Unbearable - Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Some People Are Born Without a Home

The car stopped outside the residential compound. Yu Wei opened the car door and stepped out. Just as she was about to walk to the other side, the car door opened from within.

Yu Wei slowly got out, eyes lowered, and held out her hand to Yu Wei.

Her fingers were slender and delicate, stubbornly suspended in the air.

Yu Wei took the backpack slung over her shoulder and placed it into her hand.

Yu Wei didn’t sling it over her shoulder—she just hugged it tightly to her chest. Her school jacket folded inward, wrapping around the bag tightly. She still looked smaller than the bag itself.

Yu Wei held out her hand toward her.

Yu Wei took a step back and said softly, her voice drifting in the wind, “You go first.”

She didn’t look like someone drunk. Though her voice was weak and dragging at the end, she stood steadily under the faint streetlamp—no sign of swaying. She simply lowered her neck slightly, beautiful like a painting.

Yu Wei hesitated for a moment, then took a few steps forward before turning back.

In the old villa district, only two or three dim streetlamps lit up her slow, hesitant steps and the long shadow of her solitude.

A lock of her white hair slipped out of her collar and was scattered by the wind. Yu Wei’s eyes were half-closed and misty, her eyelashes like scattered snow, hiding her expression.

Sensing the gaze falling on her, she stopped and looked back through her glasses in confusion.

Yu Wei frowned and looked away.

She pushed open the iron gate outside the courtyard. When she turned back, she saw Yu Wei curled up on the flowerbed across the street, hugging her knees and quietly watching the house.

“What are you doing sitting there?”

Yu Wei walked over and saw that she was actually staring at the house. The light from the window spilled faintly onto the lawn, recently trimmed just two days ago.

But it didn’t reach this little corner across the courtyard and road.

Yu Wei didn’t speak. Her arms wrapped around her knees as she stared longingly at the glow inside the house.

The flowerbed was a mess, with weeds growing as tall as the rose bushes. Hidden insects chirped from within.

This summer was chaotic.

Yu Wei asked, “Are they good to you?”

Yu Wei was stunned. “Who?”

“…Your mom and dad,” Yu Wei said quietly.

“They’re good,” Yu Wei replied.

Yu Wei lowered her eyes. “That’s good.”

After saying that, she sat for a while longer, then pushed herself up from the flowerbed and avoided Yu Wei’s outstretched hand.

As they brushed past each other, Yu Wei noticed a hint of redness at the corner of her eyes.

Yu Wei didn’t say another word and walked straight into the house. She crouched to change her shoes at the door, stumbled a bit as she stood up, steadied herself against the cabinet for a while, and then slowly made her way up the stairs, hugging her bag.

Yu Wei followed behind her.

Ding Qing came out from the study next to the stairs and stopped beside them. She smiled at Yu Wei. “Out having dinner with classmates?”

She had received a message from Li Yu, saying Yu Wei had taken Yu Wei out to dinner and wouldn’t need to be picked up.

Not being home on time made Ding Qing anxious, but she knew that forcing Yu Wei to transfer had already caused a lot of resistance. Going out to socialize meant she was beginning to accept her new reality.

She could understand Yu Wei’s defiance and rejection, but in her eyes, acceptance was inevitable—just a matter of time.

The main lights in the living room weren’t on—only a strip of soft yellow ambient lighting, casting everything in a gentle glow.

Yu Wei was silent for a few seconds, her gaze falling on Yu Wei.

Ding Qing sniffed slightly. “Did you two drink?”

Her eyes swept over Yu Wei, then lightly glanced at Yu Wei before returning.

The smell of barbeque and beer had mostly dissipated in the breeze. Yu Wei had kept a distance from Yu Wei the entire time, so not much of it lingered on her.

“Girls should avoid drinking outside, especially at your age. It seems improper and can lead others to look down on you,” Ding Qing said. Her tone wasn’t stern—almost gentle—like a mother giving careful advice to a soon-to-be adult daughter.

Yu Wei’s back stiffened. The foot she had placed on the step retracted, and she stood still, head bowed.

Her face was half-turned toward Ding Qing, showing the tip of her lowered eye.

Ding Qing looked at her and added, “Take your sister out more often when you have time. Make more friends.”

Yu Wei’s shoulders collapsed in an instant. After a long pause, she nodded slightly. “Okay.”

“It’s getting late,” Yu Wei frowned.

“Rest early,” Yu Wei said softly, her voice barely audible with a hint of nasal congestion.

Still hugging her schoolbag, she used her other hand to brace against the wall, staggering slowly along the wall upward. As her steps triggered the sensor lights upstairs, they poured down from above, landing on the snowy white crown of her head.

Yu Wei frowned tightly and quickly caught up, reaching her side and holding her up.

Yu Wei instinctively flinched, pressing herself almost completely against the wall.

Yu Wei took the backpack from her arms and slung it over her own shoulder. Then she grabbed Yu Wei’s arm and forced it over her shoulder.

“Don’t move,” she said quietly.

Yu Wei didn’t respond or resist, letting herself be half-carried up the stairs.

The cuff of her sleeve slid back, exposing a slender white wrist. Her stiff fingers pressed against Yu Wei’s shoulder, wrinkling the collar of her shirt.

Yu Wei glanced sideways and saw faint tears glistening in her reddened eyes.

