Chapter 168 - A Story To Tell (2/2)
Thinking about something Azalea stood up and paced up to the door. "I really wish that I'm wrong." She softly said to no one in particular and pulled open the door.
She looked around for a while and crossed the cobblestone pathway in the front garden to walk out of the main gate.
She ended up cursing with a sigh, "D*mn!"
She cursed because her thinking was proved right once again. Zhou Qi was sitting on the ground hugging her knees and burying her face in them.
When Azalea came closer to her, she saw the way Zhou Qi's shoulders were shaking giving away the fact that she was indeed sobbing silently. Whoever said that 'The silent tears hold the hardest pain was indeed telling the truth. Azalea shook her head silently and perched right beside her on the ground.
Noticing someone's presence, Zhou Qi instantly wiped her tears and stopped her silent sobs. "You can keep crying, I don't mind," Azalea told her in a soft voice with a reassuring smile.
Zhou Qi looked at Azalea's friendly smile through her teary eyes and said, "But I mind showing you my weakness."
Azalea chuckled making Zhou Qi frown. "Don't worry, I'm not laughing at you." Azalea started. "I'm laughing that until last week even I believed that tears were a symbol of our weakness."
"And now, you don't?" Zhou Qi was perplexed.
"No, not anymore." Azalea replied and further explained, "Last week I met a weird person who was taking care of me in the hospital. That person taught me, 'Tears are not our weakness. They are our weapons to fight. Not with the world but with the storm brewing inside of us.'" Azalea took a pause to heave a sigh and quoted again, "He also said, 'Let the tears be the raindrops to calm the storm inside of yourself. Because when you don't let those tears drop. They rot you inside completely with the storm of buried feelings. So, let the tears fall down before they make you fall down'."
Zhou Qi listened attentively to her words and pondered for a while before asking, "Why are you being nice to me? If you know Wu Wang then you definitely know what I have done to him."
"As a matter of fact, I do know. I have heard a lot about you from Wang-Ge." She laughed softly at the memory and said, "I call him Ice cream brother. Do you know, why?" Zhou Qi shook her head. "Because when I was younger, I was a pampered girl and I still am. Obviously, Wang-Ge also dotted on me. But I had a habit of crying to make everyone give in to my wishes. Wang-Ge always knew that I was faking my tears but he would still always bring my favorite ice cream behind my mother's back. And he used to say, 'Zelie, eat as much ice cream as you want and whenever you feel like crying because of the bitterness in life, just remember the taste of this sweet ice cream that Ge has bought for you'."
Zhou Qi smiled listening about Wu Wang. It was exactly how she remembered him to be; loving. Soon, her smile turned into a sad one. Because no matter what he was now just a memory for her.
Noticing Zhou Qi's sad smile, Azalea patted her back lightly and said, "I know what happened back then but only the part that Wang-Ge told me. But you must have your own story to tell."
"How can you be so considerate? Xu Mey is not like that." Zhou Qi asked.
"Sis is biased with you because she must love Wang-Ge a lot. To be honest, I'd have been acting exactly like her if we would have met a week earlier." Suddenly, Ru's green eyes and black hood appeared in her mind as she went on, "Someone said, 'Everyone has a story to tell and a secret to keep. It's up to us whether we want to believe the story told or the secret left untold.'"
She encouragingly smiled at Zhou Qi again and added, "I'm not gonna ask anything. But if you ever feel like just talking, you can find me. I'm the daughter of a psychiatrist, I definitely know how to keep a secret or two." With that, she got up from the ground with the help of the wall beside her and dusted off her pants before trudging back indoor.