Confession to You in Early Summer (GL) - Chapter 12
We only sat down and said a few words, and the time was already almost up?
Yan Wei thought Jiang Youyi was unwilling to talk about her family and wanted to end the topic she had just brought up.
She felt a slight regret at not being able to persuade Jiang Youyi to return to school, as her tentative inquiries about Jiang Youyi’s attitude had met with obvious resistance.
Yan Wei didn’t want to insist further. The friendship she and Jiang Youyi had finally managed to slightly repair couldn’t withstand too much intense turmoil, so she had to go along with Jiang Youyi’s wishes and say, “Okay, if that’s the case, we’ll go back first.”
There would be plenty of time in the future to take things slowly.
Zhou Xiaoxiao took the lead in picking up her bag and standing up. Zhang Yutong reluctantly swallowed the taro balls in two bites, and the three of them left the dessert shop with Yan Wei, taking the escalator downstairs.
Jiang Youyi accompanied Yan Wei to hail a taxi downstairs. Yan Wei avoided Zhou Xiaoxiao and Zhang Yutong and quietly asked Jiang Youyi again, “Are you really unwilling to go back to school with us? Are you going to spend the night at the internet cafe?”
“Why are you suddenly concerned about this? Isn’t one place the same as another?” Jiang Youyi looked puzzled, putting her hands in her trouser pockets. “I’ll go home later.”
Yan Wei was also suddenly taken aback by Jiang Youyi’s question. She had been so anxious, as if she knew Jiang Youyi’s family relationships were unpleasant, but in fact, Jiang Youyi had never talked to her about her family situation. She only found out later from the diary that Jiang Youyi’s father was a complete scumbag.
Continuing like this would likely make Jiang Youyi suspicious. Yan Wei thought that although Jiang Youyi’s family was not harmonious, the situation truly deteriorated during the summer vacation this year when Jiang’s father’s invested company had problems and lost a large sum of money, leading to Jiang’s father’s scumbag nature being completely exposed.
It was only April now, so there shouldn’t be much of a problem with Jiang Youyi staying at home.
Yan Wei didn’t persuade her anymore. Zhou Xiaoxiao hailed a taxi and waved for Yan Wei to come over. Jiang Youyi saw Yan Wei into the car and suddenly turned to Zhou Xiaoxiao in the back seat. “Save my number, and send me a message when you arrive.”
Zhou Xiaoxiao looked surprised and took two seconds before fumbling for her phone, saving the string of numbers Jiang Youyi recited.
Yan Wei drew a few strokes in her palm. Jiang Youyi looked back at her, and she happened to finish her gestures, closing her five fingers into a loose fist, looking as if she was holding something in her palm.
“Be careful on your way.” Jiang Youyi closed the car door for Yan Wei, her hand resting on the car window as she spoke, her gaze on Yan Wei.
The driver started the engine, and the car body vibrated. Jiang Youyi took two steps back, put her hands in her pockets again, and the evening breeze blew her bangs. The dim yellow light of the streetlights shone on her, casting a lonely shadow behind her.
The zipper of her school uniform jacket only went up to her chest. Yan Wei saw a light orange T-shirt showing beneath Jiang Youyi’s collar.
The car drove onto the road, and Jiang Youyi’s figure receded in Yan Wei’s vision, overlapping with the mall’s entrance.
The bald guy in the black leather vest led two “sha ma te” (a Chinese subculture known for their outlandish hairstyles and fashion) out of the mall. Seeing Jiang Youyi standing by the roadside from afar, he yelled at his companions and rushed towards her.
The car hadn’t gone far when Yan Wei saw this scene, scared out of her wits.
“Stop the car!” Yan Wei suddenly shouted, pounding on the car window.
The driver was startled and instinctively slammed on the brakes. Before the car even stopped, Yan Wei violently pushed open the car door and jumped out, leaving behind the driver’s curses and Zhou Xiaoxiao’s exclamations of surprise.
Yan Wei took off running wildly on the road. Several cars brushed past her within a few dozen meters. Drivers cursed and swerved their steering wheels, and the tires screeched against the ground.
Jiang Youyi hadn’t expected Yan Wei to jump out of the car.
She had heard the shouts of Hu Hao and his gang and had already guessed they had bad intentions.
She and Hu Hao had disliked each other for more than just a day or two; it was bound to erupt sooner or later. Today’s argument was just a spark splashed on a pot of oil.
She had already prepared to fight them.
Yan Wei rushed out of the chaotic traffic like this, and before Hu Hao reached the scene, she grabbed Jiang Youyi’s arm and pulled her forward, running through the speeding cars, forcefully shoving her into the back seat of the taxi.
The car door slammed shut, isolating the noise of the street and the clamor of the entire world, leaving only the sound of their two heartbeats.
