The first half of their second year went by in the blink of an eye. With the start of the second half of the semester, Peng Zige had some ‘bad news’ to share with his friends.
“Are you saying you…” Su Zi gripped the lolly she was about to share with Li Erqin and stared at Peng Zige with a shell-shocked expression. “You’re going abroad?”
Peng Zige was absentmindedly turning the pages of a new book and making a loud rustling sound. “Yup.”
Rong Si was not at all surprised. “It’s been decided?”
“Yes.”
Li Erqin made one of her rare laughs. “Congratulations!”
“What is there to congratulate?” a sullen and depressed Peng Zige replied. “The place and lifestyle are unfamiliar, and my English is only mediocre.”
Li Erqin replied in all sincerity. “You don’t have to sit for the University Entrance exams.”
Peng Zige really wanted to agree with her, but he drew a circle with his finger to indicate the four of them. “Who here is actually worried about the University Entrance exam?”
“I am,” said Li Erqin.
“I am,” said Su Zi.
“I am,” said Rong Si.
Peng Zige was shocked. “Ah Si, why in the world are you joining in the melee?”
Rong Si composedly replied, “I’m worried about Erlan’s entrance exam.”
Everyone was speechless, and Li Erqin was the only one wearing a silly grin on her face.
“I’ll say, didn’t you guys meet up a lot during the winter break?”
Li Erqin’s face was like a frozen mountain. “NO.”
Su Zi and Peng Zige exclaimed in unison, “NO?!”
Peng Zige said, “During the whole winter break, we purposely didn’t contact you guys because we didn’t want to blind ourselves with your lovey-doveyness.”
Li Erqin immediately picked up on the main point. “So the both of you hung out together by yourselves?”
Peng Zige offhandedly exclaimed, “Of course. We went out a few times for meals and caught a few movies too.”
(Minodayz : oooo did you 2 go on your own date! WOW! Lol)
Li Erqin turned her head to look at Rong Si. “You see.”
Rong Si touched his nose.
“Ah Si, what is it that you do at every break? Why is it that we never get to see you around at all?”
Rong Si explained, “My dad and I can only catch up and spend time together during the breaks.”
Peng Zige couldn’t be bothered to pursue this any further and instead turned to prod Li Erqin. “Su Zi and I went and caught a movie, ate popcorn and ice cream. We even went and played some computer games.”
Li Erqin replied calmly, “While I was home, I had some cakes, ice cream and snacks too.”
“Is that even the same?”
“After the body has absorbed and metabolised everything, I guess there really isn’t much difference.”
Peng Zige smirked.
The conversation had gotten sidetracked, and Peng Zige shook his head to clear his thoughts as he prepared the materials he needed for the next class. That’s when he noted that Su Zi was rather morose and staring blankly where she was.
“What’s the matter?” he subconsciously lowered his voice to ask.
“Nothing.”
Rong Si paused in the middle of organising his books and looked towards Li Erqin.
Li Erqin was quick on the uptake and asked, “Peng Zige, when are you planning to go abroad?”
Peng Zige wasn’t too sure. It was with great effort that he had gotten a hold on his emotions and now it was plummeting again. “I don’t know ….. possibly at the end of the term.”
“Must you go?”
This was the first time that Peng Zige spoke with such hesitation. “Actually…. My parents have immigrated already.”
“OH.”
Thereafter, no one spoke again.
Sadly, what surprised everyone was that shortly after the completion of their first monthly exams, before anyone had even taken out their winter wardrobe in preparation for the changing weather, Peng Zige was unexpectedly taken out from class when his parents appeared at the classroom door.
(Minodayz : lips trembling – I’m so not going to bawl….puppy love, don’t gooooooo!!!)
In his haste to pack up all his things and schoolbag, Peng Zige only had time to ask rhetorically of Rong Si, “What is this all for?”
His unexpected and harried departure, plus the fact that Peng Zige still had not come back a week later contributed to a sense of uncertainty in the class. It was unclear who had overheard from the teacher’s office that Peng Zige was going abroad, or even that he had already left.
On the eighth day after Peng Zige had left school, Su Zi was copying and memorising some English vocabulary when huge tears fell onto her white piece of writing paper, causing the blue ink to smudge and turn into a little puddle.
Li Erqin put her pen down and stared in surprise at Su Zi, who was using the back of her hands to wipe her tears. Turning her back, she looked at Rong Si beseechingly.
Rong Si shook his head.
Li Erqin pouted and continued with her homework.
In the end, Li Erqin could not resist quietly writing a note and sliding it across to Su Zi. [are you alright?]
Su Zi was biting her lower lip and mechanically writing down the vocabulary words. When she looked over at the few words Li Erqin had written, her vision once again blurred with fresh tears.
