Chapter 136: The second time is still so beautiful
Suyang opened his mouth and grinned. “I do remember… you fainted that time! Thinking back, be honest …were you secretly crushing on me all along and fainted because you were too overly stimulated by our date?”
“Pssh.. in your dreams!” I rolled my eyes at Suyang. Then, I grabbed his collar. “What about you, huh? Why did you decide to write a love novel out of nowhere? Then later on, you gave up so easily… you were the one with ulterior motives, right? Tell the truth! Was it because you wanted to date me, so you used the novel as an excuse to get me on a date?”
“Yup.” Suyang casually replied.
I felt a bit awkward but I couldn’t help but giggle. Ultimately, I had to cover my face and pretend to be shy. I punched Suyang lightly on the shoulder. “Oh you… how could you admit it so quickly! I am shy, you know?”
I was positive that Suyang shivered after hearing my words. He was staring and muttering at the ceiling. “Did you lose your IQ after you switched souls? How could you become so foolish and naive all of a sudden? Goldfish, you must conduct yourself well. Don’t take a wrong step in life…”
“What did you say?” I threw away my fried chicken thigh and aggressively pinched Suyang’s face.
“Yo! Yo!” Suyang was yelling. (tl: He’s saying “oil” in Mandarin. The pinyin is you but the u is silent so it sounds like yo)
“What yo yo! I can say check it out!!! Are you going to keep smiling so mischievously?” I demanded.
“Hahaha! I’m talking about the oil on your hand! The oil! Cooking oil! Soya bean oil! Peanut oil!?!”
It was then I realized I had touched Suyang’s face without wiping my hands first. Now, his face was all shiny and greasy. It was like he hadn’t washed his face in 20 years.
“Let’s not play around and talk about something serious. I want to continue our 24 hour date!” I helped Suyang wipe the oil on his face as I suggested.
“We’re already a couple. We can go on a date whenever we want!” Suyang smoothly laid down on my leg and closed his eyes in a satisfied manner.
“No, I’m talking about the continuation of our date from that day. It makes me sad to know we never finished it.” I whined to Suyang. Although whining never worked in the past, I wasn’t the type to give up so easily!
Suyang mocked, “You have an injured arm, Warrior Yang. Where would you like to go?”
Since Suyang said I was Warrior Yang, I will act like Warrior Yang. “Gugu, please give permission to Guo’er! These past few days, Guo’er has been home and will turn moldy soon! At this rate, Guo’er will have feathers growing and become a bird!” I made a sullen face to try to gain Suyang’s pity.
“Then where do you want to go? It’s so cold… today, the weather is below 0 celcius…”
“I want to go to the beach; the same place where we went last time.”
“But it’s so cold to go to the waters now! Are you sure you can handle it?” Suyang asked out of concern.
I nodded my head like mad. “It’s fine! I want to go! Take me!”
Suyang lowered his head to think about it. He didn’t completely agree but he couldn’t deal with my whining. “Alright then. We’ll go to the beach. Change your clothes. We’ll go now!”
“Yeah!” I raised my hand in the air. I was still holding onto the tissue that I used to help Suyang wipe his face. Then, I ruthlessly shoved him off me as I hopped to my room to change.
“Wash your hands first!” Hearing Suyang’s command, I took an emergency turn and dragged my injured arm as I went to wash my hands. Then, I changed into suitable clothing.
Since I knew it was freezing out, both Suyang and I wore our thickest down-filled jacket. I also had my hat, scarf, gloves and face mask in my bag just in case. With everything we were bringing, people might assume we were climbing Mount Everest instead.
We took the same route as last time. But this time, I wasn’t asleep the whole ride. Instead, I tried my best to remember everything that was passing by. This was my homeland. I never knew how much the word homeland meant until now.
After an extremely long ride through the highway, I could vaguely see the sparkling ocean from a distance. I was itching to run towards it and experience the winter beauty.
The moment Suyang parked the car in the parking lot, I ran out like a wild horse. Regardless of how many times Suyang called out, I didn’t turn around. I kept running towards the ocean. I didn’t even know why. The only thing I saw was the silver ocean and I wanted to jump right in to forget everything else. I wanted to continue running until I reached the ends of the Earth.
I used up all my strength to run and ended up slipping onto the beach. I fell down very hard.
