Chapter 14

When Yan Yang got off the train, I was already waiting for him outside. I had bought a platform ticket and confirmed which cabin he was in, so the moment the train entered the station, I was already right outside his cabin.

Yan Yang had never come to such a cold place before. The second he got off the train, he immediately started shrugging his shoulders because of the chill.

When he saw me, he wrinkled his nose and complained, "I wanted to surprise you!"

"This is a shock, not a surprise." It was almost negative thirty degrees Celsius, but he only had a thin woollen coat on. I passed him the down jacket I had intentionally brought along, then removed my own scarf and wrapped it around his neck.

"Ge, what did Dad say to you?"

Yan Yang was still a bit scared.

"What else? He said once you're back, he'll break your two legs."

I carried his bag for him while he held onto my arm. The two of us looked so intimate that the people around us were giving us strange looks.

"He won't," Yan Yang said, "I left a note for Mum and Dad."

"Where?"

"In the rice box. When they're cooking, they'll definitely see it."

Only he could think of such a way to leave a message.

On the day that Yan Yang came, it had just snowed earlier in the day. The two of us stood in the chilly wind waiting for the public bus, then sat on the bus swaying left and right all the way to my school.

He kept holding onto me, his arms encircling my arm, like he was deathly afraid of losing me in this foreign city.

I had originally been wondering if Yan Yang would have already forgotten who I was, in the past half a year that I had been away. Perhaps he was already together with one of those classmates of his whom I didn't know were behaving intimately with him for fun or for real.

I was still worried, worried that I was no longer the person he would do anything for no matter what.

Even when I was so far from home, the abacus in my heart was still clacking away. I wouldn't let them off so easily.

Yan Yang was lulled to sleep by the bus ride, falling asleep on my shoulder for the rest of the way.

Sometimes, when I looked at Yan Yang, I would feel very conflicted. On one hand, I felt that he was innocent, but on the other, I felt that since he was also a member of that family, then he could never be innocent.

My dad called. Yan Yang jumped, startled awake.

I picked up the phone. As expected, he had called to check on his precious younger son.

"Yes, he's reached. He’s with me right now. Relax, I know."

Yan Yang had run off without even bidding them goodbye. He was even skipping his classes as he pleased. Just from this standpoint, he was practically the textbook image of a rebellious teen.

But it was fine. I liked seeing him cause such chaos in the house.

As expected of my good Didi.

After the call ended, Yan Yang asked, "What did he say?"

"He said once you're back, he'll break your two legs."

Yan Yang leant against me and laughed, burying himself in my chest. For the remainder of the journey, he just lay down on me to rest, all the way until we reached.

I got off first, while Yan Yang followed behind. The floor was slippery, and he wasn't careful, so when he got off the bus he nearly slipped and fell, crashing right into me.

Yan Yang complained, "Scared the crap out of me."

"You scared the crap out of me too." I pulled him along as we walked. He asked, "Are we going to your dorm?"

"No."

Four people shared the room. There were only four beds; there was no space for him to sleep.

I brought him to the small hotel next to the university. It wasn't very good, but it at least looked clean enough.

Although it was snowing heavily outside, the heating system kept the room incredibly warm.

Once we entered the room, Yan Yang collapsed on the bed, refusing to move.

I closed the door and put his bag aside before helping him to remove his scarf. I then flipped this lazybones over, taking off his down jacket and coat.

Yan Yang said, "Ge, I missed you so much."

When he said this, he was staring straight at me. I sighed.

I threw his coat on his face, "Go shower and sleep."

Yan Yang sat up with his coat hugged to his chest. He watched me, not moving an inch.

"I'll buy a train ticket for you tomorrow. Go home," I said, "Running here all of a sudden; are you not going to school anymore? Not taking your exams anymore?"

I turned back to look at him and purposely said, "You came to find me because you missed me. Then what's gonna happen next time? When you go overseas, do you think you can still come back to see me anytime you like?"

Yan Yang frowned, "I'm not going overseas."

He said, "I've discussed it with Mum. I'm going to study hard. They won't send me overseas."

Anyone with half a brain would know that he should go overseas and study at a school for music. Yan Yang was, in his heart, clear about this too.

I didn't like him; I never had, all these years. But I also couldn't bring myself to simply watch as he destroyed his future for some idiotic reason.

Indeed, I just wasn't vicious enough. And as I grew older, that hatred from the past was starting to wane.

This disgusted me. Not him, but myself.

I suddenly felt like a stray dog they had taken in. Once they gave me a taste of sweetness, I forgot who I really was.

I ignored him. I went to wash up, then lay down on the other bed in the room.

With my back facing Yan Yang, I closed my eyes, but I couldn't fall asleep at all. Constantly, I could hear the soft sounds of Yan Yang packing his things, washing up, and turning off the light.

He came over and lifted up my blanket, crawling in next to me. He said, "Ge, I miss you."

Much later on, I'd often think about how a lot of things Yan Yang had done and said at the start actually seemed to have hidden intentions behind them. He wasn't as stupid as I had thought him to be; in fact, he was even smarter than me.

This 'Ge, I miss you' made it impossible for me to really harden my heart and ignore him. I rolled over onto my back and spoke into the pitch black night, "Go to sleep."

Yan Yang laughed and hugged my arm as he crossed a leg over my body, "Goodnight, Ge."