In reality she was rather confused. When she saw Peng Zige packing up his books and table to leave and when she saw his empty desk devoid of any traces of his existence, she felt a tightness and pain in her heart. Her throat felt as if an unseen hand was choking her, and when she tried to breathe deeply, she found that she couldn’t.
She was grabbing tightly and even tighter on the pen in her hand, and still she was not able to write a single word. Her vision was getting blurrier and blurrier until she could not see anything clearly anymore.
Li Erqin once again turned back to seek Rong Si for help.
Rong Si sighed and put down his pen.
Half an hour later, the three of them were sitting in a cab heading towards Peng Zige’s home.
It was quiet inside the cab, and Su Zi had stopped crying but had yet to say a word. Li Erqin was sitting in the back row with Su Zi and she looked across at the front passenger seat to Rong Si. He was holding his phone and looked to be scrolling through it, his demeanour relaxed and without a care.
“Rong Si,” Li Erqin called out.
Rong Si looked back.
“Are we skipping out on the evening self-study class?”
“Yup.”
Li Erqin pouted. “Won’t it be better if we just request a leave of absence?”
Rong Si handed her his phone. “I’ve already applied for it.”
Li Erqin made a surprised sound and saw the teacher’s text reply. [ok, make sure to return back to school early.]
Rong Si smiled at her.
When they were about ten minutes away from Peng Zige’s home, Rong Si had given him a call informing him of their arrival. Thus when the cab had just turned into the road leading to Peng Zige’s home, they spotted a boy with a baseball cap under a street lamp facing a green patch and bouncing up and down.
Still that same irrepressible monkey. When he saw Li Erqin and the others disembark from the cab, he tugged his cap, and like a gust of wind, he flew towards them. He was looking all dorky as he stood before them with a silly grin on his face.
Su Zi was reticent and quiet, tightly pursing her lips.
Rong Si extended his long arm and patted Peng Zige on the back asking, “You’re not coming in for class?”
Peng Zige nodded. “Yup. My folks are working on my withdrawal from school.”
“Why so rushed?” Li Erqin asked.
Peng Zige opened his mouth to say something, but in the end he couldn’t say a word.
Silence prevailed among them.
Peng Zige then lowered his head to look at Su Zi. “Little Zizi, why are you so quiet today?”
Looking closer, he realised that Su Zi’s lowered head was an attempt to conceal eyes that were flooding up with tears. Peng Zige panicked when he saw this. “What’s….the matter?”
Rong Si tugged on Li Erqin’s hand and spoke to Peng Zige. “Erlan and I are going for a walk. We’ll leave you two to talk.”
Peng Zige batted his eyes.
Li Erqin asserted, “Have a good chat.”
Peng Zige had a woebegone expression. What kind of chat is considered a good chat?
As he watched the two of them walk away hand in hand towards the gardens, Peng Zige silently looked up at the dark night skies and sighed.
“Su Zi.” He removed his cap revealing his very short cropped haircut. “Just look at my hair.”
Su Zi looked up with tears in her eyes and opened her mouth in surprise. “Your hair….”
Peng Zige proceeded, “My mum heard that the hairdressers overseas aren’t very good so she specifically took me to the barber shop to have it lopped off.”
Su Zi didn’t know what else she could say.
Peng Zige braved the wind and reached back to touch his cold head. “Look at it, what do you think?”
Su Zi pursed her lips. “It’s ugly.”
“This…”
“You….” Su Zi hesitated, “will be returning right?”
Peng Zige’s face was all certainty. “Definitely I will return.”
“Will you forget about us?”
“How would that be even possible.”
However, there was no use in asking any more questions. There was definitely a difference between moving overseas and simply moving within the country. It might be possible to meet twice a year or it might only be possible to meet once every few years.
The night breeze seemed to blow until their hearts grew colder and colder.
Not too far off, Rong Si had wrapped Li Erqin in his big outer jacket, using his body heat to keep her warm and snug.
Li Erqin leaned into Rong Si’s embrace, as her mood was in disarray. To hear with her own ears that Peng Zige would henceforth not be attending class had somehow hit home the reality that Peng Zige was really leaving.
“Rong Si.” Her voice buzzed as she called to him.
“I’m here.”
“Do you think we’ll be able to see Peng Zige once a year?”
“I don’t know.”
“Once every two years?”
“Possibly.”
Li Erqin lifted her head, propping her chin on his chest to look at him. “What about us?”
“What?”
“If we did a countdown, how long can we still be together?”
Rong Si laughed. “What do you think?”
Li Erqin looked up as she thought. “There’s one more year until the university entrance exams.”
“The entrance exams are not the issue.”
“There’s a year and a half before we go to Uni.”
“Uni isn’t the issue.”
“There’s five years until we graduate from Uni.”
“Graduating from university isn’t the issue either.”
“Then what’s the issue?” Li Erqin asked in return.
