Don't contact me again.
On April Fool's Day, the March wind, still carrying the lingering tail of winter, came in through the gaps in the classroom windows, making people's hands feel cold.
The classroom was noisy during breaks, filled with scams like "your shoelaces are undone" and "the head teacher wants you to go to the office," followed by laughter and beatings after the scams succeeded.
During recess, Lulu slipped in from the back door of our classroom and handed me a lollipop.
She had her hair tied up in a neat ponytail today, but a few strands of hair were sticking out unruly in front of her forehead, which was obviously the result of waking up late in the morning.
"What are you daydreaming about?" She poked my arm and sat down in the empty seat in front of me.
I was gazing out the window at the bare branches of the camphor tree when a mischievous thought suddenly struck me. I turned around and said seriously, "You know what? Someone was looking for you just now."
"Who is it?" She was casually unwrapping another lollipop without even raising her eyelids.
I winked at her and lowered my voice, "Who else could it be? That guy."
What I wanted to talk about was a boy in the physics competition class that she has been talking about recently.
But she suddenly stopped unwrapping the candy wrapper, looked up, and looked at my fake serious expression. Her voice was inexplicably hoarse: "...Cheng Yu'an?"
I was stunned when I heard Cheng Yu'an's name unexpectedly.
Ever since that unpleasant reunion in our second year of high school, this name has almost become a taboo between us.
I watched her lips tighten instantly, and my heart skipped a beat, but the April Fool's Day show had already begun, so I could only bite the bullet and continue, "Yeah, it's him."
Lulu stood up suddenly, "Where is he?"
Her voice suddenly rose, attracting the attention of several classmates around her.
"Lulu..." I laughed dryly twice, and suddenly realized that the joke was a bit too much.
"Didn't he say not to contact me anymore? Why is he still looking for me?"
I saw her eyes turn red at a speed visible to the naked eye.
My heart tightened, and I hurried to explain.
"I'm sorry, Lulu! Today is April Fool's Day. I lied to you. Cheng Yu'an didn't come." I stood up hurriedly and reached out to pull her.
The noisy sounds in the classroom suddenly became very far away, and I could only see her slowly loosening her fingers and her eyes quickly turning red.
At that moment, I realized that the name Cheng Yu'an had never been a taboo that could be joked about in her heart.
Lulu turned around abruptly and wiped the corner of her eyes with the sleeve of her school uniform. "Class is almost time. I'll go home first."
"Lulu!" I chased her to the door, only to see her disappear at the door of Class 1.
At noon in the cafeteria, I looked around with my tray but couldn't find Lulu.
Seeing that I was distracted, Jiang Yuanzhou came over and whispered, "Don't look for her anymore. She asked for leave from her teacher during the third period, saying she wasn't feeling well, and went straight home."
My stomach suddenly tightened, and the sweet and sour pork ribs on the plate lost their appeal.
As soon as the school bell rang, I went straight to Lulu's house.
Aunt Zhou opened the door for me, her expression somewhat worried, and she pointed towards the inner room. "You hid in your room as soon as you came back, and you didn't even eat."
I tiptoed over and pushed open her half-open door.
There was no light in the room, and dusk seeped in through the gaps in the curtains.
Lulu sat at the desk with her back to the door, her shoulders slightly heaving.
Her schoolbag was thrown casually on the sofa beside the bed.
"Lulu..." I stood at the door with my throat tight.
Hearing my voice, she hurriedly wiped her face with the sleeve of her school uniform and forced a smile, "Why are you here?"
"I'm sorry..." I moved to the edge of the bed and sat down. Looking at her red and swollen eyes, I felt very uncomfortable. "I shouldn't have made such a joke. I..."
Lulu shook her head and interrupted me, "It's okay, I don't blame you."
She lowered her head and said, "This is between the two of us."
She didn't say anything else.
There was a photo album on the desk, with the pages curled up.
I caught a glimpse of a yellowed photo. It was of Cheng Yu'an and Lulu when they were little. They were squatting in a sandpit building a castle, and Lulu had a plastic hairpin that Cheng Yu'an had given her pinned crookedly on her head.
At that time, Cheng Yu'an could still smile, with his eyes curved into crescents.
"Actually, I knew he wouldn't come to see me." Lulu closed the album, "But the moment I heard his name, I couldn't help myself..."
"Niannian, there's something I haven't told you." She smiled bitterly. "During the Chinese New Year last year, I went to see Cheng Yu'an. He was at Uncle Cheng's house."
I was stunned.
She never mentioned this incident.
"Uncle Cheng wasn't home. His stepmother opened the door and said impatiently that Cheng Yu'an wasn't at home. I had already turned around to leave when I ran into him at the stairs."
Lulu's eyes were a little vague.
"When he saw his stepmother's attitude, his eyes suddenly became fierce. He pulled me behind him and said to the woman, 'You are not allowed to treat my friend like this.'"
Lulu's voice trembled slightly. "At that moment, I seemed to see Cheng Yu'an as a child again."
She sniffled and I patted her back. "And then?"
"He pulled me to a bench in the neighborhood, and we sat there from the afternoon until dark. I talked a lot, about how we played together when we were little, how we did homework together, and how we missed him after he left..."
Lulu's voice became increasingly low. "He just listened quietly, without interruption or response. He didn't stand up until it was completely dark and the streetlights came on one by one. Then he said, 'Don't contact me again.'"
"What makes me sad is not the sentence itself,"
Lulu's voice choked. "It's the expression on his face when he said that. It was so calm, as if the ten years of love between us were just a game that could be easily erased."
"I watched him walk away, and that's when I realized that some people are destined to be missed."
"So you see," she turned to me, her eyes still misty, "I'm not mad at you for joking, I'm just... mad at myself. Angry at myself for why, even now, when I hear his name, my heart still skips a beat, like a conditioned reflex."
At night, I tossed and turned in bed but couldn't fall asleep.
I took out the phone from under the pillow and sent a text message to Jiang Yuanzhou, "It's over, the April Fool's Day joke went too far and made Lulu cry.
After the message was sent, the phone screen went dark and there was no vibration of a reply, like a stone falling into the ocean.
I stared at the blurry ceiling in the darkness, feeling a surge of anxiety in my heart.
When dealing with the tenderness and pain in other people's hearts, we must always be extremely respectful and cautious.
There are some lines that should never be crossed, even on April Fools' Day.
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