Occasional dynamics
The first month of college life seemed to have been fast-forwarded. Lin Weixi shuttled between the classroom, the library, and the photography club, trying to adapt to the new rhythm. Whenever it was late at night and everyone was asleep, she would unconsciously refresh her Moments, hoping to see a red dot appear on that familiar profile picture.
On a rainy night in mid-October, she had just finished her photography club meeting when her phone suddenly vibrated. Chen Wang had updated her status—a photo of a physics lab at University A, circuit components scattered across the workbench, with the caption: "Night Battle."
In the corner of the photo, a wrist was revealed, wearing a black watch that she recognized. Lin Weixi zoomed in and out of the picture, and finally clicked "like". Three minutes later, Chen Wang sent a private message: "Are you still asleep?"
She stared at the dialog box, her finger hovering above the screen. The patter of rain outside made the dorm exceptionally quiet. Finally, she replied, "Just finished club activities."
"Photography club?" he asked.
"Yeah. How about you? Did the experiment go well?"
"I ran into a problem, but it's almost resolved."
The conversation paused here. Lin Weixi opened the computer to organize the photos, but her eyes kept glancing at her phone. Twenty minutes later, a new message popped up: "The temperature in City B has dropped, please keep warm."
She looked out the window, the campus streetlights dimmed in the rain. It turned out he was paying attention to the weather in her city.
The photography club organized a weekend photoshoot, the destination being an ancient town on the outskirts of the city. The bluestone pavement was gleaming from the autumn rain, and she raised her camera to capture the moment of water dripping from the eaves. In the viewfinder, a pair of middle school students in school uniforms walked side by side across a stone bridge, the girl quietly holding the boy's hand.
Her heart skipped a beat as the shutter clicked. On the bus back, she selected photos to post on her WeChat Moments, specifically choosing the composition of the stone bridge. When setting the visible range, her finger lingered on "Partially Visible" for a long time, ultimately selecting only Chen Wang.
Late at night, the phone lit up. Chen Wang liked the photo and commented: "Great composition."
She looked at the four words over and over again until the screen went dark.
The real surprise came on Wednesday afternoon. She was researching in the library when the class chat suddenly exploded with news: Chen Wang had won first prize in the National Physics Competition. In the news link, he stood on the podium, trophy in hand, his smile brighter than the spotlight.
Lin Weixi read the news three times and saved every picture of him. Finally, she opened the private message dialog box, typed and deleted it, and finally sent only one sentence: "Congratulations."
Five minutes later, the reply came: "Thank you. What are you filming recently?"
She flipped through her phone's photo album and finally sent a photo of a ginkgo tree outside the library window: "The ginkgo trees in your school should be even more yellow, right?"
This time he didn't reply immediately. It wasn't until 10 p.m. that he sent a photo of Ginkgo Avenue at University A, its cobblestones carpeted with golden leaves: "Took this today."
She zoomed in on the photo and spotted a vague silhouette on a bench in the corner. Her heartbeat suddenly quickened, then quickly calmed down—it must be just a student passing by.
In early November, the high school class group organized an online gathering. When the video was connected, Lin Weixi saw Chen Wang at a glance. He was sitting at the desk, with a bookshelf full of books behind him. When it was her turn to speak, she noticed that he leaned forward, as if wanting to see more clearly.
After the party, he sent me a message: "Did you cut your hair short?"
She subconsciously touched the ends of her shoulder-length hair: "I cut it last month."
"It suits you very well," he said.
Those three words kept her awake all night. At two in the morning, she scrolled through his updates from the past three months: late nights in the lab, his presence on the basketball court, the morning light in the library. She remembered the time she liked each one.
She also began managing her social media feed more carefully. She carefully selected each photo before posting it, carefully considering the composition, filters, and captions. Sometimes, it was just for that one moment he might see it.
On the last weekend of November, she participated in a university photography competition. The theme of her work was "Distance." She submitted a photograph of a landscape shot through a car window, with the photographer's reflection reflected in the glass. The judges commented, "This photo cleverly depicts the relationship between the observer and the observed."
On the day the winners were announced, she immediately shared the link with Chen Wang. He quickly replied, "I've always believed you would win."
Those words were like a warm current, rippling through her heart. That night, she finally mustered up the courage to ask, "Will you come to our winter break class reunion?"
After sending the message, she tucked her phone under her pillow, afraid to read the reply. It wasn't until late at night, as she was getting ready for bed, that she saw his reply: "Yes. Looking forward to meeting you."
Outside the window, the first snow of this winter fell quietly. Lin Weixi pasted the printed chat record on the diary and wrote next to it:
"It turns out that caring from a distance can also bring warmth. We are like two planets orbiting in our own orbits, occasionally connecting through light signals. This is also good, at least we are both shining."
Closing her diary, she clicked on the cover of Chen Wang's WeChat Moments. It was a starry sky, and the brightest star she had secretly named "Wang."
The snow fell heavier, covering the hustle and bustle of the city. But subtle thoughts were quietly transmitted along the Internet, connecting two cities and two people striving to grow.
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