"Did something happen?"
Shanshan asked Wu Zhaoyi as they walked back to the hotel. Eventually, they decided to stay there and come back the next day. However, from the time the man received the phone call until they finished dinner, Wu Zhaoyi's mind seemed to be elsewhere even though he was beside Shanshan the whole time.
"Shanshan.. Can I ask you something?"
The woman nodded her head and looked at the man who suddenly stopped there. The yellow lights from the front of the house they passed, lit up the quiet and small street, allowing them to talk privately and without much disturbance.
"What do you want to ask?"
Now that they were standing face to face, Wu Zhaoyi with a doubtful expression looked at Shanshan who was looking at him expectantly.
"How did you end up working with Ryan?"
Shanshan, who seemed calm, did not expect Wu Zhaoyi to ask about her past. Specifically at a time that she considered a transitional period, between closing the book that holds her life as a swimmer and a new book that carries her life as Nicole.
"I worked as a swimming teacher at his house for a few months." Shanshan answered, trying to summarize it into one simple sentence.
"Then you followed him back to Paris?"
Shanshan nodded, "You could say that, I asked him to take me to Paris."
"Just the two of you?"
Shanshan tried to remember the incident that felt so long ago that it made her memory a little lost. "Maybe?" she answered hesitantly, "Actually I don't really remember it."
Wu Zhaoyi saw Shanshan's relaxed expression when answering his question, which meant that she was indeed telling the truth. "How long have you moved to Paris?"
Regarding this question, of course she could answer it with certainty, because the duration was the same as her daughter's age. "Ten years."
Wu Zhaoyi looked like he was in a dilemma. Was what the woman in the restaurant said true? Or maybe she misunderstood Shanshan's words?
"Are you married?"
This question really took Shanshan by surprise, something she never expected Wu Zhaoyi to ask because the man never wanted to pry into other people's private lives.
The woman folded her arms across her chest and looked straight into Wu Zhaoyi's eyes, "What do you really want to ask?"
Wu Zhaoyi began to hesitate. Was it better for him to ask now? Or was it better for him to find out first?
However, even if what the woman said was true, Shanshan was raising his daughter in Paris. Seeing how Shanshan didn't tell him at all, didn't that mean the woman really didn't want him to know. Then if he forced her, wouldn't that make Shanshan distance herself or even disappear somewhere else?
Because after all, Shanshan was no longer a high school student who was alone and relied on herself. But, she had transformed into a reliable businesswoman and could get what she wanted, without having to do it by herself.
"I was just wondering if you faced any major difficulties when you first moved to Paris?"
Shanshan sighed softly, "Of course it happened." She answered with certainty, "Moreover, at that time Ryan had just started building his company from scratch. I also had to quickly learn French, so that I could help him when meeting clients."
But among all of that, perhaps the most difficult was when Shanshan had to manage her time as a working mother and also take care of the newborn Xingxing, where there was no one by her side to help her. Until finally she met Martha who was none other than the person who lived next door to her house and was a bit annoyed when she heard Xingxing crying all night, then somehow the woman finally offered to help her. That became one of the turning points in Shanshan's life, meeting Martha who is now her best friend.
Unconsciously she smiled when she remembered the past time, it felt like a long time ago, but why did it feel like the memories were still clearly imprinted in her mind. At that time, Shanshan never thought she would be in her current position. Although, now she realizes that the sacrifices she has made have yielded equally great results, even though one of them was sacrificing Xingxing who grew up to be a special child compared to children her age. However, she could not deny that sometimes Shanshan also regretted the decisions she made when she was young.
"What are you smiling about?" Wu Zhaoyi asked with a smile as he looked at the woman in front of him who seemed to be reminiscing about a happy event in the past.
"Nothing," Shanshan replied with a wave of her hand.
They both seemed to enjoy the atmosphere that night, chatting and laughing casually. As if the incident in the past, even though some were bitter memories, is now considered a valuable lesson. However, they did not realize that on the narrow road there was a motorbike passing by and honking, which then separated the two of them and made Shanshan fall to the ground.
The driver turned his head for a moment, towards Shanshan and Zhaoyi, apologized several times. But, the driver did not seem to intend to get off his motorbike at all and chose to speed up again, leaving the two of them there. From a glance, the man looked like a food delivery man who was in a hurry to deliver a food order and chose to go through this road rather than the main road that was crowded with vehicles.
"Are you okay?" Zhaoyi approached Shanshan and held both of her arms to help her stand up.
However, when Shanshan's right foot touched the ground, the woman suddenly winced in pain. "Slow down."
Seeing the situation there, Zhaoyi could conclude that Shanshan's foot was sprained and made her unable to walk normally. "I don't think you can walk back to the hotel by yourself."
Realizing that he couldn't leave Shanshan there, Zhaoyi finally lowered his body and let his back face Shanshan. "Get on, I'll carry you."
Shanshan seemed hesitant for a moment, but knew that she had no choice with her condition like this. Finally she climbed onto Wu Zhaoyi's back and the man then carried her tightly and started walking again.
