Unopened gift surprise
As Zhong Hua knelt on the floor, his fingertips brushed against the tape on the edge of the cardboard box. Suddenly, he heard the sound of a key turning in the living room. He hurriedly pushed the half-open box deeper into the wardrobe, the dull thud of his knee hitting the bedpost just drowned out by Ah Yu's voice: "I bought a strawberry cake, do you want some?"
"Here it is." Zhong Hua patted his dusty palms and turned around to see Ah Yu tiptoeing to place the cake box on top of the refrigerator. The setting sun shone through the gauze curtains, casting a warm golden hue on her hair, and her daughter Nian An's first birthday photo on the entryway cabinet showed two little tiger teeth in a smile.
"While tidying up the storage room today, I found a lot of wedding gift boxes that I hadn't had time to open." Zhong Hua leaned against the door frame, his gaze falling on a pile of boxes covered with dust cloths in the corner of the living room. The hasty wedding two years ago was like a chaotic dream. He and A Yu exchanged rings amidst the blessings of relatives and friends, only to be pulled into the mundane routine of daily life by the cries of a newborn. Those gifts piled in the corner never had a chance to be opened.
Ah Yu wiped her hands and walked over, her fingertips tracing the largest cardboard box: "It's time to tidy up. Nian An almost suffocated herself last week when she climbed in." She bent down and lifted the dust cover, revealing a gold-embossed "double happiness" character printed on the box. "This seems to have been sent by Wan Qing. When she sent it, we were busy taking care of the child and didn't even have time to write a thank-you card."
Zhong Hua's heart trembled slightly. Lin Wanqing's name was like a seashell softened by time, still echoing with the sound of waves when held in his palm. He remembered receiving an email from her in Paris three days before the wedding, containing only one short line: "May you always be vibrant, like the iced soda of that summer."
“Tomorrow,” Ah Yu said, pulling him by the hand and leading him to the living room. “Today, let’s watch Nian’an’s first birthday video together.” As the TV screen lit up, Zhong Hua’s gaze involuntarily drifted to the cardboard box standing quietly in the corner.
The next morning, Nian'an's laughter pulled Zhong Hua from his dream. He tiptoed into the storage room and, using his phone's flashlight, found the cardboard box with the Eiffel Tower stamp on it. It was sealed with extra care with tape, and a piece of dried lavender was stuck to the edge—something he, Lin Wanqing, and Ayu had picked in Provence years ago.
The sound of a utility knife slicing through tape was exceptionally clear in the quiet room. The first layer was fluffy bubble wrap, followed by a piece of indigo velvet fabric. Zhong Hua's fingers paused, and he suddenly remembered three years ago in Paris, when Lin Wanqing stood on the banks of the Seine in a long dress of the same color, and when the wind lifted her skirt, she looked like a blue butterfly perched on the shore.
The moment the velvet cloth was lifted, the grain of the wooden frame emerged in the light. Zhong Hua held his breath and picked up the frame. The glass was spotless, but inside was not the wedding photo or landscape photo he had expected. Instead, it was a silhouette photo with a warm yellow hue—three figures standing side by side were stretched long by the setting sun, and the arc of their crossed arms formed a complete heart.
His fingertips traced the leftmost reflection on the glass, and his Adam's apple bobbed. It was six months before the wedding, when the three of them were huddled together in the threshing ground of their hometown watching fireworks. Suddenly, Lin Wanqing raised her camera and shouted, "Don't move!" The sound of the shutter and the crisp explosion of fireworks overlapped. At the time, no one paid any attention to the photo, but she secretly developed it and framed it in a wooden frame carved with intertwined branches.
A cream-colored sticky note was pasted on the back of the photo frame. Lin Wanqing's handwriting, like her tone of voice, had a slightly bouncy curve: "Shadows will scatter, but the light will remember that we once stood as a heart." Zhong Hua pressed his fingertip on the word "scatter" and suddenly heard a gasp behind him.
Ah Yu stood at the door holding Nian An, the little one pointing at the shadow in the photo frame and babbling. "So she developed this photo." Ah Yu's voice trembled slightly as she walked over and gently leaned on Zhong Hua's shoulder. "That night you said you were going to go after her, and I hid in the woodshed and cried all night."
Zhong Hua's arm stiffened. He remembered that stormy night when Lin Wanqing stood at the alley entrance, dragging her suitcase, rain streaming down her pale cheeks: "I'll wait for you in Paris for three months." He had been holding Ah Yu's hand then, his nails almost digging into her flesh, but he never uttered the words to ask her to stay.
"Later, Wanqing sent this box of gifts with a note saying, 'Some choices lead to divergent paths from the very beginning.'" Ah Yu picked up the photo frame and looked at it carefully in the sunlight. "Look, the shadows of the three of us are clearly connected, yet they form a heart on the ground." She suddenly smiled, fine lines appearing at the corners of her eyes. "Just like us now, each walking on different paths, yet all wishing each other well."
Zhong Hua looked down at Nian An, the little girl reaching out her chubby hands to grab the photo frame, making "ee-ya" sounds. He suddenly remembered the email he received from Lin Wanqing last week, which included a photo of her on the African savanna, followed by a group of children in school uniforms. Her smile was brighter than the sunlight. The email ended with: "Every time I see the sunset, I think of that day's shadow. It turns out the best companionship is for each of us to live our own wonderful lives."
“Put the photo frame in the study.” Zhong Hua gently took the photo frame and wiped the fingerprints on the glass with his sleeve. “It’s right opposite the desk, so you can see it when you look up.” Ah Yu nodded and turned to get the cleaning solution. Nian An’s laughter was like a string of silver bells, tinkling in the dusty storage room.
As twilight streamed through the window, the photo frame was finally placed in the study. The setting sun shone through the blinds, casting long, thin shadows on the wall, overlapping with the shadows within the frame. Zhong Hua sat at his desk, gazing at the three silhouettes standing side-by-side, and suddenly understood Lin Wanqing's meaning—some affections are never diminished by distance, like those overlapping shadows, which, even in different times and spaces, always piece together a warm shape.
Ah Yu walked in carrying a sliced strawberry cake. Nian An was perched on her shoulder, staring curiously at the photo frame. "Wan Qing is going back to China next month and said she wanted to visit Nian An." She placed the cake on the table, forked a piece, and held it to Zhong Hua's lips. "She said she brought African coffee beans and wanted to brew them for us herself."
Zhong Hua took a bite of the cake, the sweet and sour taste of strawberries spreading across his tongue. He remembered that summer when the three of them squeezed into a rented room to share a piece of cake. Lin Wanqing grabbed the biggest piece but secretly gave all the strawberries to him and A Yu. Time seemed to have come full circle, returning to the way it was at the beginning, only now everyone's face bore the marks of time, but their eyes still shone with the light of yesteryear.
The setting sun outside the window gradually sank, and the shadow in the photo frame was softened by the twilight. Zhong Hua reached out and grasped Ah Yu's hand, the warmth of their palms touching flowing through his veins. He knew that some gifts were destined to be unwrapped only after a long time, just as some friendships needed the test of time—no matter how far they went, those moments of standing side by side would always be the warmest light in their hearts.
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