Birthday wishes
At the end of November, a cold wind began to sweep across City B. Lin Weixi circled a date on the calendar, her pen tracing the numbers repeatedly - it was Chen Wang's birthday.
She began preparing a week in advance. Late every night, she would scroll through Chen Wang's social media feed, trying to deduce his current situation from scattered updates. University A seemed to have a midterm project; he'd been posting night views of his lab; he'd traded his usual water cup for a black thermos; and in photos from a recent basketball game, he was wearing new sneakers.
Three days before her birthday, she finally decided to get a gift. It couldn't be too expensive, or too elaborate, but it had to look like a casual thought. She spent a long time browsing the school gift shop before finally settling on a star-themed notebook with customizable gold-stamped text on the cover.
"What do you want to write?" asked the clerk.
She hesitated for a moment. "I have a bright future."
This sentence was just the right amount of politeness, not revealing too much of her inner thoughts. When she checked out, she added a box of postcards, pretending it was just a casual purchase.
After the gift was shipped, the wait became incredibly long. She checked the shipping information daily, watching the package make its way from City B to City A. The day before her birthday, the shipping information showed it had been signed for. She spent the entire day checking her phone, hoping he would say something.
At ten o'clock in the evening, the phone finally lit up. Chen Wang sent a message: "I received the gift. Thank you."
She stared at the screen, her fingers trembling slightly. "You're welcome. Happy birthday."
The conversation paused for a few minutes. Just when she thought it was over, a new message popped up: "How did you know it was my birthday today?"
The question made her heart skip a beat. She couldn't say she'd written it down in her high school class directory, nor could she say she wrote a blessing in her diary every year on this day.
Finally, she replied: "The class group has the address book."
This answer is impeccable.
"We're having a class dinner tomorrow," he suddenly said, "and Zhou Xu and the others are coming too."
She looked at the sentence and suddenly realized that it was a veiled invitation. However, City A and City B were thousands of miles apart, and she couldn't find a suitable reason to go there.
"Have fun," she finally replied.
On her birthday, she woke up early. A light snow was falling, so she took a picture of the snowy scene from her dorm window, captioning it "First Snow," and setting it to be visible only to him. Two hours later, he liked it.
She'd been absent-minded all day. In photography class, while the teacher explained the principles of aperture, she'd unconsciously written the date in her notebook. November 30th, a date as familiar as if it were etched in her memory.
That afternoon, she went to the library and deliberately found a seat by the window. Sunlight filtered through the snow-covered branches, casting dappled shadows on the pages. She opened "A Guide to Star Photography," wrote today's date in the header, and then gently crossed it out.
After dinner, the class group chat became lively. Zhou Xu posted a photo of the dinner: Chen Wang was wearing a birthday hat and cutting a cake. There were a few unfamiliar faces in the photo, probably his new classmates. Lin Weixi enlarged the photo and noticed that he had the starry sky notebook next to him.
She opened the private chat window, typed and deleted it, and finally sent only one sentence: "The cake looks delicious."
Five minutes later, he replied: "It would be nice if you were here."
The words brushed against her heart like a feather. She walked to the window. The night sky of City B was covered in light snow. Meanwhile, the sky of City A should be filled with stars.
At eleven o'clock in the evening, she finally mustered up the courage to make a video call. The phone rang three times before it was picked up. The screen on the other end was a little dark. He was standing on the balcony, with the lights of the dormitory building behind him.
"Did it disturb you?" she asked.
"Just got back to the dorm." He said with a smile, "I received a lot of blessings today."
They chatted about their recent lives, as naturally as ordinary friends. She recounted interesting experiences from photography class, and he shared embarrassing moments from the lab. The snow reflected on the screen, blurring the sense of distance.
Before hanging up, she whispered, "Happy birthday."
He was silent for a moment, then replied, "Thank you for your gift. I like it very much."
After the call ended, she drew a small cake in her diary and wrote next to it: "Happy 19th."
That night, she dreamed of a high school classroom. Chen Wang was solving a problem at the podium, his shadow stretched long by the sunlight. When she woke, it was three in the morning, her phone dimly lit—he had updated his WeChat Moments.
A photo of a starry sky with the caption: "The best gift is to remember."
She clicked on the picture and searched for the brightest star among the stars. It was like the secret love she had had over the years, tiny but persistent in shining.
In the early morning light, she received a message from him: "I will definitely remember your birthday next year."
These words moved her more than any gift.
The snowflakes are still falling, but some thoughts have already crossed the mountains and seas and reached the other side.
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