“Goldfish?” Suyang shouted from behind me. He ran over and crouched down to help me up. “Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Hahaha! No. I am dressed in a very thick layer.” I continued laying on the sand with no intentions of getting up. I was smiling foolishly.
Eventually, I patted the sand off my palms and sat on the ground. I pressed down Suyang’s shoulders to make him sit next to me as well. Then, I placed my head against his shoulder.
“The second time is still so beautiful.” I sighed.
“The ocean looks beautiful regardless of when you see it.” Suyang placed his arm on my shoulder. “Just like you.”
Suyang’s sappiness was making me uncomfortable. “When did you learn how to say so much corny stuff? It’s giving me shivers.”
“You’re shivering because the weather is cold. Not because my words are corny.” Suyang inhaled and hugged me tighter. “Aside from watching the ocean, what else do you want to do?”
“I don’t know. I just want to be silent at this moment. I like sitting here with you. It would be nice if we can be like this forever.”
Suyang was holding me so tightly that I could barely breathe. “I think it’s also pretty good. Why don’t we come here daily then? Should we buy a house nearby? Face the ocean? Watch the seasons change?”
“You have money?” I gave Suyang a sideways glance.
“I’ve always had a lot of money.” Suyang gave me a kiss on the lips and replied like it was a matter of fact.
“Psssh!” I shook my head. Then, I looked behind Suyang and my smile vanished. “You didn’t bring the bag with you?”
“What bag?”
“Ugh…” I rolled my eyes and stood back up. “Give me your car keys. I’ll get it myself. I prepared something special!”
“Why are you trying to act mysterious?” Suyang was skeptical as he handed the car keys to me. I caught it and quickly ran back to the car to take out the polaroid from the bag.
I actually brought a box of photographic paper. Suyang and I barely had any photos together. I wanted to make use of today to take a bunch.
On my way back, I noticed Suyang was sitting alone by the shore. He looked like a picture from a magazine. His back view gave off a cold and lonely feeling. Could he sense what was going on?
I took a picture and placed it in my pocket before it had even developed. Then, I ran back like a child to show off my polaroid to Suyang.
I must say, today, my energy level was 100%. It was as if I had regressed into a child.
“This is the special item? What is it called again? Pararoid? Polaroid?” Suyang took the polaroid from my hand and began to examine it.
“Stop speaking nonsense and let’s take a selfie to see the quality!” I placed a photographic paper in the camera and then leaned against Suyang to take a picture.
Darn it, every time Suyang and I were in the picture, it turned out defective. I gave up on him and told Suyang to help me take an individual photo.
I faced Suyang. With my back against the ocean, I had my hands around my mouth as I gathered all my strength and emotions to scream, “The person with the Su surname, I love you!”
“Did you take the picture?” After yelling, I ran back to check the photo.
“I pressed it a bit late. But this is not a video camera. Why were you suddenly confessing your love to me? It makes me feel weird….”
Earlier I was the shy one. Now, it was Suyang’s turn.
“I heard that photos can also record speech. From looking at the person’s expression, you could tell what emotions they were feeling and what they wanted to express.”
After flinging the pictures for a long time, the photo was still not showing up. “Did it run out of ink or something?”
“Then let’s take another one. Go and yell, ‘I love Suyang’!”
“In your dreams! I’m not yelling anymore. I’m tired.” Then, I followed along the sandy shore and walked the other direction.
“Wait for me! Why are you walking so fast today? You’re supposed to be a patient….” Suyang mumbled behind me.
“Haha! Now you know who has short legs!” I joked. Then, I also made a face.
Suyang spread out his arms and began running towards me. I quickly avoided it as I continued running.
—–
On December 17th, the weather was unusually nice. Early morning, I silently packed all my luggage. I left something on the coffee table and departed for City B.
Ultimately, I never mentioned breaking up. I hoped that time will dilute everything and we’ll be safe and sound respectively.
I ended up burning all the pictures we took at the beach. I placed all the ashes in the metal box. On top, I left a note: Let our past be ashes. If we’re fated, perhaps one day we’ll meet again when the flowers bloom. By then, I would’ve started a new life. I hope everything goes well with you. Don’t miss me.
However, I still had the picture hidden in my pocket. It accompanied me to my destination.