HC Chapter 3

HC Chapter 3: I Fear You (II)

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Dong Ci’s father died early. To support the family and help out with the daily expenses, Dong Ci shared the burden with her mother and worked part-time in a dessert shop near the school. Because it was the weekend, there were few people in the store.

Jingle, jingle-

The wind chimes made a clear sound as the door was pushed open from the outside. Dong Ci’s smiling expression instantly froze when she saw the incoming person.

“Judging from your face, you should’ve remembered me.”

As Jing Rong entered, cold air rushed into the store. Dong Ci lowered her head slightly and calmly asked: “What do you want?”

Jing Rong ignored her question, picked up the menu decorated with cartoon characters, and casually played around with it in his hands. His eyes, however, were not on it.

Seeing the girl in front of him with a stiff look, his lips slightly hooked up as he placed his elbows on the counter and leaned in closer to her.

“I want you – are you selling?” he asked slowly.

Dong Ci’s face paled. She felt that the question contained infinite levels of sarcasm, so her answer was rather rude: “If you are not going to buy anything, please leave.”

“Then a cup of milk tea,” he ordered lazily, still smiling and looking extremely well-tempered.

Dong Ci quickly put the order into the computer and routinely asked, “Which flavor of milk tea?”

“What flavor do you like?”

“…”

Dong Ci was silent for a moment. Then she turned back to the computer and made a random order.

Since the last time the two of them met, Dong Ci hasn’t seen him, so she almost forgot about him. However, she didn’t expect him to suddenly appear here at this time.

The milk tea was ready. Dong Ci skillfully packaged it and handed it over to Jing Rong, but he didn’t pick it up.

“As far as I know, your family situation doesn’t seem to be good.”

Dong Ci frowned slightly and placed the milk tea on the counter, coldly replying: “Is it any of your business?”

The air between them stagnated for a brief moment before everything returned to normal.

Jing Rong’s eyes rose up slightly, and the fingertips placed on the table beat a slow rhythm. Then he softly chuckled, and the breath which escaped the thin lips looked a bit enchanting as it spread into a thin white mist.

“Maybe you will beg me to make it my business later.”

Jingle-

The store’s doors closed as the person who stood in front of her left. If it wasn’t for the untouched milk tea and the red banknotes on the counter, she would’ve thought that what she had just experienced was an illusion.

Before meeting Jing Rong, although Dong Ci’s life was busy, it was calm and easy. But now, it seemed as though something was quietly changing.

Beg him?

Recalling every word he spoke to her before leaving the store, Dong Ci felt anger rising up in her chest. She sneered to herself, thinking that it was a little funny.

She wasn’t stupid, and she could understand Jing Rong’s mind with little thought. The impression of him suddenly worsened in her heart, falling directly to the lowest point possible.

Although she couldn’t completely understand his behavior and wasn’t sure whether her guess was correct, she still knew very clearly:

People like Jing Rong must be avoided at all costs.

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As the weather cooled down, Dong Ci felt that it was more and more difficult to get up in the mornings. Towards the end of the term, it was still dark outside when she had to leave the house for school.

“Xiao Ci, your mother made sushi for you today. Eat it at noon, so as not to stay hungry. You have a bad stomach and the sushi is cold, so remember to drink more hot water when eating,” Dong Ci’s mother reminded from the kitchen, where she was still busily arranging the food.

She seemed to have lost a lot of weight recently.

Her mother, who was originally quite curvy, became more slender as time went by. Dong Ci looked at her back and thought that today she seemed particularly thin.

“Mom, just pretend that I’m not here. Take a break and have some rest,” Dong Ci spoke softly. She couldn’t bear to see her mother so hard-working every day.

The sushi in the lunchbox was exquisite, and as Dong Ci picked it up, she could smell the rich and sweet aroma of glutinous rice.

“It feels like my mother’s cooking is getting better and better,” she complimented with a smile. Without waiting for the mother’s reply, she packed two boxes into her school bag.

“Don’t worry, I know that the other box is for Brother Shi Ze. I will pass it on to him during the lunch period.”

“Alright, I am going to school now! It’s too cold outside, so you don’t have to see me out. Just go back to sleep some more!”

The cold wind outside was biting with its ferocity. Dong Ci quickly closed the apartment door to prevent it from reaching inside. When she looked up, she could still see the faint silhouette of the moon in the sky.

“Come on, come on – you must study hard so as not to worry your mother!” she meditated in her heart. The tip of her nose was a little sour as she thought about the lunchbox which was placed in her backpack. This feeling she was now experiencing was both, unsettling and overwhelming.

The inexplicable repression in her heart continued until she saw Shi Ze at noon.

Shi Ze was the son of the dessert shop owner’s aunt, and they both grew up together. In the past, when her father was still there, the two families got along particularly well. When her father died, his family took care of the mother and daughter left behind.

Shi Ze was one year older, but they went to the same school and he was currently in the third year of high school.

In their school, the third years were taught in a small three-story building, which was separated from the rest of the junior classes. The environment was quiet, and there was even a small garden that students could enjoy. It was separate from the building that Dong Ci was at.

