We walked together on the road, holding hands with each other. It was a simple walk till my bus stop, but it meant the whole world to me. I haven't felt this much in my whole life. I feel like if he holds my hand like this, then I can fight with the whole world and no one will ever be able to stop me. It gives me courage, a sense of responsibility, and most importantly, a sense of security.
I smiled while thinking all these thoughts in my mind, then suddenly he lightly tapped my forehead with his knuckles and said, "Why do you get so lost sometimes?"
I smiled lightly and said, "What should I do? It's not my fault. When such a dazzling beauty is around me, how am I supposed to not get distracted?"
"You are—" he was about to say, but I completed it with my own words and said, "I am so beautiful, right? You were about to say this only, right?"
He smiled helplessly and said, "Yes."
Then we kept moving on the road and finally reached our destination, which was none other than my usual boring bus stop. But today, why did I feel that these fifteen minutes passed just in the blink of fifteen seconds? It needed to be longer, but why did it feel so short today? Maybe… maybe it's because of him, who accompanied me today.
Then I stood under the bus stand shade and said, "Thanks, Yuan, for accompanying me here with you. You know what, Yuan? With you, even the longest paths seem very short."
He chuckled and looked down just for a second, then said, "Then you must take me with you on all your paths."
Breaking our scene, the bus arrived suddenly. Yuan said, "Put on your face mask, otherwise a massive crowd will gather even at midnight."
He immediately took out his mask from his pocket and put it on. Then I was about to enter the bus, but it looked like his hands were not ready to leave mine.
"Yuan," I said slowly.
"What?" he asked.
"I need to get inside the bus," I said.
"Then who stopped you?" he said so casually, like he didn't know anything.
I took a deep sigh and said while lifting my hand, which he was holding in his, "I am talking about this."
"Oh, this… sorry, I didn't realise it," he said, then he left my hand and waved at me. "Bye bye. Text me when you reach your dorm."
I nodded, then went inside the bus and sat on my regular window seat.
Within a span of forty-five minutes, I reached my dorm. When I entered the room, I saw the lights were switched off and everything was dark. Then my eyes landed on the bed where Wang Ruoxi was already asleep, holding a pen in her hands, with some bunch of sheets fallen here and there on the bed.
I went close to her bed and saw that she was making the report for both of us and had fallen asleep midway. I gently took the pen from her hand and closed it, otherwise tomorrow morning there would definitely be an art museum on the bed sheet. Then I took the sheets from the bed and placed them back on her study table, and put the blanket over her properly.
Then my attention was caught by the moonlight filling the room with its own natural light. I moved towards the window and saw the moon and said to myself, "Moon, your beauty is fading away nowadays. Maybe because someone else has a brighter light than you do."
"Do you want to know who?" I asked, then smiled at myself and said, "It's definitely my Yuan Yuan. He is your tough competition."
Then I laughed a little after thinking this and said, "Look how silly I am. Now I didn't even leave you to praise my boyfriend. How stupid I am… how stupid." But still I said, "I know you must be envious of my boyfriend."
Then I laughed again.
Suddenly, from behind, Wang Ruoxi changed her position while sleeping and said, "Zhao Shiza, stop praising your boyfriend at midnight. I need to sleep. Keep it to yourself only."
I laughed and didn't say anything to her, and she drifted back to her sleep. Then I also changed my dress and went to bed to sleep.
I lay down on my bed and suddenly realised that I hadn't texted him that I had reached my dorm safely. Then I opened my WeChat and messaged him. Within a few seconds, his reply came as fast as lightning speed, and it was written: 30 minutes 2 seconds.
I got confused, so I texted him back asking what it was.
Then his reply came: "It's the time of how much late you are in texting me that you reached your dorm."
I laughed a little while reading it and sent a laughing emoji and wrote, "Sorry, got busy somewhere the moment I reached the dorm."
Then he replied, "Sorry won't be accepted."
"So what should I do for that?" I asked him.
Then he replied, "Repayment will be the only way to settle it."
"Repayment?" I texted him back. "What kind of repayment do I need to do to you?"
Then he replied, "I'll tell you some other day, but you need to repay it. It's the only condition that makes your sorry acceptable to me."
"Okay, fine. Deal," I replied.
"Good girl. Now sleep well, silly girl, and don't fall from the bed, because I am not near you to catch you," he replied.
"I don't fall from the bed ever. Who told you this rubbish thing?" I wrote.
"No one. It's my intuition for my silly girl, and I know it's right. So stop giving pressure to your brain, you already have a very small brain," he replied.
I laughed while reading it and wrote, "If I get late tomorrow on set, then it's on you only."
"Okay, okay. Stop blackmailing. Good night, my little bunny. Sleep safely," he wrote.
"I am going to sleep, not going to any kind of fight," I wrote.
He replied, "That's why I am saying, don't fight with your pillows, blanket, and bedsheets while sleeping."
"Yuan, you are literally treating me like a toddler," I wrote.
"You are, any doubt?" he replied.
"Now final good night, Mr. Yuan," I wrote.
"Good night, little bunny," he replied.
Then I put down my phone and closed my eyes, drifting off into a deep sleep.
The morning breeze entered the room. Today's morning was quite warm after a long time. The winters were still there, but at least the morning brought its own warmth inside the house.
I got up from the bed while rubbing my eyes and saw the time. It was 8:00 a.m. I pushed down my blanket and got up from the bed — the most difficult task in winter mornings. I think this year's winter in Shanghai is more chilling than previous years here.
But we can't do anything. We need to get ready and do our work. But can't we just be like polar bears who stay in their homes for the whole winter season and don't get out for anything? I really wish… I really wish I could be a polar bear.
Then I realised that I was getting a bit late, so I immediately went to the washroom, got freshened up, and changed myself. I was about to leave the room when I saw Wang Ruoxi still sleeping peacefully. Then I thought she had been working so hard for the past few days for me — she needed rest now.
I closed the door slowly so that her sleep wouldn't get affected and reached my bus stop, standing there and waiting for the bus to arrive. Then suddenly, one notification popped up on my phone screen from WeChat. It was from Yang Lulu.
I opened it immediately, and it was written that…