Chapter 12: The Shifting Trajectory
The sun in May almost melts people. Even on weekends, there are not many people on Yokohama Street at noon. People sit in the shade of trees in groups of three or four to enjoy the cool air.
"April, please deliver something for me."
Sister Ling's voice came from the kitchen. Fengjian raised her head from the account book and swallowed the ice cube in her cheek with a gulp, and the heat steamed out.
Sister Ling came out carrying a blue double-layered insulated box. "Do you remember Aunt Gemini who lived next door to us when we were little?"
Fengjian blinked. Sister Ling knew she had no recollection of the matter at all. She tapped her forehead and explained, "It was when you were in kindergarten. One day when your father and I were not home from school, we asked you to stay at a neighbor's house. I remember Gemini's husband's last name was... Yukimura, right? That should be it."
Yukimura
A blurry face flashed through his memory. The young child had his hands behind his back, and his chin seemed to be stained with cherry blossom pink. Feng Jian hesitated for a few seconds, "Is there another boy in their family who is about my age?"
"Yes, yes, yes, I finally remembered. I remember you guys had a very childish thing going on back then. It seemed to be about something, but I can't quite remember," Sister Ling said with a nostalgic expression, "I didn't expect to run into her in Kanagawa after more than a decade. This world really is a small place."
"It was during the last Golden Week when I went shopping at the supermarket and I happened to see her buying maternity and baby products."
"But I heard that the child was sick and hospitalized last year, and Gemini had to take care of her young daughter and couldn't spare the time, so she needed our help to take care of the hospitalized child. Not long ago, she even sent us the money and was still as polite as before."
Sister Ling glanced at her, took out a bottle of cold drink from the refrigerator and put it on the table. "It just so happens that you're going to get your bike repaired, so you can bring it over on the way."
"Hi Hi~~"
It turned out that she was asked to pay attention to the physical and mental health of a certain teenager.
"Don't remember the wrong place. You're a kid who easily loses your way if you're not careful." Sister Ling shouted after him.
"Got it!"
So Feng Jian, who was assigned to work as a delivery man before he had finished settling the bills, had no choice but to accept his fate and rush to the hospital on his BMW, which was about to retire.
She left her car at a dealership near the hospital. When she entered, the security guard glanced at the insulated box in her hand. She quickly said, "Send soup to 306's family."
The voice was half a degree higher than usual.
Seeing that the security guard was no longer looking at her, Fengjian breathed a sigh of relief and trotted towards the inpatient department.
"306, 306..."
Following the note Sister Ling wrote to him, Fengjian came to the outside of the ward with "306" written on it.
After knocking a few times and no one answered, she was hesitating whether to hand it over to the nurse in the duty room when another gentle voice interrupted her.
"Excuse me, is there anything I can help you with?"
Fengjian looked up and saw a young man with short dark purple hair standing two meters away, one hand supporting the wall, his fingertips were white, his face was simple and elegant, pale but could not hide his beauty.
"Hey, it's you."
Fengjian was the first to realize that the boy in front of him was the one who was misunderstood by her and wanted to jump into the sea last time at the beach.
A hint of surprise flashed across his face. Feng Jian looked at him, then at the name written on the note, and hesitantly said:
"Yukimura... Seiichi"
The boy nodded slightly, tilted his head and smiled, his face gradually overlapping with a face in his memory.
"Well, I am, and..."
"Long time no see, Kazama."
——
Feng Jian followed the boy into the ward with a wooden face, secretly thinking that this world is really small.
That night, because the light was too dim, she didn't see the boy's appearance clearly. Now she realized that he was exactly the same as the child she saw when she was in elementary school. After all, he was as beautiful as a doll since he was young, and when he grew up, he was so popular with men, women, young and old that no one else could match him except Yukimura.
“So you actually recognized me that night.”
Yukimura was tidying up the albums on the sofa. Without looking up, he responded calmly, "I wanted to see your reaction, Kazama. I didn't expect you to not even think about it until you left."
Why did she say such words with a smiling face as if she was a heartless person?
"Yukimura, you really are... just as sinister as before."
"Well, it's because Kazama's expressions are always so funny," Yukimura said as he sat on the bed. His blue and white hospital gown made his amber eyes as clear as a mountain spring. "Whenever I tell a joke, Kazama is the only one who believes it. He's really adorable."
Fengjian was slightly embarrassed.
