Baileys (Part 2)

It's been countless sunny days this summer. As usual, Sorkov pushed his stroller out the door and, after clearing his mind, found himself standing in front of the swimming pool. He reached into his bag for the pool key, but found nothing.

The gate was open.

He paused for a moment, then pushed open the door and instinctively followed his conditioned reflex to his locker in the changing room.

Then he finally realized what was happening, looked up, and in the instant his gaze focused, his eyes widened slightly involuntarily.

The cabinet door, which was originally covered with various writings, was sprayed clean with black paint, completely covering up all the previous marks. In its place was a huge thumb mark on the black cabinet door.

The murderer probably committed the crime not long ago. The crooked thumb, which looked more like a chicken claw, wasn't completely dry yet. Sorkov rubbed it casually and chuckled.

He opened the cabinet and took out the tools he had left behind: a bottle of black paint and a white marker.

"You're so lazy! Do you expect me to take out all your graffiti trash?"

Zhou Zeyu sat by the pool, looking at him with a lifeless expression. "I'll let go if I want, what do you want?"

Sorkov stared at her desperate expression for a while, wanting to gently remind her not to use such a dejected look when making threats. It made her look not only unthreatened but also inexplicably amusing.

Didn't you swear you'd never learn to swim again?

"Which eye of yours saw that I came here to swim?"

After spending these past few days together, Solkov became increasingly aware of the formidable nature of Zhou Zeyu's "plus version," and proactively avoided confronting her directly, waving his hand to indicate that he didn't want to continue arguing about this topic.

"I'm just feeling lucky."

After all, when he taught her to swim a year ago, he had the worst nosebleed of his life. The risk and reward were clearly disproportionate. Moreover, the rebellious student had become even more irritable a year later, and he dared not teach her at all.

Zhou Zeyu lay on a beach chair by the pool, put on sunglasses on her forehead in a very professional manner, and scrutinized him from head to toe with an undisguised gaze. Suddenly, her tone turned a little disappointed.

Why are you still dressed?

Sorkov knew she would say that. He put his hands on his hips and looked at her with annoyance: "Think again, who is the pervert?"

“You,” the other person blurted out without hesitation, “but if you take off your clothes immediately and without complaint in a short time, I can consider calling you a pervert with a conscience.”

Is this some kind of honor?

"Not considering it."

God knows, when Zhou Zeyu first offered to come and train with him, Solkov absolutely refused.

What's hard to admit is that in the past six months, Zhou Zeyu has not only improved her temper, but also her previously unseen thick skin. To put it simply, even Sorkov's attempts to persuade her were ineffective, because her skin was so thick that it could withstand any rejection.

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, certain that if he did, Zhou Zeyi would definitely kick him into the pool and then hold his head down tightly on the shore.

Sorkov has no immediate desire to commit suicide.

He tried to appear undisturbed by any external factors, swimming back and forth in the long lane as usual during his training. He used to use this time to daydream, but not now.

Because there was another person lying motionless on the shore, staring at him.

For some reason, after returning this time, he felt that Zhou Zeyi had changed a lot, and the one thing he noticed most easily was that she now liked to stare at him too much.

It wasn't the shy, sweet gaze between lovers. Her gaze was calm, as if she were simply watching him train, watching him swim from one end to the other and back, like an emotionless thermal imaging machine, her gaze dryly following his movements.

And on many occasions, in moments that Sorkov seemed unaware of, he would always feel the gaze behind him without realizing it.

She had no expression whatsoever, and there were no easily understood emotions such as happiness, sadness, disappointment, or anger. It was as if she simply wanted to look at him, which was why she looked at him tirelessly, completely at her own discretion, without any purpose.

He didn't mind people watching him while he was swimming, but most of the time it was his coach, a spectator during a competition, or at worst, a rival whispering on the sidelines. But that person never seemed to be Zhou Zeyu.

So it's obvious that he's not actually used to it.

Sorkov slowed down and swam to the shore, where he met Zhou Zeyu's gaze.

She wasn't surprised, nor was she embarrassed by the sudden eye contact; she readily acknowledged her gaze with a calm expression.

"Don't you have anything to say to me?"

Zhou Zeyi seemed surprised by his comment and raised an eyebrow slightly. "Of course."

He took off his swimming goggles, gazed at her quietly, and waited for her to continue.

Zhou Zeyu, however, remained expressionless. She pursed her lips, forced a mocking smile, and then spoke, deliberately elongating the end of each word.

Sorkov froze, and before he could react to those words, the other person covered their mouth and laughed, "Is this what you wanted to hear?"

She started giving irrelevant answers again. Zhou Zeyi knew that this wasn't what he wanted to hear, but she was becoming more and more cunning and adept at dodging questions, habitually using plausible words to stifle his curiosity.

