There was only her food and cat food. Ryan’s slippers and toiletries had been put into her space.
“Dad, mom,” Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu walked into the living room and said in her usual demeanor, “How did you come back so early?”
Her mother had already cleaned up the house and her father was sitting on the sofa drinking tea. Gǔn Gǔn was at his feet, his amber eyes subconsciously looking behind Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu.
Her father drank tea then invited Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu to also pour a cup, “Dad got into contact with a school over there for you, and since school will start soon, we thought of coming back early lest the learning process be delayed and I was too eager to return, so I didn’t have any time to tell you. . .”
Even though she had guessed it eight or so times, to still hear it from her father’s mouth, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was shocked.
Mr. Jǐ continued, “Dad has already completed the formalities and an uncle is willing to be our guarantor for us three. After you’re finished with everything, we’ll be able to move next month. When you’re free, you can tidy up the things you’ll need. . .”
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu bit her lip and finally couldn’t help but interrupt her father’s words, “Daddy, I don’t want to go to Ireland.”
“Why, can you tell me the reason?” Although he had listened to his wife beforehand, he was still somewhat surprised.
He thought that he hadn’t made it clear on the phone and came back to discuss it face to face with her, that his daughter would change her mind.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu stared at her finger and whispered, “I am reluctant to leave.”
Mr. Jǐ: “Would you be willing to stay without your mother and father?”
“. . .”
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu lifted her eyes, her dark eyes wide and with a trace of hopelessness, and felt embarrassed, “I. . .”
Of course she couldn’t bear to.
But if she went to Ireland with her parents, she would never see Ryan again.
She couldn’t be without Ryan.
“Can’t I go see you often later?” Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu pursed her lips into a flatline, a little sad and helpless.
“Little Darling, mom and dad cannot bear to leave you alone in the country. We really don’t trust it.” Mrs. Jǐ said, unsure of what to think, and her eyes got wet, her voice trembling, “We cannot lose you again. . .”
“. . .” Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu thought of her high school disappearance. Her parents had spent three months looking for her at that cliff, where they had looked at each other and promised, “This kind of thing couldn’t happen again. . .”
To this kind of sentence, she could say no more words of refusal.
. . .
That night, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu laid in her bed restlessly and could not sleep.
When she thought of Ryan’s words, she thought of her parents’ words and then she thought of the beast world. . . until there was a knot in her head.
The clock swayed on the wall and quietly pointed to 1 o’clock, even though she could not see it.
The night sky was silent and ablaze with lights.
Traffic flowed like water at the food of the high-rise buildings.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu didn’t know how many times she rolled over until she rolled into a familiar embrace.
She froze and soon reacted, “Ryan?”
Ryan had an arm around her waist and his dark blue eyes were like jewels on the seafloor, “En.”
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was surprised, “How did you get out?” She had done like with Táo Táo earlier that day and put him into her space.
Ryan’s nose was at her neck, sniffing her sweet scent, “It’s too stuffy.” And he wanted to hold her.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu didn’t say anything and shifted aside to give him more room, “Do you want to get under the quilt?”
Beastmen didn’t need the quilts, since their temperature was so high. It was a question Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu always had to ask.
In the past, Ryan may have refused but today, he especially wanted to hug his little female, so he wasn’t polite and lifted her quilt to bring her into his arms.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s cheek rested against his chest and after brewing for a long time, honestly confessed, “Ryan, I still haven’t told mom and dad. . .”
Ryan: “What?”
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu bit her lip and muttered, “I haven’t told them we’re in love.”
Ryan smiled a little, “Why not?”
“I couldn’t find an opportunity,” Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu rubbed against his chin a bit plaintive, “I’ll say it tomorrow.”
Ryan held the back of her head and licked her lips, lowering to her throat to say slowly, “Then say it tomorrow.”
Oddly enough, even though Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu couldn’t sleep no matter how she tried, after Ryan arrived, she soon fell asleep.
*
Early the next morning, the dazzling sunlight passed through the thick curtains and cast mottled rays onto the floor of her room.
“Darling, are you up?” Mrs. Jǐ knocked on the door then pushed it in, “It’s time to have breakfast.”
