Through the torrential night rain, a towering dark silhouette dashed along the flooded sidewalk, each heavy stomp sending water spraying violently to the sides. The figure halted in front of a phone store radiating bright light amidst the gloomy darkness.
"Finally here."
Long whispered softly. He peeled off his sodden raincoat, hung it neatly on the rack outside, and silently pushed the door open to enter.
The moment he appeared, the atmosphere inside the store seemed to freeze. Every eye was drawn to the stranger.
His physique was towering, his gaze commanding the entire room. Standing at a staggering one meter ninety-five, Long actually had to duck slightly to avoid hitting the door frame. His long, wild hair, interwoven with strands of black and white, cascaded down his shoulders, accentuating the sharp, sculpted features of his breathtakingly handsome face.
"Oh my god... Is he a foreign actor?!"
A female employee couldn't help but gasp aloud. She quickly covered her mouth to stifle a squeal of excitement, her wide, glowing eyes glued to the "hottie" in front of her as if hypnotized.
While she was lost in thought, wondering how on earth a K-pop idol or Hollywood star could appear in this godforsaken rural backwater, Long had already approached the counter. His excessive height forced her to crane her neck all the way back just to see his face.
"Do you have any phone models suitable for a girl, Miss?"
His deep voice resonated, but the young clerk, whose name tag read 'Ngoc My', stood frozen like a statue. Her soul had been completely sucked in by those enchanting emerald eyes, rendering her temporarily deaf to the world.
"My!"
Her senior colleague, who was assisting an elderly man nearby, turned and nudged her sharply on the shoulder, snapping the girl out of her daydream.
"Ah!... Uh... uh... Hello! Where are you from? Can I help you?"
Startled, Ngoc My scrambled to respond, blurting out a string of broken English.
Long stood there, stunned. He turned his head to look at the shop sign outside, then looked back at the girl. The sign was definitely written in Vietnamese, and everyone around was speaking Vietnamese, right?
"Uh... I'm from Vietnam," Long replied hesitantly in English mixed with confusion, then asked timidly: "Do... you speak Vietnamese?"
Ngoc My stared at him wide-eyed. Her cheeks flushed as red as a ripe gac fruit, and she buried her chin in her chest. It turned out she hadn't heard him speaking Vietnamese earlier and had just assumed he was a Westerner, hence the attempt to show off her English.
Right now, Ngoc My wished for nothing more than a hole in the ground to open up so she could crawl inside and die of embarrassment.
Long sensed the amused glances from everyone around converging on them. He quickly thought of a way to save the poor girl in front of him:
"Haha, you're amazing! Actually, my mom is Dutch, and your accent sounds exactly like hers. Where did you learn English to speak it so standardly?"
He wasn't entirely making it up. Indeed, that accented pronunciation was very similar to the voice of the mother in the fragmented memories of his early childhood. Long's lips quivered slightly at the thought of her, even though the time she had spent with him was pitifully short and fragile.
Ngoc My finally dared to lift her head. Like a drowning person catching a lifebuoy, finding a ray of hope to escape the humiliating situation, she hurriedly replied:
"Ah, haha, actually I just study online. I have a really good foreign teacher who taught me."
"Is that so? Could you give me that teacher's contact details later? I'm about to start 12th grade and preparing for the university entrance exams, so I really want to bolster my foreign language skills."
The whole store froze, eyes popping out. The attentive stares intensified on the young man in disbelief. With this massive physique, he was only a high school student?
Ngoc My was the most flustered of all, realizing the person standing before her was actually younger than she was.
"Please help me choose a phone model suitable for a lady."
Kicking into professional mode, she regained her composure and enthusiastically guided him through each model in detail, from features and design to price. Finally, she stopped at a device that stood out for its excellent photography and filming capabilities.
"Are you buying it for your mom?"
The clerk blurted out the side question, drawn in by his gentle, polite demeanor.
"No, I'm buying it for my girlfriend."
The concise answer was heard by the other female staff busy at the counters, causing a collective pang of disappointment in their hearts.
"Thank you, beautiful. I'll definitely come back to support you next time."
With that, he turned on his heel and walked out, carrying the phone bag, leaving behind a heart fluttering in his wake. Getting a compliment from a handsome guy, and one with such a gentle, gentlemanly aura at that, felt worlds apart from the usual rough men.
Click.
The door latched shut; Long was home. Shaking off the rain, he walked into the living room only to find Lia curled up on the sofa, hugging a pillow tight, her eyes glued to the TV screen.
She clearly knew he was back, but she was deliberately ignoring him, treating him like thin air.
This "Cold War" atmosphere was definitely the consequence of his disastrous mouth earlier this morning. Feeling a pang of guilt, Long swallowed hard and tiptoed closer, trying to find a way to broker peace.