"I guess the promise you made to me, turned into me doing it for you," Wu Zhaoyi said jokingly, while Shanshan put her arms around the man's neck.
"I guess because we're adults now, some of those promises can't be kept because they're no longer relevant to the current situation." Shanshan gave her reason. "But, you still have one more promise. I will try to keep it."
Wu Zhaoyi laughed briefly, "If I had known you would count the promise based on the gold medal I got back then, I would have gotten it all for you."
"What did you say?" Shanshan asked, unable to hear Zhaoyi's words clearly.
"Nothing," he replied. "Give me some more time to think, I'll tell you later."
Shanshan nodded her head, "Okay."
Then they spent some time chatting during the journey until they finally arrived at the hotel that Wu Zhaoyi had booked, which looked quite grand. The man continued to carry Shanshan as they passed through the lobby, then took the lift until they finally stopped at one of the rooms. Actually what the man did really embarrassed Shanshan to death, but Zhaoyi didn't seem to care.
"You wait for me inside, I'll go get some medicine first." He said, referring to the room they were standing in now.
Shanshan was actually about to argue and say that it would be better if she was in her own room, but before she could speak, Wu Zhaoyi had already given her the card and disappeared. Shanshan, who could only stare at the man's retreating back, finally tapped the card on the doorknob sensor and decided to follow Wu Zhaoyi's words to wait for him inside.
Shanshan stepped into the large room with difficulty and endured the pain because her feet could not touch the floor. After managing to sit on one of the nearest sofas, she then lay down and took a deep breath. Why did this happy day end with a small accident like this? She grumbled in her heart because now she felt helpless without Wu Zhaoyi beside her.
When the atmosphere had started to calm down, suddenly the cellphone in the pocket of her white dress vibrated indicating that there was a phone call for her. When Shanshan read the name that appeared on her cellphone screen, she immediately pressed the answer button without thinking twice. "Allô, Martha."
A voice was heard from the other end answering her call, "Are you busy, Nicole?"
"No." She answered immediately, "Did something happen?"
Martha's voice sounded a little hesitant from the other end, "I thought your business was finished, right?" she asked to make sure, referring to her work helping Zhaoyi.
"Yes, I will be back in Shanghai soon." Then there was a pause, as if the person on the other end was confused about how to put the words together to talk to her. "What's wrong, Martha?"
After a while, Martha's voice finally came, "If it's okay, can you come back to Paris earlier?"
Shanshan began to feel that something was wrong and tried to confirm it, "Why?"
Martha spoke softly, "Xingxing is in the hospital," the woman finally admitted, "It would be better if you could come back now."
Shanshan felt like she had been hit by something hard, in a confusing situation like this she tried to be as calm as possible and spoke to Martha. "How is she now?"
Martha took a deep breath and answered, "Not good, but she's much better now. It looks like she'll be out of the hospital when you get back here."
Shanshan closed her eyes and a sense of relief enveloped her, at least for now Xingxing's condition was not as bad as she thought. "What happened?"
As if understanding Nicole's question, the woman then answered honestly. "As usual, bullying at school." Martha answered briefly, "As usual, our Xingxing didn't fight them. Then because they were upset, her friends started using physical violence and pushed her to the floor."
Shanshan shook her head, not understanding why the kids did that. However, since this wasn't the first time, she wasn't too surprised. "We should transfer her to another school as soon as possible."
"I know," Martha replied, "I've contacted several schools and it looks like we'll get their response soon."
"Okay, good." Shanshan replied. "I'll find the earliest flight back to Paris from here."
"Okay," Martha said, ending their conversation. "Then, see you later."
"See you." Shanshan replied before hanging up the phone and closing her eyes, trying to find a way out of this recurring problem.
Actually, Shanshan knew why the children behaved like that, which was none other than Xingxing's autism. Besides, finding a school that would accept a child with such a condition was not easy, even if she managed to get one, similar incidents would definitely happen again.
On one hand, Shanshan began to consider Martha's suggestion to invite a teacher to the house and give Xingxing formal lessons herself, but Shanshan also thought that if she did that, she would worsen Xingxing's autism by limiting her environment. However, this time let's see if Martha can get a better school or not, before she really makes the decision to homeschool her.
When Shanshan thought she was alone in the room, it turned out that one of the doors to the bedroom inside was open. The next second, a woman wearing a bathrobe with wet hair who looked like she had just finished taking a shower came out of it. For a moment, Shanshan thought she had entered the wrong room and prepared to leave the place, while apologizing to the owner of the room.
However, when Shanshan walked past the door where the woman was standing looking at her with a smile, she suddenly began to realize who the woman really was. Her reverie was then interrupted by the voice of the woman who had spoken to her first with the same voice as in her memory.
"Long time no see, Shanshan." She greeted her happily
At that moment Shanshan realized that she had indeed entered the wrong room, because the woman was the one who should have been there, not her. Then her mouth opened to say the woman's name, as if bringing back bitter memories from ten years ago.
"Tang Jinjing."
***