Life changes
As Zhong Hua closed his laptop, the sky outside the floor-to-ceiling window had completely darkened. The glass curtain wall of the office building reflected the city's neon lights, like a shattered palette, casting a colorful and bizarre reflection onto his tired face.
He rubbed his throbbing temples, his fingertips touching a newly appeared pimple between his eyebrows. This was the third consecutive week he had stayed at the office until late at night. The coffee cups on his desk were stacked into a small tower, the brown stains on the cups resembling some kind of mysterious talisman.
"Director Zhong, this is the last signed contract." Intern Xiao Zhang stood at the door holding a folder, her voice timid and cautious.
When Zhong Hua looked up, his gaze lingered on the employee badge on the other person's chest. The young man in the photo smiled, revealing two small tiger teeth, somewhat resembling himself three years ago. Back then, he was still working on projects with the old director, always carrying mints that Ah Yu had given him in his pocket, saying they would help him stay awake when staying up late.
"Put it on the table." He looked away, his voice a little hoarse.
Xiao Zhang carefully put the documents away, then hesitated for a moment as he turned around: "Director, you should go home and rest early too. I saw your medical report from last week, and all your indicators are..."
"I understand." Zhong Hua interrupted him, her tone carrying a stiffness she herself didn't realize.
The office door closed softly, leaving only the monotonous hum of the air conditioning system. Zhong Hua stared at the medical report on the table, the name on the cover slightly wrinkled from being rubbed by his fingertips. Fatty liver, straightened cervical spine, sinus arrhythmia—these words felt like tiny needles, pricking his heart with a dull ache.
He got up and walked to the window. His phone vibrated in his suit pocket. It was a WeChat message from his mother, asking if he could come home for dinner this weekend. The moment the screen lit up, the lock screen wallpaper flashed by—it was a photo taken three years ago at the company's annual party. He was standing in the middle, with Lin Wanqing in a white dress on his left and Ah Yu, whose face was full of wrinkles from smiling, on his right.
His finger hovered above the screen, hesitant to drop it. He hadn't been home for half a year, and every time his mother called, she would always ask about Ah Yu and Wan Qing in a roundabout way.
"Xiao Zhong, you said last time that Wanqing went to Africa to do charity work? She's such a good girl."
"How's Ayu doing lately? Is she still running that photography studio?"
He always gave vague replies, and after a few words, he would hang up the phone, citing work as an excuse. It wasn't that he didn't miss them, but those names were like thorns hidden in his heart, and the slightest touch would bring forth a dense, throbbing pain.
The sound of a cleaning lady pushing her cart echoed down the corridor, the metallic scraping of metal against the floor particularly clear in the quiet night. Zhong Hua recalled that morning three years ago, in a similarly quiet corridor, when Ah Yu stood at the door of his office, carrying a black camera bag, her eyes bloodshot.
"Zhong Hua, Wanqing and I are leaving."
Where to?
"Paris."
He was organizing his visa application materials for Paris when he heard this and abruptly looked up, causing the folder to fall to the floor with a "thud." His plane tickets were for next week; he had planned to surprise them at the project's celebration party, but instead, he received this news first.
"Why so suddenly?" He remembered his voice trembling.
Ah Yu bent down to help him pick up the documents, her fingers brushing against the round-trip plane ticket. "Wanqing contacted a charity over there, and we... want to change our environment."
Later memories became somewhat hazy, only that the sunlight that day was exceptionally dazzling, and when Ah Yu's figure disappeared at the end of the corridor, it was like a painting suddenly erased. He ultimately didn't make it to Paris; the project encountered an emergency the day after the celebration banquet. He worked non-stop at the company for forty hours. When everything finally settled down, Wan Qing sent him a photo of the Seine River. Ah Yu was standing beside her, holding a camera, smiling like a child.
The phone screen went dark, revealing Zhong Hua's tired face. He took out a pack of cigarettes from the drawer, only to realize that smoking had long been banned at the company. Over the past three years, he had given up many habits: he no longer drank instant coffee from convenience stores, no longer ate mints when staying up late, and no longer spent afternoons at the photography studio in the old town on weekends.
But some habits are like ingrained marks. When passing the convenience store on the street corner, they would always subconsciously glance at the window seat, which used to be the place where the three of them spent the most time. Ah Yu always ordered tuna sandwiches, Wan Qing liked strawberry milk, and he always had a tea egg and a bottle of mineral water.
"Director Zhong?" The receptionist's voice sounded hesitantly on the phone. "The security guard downstairs said there's a package for you, it's cash on delivery."
Zhong Hua gave his address and only remembered it was his birthday when he hung up the phone. Every year, his mother would send him homemade braised beef, carefully vacuum-packed, with a handwritten note inside reminding him to smoke and drink less.
He was tidying up his desk when the package arrived. The cardboard box was much larger than in previous years. Inside, besides the familiar braised beef, was a box wrapped in blue velvet. Inside that was an old-fashioned wooden photo frame containing a yellowed photograph.
It was taken the year they graduated from university. The three of them were huddled under the ginkgo tree at the school gate. Wanqing was wearing a white dress, Ayu was squatting in front holding the camera, and he was standing in the middle, making a not-so-perfect peace sign with his right hand. There was a crease on the edge of the photo, which was accidentally crushed when they moved that year. He remembered that Ayu was heartbroken about it for several days.
A small note was pasted on the back of the photo frame, written in the mother's handwriting: "Found this last week while sorting through old things. Back then, Ayu specially printed three copies, saying that each of the three of us should have one."
Zhong Hua's fingers traced the creases on the photograph, and his eyes suddenly welled up with tears. He remembered Ah Yu's expression when she said those words; her eyes were bright and sparkling, as if filled with stars.
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