“Ah, then let me do it.” He Luo pushed him away. “You go unpack.”
“And boys won’t miss any opportunity to slack off!” He Luo sticked her tongue out at him. “How did you get here? Did you manage to buy a ticket?”
“Stop joking!”
“Ah? A standing ticket…” Her heart began to hurt for him. An 18-hour journey.
“You… got in without a proper ticket?”
“What are you going to do then?” He Luo frowned. “Are you really going to stand all the way back? It’s not easy to buy tickets now.”
Shen Lie’s home wasn’t far from campus so he said he would return once he got the ticket. “There’s no need to queue. If my aunt can’t make it, then there’s no use even if you camp outside the station the night before.”
After Shen Lie left, Zhang Yuan smiled. “This classmate of yours is a really good person.”
“Luckily I bought breakfast in the train. It’s exceptionally disgusting.” Zhang Yuan yawned. “The biggest problem now is that I’m drowsy.”
“Just grab whatever in the canteen.”
“Okay. The decision is up to you.” He smiled, tone a little flat.
“I’ll send you off,” Zhang Yuan said.
“If I spoke too much, I’m worried you’ll feel chatty…” Zhang Yuan smiled. “But I’m really sleepy. I think I’m already asleep. I’m talking in my dream.”
They had been together for nearly 2 years. He Luo believed in her intuition. She had a guess. Perhaps Zhang Yuan was unhappy that she spent the night staying up to watch the flag-raising ceremony with another boy? But he didn’t seem to be jealous of Shen Lie. She thought that while it was true that Shen Lie was quite a good-looking guy but he was at least half a head shorter than Zhang Yuan. He also didn’t have Zhang Yuan’s free-spirit and easygoingness. As for personal appearance, Zhang Yuan should have enough self-confidence.
What’s the point thinking about this? She wanted to think she was just paranoid. Zhang Yuan was simply exhausted. To persist until now after an 18-hour journey, it was already remarkable. What else did she wanted from him?
“Ah, he also had a sleepless night. Since he’s sleepy, I let him rest first. Just so happens that I also stayed up.”
“I’m sleeping now.” He Luo turned on her side and continued to stare at the white wall.
He Luo was quiet. Truthfully, she really wanted to hold onto Ye Zhi and unleash all her pent-up worries. But they had only met for a month. There were many words that she couldn’t easily share.
“He said he’d take out you all out for dinner some day. What’s your hurry?” With a pin in her mouth, Ye Zhi mumbled.
“Don’t!” He Luo let go of the hair she was combing halfway. “I didn’t tell him I was sick.”
Zhang Yuan who was waiting outside the building laughed. “Why is Beijing so hot? I think I’ll get a heatstroke.” The sun seemed to have restore his radiance. He Luo whose head was a little dizzy from lack of sleep began to doubt if his previous indifference was simply a dream.
“Ah…” He Luo didn’t know what to say. “Why did you come back so soon from fetching water? Right, this afternoon I won’t be coming back.”
*
“Didn’t you suggest fried pancake and soy sauce pork?”
“That’s for those who actually sit in trains. Those who stand don’t have such a problem. Let’s get meat to recover some of my strength.”
“Big sis, since you already know I went without sleep last night, you’re still unwilling to let me have some meat?” Zhang Yuan smiled. “Come, hand me your meal card.”
Zhang Yuan pressed her shoulders so she would sit. “Let me go check out what you eat everyday.”
“Didn’t you say the fried pancakes are the best?”
Zhang Yuan laughed. When he returned with a tray of food, the two of them sat side by side.
[T/N: not sure about this part]
“Who said that!” Her tone was dissatisfied. “In primary school, when the pipa instructor came to our class to select students, she made everyone put their hands on their desks. She picked me first, saying that my fingers are long and flexible.”
“My mom didn’t let me learn. She said it’s like selling art [ala geisha].” He Luo opened her palm, placing it against Zhang Yuan’s. “Look. It’s not very short.”
“You’re comparing me with him?” He Luo giggled, taking back her hand and turned towards the window. “This is the body part I’m most satisfied with.” Her slender fingers seemed transparent under the sunlight, lined with a subtle orange hue. She pinched her finger. “What do you say?”
“What did you say? Say it again, say it again!” She poked him on his side. “Rascal!”