As they turned the spiral staircase and moved out of sight from the ground floor, Yu Wei gently pushed her away and whispered, “Thank you.”

She kept her head lowered, voice calm.

After returning to her room, she sat dazedly on her bed for a long time.

She didn’t know how much time passed before there were two light knocks at the door.

Yu Wei looked up. A sliver of light passed beneath the door, interrupted by the silhouette of someone standing outside.

Yu Wei asked, “Are you asleep?”

Yu Wei shook her head. Then after a pause, staring at the shadow, she softly said, “No.”

Yu Wei unlocked the door and stepped inside.

She didn’t turn on the light. The curtains across the room were drawn, leaving the room in near-total darkness. Only a soft stream of hallway light crept in behind her as the door opened.

This was Yu Wei’s first time in her room—her first time seeing it. Bathed in dim lighting, she held out a glass of water.

Yu Wei lowered her eyes but didn’t reach out.

They were close—so close she could see the outline of her hand and hear the gentle tone in Yu Wei’s voice, soft and dreamlike.

“It’s just plain water.”

After a while, just as Yu Wei was about to put the glass down, Yu Wei took it, holding it with both hands and sipping it slowly.

The shadow cast by the doorframe stretched across her face, silent and still.

Yu Wei walked to the door, then turned back. “Do you want me to turn the light on?”

“I’m sorry.”

Two voices overlapped.

Yu Wei frowned. “What?”

The faint light cast shadows on Yu Wei’s trembling eyelashes, pale to the point of being almost translucent.

Holding the water glass, she licked her lips. “I didn’t mean to stay here.”

“What are you talking about?” Yu Wei asked, turning to look at her. “This is your home.”

Yu Wei said nothing.

She sat on the edge of the bed, lowering the cup onto her lap.

After a while, she looked up. That weak beam of light from outside caught in her pale-pink eyes like a sunset cloud covered in gray.

She looked at Yu Wei and shook her head.

Click—

The lights came on.

Yu Wei flinched, squeezing her eyes shut.

Yu Wei walked over and took the glass from her. Her voice was cool, tinged with exasperation. “Say something.”

Yu Wei tilted her head toward her, lips tightly pressed together.

Yu Wei was speechless. She’d thought some things didn’t need to be said. Their situations weren’t so different, after all.

She hadn’t expected the contrast to be this wide.

“We actually…”

Yu Wei’s words trailed off. She sighed. “Why are you crying?”

Yu Wei only just noticed the wetness on her cheeks.

She panicked, quickly lowering her head and removing her glasses, using her fingers to gently wipe them. “I’m not. The light’s just too bright.”

Yu Wei looked up at the flickering old ceiling light.

Yu Wei lowered her head even more, overwhelmed with embarrassment and shame. Why was she crying? She hadn’t cried in so, so long.

“…My leg just hurts.”

Then she realized a bit too late—no, her leg injury had already healed.

Flimsy excuses, full of holes.

Yu Wei bit her lip. “I’m going to sleep.”

Yu Wei pulled over the desk chair, sat down in front of her, grabbed a bottle of medicated oil from the nightstand, and lifted Yu Wei’s leg onto her lap.

Her movements were fluid and practiced.

Yu Wei blinked in confusion, her leg tightly held in Yu Wei’s hands.

She tried to pull it back, but it didn’t budge. “I… I didn’t—”

Yu Wei opened the bottle and poured some oil into her palm. While rubbing it between her hands, she glanced at Yu Wei.

Yu Wei covered her face with her hands.

She was good at retreating—like a snail with a shell. Once her feelers bumped into a wall, she pulled them right back in.

The wound had scabbed but hadn’t completely healed. The swelling had gone down, but there was still bruising. Yu Wei’s warm hands spread the oil and gently massaged it in.

Yu Wei’s toes curled. It took a long time for her to finally exhale.

“Cheng Miao said there’s something weird about us,” she murmured, lowering her hands. She looked down at Yu Wei applying the medicine. “I told her we weren’t close. We don’t even talk.”

Yu Wei pursed her lips.

The room was filled with the strong scent of herbal ointment.

The pain in her ankle turned into a warm soothing sensation. Yu Wei felt sleepy. The alcohol and the heat of her bl00d made her dizzy. “Some people even think I’m your fan, like Cheng Miao.”

Yu Wei said blandly, “You’re not.”

She always glanced over quickly, or stared blankly, caught in the act.

At first, Yu Wei thought she was sneaking peeks—until just a few days ago, she realized: without glasses, Yu Wei couldn’t see anything at all.

“…Then what are we?” Yu Wei asked.

Yu Wei looked up and met her misty pink eyes.

She lowered her head, pulled a wet wipe from the nightstand, and began wiping her hands.

Yu Wei retracted her leg and curled up, pulling a corner of the blanket around her.

Her voice came muffled through the blanket. “I’m going to sleep.”

Yu Wei pushed the chair back, stood beside the bed, and stared at the small figure under the covers.

After a while, she said, “We’re already friends. You were the one who accepted my friend request, remember?”

Yu Wei’s voice came back with a weak choke. “Didn’t you say you wanted to settle the score and be done with me?”

“???”

Yu Wei: “…When did I ever say that?”

She had no idea such a thing even happened.

The person under the covers shifted.

Yu Wei’s phone buzzed in her pocket.

She pulled it out.

[Transfer: ¥1000.]