In one day, everything could be taken away without mercy or consideration.
AnLing knew that well.
As she sat on a bench outside T City's airport, fiddling with the ring on her middle finger, her mind couldn't help but wonder; bringing up thoughts she would much rather forget.
The memories started playing like a movie in front of her eyes…
In the distance, a man and a woman walked hand in hand. A feeling of tranquility and love radiated from their figures
All AnLing could see was their backs but from one glance she knew who the man was.
She hoped she was wrong. She hoped the man would continue to walk off into the distance because if he did, it would mean that she was mistaken and she could continue to live her life peacefully.
That momentary hope was the only thing that kept her whole, but also the only thing that could rip her apart.
"Babe?" She heard herself call before she could finish her thought.
At the sound of her voice, the man and the woman froze. For a moment, the whole world seemed to stop, but when the man let go of the woman and turned around to meet AnLing's gaze, she could feel something crack.
They stared at each other for a moment. None of them speaking. A strange feeling lingered between them.
The air was so heavy that AnLing found it hard to breathe, but her heart continued to palpitate hard like a drum.
The man kept his gaze on AnLing, then he turned to the woman beside him and whispered in her ear.
AnLing couldn't hear a thing; not from the man or from anything, for that matter. It was like she was in a dimension of her own.
Questions invaded her mind. Questions she didn't want to face. But when the man turned his gaze to her, she could see a glint of the truth in his eyes.
AnLing looked away, took a deep breath and then turned back to smile at him. She walked towards him unflinching and stopped a few steps away.
"Welcome back." AnLing was able to force out. The words burned at her throat. They sounded stiff and lacked emotion but those words were the best she could muster.
The man didn't answer her immediately. He looked at her girl, examining her every move.
'Are you serious right now? After all you've just seen this is your reaction?!' AnLing practically screamed at herself.
The man stared at her stupidly.
AnLing didn't make a move speak. There was a ringing sound that invaded her mind and Inside her heart, an internal battle raged.
She was unsure whether to feel hurt or angry or both or none.
Something needed to be said to break the ice between them. She wanted to speak to him, to hear his voice; his explanation. What she had seen couldn't be simply explained, right?
The man scratched the back of his head and opened his mouth slightly and, like a strike of lighting—
"Break up?" a man's low voice penetrated AnLing's senses, pulling her out of her nightmare. "We never dated."
AnLing rubbed her temple.
'Daydreaming again...?' She internally groaned.
She thought she had outgrown that habit but here she was, at 25 years old, still daydreaming out in the open.
She felt her cheeks redden, but in the end, what could she do...
AnLing had been waiting for approximately one hour and counting. Her mother had told her to call the driver when she arrived, and she did, but for some odd reason, the line was busy. So she had no choice but to wait.
She contemplated hailing a cab but she wanted to follow her mother's instructions to a T because if she didn't she knew it would come to bite her in the ass one day and she didn't want to risk it.
"Are you listening to me?" The voice from the other end of the phone was loud. So loud, that AnLing could hear him clearly, despite sitting on the other side of the bench.
"Mom and dad are really mad this time. At least try to compromise with them. Either way, you don't need to treat your wife like a treasure. Just marry someone to get them off your back and then, leave the girl to her own devices."
AnLing hadn't planned on listening in but, she was bored and they were so loud that she couldn't help herself.
To seem less suspicious, AnLing took her phone out and began to fiddle with it.
As the two spoke, albeit one-sidedly, AnLing became curious about the man beside her. She tried to turn her head slightly to face him but she was worried that he would notice her stare.
The man beside her sighed. Out of the corner of her eye, AnLing saw the man grab a cigarette from his pocket and light it before he answered.
"That's their prerogative and this is mine. Relationships are a hassle. Domestic life is a hassle. I don't plan on involving myself in that." The man's voice was rigid. There was no room for retort or to change his mind.
He sounded like a king.
AnLing couldn't help but smile. She understood his feelings well. Though she knew their reasons why where different.
The man didn't sound like he had been heartbroken before but like he had never good with people.
The thought made her feel bad for him and his future wife.
In her heart, she knew well that the poor man was going to lose his struggle against his parents. He would marry to get his family off his back, and he would have a loveless marriage until they eventually divorce.
AnLing sighed.
'The life of an eternal bachelor is hard. Good luck to you, my brother in arms.' AnLing could feel a laugh coming but she suppressed it and then continued scrolling through her chats.
As she explored, AnLing realized she barely had any friends left in T City. Heck, even abroad, she had only managed to make four good friends in the span of six years.
Back in her younger days, she could probably say she had made three friends throughout her entire scholarly existence, but for some reason, she had been added to a group chat with all of her former classmates.