After lunch, they went to the supermarket near campus for some shopping. He Luo insisted on buying slippers for Zhang Yuan. Recently, Shen Lie’s dorm found 11 sneakers - 7 of them of the left foot, 4 right. He just announced it this morning and it was fresh in her memory. “They share the shoes without concern. In case anyone has athlete’s foot, you might get infected. So don’t wear their slippers.”
“I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear that.” He Luo sighed. “But now you’re in Beijing so you have to listen to me.” She reached for a pair of dark blue slippers, gave its soles a pat. Turning around, she said, “Here. This is your reward for travelling through the night.”
“We’re all just concerned about you.” She stuck out her tongue.
“Ah? Who told you that?”
“But we met just that one time.”
“Really? What did she say?” Her heart felt warm knowing she had his family’s affirmation.
“Then why didn’t you tell me earlier!”
Future, what future? Looking at his back, He Luo giggled. In the daily necessities department, they looked at pots and pans, occasionally knocking some together. She joked around with Zhang Yuan, pretending to be a housewife.
Zhang Yuan turned around. “What are you doing there, all secretive?”
“Ha. I’ve eaten that. They lied to me saying it’s a new brand of biscuit,” Zhang Yuan said. “But why are you smiling so happily? Have you tried that before?”
Zhang Yuan shook his head.
Zhang Yuan sneered coolly.
“You’re disgusting.”
After unloading their shopping in the dorm, He Luo took Zhang Yuan to tour the campus. “The administrative buildings are very old but the scenery is good. The roads are very winding though.”
The two of them went to McDonalds and sat there until it was almost closing time. There were always a lot to talk about. Even if they have already shared anecdotes in their letters, they would bring it up again. He Luo liked seeing Zhang Yuan talk this way, with enthusiasm and spirit. She didn’t really pay attention to the specifics of what he had said. She just wanted to see him, and hear his clear voice.
Ye Zhi was waiting anxiously at the dorm entrance. When she saw He Luo and Zhang Yuan, she immediately smiled. “I’m worried you won’t come back.” She patted her chest and said, “I almost forgot that our dorm is responsible for the bicycles today. Those two wretches are not coming back. I thought I’m going to have to do it alone.”
“What do you mean?”
Zhang Yuan volunteered to tidy the bikes scattered across the road and carry them over to the shed. In the shadow, a boy was back-facing him holding a bike, blocking several others more. Zhang Yuan walked over and patted him on the shoulder. “Classmate, please move over.”
The petite girl in front of him was so embarrassed she had turned towards her boyfriend’s chest.
Watching from the shed, He Luo gripped the iron fence as she laughed, shoulders rising and falling.
“I didn’t dare to laugh out loud. I’ve repressed it so much I think I have internal injuries now.” He Luo touched Zhang Yuan’s eyelids lightly. “What did you see? Did you get pins in your eyes [did you see anything scandalous]?”
“See if I don’t catch you!”
“Where else can you run to?” He caught He Luo’s elbow.
“Are you okay?” Zhang Yuan helped her onto the backseat of one of the bikes, stroking her head.
“You’re still laughing.”
Zhang Yuan suddenly stopped talking, only gazingly deeply into He Luo’s eyes. His lips were lightly curved. The night breeze was cool, but his eyes looked like water ripples in the moonlight which warmth refused to be cooled. Embarrassed, she stood up from the backseat. “Ah, let’s go. It’s lights off time.” Zhang Yuan was still quiet, only following behind her. The distance was exactly half a step.
The further she walked, the faster she went.
“Ah!” He Luo staggered, almost falling, if not for Zhang Yuan’s quick intervention to hold onto her arm.
His and her face, projected in each other’s eyes. It was so intimate, bathed under the silver moonlight. Her scattered bangs, his straight nose - both shadowed in complete darkness, inviting one to probe closer. She loved him so much that she would rather not breathe in front of him, only gaze at him as if all the happiness in the world could be anticipated.
She had never been this courageous in her life. Without even closing her eyes, in lightning speed, she tiptoed and pecked Zhang Yuan on the lips. She was so quick that she can’t even be sure if the moist and cool sensation was from the touching of their lips or from the night dew.
The tip of their noses gently rubbed against each other, it was a cold sensation but their lips were warm. His stubble pricked her but she never imagined a boy’s lips can be this soft.
Carefully, she savoured its sweet taste and smell.
[illustration by Adara Sanchez Anguiano]