sudden rain
On the day when the monthly exam results came out, the sky was very gloomy, as if a heavy rain was brewing.
Shen Yu's name remained at the top, while Jiang Yizhou's had surprisingly appeared in the middle. This improvement was enough to surprise the teacher. Shen Yu looked at the report card and breathed a sigh of relief, a smile playing on his face.
He wanted to say something to Jiang Yizhou, even just a glance.
But he didn't see Jiang Yizhou the whole day.
The seat at the back table was empty all morning. When he went to the cafeteria at noon, he didn't see that familiar figure either. Chen Yu's heart sank little by little, as if being weighed down by something, and an inexplicable uneasiness began to spread.
During the last class of the afternoon, raindrops finally began to fall, clattering against the windows and quickly forming a continuous curtain of rain. The teacher's voice at the podium grew dim, but Chen Yu's gaze could not help but drift out the window, to the seat that remained empty.
When the school bell rang, the rain hadn't let up at all. Chen Yu packed his schoolbag slowly, his anxiety rising like a tide. He took out his phone, hesitated for a long time, and finally sent a message to Jiang Yizhou: "Where are you?"
The message was sent, but fell on deaf ears.
Chen Yu, holding his schoolbag, stood under the eaves at the entrance of the teaching building, watching the heavy rain, feeling empty inside. He didn't know what happened to Jiang Yizhou, was he sick, or...
Just then, he saw a few familiar figures on the edge of the playground not far away. They were the boys who used to hang out with Jiang Yizhou. One of them, with dyed yellow hair, was grabbing another's collar roughly.
The person being grabbed was wearing a familiar white T-shirt and had an upright figure. Even with his head lowered, Shen Yu recognized him at a glance - it was Jiang Yizhou.
Chen Yu's heart suddenly shrank, and he almost wanted to rush over immediately, but his feet seemed to be nailed to the ground, unable to move. He saw the yellow-haired boy push Jiang Yizhou. Jiang Yizhou staggered, but did not fight back. He just lowered his head, and it was unclear what he was saying.
The rain was so heavy that he couldn't hear what they were arguing about. He could only see that Huangmao's expression was very excited. He was talking and gesticulating, pointing at Jiang Yizhou from time to time, his tone full of anger.
Chen Yu's fingers tightly gripped the straps of his schoolbag, his knuckles turning white and his palms covered in cold sweat. He couldn't understand how Jiang Yizhou, such a proud man, could allow others to push him like this without fighting back.
After a while, Huangmao seemed tired of scolding. He glared at Jiang Yizhou fiercely, turned around and left with the others, leaving Jiang Yizhou alone in the rain.
Jiang Yizhou was still standing there, his back to Chen Yu. The rain had soaked his T-shirt through and it clung to his body, outlining his frail figure. He stood there motionless, like an abandoned sculpture, looking particularly lonely in the pouring rain.
Shen Yu couldn't bear it any longer, opened the umbrella and rushed into the rain.
"Jiang Yizhou!" He ran to Jiang Yizhou and held the umbrella over his head, his voice trembling with nervousness, "What's wrong with you? Why are they..."
Jiang Yizhou slowly turned around.
Shen Yu’s words got stuck in his throat.
There was a noticeable bruise on Jiang Yizhou's face, and the corner of his mouth was broken and oozing with blood, clearly from a beating. His eyes were red, not from the rain, but from something else, surging with emotions that Chen Yu couldn't understand: anger, disappointment, and a hint of... determination.
"Why are you here?" Jiang Yizhou's voice was hoarse, as if it had been sandpapered, and a little distant.
"I'm worried about you." Chen Yu looked at the wound on his face and felt very distressed. She reached out to touch it, but Jiang Yizhou dodged her.
Jiang Yizhou took a step back, out of the range of the umbrella, letting the rain hit his face, completely separating him from Shen Yu. "Don't come to me again..."
Chen Yu was stunned, as if struck by thunder, his mind went blank. "What did you say?"
"I say, let's call it a day." Jiang Yizhou's voice was cold, as cold as the late autumn rain. "I was just joking before, don't take it seriously."
"Just kidding?" Chen Yu's voice trembled violently, and his eyes instantly turned red. "Jiang Yizhou, look at me! What do you mean by that? What we did before... was all just a joke?"
Jiang Yizhou didn't look at him, his gaze fixed on the rain in the distance. His voice was as hard as stone: "What else? Do you really think I would like someone like you..." He paused, as if trying to find the most hurtful words, "Someone like you who is gloomy and withdrawn? Being with you is just a novelty."
Every word was like an icicle, piercing Shen Yu's heart.
He looked at Jiang Yizhou's indifferent profile and the wound on his face, and suddenly remembered the look on Huangmao's face when he pointed at him just now. He felt like something was grabbing his heart, and it hurt so much that he couldn't breathe.
Was it because of them? Was it because those people knew about their affairs and used this to threaten Jiang Yizhou?
"Did they force you to do this?" Chen Yu grabbed his arm, raindrops running down his cheeks, and he couldn't tell if it was rain or tears. "Jiang Yizhou, tell me, were they..."
"No." Jiang Yizhou shook his hand away violently, with such force that Chen Yu stumbled and dropped his umbrella. "Don't be so self-indulgent, Chen Yu. I'm just like that. I'm just joking. You don't take it seriously, do you?"
There was mockery in his eyes, like a sharp knife, cutting the last bit of hope in Shen Yu's heart into pieces.
Chen Yu stood in the rain, looking at the familiar yet strange person in front of him. He felt cold all over, as if he was frozen from the inside out. He opened his mouth, but found that he could not say anything. He could only let his tears flow down with the rain.
Jiang Yizhou watched him cry, his eyes flickering for a moment, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he just gritted his teeth, turned around and left. His back was resolute, without any trace of nostalgia, and he soon disappeared in the vast rain.
Chen Yu was still standing there, the rain soaking his hair and clothes, making him shiver with cold. He picked up the umbrella that had fallen to the ground, but he could no longer hold it up, and could only let himself be swallowed by the heavy rain.
The tree in my heart that had finally sprouted branches and leaves seemed to have been completely wilted by this sudden downpour at this moment, with its branches and leaves turning yellow and crumbling.
He didn't believe what Jiang Yizhou said, but he had to face his resolute back.
This rain seemed to wash away all the warmth and sweetness between them, leaving only the mess and biting cold.
Chen Yu didn't know that after he turned and left, Jiang Yizhou hid behind a tree on the street corner, looking at his lonely back, his fists clenched tightly, his nails dug deep into his palms, blood flowed out, mixed with rain, and dripped onto the cold ground.
The indifference on his face had long since vanished, leaving only intense pain and struggle, and an unspoken word that dissipated in the wind and rain:
wait for me.
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