Chapter 20 (2/2)
Winter in the north was truly cold.
But it was the way he smiled at someone else that felt the coldest.
The world has plunged into purgatory since.
Five minutes. Ten minutes. The refined-looking girl has yet to return. He Luo was a little worried as she glanced at the lavender coat hanging at the corner.
“Nothing.” He Luo forced a smile. Lowering her head, she realised she didn’t feel the satisfaction that she thought she would. She was like a warrior, valiantly rus.h.i.+ng over the battleground to battle her imaginary enemy who turned out to be a charming girl. She became a coy girl beside Zhang Yuan, every end of her conversation was a high-pitched “Ge~”
She wanted to retrieve her lost pride.
That girl, too, has a genuine smile, genuine tears. What right did He Luo have to show off, hurting the girl with her happiness? She bit her lip, desperately questioning herself in her mind. Dancing with Zhang Yuan, hugging him, wasn’t this something unquestionably natural? Even if she was deliberately showing this sight to that girl, did she do anything wrong?
“Did anyone see Wei Rui?” Zhu Ning Li asked after she returned from the washroom.
Zhu Ning Li pondered for a moment before walking out the door with doubt.
“We should also leave.” He Luo turned towards Zhang Yuan.
*
“You scared me!” Zhu Ning Li threw Zhang Wei Rui’s coat on her bed. “I was really worried I would find you frozen into popsicles tomorrow morning.”
“If you want to cry, just cry.” Zhu Ning Li sat next to her friend, grinding her teeth. “I knew this would happen. That woman really is vicious.” She fell silent for a moment before sighing. “But she didn’t do anything wrong. They are a couple, to embrace each other in such an environment is just natural. You, on the other hand, are not living up to your words. You even said you didn’t fall in love with him at first sight.”
“Go ahead!” Zhu Ning Li pushed her shoulder. “Hurry up and go! If you can’t even move on from little things like this, then you might as just die right now. What does this even matter? In one’s life, there are so many things that are more upsetting.”
“I don’t have such a mentally insufficient friend,” Zhu Ning Li said. “Let’s see if you’ll just dream up what siblings fantasy dream! Now you have to wake up, okay?”
He Luo and Zhang Yuan walked towards the concierge, where the gap in the door swept cold wind inside.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I shouldn’t be so provocative [obvious].”
“But I… did it on purpose,” she admitted. “Gracious, considerate, intimate… all that I wanted them to notice.”
I have told you every detail. What more do you want? He Luo, oh He Luo. You don’t trust yourself, you don’t trust me either, he thought.
You have come back, I’m happy about that. I also want to be together with you every hour of the day. I was so happy I couldn’t sleep for an entire night, even the cold north wind felt warm as I waited for you at the station. Yet you travelled miles to come here, was it because you missed me, or because you doubted me?
In that moment, his heart had never felt warmer and softer. Zhang Yuan turned around to embrace He Luo in his arms. “I know. I understand,” he said. Didn’t she ultimately come back? Isn’t it because she cares about him? Isn’t it because they can’t lose each other!?
“I was jealous, I was being petty…” He Luo’s voice was small and helpless.
But now there was something he feared.
Because, in He Luo’s heart, he was no longer the invincible Zhang Yuan. This thought made him felt cold to his core, so cold that he trembled.
The snow they trampled on squeaked under their weight. “Go back and change into warmer clothes,” Zhang Yuan said. “Later on we still have to welcome the new year.”
“Ah!” It was so cold that she trembled. She turned and saw Zhang Yuan, waving at her with a smile.
“You’re still attacking me!” He laughed. “Didn’t you see I’m not retaliating?”
“Even if I stand here without moving an inch, you won’t even be able to hit me.” Zhang Yuan laughed, facing the endless attacks of s...o...b..a.l.l.s. He intercepted one, and returned fire, hitting He Luo’s coat. “Can you see the gap between us? Your aim is too bad, so you’ll just have to live with being a moving target.”
Seeing her approaching figure, Zhang Yuan smoothly bent sideways. “Even if you’re going to be the villain, you shouldn’t be so petty.” His laughter rang through the night.
“Is your leg stuck in the snow? So shameful.” Zhang Yuan smiled. “Look at you, like a penguin. Oh right, there’s not much difference between you and a fat little penguin. Almost the same.”
“Then you don’t want to see the snowman I made?”
“You want to see?” Zhang Yuan pointed at the s...o...b..ll she was holding. “Put down your weapon and put both your hands behind your back. Slowly walk over.”
Zhang Yuan smiled and grasped her hand in his. He pulled her to the other side. Eyes made from briquettes, nose from carrot sticks. So it turned out she was viewing the snowmen from behind. “You went up for so long. See, they even have a kid now.” Between the two snowmen, there was a little baby made from snow.
“Who said? I made snowmen in my first year and second too.” Zhang Yuan laughed. “Do you want to try? I’ll teach you how to build one quickly.”
Zhang Yuan squatted down, patting the top of the snow baby’s head. “Good child, your mom is here. Very soon you’ll have siblings to play with.”
He smiled as he watched her work, as if he was able to forget about the past, and not think about the future.
It had been yet another year.
[ill.u.s.tration by Choi Mi Kyung]
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