quickly stuffed a dried plum into her mouth.

Just as Chen Nian straightened herself up, the form teacher waltzed into the cla.s.sroom. Chen Nian heaved a sigh of relief – thankfully, the form teacher hadn’t noticed her. On reaching his desk, the form teacher launched into his usual tirade, instructing the students to be extra careful of safety issues as the graduation exams neared.

The students paid little heed to the instructions as they viewed it as the usual, general form of instructions which the form teacher was bound to dispense every morning. However, during break, someone raised the recent rumor that a female student from the neighboring school had been raped; the student recounted the tale in great detail, claiming that the rapist was donning a raincoat when he approached the victim at night. Some students cowered in fear after having heard the story whilst others simply brushed it off as mere rumors.

During their afternoon stretching session, Zeng Hao accidentally brushed Chen Nian’s hand.

Chen Nian glanced at her.

“Chen Nian, I’m sorry.”

Chen Nian remained silent, solely focused on stretching her legs.

“Chen Nian, I’m truly sorry.” Zeng Hao choked up slightly.

Chen Nian turned towards Zeng Hao, “We’re……the same. I wasn’t……truthful either. Initially.”

“But you still chose to tell me the truth in the end.” Zeng Hao was feeling extremely miserable and despicable. Tears began to cloud Zeng Hao’s eyes as she continued, “Wei Cai and her group of friends scolded me and hit me. When they kicked me and punched me, the hearts of my parents ached as well. That day, my parents broke down after we returned from the Public Safety Bureau. However, there was little that we could do.

My mother told me that bad students like Wei Cai were beyond the school’s reach, and that no one was capable of keeping them in check. She pleaded with me, telling me to concentrate on the upcoming graduation exams, that I couldn’t entangle myself in their affairs. If Wei Cai continued her attempts to take her revenge on me, it would be my future on the line. Wei Cai and her friends had nothing to lose, but I had everything to lose.”

Chen Nian could only nod in response.

“I’m sorry. Sorry I couldn’t do anything for you when the cla.s.smates were bullying you earlier on.”

“You couldn’t have, done anything, anyway.” Chen Nian responded in a distant tone.

Chen Nian’s words didn’t offer Zeng Hao much comfort. Zeng Hao pressed on, “Are you better now?”

Chen Nian thought over the question before responding, “I’m in, a pretty good, state.”

“Is Wei Cai still hara.s.sing you?”

“…” Chen Nian gazed at the azure blue sky. “I finally have……someone who……protects me.”

After school, Chen Nian headed straight towards the entrance of the school. She no longer had to wait by the guardhouse. Chen Nian could already spot Bei Ye from a distance away. He was waiting by the street opposite the school.

Amidst the sea of students donning their clean, white uniforms, Bei Ye and Chen Nian’s gaze met for a brief second before they quickly turned their heads away.

Like a secret signal.

Bei Ye made his way towards her, fighting the surging crowd as he did so. Chen Nian started towards the direction of her home. Taking a quick glance behind her as she turned the corner of the street, Chen Nian easily identified the pale youth five to six metres away with his hands stuck in his pockets.

Chen Nian felt a sense of security settling over her.

In the heat of the summer, the trees offered plenty of shade, and the flowers were in full bloom.

Day after day, Bei Ye maintained the same distance from Chen Nian as he protected Chen Nian in her journey to and fro from school.

After school ended, he would walk her back to the entrance of her house; alternatively, they would head to the rooftop of his home, the two youths seated side by side as they practiced speaking with the Primary School textbook. The very next day, Bei Ye would appear at the entrance of her home in the wee hours of the morning, a bag of freshly baked bread and packets of chips, sweets or dried fruits in hand. After handing these over to Chen Nian, he would then silently escort her to school by trailing behind her once again.