She hadn't forgotten that when she was in elementary school, she was the only mixed-race girl in her class and attracted a lot of attention from boys. One time, a boy secretly held her hand. Later, when Kazama told them about it on the way home, Yukimura smiled and said to her:
"I heard that holding hands can lead to pregnancy."
He said this, completely unaware of the immense damage this was causing her young heart. She ran home in tears, too afraid to tell Sister Ling about it. In the end, it was only when Sister Ling discovered her because she was afraid to go to school that she finally learned some basic physiological knowledge amidst her parents' bewildered expressions.
Even after Aunt Gemini found out that it was her son who did the deed, she brought the beaten little boy to apologize in person.
It’s really hard to look back on the past.
Feng Jian came back to her senses and met the other person's smiling eyes. She turned her head to avoid his gaze and pushed the thermal box in front of him to divert his attention, but her eyes were attracted by a picture album placed in the corner.
The paint showed signs of being used vigorously, leaving only a few strokes of heavy ink. It could hardly be called a painting, but it was still clear that the painter had intended to paint a sunflower.
Feng Jian walked over and picked up the paintings piled in the corner, "When did you learn to paint?"
Yukimura glanced at the sunflowers in the painting and looked away expressionlessly. "I'm usually alone most of the time, and occasionally my friends come to visit me. So when I'm bored, I just draw something to kill time. After all, my current body can't support me to do other exercises."
His calm voice pierced through the dust, and he spoke in a relaxed tone as he brushed off the past few months he had spent alone in the ward.
She thought back to her previous life, and there wasn't much bond between them.
Since moving, the two went to different junior high schools, high schools and universities. The lack of any contact information in elementary school led them to different futures so early. Their reunion many years later was nothing more than a surprise and a nod after meeting by chance at a crowded subway station, and finally they turned and walked into different subway cars.
Returning to the age of sixteen, she actually met Yukimura Seiichi, who was also sixteen, ten years earlier.
She ran her fingertips across the dried paint on the album and suddenly thought: Was the sunflower pendant hanging on his backpack in the subway station in his previous life the same color as this painting?
It turns out that some things, even if their trajectory deviates, will grow in another way.
Someone gently pinched the corner of the drawing paper, and Fengjian Siyue spread it flat on the table, turned around and walked to Yukimura Seiichi, "Well, Yukimura, do you want to guess what we're having for dinner today?"
The girl's topic changed a bit quickly. Yukimura was stunned for a moment before he caught up with her rhythm. "Did Aunt Reiko do it?"
Kazama nodded mysteriously.
The other person pretended to be deep in thought, but didn't even think for a few seconds before answering: "It's winter melon and meatball soup, right? Aunt Lingzi used to love making this in the summer."
Feng Jian didn't say anything. After a few seconds of silence, he said to him seriously: "Yukimura, you are always so smart. Your future girlfriend will be very pressured."
"No," Yukimura smiled and opened the insulated box, "I don't mind my girlfriend not being smart, after all, isn't that what makes it fun?"
Wow~ What a scary person.
"By the way, Genichirō will be here soon..." Yukimura suddenly said.
Fukama was opening the lid of the thermal box when he heard the three words "Genichirō". His hand trembled and the spoon made a "ding" sound when it hit the edge of the bowl. The scene of him being grabbed by the collar and correcting his homework in elementary school instantly flashed through his mind.
Yukimura didn't notice and continued, "Come to think of it, it's been six years since you last met. Do you want to meet later..."
Before he could finish his words, he watched in amazement as the girl packed up her things at lightning speed, opened the door in two steps, and slipped away with only time to say "bye" to him.
After a few seconds, the door was opened again and the girl poked her head out. "Remember to return the thermal box to me next time." Then she closed the door and left.
She didn't want to be discovered by the precocious boy who had been controlling her like her brother since she was a child.
Yukimura was left sitting in the room, feeling both amused and helpless.
Soon, the curve of his lips slowly lowered.
The sunlight cast the shadow of the window pane on the bedspread and slowly crawled over the back of his hand. He suddenly curled up his fingers, trying to grasp the warmth, but his fingertips only touched a coldness. The fingertips that had just touched the paintbrush still had the roughness of paint.
I don't know what the results of the physical examination were...
After all, this is related to his upcoming surgery and his tennis career.
After coming out of the ward, Fengjian stood at the door for a while, then turned and went to the information desk.
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