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu suddenly opened her eyes and subconsciously looked around but didn’t see Ryan. She sighed with relief and pressed her cheek against the pillow, responding in a voice thick with sleep, “I know, mom, I’ll get up.”
Her mother closed the door and Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu got out of bed. She stepped into cotton slippers and looked around again, still unable to find Ryan.
Where did he go?
Did he automatically go back to her space?
But Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu searched her space and couldn’t find him there either.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was a little worried, thinking about his whereabouts while brushing her teeth.
It wasn’t until her mother rushed out that she spit out the foam in her mouth and walked to the dining room in her pajamas.
Breakfast was a sweet purple potato corn porridge with pancakes and sugar poached eggs.
All three of the Jǐ family liked a Chinese breakfast and every morning, her mother would make it.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu scooped up a bowl of porridge and sat in the outermost position with a preoccupied look.
Aside from worrying about Ryan, she also had to think about how to speak with her parents today.
Yesterday, she had thought about it all night and still didn’t want to go to Ireland.
Even if there was no Ryan, she still didn’t want to go.
All her friends and classmates were at home, if she were to go to a strange country, she would have none.
It would mean having to start her life all over again.
Even if she loved her mom and dad, she could not always live under their wing.
She was always independent. She could not falter, because once she did, she would never walk out again.
Only, yesterday, her mother had uttered that sentence and taken away her ability to refuse.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu gently sighed, such a dilemma.
After breakfast, Mrs. Jǐ was dressed neatly and standing on the porch ready to go out to finalize everything for Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu to go abroad.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu stood in the entrance and looked at them, “Mother. . .”
Mrs. Jǐ did not seem to see her abnormality and even remembered to say, “Little Darling, don’t forget to give Gǔn Gǔn his food. Father and I will be back in the afternoon and you’ll have to do something about eating at noon. . .”
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu opened her mouth, “Mother, I have something to say. . .”
“What is it? Say it when we get back, Little Darling, mom and dad have appointments iwth people and we’ll be late.” Mrs. Jǐ said, touching Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s head, and she was ready to push the door out.
Just as she held the door and opened it, she hadn’t taken a step when she froze.
Outside the door stood a tall man with deep facial features and blue eyes, his hand raised to knock.
Meeting Mrs. Jǐ’s gace, he quietly withdrew his hand and nodded slightly, calling out a greeting.
Mrs. Jǐ was startled then realized he was the “electrician” who repaired the bulb yesterday and smiled politely, “Hello, excuse me. What do you need?”
“I came for my,” the other side went straight to the point, his voice muffled magnetically, and he hesitated, then said, “girlfriend.”
. . .
. . .
Mr. and Mrs. Jǐ sat on two sides of the single sofa with Ryan in the middle, his eyes narrowed.
The usually spacious sofa had suddenly narrowed a lot because of Ryan.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu went to the kitchen to pour three cups of water and placed them in front of her parents and Ryan.
Her mother saw the cup in front of Ryan was cold and couldn’t resist asking, “Darling, why didn’t you give him hot water?”
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu blurted out, “His temperature is high and he doesn’t like to drink hot water.”
“. . .” Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s face suddenly changed and she said nothing else.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu just realized what her mouth had leaked and bit her lip, quickly running to the side as she knew nothing.
Her mother laughed and looked at Ryan, “Yesterday I didn’t have time to ask you, what is your name?”
Ryan looked away from Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu and said, “Ryan.”
“Unlike the Chinese,” Mrs. Jǐ said, looking at Ryan’s deep contours, then his blue eyes, “I take the liberty to ask, where is your hometown?”
Ryan: “Bornia.”
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s mother: “. . .”
Mrs. Jǐ circled her brain for a while but could not find the country’s name, it had little impression.
She looked at her husband and saw it was also vacant and at a loss.
Her mother tentatively asked, “Can you tell us where? The southern or northern hemisphere?”
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu couldn’t help but interrupt before Ryan could reply, “Mother, it’s very far away and very few people know about it.”
Mrs. Jǐ looked at her and felt angry that she had hid this yesterday and was now angry she had interrupted, “Darling, this is not for you. Go back to your room.”
“Mother, can’t I stay here?” Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu didn’t want to go back, she wanted to listen to her parents and Ryan’s dialogue.