The driver also saw the delinquent youth chasing after them in the rearview mirror. The reprimand that had reached his lips suddenly died down, turning into, “Everyone hold on tight!”
The taxi quickly started and merged into the traffic. In the rearview mirror, Hu Hao angrily kicked over a roadside trash can and was chased down the street by a sanitation worker who witnessed it.
“My arm is almost bruised from your grip.”
Jiang Youyi sat between Zhou Xiaoxiao and Yan Wei. Five minutes had passed since Yan Wei had shoved her into the car. Yan Wei had been tightly gripping her arm the whole time, showing no intention of letting go.
Yan Wei’s forehead was pressed against Jiang Youyi’s shoulder. Her rapid breathing had long since calmed down, but she still wouldn’t lift her head.
As soon as Jiang Youyi spoke, Yan Wei released her hand and quickly turned her face away.
Warm water droplets fell on the back of Jiang Youyi’s hand as Yan Wei turned her head, burning her fingers and causing them to twitch.
Jiang Youyi thought Yan Wei was angry, but she didn’t expect her to be crying.
There were clearly five people in the car, but they seemed to be separated from the others in two different worlds. Jiang Youyi saw Yan Wei’s wet eyelids when she turned her face away, and suddenly couldn’t say a word.
Zhou Xiaoxiao hesitated and broke the silence softly, “Are you… alright?”
Jiang Youyi shook her head. She was fine, but she didn’t know if Yan Wei was. She thought Yan Wei might have been frightened, but she wasn’t sure if the culprit was Hu Hao or herself.
Yan Wei didn’t speak until they got out of the car. Zhou Xiaoxiao paid the fare, and the four of them returned to school, walking along the small path in the campus towards the dorm.
It was already so late, so Jiang Youyi could only stay at school temporarily.
Zhang Yutong’s dorm was near the stairwell, while Jiang Youyi lived at the end of the corridor.
Jiang Youyi saw Yan Wei to her room. Yan Wei stood with her back against the wall and didn’t go in. Zhou Xiaoxiao tactfully pushed open the dorm door. “I’ll go wash up first.”
The corridor quieted down, and Yan Wei and Jiang Youyi stood facing each other awkwardly.
At this time, most of the students had already washed up and gone to bed, playing on their phones under the covers. Only occasionally did one or two students returning from visiting other rooms pass behind them.
“You go back, I’m fine,” Yan Wei rubbed her eyes. She hadn’t cried for long, at most five minutes. After the most turbulent phase of her emotions passed and she calmed down from the grief, she felt a somewhat indescribable awkwardness and embarrassment.
Jiang Youyi clutched the strap of her bag, hesitated for a few seconds before turning her face away and saying, “Thank you for today.” Her voice was very soft; if they hadn’t been close enough, Yan Wei almost wouldn’t have heard her.
“Aren’t you going to wash up? Xiaoxiao is out.” The student playing on her phone in the lower bunk raised her head. Yan Wei had been standing in front of the water dispenser with a glass for several minutes.
“Mm, going.” Yan Wei put down her water glass and brushed past Zhou Xiaoxiao, who had just finished brushing her teeth.
Closing the washroom door, Yan Wei leaned against the door panel and covered her face.
In her past life, Jiang Youyi’s April diary had this sentence: Someone caused trouble at the internet cafe, had a fight, my T-shirt was torn by them, damn it, the more I think about it, the angrier I get, greetings to their whole family.
That orange T-shirt was bought by Yan Wei and Jiang Youyi together during the weekend at the beginning of autumn last semester. Yan Wei also had the same style in a different color.
In Yan Wei’s memory, after they fell out, Jiang Youyi never wore that T-shirt again.
Later, after reading the diary, Yan Wei knew that the T-shirt had been damaged. Although the torn part was patched up, Jiang Youyi didn’t dare wear it out for Yan Wei to see.
She remembered it was also a weekend not long after Qingming Festival. On the day they returned to school after the break, Jiang Youyi limped back to school. When others asked, she said she had fallen.
The time matched today. The tears that Yan Wei had finally stopped seemed to wet her eyes again.
On the other side of a corridor and two dorm rooms away from Yan Wei, Jiang Youyi took out a blue diary from her bag.
A charging desk lamp was lit on the small bedside table. She opened the diary, paused at the page for March 27th, glanced at the lonely sentence on that page, and quickly flipped further back until she reached a blank page.
Jiang Youyi pressed down on the diary with her left hand and took out a signing pen from the gap beside her bed. She bit open the pen cap and quickly wrote the date, looking up.
Her pen tip paused slightly, as if thinking, and then proceeded to write hastily a few seconds later.
“One of the three great illusions in life: you think the person you like also likes you.”
“But the person you like is a straight girl.”