AnLing totally forgot that the chat existed or how she had gotten added onto it in the first place.
She had never bothered to check it before, but now that she was back and stuck waiting, she thought 'why not'.
As soon as she opened it, her phone began to buzz incessantly. A bunch of messages, some from years ago, bombarded her. She looked at the phone with such a confused expression that some who passed her by wondered if she had never seen a phone before.
Scrolling down as quickly as possible, she ignored the majority of the messages. Especially those dated more than a year ago.
When she arrived at the latest bunch of messages, she saw two people, who she could no longer remember their faces, in deep conversation.
Seeing their messages, AnLing's eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
Ziyi: [Yize is getting married!!]
Reading his name caused the dormant volcano inside AnLing to bubble, but she continued to read, regardless.
Fei Fei: [Seriously?! To who? Is it that mystery girl? You know, the only who his parents hated? Why is everyone getting married?]
Ziyi:[Who else is getting married? You?... Jokes]
Ziyi:[And no, I head the girl cheated on him. I don't know who he's marrying but she must be an intelligent beauty from a good family. It's better to marry someone who suits him.]
Fei Fei:[Yeah. I agree and Xiao Mian is too]
"Well props to her," AnLing said, trying to distract herself. She sincerely hoped they would continue to talk about Xiao Mian forever.
Ziyi:[Is Goddess really getting married?! I was saving myself for her!]
Fei Fei:[Feng Ziyi, Xiao Mian would never look at you once, let alone marry you. But the important question here is, what kind of idiot would cheat on such a perfect guy?! She must be blind.]
"Perfect? Yeah. Maybe a perfect piece of trash." The words came out of her mouth like venom.
The anger within AnLing began to expand. A dark aura she couldn't control began to radiate from her.
It was a mistake checking her messages… although who would have thought that this would be their topic of conversation. Abroad, she was able to forget all of that stuff and push everything down but now that she was back, it would be harder to do that.
Nothing can infuriate you like home.
AnLing looked up and sighed. She hadn't looked away from her phone the whole time. She closed her eyes for a moment and sighed once more.
Despite how she felt, her eyes were happy with the well-needed rest.
Xiao Mian and Yize… two names she thought she would never hear or, in this case, see, again.
A warm wind blew past her, brushing her hair from her shoulders and the faint smell of flowers and fruits tickled her nose. A familiar scent, but it wasn't exactly the scent of home. It was something else entirely but she could no longer remember where it was from.
AnLing concentrated on the smell. She couldn't remember it. She could only compare it to the smell of love. When a person would hold onto their partner and smell a scent that is uniquely their own; a smell a person couldn't get over.
Her phone buzzed like crazy in her hand.
AnLing opened her eyes. She contemplated turning her phone off but her curiosity had a stronger effect that her anger.
During the small time she was gone, the chat was flooded with new messages. AnLing scrolled over the messages, briefly reading them until a message would stick out.
Ziyi: [Since Goddess Xiao is getting married, we should do a reunion. We need to find a way to invite Yize though.]
A whole bunch of people began to voice their support for the idea.
Shuya: [Leave that to me.]
Ziyi: [Goddess #2, don't tell me you're the one Yize is marrying?]
Shuya: [Of course not! Our families are close though, so I'll be meeting him sooner or later.]
Fei Fei: [This will be the best reunion ever! Speaking of families, will AnLing be coming? We haven't seen her since graduation.]
Ziyi: [Whose AnLing?]
Fei Fei: [You know! The other daughter of the Lu family.]
Ziyi: [Oh! the charity case.]
Shuya: [Please don't call her that.]
Shuya: [My sister should be back from studying abroad today. So, I'll ask her.]
Ziyi: [Abroad?! Wasn't she stupid?]
Seeing that the conversation was going astray, AnLing shoved her phone in her pocket. She wasn't interested in others gossiping about her.
In her pocket, her phone continued to buzz. AnLing felt a headache coming on.
She needed a distraction.
Turning her head slightly, she looked at the man beside her.
"Mmm." He said with a sigh. It seemed like he had given up talking and just listened.
AnLing began scanning him, starting from his feet and continued her way up but she stopped below the belt, at his hand that rested calmly on his knee. He had a beautiful voice and nice fingers and slender legs.
She could just imagine how beautiful his face was.
AnLing imagined herself as a young girl falling in love at first sight with the sound of the man's voice. She had read many stories and listened to many songs where something of the sort happened.
Two people. One meeting. Then they fall in love.
AnLing's heart skipped a beat.
It's not that she wanted to fall in love, she didn't. It was just that—
"This would make amazing inspiration for a love song" AnLing murmured to herself.
Once she got home she knew she would write just that.
After all, she could have a thousand painless loves through her songs.