"Oh dear, you've been found out." Lin Wanqing put away her phone and walked over with a smile. "I was thinking of taking a picture of the 'hand-in-hand moment of the century' as my screensaver, but I didn't expect to be exposed so quickly."
Ah Yu's face flushed slightly, and she subconsciously tried to let go, but Zhong Hua held her down. Zhong Hua looked at Lin Wanqing and raised an eyebrow: "You took the picture, but don't post it randomly."
"I know, I know," Lin Wanqing raised her hands in surrender, "I promise it will only exist in my encrypted album. But seriously, you two are moving way too slowly. I've been waiting for this day for almost three years."
Ah Yu then remembered that Lin Wanqing was their college classmate, and after graduation they both joined this photography studio, witnessing almost all of their interactions. She always liked to joke about them, saying that they were "more inseparable than conjoined twins, yet more polite than strangers." He used to think she was just being silly, but now he thought that perhaps the bystanders had already seen everything clearly, while the ones involved were still stuck in the same place.
"The ginger tea has gone cold." Zhong Hua nudged the thermos in Ah Yu's hand, changing the subject.
Ah Yu then remembered the cup in her hand and quickly took another sip. This time, the ginger tea was warm, and it slid down her throat perfectly. The warmth slowly spread in her stomach, then flowed through her blood to her limbs, and even the hand that Zhong Hua was holding began to warm up.
"The morning mist has mostly dissipated." Zhong Hua looked at the gray-tiled rooftops in the distance. "Are you still taking pictures?"
Ah Yu nodded and raised the camera. Zhong Hua naturally let go of his hand and instead helped him adjust the camera strap: "Can you use your hand now?"
"Hmm." Ah Yu adjusted the focus, and the image in the viewfinder became clear—the thin frost on the gray tiles slowly melted in the sunlight, revealing the bluish-gray surface of the tiles, and a few pigeons flew over the roof, leaving faint shadows. He pressed the shutter, and this time the photo was very steady, without a trace of tremor.
"These photos are really good." Zhong Hua stood beside him, looking at the photos in the camera, her tone tinged with pride, as if she were praising herself.
Ah Yu felt a sweet warmth in his heart, as if something had filled him up. He put down his camera and looked at Zhong Hua: "After we finish taking pictures, shall we go get some breakfast? The soy milk shop at the entrance of the alley, I remember you like their sweet soy milk."
Zhong Hua was taken aback for a moment, then laughed: "Okay. But it's on me, consider it... an apology."
"What apology are you offering?"
"Back in Qinghai, I didn't dare hold your hand." Zhong Hua's eyes were bright, reflecting his image. "I let you freeze for so long."
Ah Yu's face started to burn again. He turned around and pretended to pat a withered blade of grass in the corner: "Then you'll have to buy me a few more bowls of soy milk."
“No problem,” Zhong Hua followed behind him, her voice tinged with laughter, “You can drink as much as you want.”
Lin Wanqing walked behind them, looking at the backs of the two people in front of her, and couldn't help but take out her phone to take another picture. In the photo, Ah Yu was holding the camera towards the corner of the wall, and Zhong Hua was standing beside him, tilting his head slightly to look at him. The sunlight fell on them, gilding them with a warm golden edge.
She opened the photo album, set the "Hand in Hand" photo from earlier as her screensaver, and sighed silently to herself.
These two people are finally someone she doesn't have to worry about anymore.
The breakfast stall was warm, the rising steam blurring the windows. Ah Yu held a bowl of sweet soy milk, looking at Zhong Hua across from her. He was peeling a tea egg, the shell cleanly removed, then using chopsticks to draw a crooked smiley face on the egg white, just like he did in college.
"Here you go." Zhong Hua pushed the tea egg in front of him.
Ah Yu took it, took a bite, and the salty, savory flavor spread in her mouth. She suddenly remembered that in college, there were never enough tea eggs in the cafeteria, and Zhong Hua would always share his half with her, with a smiley face drawn on the shell. Back then, she always thought Zhong Hua was childish, but now she understood that it was a tenderness hidden in his clumsiness.
"By the way," Ah Yu swallowed the egg in her mouth, "did you fix the lens cap you said you'd fix for me last time?"
"It's fixed and in the drawer of the studio." Zhong Hua took a sip of soy milk. "It's wrapped with new tape, which is stronger than the last one."
Ah Yu smiled. Last time, he accidentally cracked the lens cap and spent ages trying to fix it himself, but couldn't, so he just tossed it aside in a corner of the studio. He didn't tell Zhong Hua, but he didn't expect him to find out and secretly fix it.
Zhong Hua had done this many times.
His tripod broke a leg, and unable to fix it himself, he angrily tossed it aside. The next day, he found it repaired, with the joint neatly wrapped in insulating tape. He always forgot his photography settings, so Zhong Hua wrote down the commonly used settings in a notebook and kept it in his camera bag. He casually mentioned liking the sweet rice cakes from the shop at the entrance of the alley, and the next morning, he would find still-warm sweet rice cakes on his desk in the studio…
He used to think these were all coincidences, but now he realizes that there are no coincidences. It's just that someone is silently watching his every move and remembering his every word and every little habit.
“Zhong Hua,” Ah Yu put down her bowl of soy milk and looked at him earnestly, “Have you…liked me for a long time?”
Zhong Hua paused, his hand holding the chopsticks. He looked up, a flicker of panic in his eyes, before quickly regaining his composure. He looked at Ah Yu, remained silent for a few seconds, then nodded, his voice soft yet firm: "Yes."
"When did it start?"
"The first time I saw you in college," Zhong Hua said with a slightly embarrassed smile, "I couldn't forget the way you looked when you were taking pictures of the rain outside the library window, holding your camera."
Ah Yu was stunned.
I first met Zhong Hua in college on the third floor of the library. It was raining that day, and he was taking pictures of the rain outside the window when he accidentally bumped into a bookshelf, almost dropping his camera. Zhong Hua reached out and caught him. At that time, Zhong Hua was wearing a white T-shirt and black-rimmed glasses, and he looked very clean. He helped him pick up the lens cap that had fallen to the ground and said, "Be careful."
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