Rong Si lowered his head to peer at her, his warm breath blowing onto her face. He quietly chuckled, “The issue is how long can you like me?”
Li Erqin’s ears were itching from his breath and she subconsciously moved to block it. “What if I can only like you until tomorrow?”
Rong Si placed his hand at the back of her head. It was so big that her entire head was practically cupped within his palm. “Tomorrow is too soon. I’ll need some time to prepare myself to leave you.”
“How about until after the university entrance exams?” Li Erqin began to be playful.
“That’s too soon too.”
“How about the start of university.”
“It’s still too soon.”
“I’m sure that by our university graduation, it ought to be enough time?”
Rong Si brought his face closer and closer, and just as he was almost touching her lips, he smiled again and looked down towards her lips. He whispered, “Still not enough.”
He leaned over.
FINALLY he tasted sweetness.
The first half of their second year went by in the blink of an eye. With the start of the second half of the semester, Peng Zige had some ‘bad news’ to share with his friends.
“Are you saying you…” Su Zi gripped the lolly she was about to share with Li Erqin and stared at Peng Zige with a shell-shocked expression. “You’re going abroad?”
Peng Zige was absentmindedly turning the pages of a new book and making a loud rustling sound. “Yup.”
Rong Si was not at all surprised. “It’s been decided?”
“Yes.”
Li Erqin made one of her rare laughs. “Congratulations!”
“What is there to congratulate?” a sullen and depressed Peng Zige replied. “The place and lifestyle are unfamiliar, and my English is only mediocre.”
Li Erqin replied in all sincerity. “You don’t have to sit for the University Entrance exams.”
Peng Zige really wanted to agree with her, but he drew a circle with his finger to indicate the four of them. “Who here is actually worried about the University Entrance exam?”
“I am,” said Li Erqin.
“I am,” said Su Zi.
“I am,” said Rong Si.
Peng Zige was shocked. “Ah Si, why in the world are you joining in the melee?”
Rong Si composedly replied, “I’m worried about Erlan’s entrance exam.”
Everyone was speechless, and Li Erqin was the only one wearing a silly grin on her face.
“I’ll say, didn’t you guys meet up a lot during the winter break?”
Li Erqin’s face was like a frozen mountain. “NO.”
Su Zi and Peng Zige exclaimed in unison, “NO?!”
Peng Zige said, “During the whole winter break, we purposely didn’t contact you guys because we didn’t want to blind ourselves with your lovey-doveyness.”
Li Erqin immediately picked up on the main point. “So the both of you hung out together by yourselves?”
Peng Zige offhandedly exclaimed, “Of course. We went out a few times for meals and caught a few movies too.”
(Minodayz : oooo did you 2 go on your own date! WOW! Lol)
Li Erqin turned her head to look at Rong Si. “You see.”
Rong Si touched his nose.
“Ah Si, what is it that you do at every break? Why is it that we never get to see you around at all?”
Rong Si explained, “My dad and I can only catch up and spend time together during the breaks.”
Peng Zige couldn’t be bothered to pursue this any further and instead turned to prod Li Erqin. “Su Zi and I went and caught a movie, ate popcorn and ice cream. We even went and played some computer games.”
Li Erqin replied calmly, “While I was home, I had some cakes, ice cream and snacks too.”
“Is that even the same?”
“After the body has absorbed and metabolised everything, I guess there really isn’t much difference.”
Peng Zige smirked.
The conversation had gotten sidetracked, and Peng Zige shook his head to clear his thoughts as he prepared the materials he needed for the next class. That’s when he noted that Su Zi was rather morose and staring blankly where she was.
“What’s the matter?” he subconsciously lowered his voice to ask.
“Nothing.”
Rong Si paused in the middle of organising his books and looked towards Li Erqin.
Li Erqin was quick on the uptake and asked, “Peng Zige, when are you planning to go abroad?”
Peng Zige wasn’t too sure. It was with great effort that he had gotten a hold on his emotions and now it was plummeting again. “I don’t know ….. possibly at the end of the term.”
“Must you go?”
This was the first time that Peng Zige spoke with such hesitation. “Actually…. My parents have immigrated already.”
“OH.”
Thereafter, no one spoke again.
Sadly, what surprised everyone was that shortly after the completion of their first monthly exams, before anyone had even taken out their winter wardrobe in preparation for the changing weather, Peng Zige was unexpectedly taken out from class when his parents appeared at the classroom door.
(Minodayz : lips trembling – I’m so not going to bawl….puppy love, don’t gooooooo!!!)
In his haste to pack up all his things and schoolbag, Peng Zige only had time to ask rhetorically of Rong Si, “What is this all for?”
His unexpected and harried departure, plus the fact that Peng Zige still had not come back a week later contributed to a sense of uncertainty in the class. It was unclear who had overheard from the teacher’s office that Peng Zige was going abroad, or even that he had already left.