He suppressed the urge to sigh. Although these past few days felt like a dream, the only reality was that he noticed he was sighing more and more often each day.

It seems there's no other way but to accept it.

"So you don't have anything to say to me?"

Sorkov paused, glancing back at her, but didn't answer her question.

Perhaps to some extent, he is not qualified to criticize Zhou Zeyi, because they are both equally dishonest.

He also knew that Zhou Zeyu was waiting for him to tell him everything, such as the hurtful words on the locker in the locker room, the overwhelming reports on the streets, and his own choice regarding this matter.

But from another perspective, wasn't he also waiting for Zhou Zeyi to be honest first, wanting to know what had happened in the past six months, why her changes were so drastic, and why she still couldn't help but shed tears?

How can two people who are unwilling to tell the truth first truly get close to each other?

Sorkov did not insist on continuing training. He leaned against the tiles by the pool, half-turned, and calmly gazed at the stadium gate in the distance, lost in thought.

You've changed a lot.

Zhou Zeyu hummed in agreement, but offered no further explanation.

"What exactly happened?"

"a lot of."

"A lot of what?"

"Many bad things."

Sorkov gave up on asking further questions. Zhou Zeyu insisted that she did not want him to know what had happened in the past six months, and he was not so powerful as to be able to see into her heart.

People always seem to unconsciously ask for too much. When she left, all he wanted was to see her again. Now that she's back, and has given him more than he could have imagined, he's still pursuing her trust and honesty.

"And what about you? What's been going on with you lately?" she said. "I heard Erik said that half the country is after you. What heinous thing have you done?"

Judging from how far this matter had escalated, she definitely knew what had happened. Solkov chuckled softly but didn't answer. Anyway, she knew perfectly well what was going on; she was just pretending to know.

“Perhaps I’m a traitor,” he said calmly. “I’m about to become the most notorious spy on earth.”

"Congratulations."

He grunted, bumped fists with her from a distance, adjusted his swimming cap and goggles, and plunged into the water.

However, during a brief pause for air, Sorkov suddenly heard voices coming from the shore. He instinctively stopped and looked back. Zhou Zeyu was still lying there lazily, with three boys who looked like they had just arrived standing beside him. The boys seemed to be talking excitedly.

As if sensing his worried gaze, Zhou Zeyu's eyes met his for a brief moment, and she smiled slightly, indicating that he should swim his own way and not worry about her.

Solkov shook his head helplessly at her, said nothing, but also stopped swimming, listening to their conversation from a distance that was neither too close nor too far.

"I told you long ago...stay away..."

"...Beware of scammers."

"Don't be fooled..."

The voices of the three men reached his ears somewhat indistinctly. He squinted and recognized them as people from the swimming team, but he really didn't remember them. In any case, almost everyone on the swimming team except him was useless, otherwise he wouldn't be so bad as to not remember a single person's name.

Zhou Zeyu maintained a calm and indifferent smile throughout, seemingly watching the three people talk with great patience. He would nod occasionally, responding with phrases like "Really?", "Oh my god," and "I knew it." He appeared very calm and showed no signs of agitation.

As the three men spoke passionately, getting more and more animated, Zhou Zeyu laughed repeatedly. In the end, he even yawned, slowly stood up from his chair, and listened quietly with his arms crossed.

that's all?

Of course, it's not just that.

"Ah," Sorkov finally heard Zhou Zeyu's voice clearly. She stood there, belatedly nodding, and deliberately amplified her voice, which even echoed faintly in the empty hall. "So that's how it is."

"So that's why you wrote those words on the cabinet, right?"

Her expression remained calm; she shrugged as if it didn't matter, and even nodded understandingly. "If he really is that kind of person, then it's not hard to understand."

The three nodded in agreement, their faces showing deep satisfaction, and they gloated at having won over yet another opponent.

"God knows how many girls like you he's fooled. It's so good that you understand that."

Zhou Zeyu suddenly smiled strangely, nodded very slowly as if deep in thought, and then glanced menacingly in the direction of Solkov between answers.

"Oh, thank you so much."

She lowered her head slightly, revealing a shy smile, "God knows how much I regret it."

The three men let out a series of grating laughs. "It's not too late to regret it now. At least you've seen through his true character, haven't you?"

"Huh?" Zhou Zeyu looked up, somewhat confused. "Are you all misunderstanding something? I'm not regretting meeting him."

"What?"

She approached the three silently, still calmly crossing her arms. "What I mean is, I regret wasting these four minutes here, you bunch of fools who believe everything they hear and take pride in despicable tricks."

Sorkov shrugged, already guessing what would happen next, and turned away without watching any further.

Three loud splashes as the object fell into the water, followed by the suspect leaving the crime scene without looking back.