Dong Ci sent a text message to Shi Ze in advance and ran to the small garden to wait for him to finish classes.

“You came early today.”

Under normal circumstances, Shi Ze would always be later than Dong Ci. But today, when she arrived, he was already there – waiting for her in the round pavilion of the garden.

“Today we had a mock exam, so I left the school early,” Shi Ze replied as he accepted his lunchbox and placed it on the stone table. Then he rummaged through his backpack and took out a booklet.

“These are the key notes of high school that I previously organized. It’s not too different from what you are currently learning in classes, so you may be able to use them,” he softly explained.

“Thank you, Brother Shi Ze,” Dong Ci smiled, putting the booklet aside and opening her lunchbox.

Shi Ze’s temperament was quiet, and Dong Ci was also usually silent and restrained. So when the two sat together, they weren’t talkative. However, Shi Ze still seemed to notice that today she was unhappy and casually chatted, trying to distract her.

“Aunt Song’s cooking skills seemed to be getting better and better,” he said, breaking the silence.

It was a very abrupt sentence, which made Dong Ci pause in her eating. When she recovered, she released a soft grunt of an acknowledgment as many memories swarmed inside her mind.

Dong Ci has been suppressing her emotions all morning, and now they seemed to be getting out of her control. She sniffed her nose, and the food in front of her suddenly became difficult to swallow.

“My mother’s favorite thing was to study cooking. I still remember how she once joked that she would make any dish I wanted, as long as it existed somewhere in this world… and then, I could eat it with my father.”

When Dong Ci’s father was still there, her mother was a housewife. Although she didn’t work, she always kept her family in order. Every day she changed the recipes for the meals they ate and made many delicious dishes. Whenever Dong Ci or her dad praised her, there would be a smile on the mother’s face, which would look particularly happy and satisfying.

Now that her father disappeared so abruptly, and things were difficult for her mother, Dong Ci suddenly felt that she would never be able to extricate herself from the sadness which consumed her heart.

“Do you know, Shi Ze? When I went out this morning, I looked at the place where my father usually parked his car, and I even looked forward to seeing him for a brief moment. And yet, while the car is still there, my father no longer is…”

She didn’t want Shi Ze to see her tears, so Dong Ci lowered her head and bit the back of her mouth, suppressing the sobs that still came out despite her effort to contain them.

“I’m sorry, Xiao Ci,” Shi Ze apologized. He didn’t know how to comfort other people, but watching the girl cry beside him so pitifully, he hesitated and finally chose to gently embrace her in his arms. “Don’t cry. Although your dad is gone, but I…”

His voice hitched slightly, while his handsome face flushed with light red color. Shi Ze turned his head a little uncomfortably and calmly continued:

“My mother and I will always be with you.”

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After the lunch period, Dong Ci followed Shi Ze’s figure with her eyes as she watched him leave. She held the empty lunchbox in her hands and stood there for a long time until she tried to move and felt that her hands and feet turned stiff.

Her emotions still weren’t completely stabilized.

She turned around and slowly walked with her head hanging down until she sensed someone in front of her.

“You…”

A few steps away from her was Jing Rong, leaning against the wall and staring at her expressionlessly. He was tall and slender, and the black coat that he wore on his body made him look extra mature – different from the usual leisurely and casual image.

Today, he looked a little depressed.

This wasn’t the only way back to the classroom. Dong Ci didn’t want to have too much contact with the teenager in front, so she decisively turned around with the lunchbox still in her arms, and walked the other way. But, just as she took two steps, a boy from behind her suddenly stopped her.

“Hello, hello, little beauty. My name is An Cheng Feng. Last time we met on the school grounds,” An Cheng Feng scratched his head, messing up his fluffy hair. Quickly walking up to her, he blocked the path in front of Dong Ci and helplessly pointed behind her.

“A’Rong’s mood doesn’t seem to be good, so I suggest you don’t avoid him. After all, you wouldn’t want to make him even more unhappy.”

“I’m not familiar with you. I’m going back to my classroom,” Dong Ci quickly said as she tried bypassing An Cheng Feng. But who could have guessed that his reaction would be so quick – he swiftly moved in front of her, not leaving her any chance of escape.

They stood in the passage between buildings. The left and right sides were not very spacious and the roads on both sides were completely blocked. Dong Ci was caught in the middle and couldn’t get away.

“How can you harass me like this? I will tell the teacher,” she threatened angrily, seeing no other way out.

An Cheng Feng suddenly laughed out loud. He seemed to have heard something ridiculous, judging by the way he was covering his stomach – completely unable to calm down from the joke she just said.

“Oh, oh, hey… Even if you complain to the principal, do you think that he will help you?” he choked out while whipping imaginary tears from the corners of his eyes. He really didn’t seem to be afraid of her threats.

Dong Ci thought back to the conversation between Jing Rong and the principal when she was passing by the principal’s office that one time. Suddenly, she felt cold from the inside out.

“Okay, A’Rong’s patience has always been poor, so I advise you not to let him wait too long,” An Cheng Feng reminded her after laughing for long enough. He held her shoulder and turned her around, pushing her to Jing Rong’s direction. Then he casually urged her:

“Hurry up, sister. And good luck.”

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