Long approached and knelt down in front of her. Even though he had lowered his center of gravity as much as possible, his massive frame still put his head level with Lia's chest as she sat on the sofa. He tilted his head, flashing a gentle, coaxing smile:
"Hey..."
Lia remained in the same position, eyes glued to the TV screen, refusing to glance down even once.
"My love."
Long's voice was light, brimming with affection, yet it wasn't enough to shake the "iceberg" in front of him.
"Wifey... Gold nugget... Baby..."
"You're so annoying."
Lia's voice was irritable, but hidden deep within the tone was a slight tremor, a waiver. Catching the "green light", Long immediately made his move.
His large hand gently grasped Lia's small hand, pulling it over and pressing it firmly against his cheek. This action forced Lia to look down at the big lug. But what met her gaze was a pitiful puppy face: eyes shimmering with unshed tears, looking at her with profound remorse and sincerity.
Lia was caught off guard, frowning slightly:
"What now?"
"I'm sorry about this morning. I doubted you, and I ended up hurting you... again. You sacrificed everything for me, traded your eternal life just to love me... and yet I... I deserve a spanking."
Those gut-wrenching words made it impossible for Lia to find an excuse to stay mad even if she wanted to. She dropped the TV remote, placed her free hand gently on his cheek, her voice softening:
"Since you're still young, I'll let you off the hook this time."
Long's eyes lit up like headlights. He immediately wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her forcefully towards him and burying his head in her soft bosom, inhaling deeply. Lia started, trying to offer some weak resistance, but her hands went limp, eventually embracing him back and gently stroking his head.
"You're just quick to take advantage."
Lia pouted in mock scolding, making Long chuckle. He reached into the bag at his feet, pulled out the brand-new phone box, and placed it in her hand, saying gently:
"For you."
Lia's eyes went wide with surprise. Then she smiled mischievously, pinching his nose:
"Is this a bribe to escape punishment?"
"Oh... no, not at all."
She laughed softly, denying his teasing, then carefully opened the box following Long's instructions. Even though she had seen him use this device daily, the marvel of technology here still made someone who had only been in contact with it for barely two weeks feel overwhelmed and unable to get used to it immediately.
However, joy welled up inside her, because from now on she could experience what Long experienced, bridging the gap between their two worlds.
Long took out a purple phone case, featuring an intricate purple butterfly in the center—tone-on-tone with the keepsake handkerchief—and snapped it onto Lia's phone. After inserting the SIM card, the two sat right next to each other but tested calling one another. The ringing sound made her burst into giggles.
In her world, "Sound Transmission Magic" was a high-tier spell that was extremely difficult, with limited range. To master it, one had to be a noble or someone who put in grueling effort. Yet here, if you wanted this "magic", you just had to pay for it.
But thinking about it, it wasn't much different from her old world. There, those with money could also hire mages to transmit messages for them. The rule "money can buy even fairies" seemed to hold true everywhere.
"If you want to live here with me forever, you need to integrate into this world first. And the fastest way is to learn from social media."
He opened up videos for her to watch. The amount of accessible information was hundreds of times greater than the TV she usually watched. All sorts of things under the sun; whatever she wanted to know, she just had to type it in.
"It's magical! Can you know anything?"
"Not exactly, and you shouldn't trust it too much. It's just a collection of information posted by people, so truth and fiction are mixed."
Lia tilted her head, asking worriedly:
"Is this very expensive?"
"It's fine. I'm rich."
Long's nonchalant answer made Lia freeze. But thinking about it, he wasn't wrong; Long was undeniably a "second-generation rich kid" in disguise. He held in his hands his grandfather's entire estate: a vast expanse of land, large-scale farming and livestock areas, modern production machinery lacking nothing, all still in very good working condition.
Previously, the employees working for his grandfather were too numerous to count, but since his grandfather passed away, they had all quit. Although production hadn't resumed yet, the monthly interest alone generated from the massive balance in the bank account his grandfather left behind was enough for Long to spend lavishly for a lifetime without worrying about food or clothing.
For a young master possessing such colossal assets, buying just a phone for his girlfriend might actually be considered... stingy.
Long gently closed the bedroom door, leaving Lia in the living room happily fumbling with her new toy. Seeing her delighted like a child, he silently told himself: "I should probably buy her a laptop soon too."
Long reached into his pocket, took out his phone, and accessed the anonymous English learning group Ngoc My had just shared. Ngoc My herself had wondered why such an exceptionally good teacher didn't advertise her name but only taught in secret; she had only found the group through sheer luck.
The phone screen lit up. Appearing in the frame was a woman of elegant, ethereal beauty with hair as white as snow. Although the memory of her face in his mind had faded with the years, that voice... that tone...
"Mom..."
A choked call got stuck in his larynx, barely able to form words.
The torrential rain outside had ceased some time ago, but right here, in this room, another rain began to pour relentlessly from his eyes.