Summer had gone and autumn had come. Li Xing still went to the river every morning, hoping she would meet him again. She wanted to talk to him, to know if his family have solved their issue, but he never came. She wondered if the encounter with the boy that day was just a dream.
She couldn't get rid of his sad face from her mind. What should she do if he still wore the painful expression once they meet again? She came up with silly ideas which she thought she could use to make him laugh. She never knew she could care about another person this much.
It was at dawn on a Sunday before the new school term began. Li Xing was wheeling her bicycle by her side, eyes fixed on the ground whilst deep in her thought. She didn't notice someone was walking towards her, until she heard him utter a yelp.
"Ouch!"
"I'm sorry!! Oh my god, did the wheel bump into you?"
Xing put her bike down hurriedly and went on to check the person who was now crouching with his face buried in his knees. It must have really hurt. She felt apologetic for being careless.
"I'm sorry…"
He groaned softly then faced up to look at her. To her surprise, his face lit up with his bright smile just at the exact same time when the sun started rising. Not to exaggerate but the scene before her almost took her breath away. She gasped when she realized that he was actually the boy who had been on her mind for a while now.
"You! You are the boy from before, aren't you?"
"Yes, it's me, Lai Tianlang. I'm glad I can meet you again." He grinned.
How could someone's smile be so beautiful and warm like this? It was the kind of smile which made those who saw it wanted to smile too.
Xing chuckled. She then noticed his hands were still on his precious jewels, which could still be in shock after bumping into the front wheel of her bike. What a way to greet each other.
The blame is on both of them, him for only focusing on her and not her bike, and her for only focusing on the ground; and the wheel just had to go in between his legs. Was he walking with his legs wide apart?
"I'm sorry again," said Xing who was trying to hold her laughter.
Tianlang's face turned beet red. How embarrassing, he had only shown her his lame side. He quickly stood up and picked Xing's bike up too, trying to showcase his cool side this time.
"Let's go to the bench." He said while walking her bike with him to their bench. Xing could only follow after him.
They were sitting next to each other, silently watching the river waves. The early autumn breeze in the morning made the atmosphere more than refreshing. Tianlang turned to steal a glance at the girl on his right side who was oblivious to his sneaky behavior. He saw her black silky hair dancing with the wind. The sight of her beauty made his heart skip a beat. He turned back to face the river and acted calm and collected, but the blush on his cheeks didn't join the lies. He cleared his throat to break the silence.
"So.., how have you been?"
"I'm good. How about you… and your family?" Xing replied and asked a question in return. She hesitated whether to ask about his family but she saw him lift the corners of his lips so she felt relieved. She kind of got the answer from his expression but was still curious of how they resolved.
"Everything has been going smoothly. I requested the three of us to talk like you suggested and it worked really well. We were very calm. I think it was because we talked about it late at night too… The atmosphere that night really made us let our guard down and opened up to each other."
He stopped for a moment to glance at Xing who was listening to him with full attention, then continued.
"My sister already broke up with that guy because he turned out to be very abusive. She has decided to join my father's company and is working really hard. My father doesn't say much but I know he is relieved that she is with him almost all day. When he heard that her ex-boyfriend was abusive, he was worried that the guy would hurt my sister for breaking up with him. Well, both my father and sister seem to get along with each other better than with me. I feel lonely now."
He chuckled after he finished talking. Xing could only watch him in amazement. The boy who was depressed and crying in front of her a few weeks ago could now make his own joke and laughed at it all by himself. Xing grinned again. She felt her heart filled with joy just by watching him smiling and laughing alone.
"Oh right!" Tianlang suddenly remembered something.
"I would like to thank you for listening to me and helping me out with your suggestion. You really saved me." He turned to his left and called out a person.
"Uncle Wu, could I have them, please?"
Xing's eyes got bigger when she realized that there was another person besides them, and Tianlang called him 'Uncle'. Being the polite child that she was, Xing got up from the bench quickly and bowed to greet the older man who had black rimmed glasses on and dressed with a somewhat expensive suit.
"Hello, Uncle. I'm Li Xing, a new friend of Tianlang."
The older man who had some big bags with him became flustered and quickly bowed back to her too. Xing who had just straightened her back up bowed to him again.
"You don't have to bow to me, Miss Li. Please raise your head." He said with his head still bowed down.
"No, I'm younger so I have to bow to you. Please raise your head, Uncle." Xing refused.
Tianlang couldn't watch them any longer so he interrupted.
"Alright, why don't both of you raise your heads at the same time? One, two, three!"
With that, Xing and Uncle Wu raised their heads at the count of three. Tianlang clutched his side because it hurt from laughing too much because of them, while the other two watched him dealing with his leftover giggles.
They smiled. Lai Tianlang seemed to be really having fun.