Her mother said heavily, “No.”
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu pursed her lips, spoiled, and resigned herself to turning around and going back to her room slowly.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s room was very far from the living room, across the corridor and the door of her house had good sound insulation. She couldn’t hear a thing from outside.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu tried putting her ear to the door but it had no effect.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu didn’t know why Ryan had suddenly come over. He probably wouldn’t know what to say to her parents.
It was false to say she wasn’t disturbed.
She knew her parents’ character. They were meticulous and regardless of the issue, particularly serious.
——Especially now that they knew Ryan was her “boyfriend.”
She didn’t know what they were asking Ryan.
What would Ryan say? Would they find out Ryan was a beastman?
. . .
A series of problems surfaced in her mind and Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu was restless.
She laid in bed with the quilt over her head and rolled around for a while. Then she suddenly sat up and stood.
She looked at the clock on the wall, it had been five minutes.
She sighed deeply and rested her arms on the edge of the bed, her chin on the backs of her hands and forced herself to be calm.
Time passed by and about half an hour later, the conversation still didn’t seem to be over.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s arm pillow had soured and she took another posture, holding her hands to her cheeks to wait.
Over the next half hour, the conversation continued.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu finally couldn’t restrain herself and opened the door. She crossed the corridor to the kitchen to get some water and quietly observed the situation in the living room.
The conversation between her parents and Ryan seemed to be nearing its end.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu couldn’t see Ryan or her father’s expression, but her mother’s mouth was slightly curved and she didn’t look displeased.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu set down the cup and her heart was like it, finally dropping back down.
Walking back to her room, she vaguely heard a conversation between her father and Ryan.
Her father’s voice was a serious, “How long can you take care of my daughter?”
Ryan was silent for a moment then frank, “I don’t know.”
Mr. Jǐ was angry, “You. . .”
However, then Ryan’s steady voice said, “It depends on how long a lifetime can be.”
*
February 15th.
The air was clean and the blue sky washed clear of clouds.
The long absent sun had finally exposed itself, the golden sun covering the earth and shuttling across the entire city.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu got up early and rushed to the airport with her parents.
They picked up the tickets, checked the baggage and checked into security.
Outside the window, a plane took off down the runway, carrying passengers onto the next journey.
But Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu stopped there.
Although countless tears had flowed the night before, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu still couldn’t help but cry with her mother.
Mrs. Jǐ endured the tears and wiped her tears away, saying softly, “Little Darling, you have to take good care of yourself, don’t let mom and dad worry.”
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu nodded, “Mom needs to take good care of dad too. You have to contact me when you get there.”
Mrs. Jǐ said, “We will.”
The mother and daughter talked then cried again.
Her father couldn’t but persuade, “Aren’t we going to meet again? How can you still cry? Little Darling, be obedient and put away those tears. In the future, if you think of it, you can come to see us any time.”
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu wiped her tears with her fingers and sobbed, “En.”
Despite that, there was still moments of parting.
Her parents plane was about to take off and they had to get through security so they said goodbye to Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu.
Looking at her parents’ figures disappear in the distance at the end of the security line, Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s tears started again.
The airport saw this every day and her tears didn’t draw any attention. Footsteps passed by her like a never stopping train.
People came and people went.
. . .
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu silently stood in the airport hall crying for a long time until she had no more tears to cry and she slowly stopped sobbing.
She stretched out her hands and rubbed her eyes then looked at the airport door.
Outside, the sun was dazzling and the golden light seemed to be cast over a huge flower bed until it peeled away to form a tall silhouette.
Ryan seemed to smell her and as soon as she walked out, his sight shifted and landed on her with precision.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu’s footsteps became lighter and lighter until she rushed at him.
Ryan stooped to catch her and held her in his lap, kissing her.
After a long time, Ryan finally let go of her and pressed his lips against hers, whispering softly, “Can we go back?”
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu knew that by “Going back” definitely didn’t mean going back to her family home.
Jǐ Xiǎo Ōu pressed her forehead to his and her thick eyelashes swept across his nose, then she nodded, “En.”
Ryan asked: “When?”
“When do you want?”
“Now.”
. . .
. . .
(End of Text)
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