Before the future arrives, none of us can know what lies ahead—The good or the bad,Everything remains unpredictable.
I walked down the street with Chen Qiao Luo. The ground was covered by the snow from yesterday, and our shoes made soft crunching noises as they pressed into it. We wandered aimlessly, as if the road ahead stretched endlessly.
In my haste, I had left my gloves at Chen Qiao Luo’s house. My coat didn’t have pockets, and the cold wind made me instinctively bring my hands to my mouth, blowing warm air onto them to fend off the chill.
Noticing this, Chen Qiao Luo suddenly reached over and took my hand. Before I could process what was happening, he tucked our joined hands into the pocket of his coat.
“This should keep you warmer,” he said.
We kept walking, but I was momentarily stunned. The warmth from his hand seeped through my palm and into my heart. I turned my face to look at him; he seemed completely at ease, unbothered by the situation.
I don’t know how much time passed before the view ahead became familiar. The school gates of No. 12 Middle School came into sight.
It had been a long time since I’d last been here. Ever since Gu Yu’s incident, I hadn’t returned. This place held all the memories of my youth, and I dreaded seeing how time had changed it, leaving only echoes of the past.
I stopped walking and, biting my lip, asked, “Why did you bring me here?”
Chen Qiao Luo turned to face me, his gaze gentle. He said, “Zhu Yun Hao, we’ve been avoiding this for too long. If we don’t untangle the past, we’ll be trapped by it forever.”
He led me through the gates of No. 12 Middle School.
At this hour, the school was completely empty, eerily quiet.
Chen Qiao Luo guided me through the campus, past the classrooms, the library, the sports field...
Finally, we stopped. He turned to me and said, “I know you’re still upset with me over what happened to Gu Yu. It was wrong of me not to tell you the truth. In the two years I spent in City X, I thought about it constantly. If I’d had the courage to tell you back then that I was afraid of water, maybe things would have turned out differently.”
I already knew about Chen Qiao Luo’s fear of water—Xu Xuan had told me some time ago. I didn’t hate him, but I couldn’t quite let go of the past either. Hearing him mention it now made my heart ache again.
Seeing me remain silent, Chen Qiao Luo continued, “Zhu Yun Hao, I left for City X back then because I thought you didn’t want to see me. But later, I realized the loneliness of not seeing you was even harder to bear. So many times, I wanted to come back to find you. But each time I stood in the train station, I lost my nerve. It wasn’t until recently, when Li Zi told me that Gu Yu had passed away and you were grieving deeply, that I finally found the courage to come back and see you. Even then, all I could do was watch you from afar, too afraid to approach.”
He let out a bitter laugh and said, “I must look so weak. But you are my Achilles’ heel, and there’s no escaping it for me. Even though I know you dislike me, I can’t stop myself from wanting to be near you.”
He added, “I thought I could quietly stand in the background of your life, but seeing you today made me realize that’s not enough. I want to stand by your side, to give you the embrace and support you need.”
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