On the eighth day after Peng Zige had left school, Su Zi was copying and memorising some English vocabulary when huge tears fell onto her white piece of writing paper, causing the blue ink to smudge and turn into a little puddle.
Li Erqin put her pen down and stared in surprise at Su Zi, who was using the back of her hands to wipe her tears. Turning her back, she looked at Rong Si beseechingly.
Rong Si shook his head.
Li Erqin pouted and continued with her homework.
In the end, Li Erqin could not resist quietly writing a note and sliding it across to Su Zi. [are you alright?]
Su Zi was biting her lower lip and mechanically writing down the vocabulary words. When she looked over at the few words Li Erqin had written, her vision once again blurred with fresh tears.
In reality she was rather confused. When she saw Peng Zige packing up his books and table to leave and when she saw his empty desk devoid of any traces of his existence, she felt a tightness and pain in her heart. Her throat felt as if an unseen hand was choking her, and when she tried to breathe deeply, she found that she couldn’t.
She was grabbing tightly and even tighter on the pen in her hand, and still she was not able to write a single word. Her vision was getting blurrier and blurrier until she could not see anything clearly anymore.
Li Erqin once again turned back to seek Rong Si for help.
Rong Si sighed and put down his pen.
Half an hour later, the three of them were sitting in a cab heading towards Peng Zige’s home.
It was quiet inside the cab, and Su Zi had stopped crying but had yet to say a word. Li Erqin was sitting in the back row with Su Zi and she looked across at the front passenger seat to Rong Si. He was holding his phone and looked to be scrolling through it, his demeanour relaxed and without a care.
“Rong Si,” Li Erqin called out.
Rong Si looked back.
“Are we skipping out on the evening self-study class?”
“Yup.”
Li Erqin pouted. “Won’t it be better if we just request a leave of absence?”
Rong Si handed her his phone. “I’ve already applied for it.”
Li Erqin made a surprised sound and saw the teacher’s text reply. [ok, make sure to return back to school early.]
Rong Si smiled at her.
When they were about ten minutes away from Peng Zige’s home, Rong Si had given him a call informing him of their arrival. Thus when the cab had just turned into the road leading to Peng Zige’s home, they spotted a boy with a baseball cap under a street lamp facing a green patch and bouncing up and down.
Still that same irrepressible monkey. When he saw Li Erqin and the others disembark from the cab, he tugged his cap, and like a gust of wind, he flew towards them. He was looking all dorky as he stood before them with a silly grin on his face.
Su Zi was reticent and quiet, tightly pursing her lips.
Rong Si extended his long arm and patted Peng Zige on the back asking, “You’re not coming in for class?”
Peng Zige nodded. “Yup. My folks are working on my withdrawal from school.”
“Why so rushed?” Li Erqin asked.
Peng Zige opened his mouth to say something, but in the end he couldn’t say a word.
Silence prevailed among them.
Peng Zige then lowered his head to look at Su Zi. “Little Zizi, why are you so quiet today?”
Looking closer, he realised that Su Zi’s lowered head was an attempt to conceal eyes that were flooding up with tears. Peng Zige panicked when he saw this. “What’s….the matter?”
Rong Si tugged on Li Erqin’s hand and spoke to Peng Zige. “Erlan and I are going for a walk. We’ll leave you two to talk.”
Peng Zige batted his eyes.
Li Erqin asserted, “Have a good chat.”
Peng Zige had a woebegone expression. What kind of chat is considered a good chat?
As he watched the two of them walk away hand in hand towards the gardens, Peng Zige silently looked up at the dark night skies and sighed.
“Su Zi.” He removed his cap revealing his very short cropped haircut. “Just look at my hair.”
Su Zi looked up with tears in her eyes and opened her mouth in surprise. “Your hair….”
Peng Zige proceeded, “My mum heard that the hairdressers overseas aren’t very good so she specifically took me to the barber shop to have it lopped off.”
Su Zi didn’t know what else she could say.
Peng Zige braved the wind and reached back to touch his cold head. “Look at it, what do you think?”
Su Zi pursed her lips. “It’s ugly.”
“This…”
“You….” Su Zi hesitated, “will be returning right?”
Peng Zige’s face was all certainty. “Definitely I will return.”
“Will you forget about us?”
“How would that be even possible.”
However, there was no use in asking any more questions. There was definitely a difference between moving overseas and simply moving within the country. It might be possible to meet twice a year or it might only be possible to meet once every few years.
The night breeze seemed to blow until their hearts grew colder and colder.
Not too far off, Rong Si had wrapped Li Erqin in his big outer jacket, using his body heat to keep her warm and snug.
Li Erqin leaned into Rong Si’s embrace, as her mood was in disarray. To hear with her own ears that Peng Zige would henceforth not be attending class had somehow hit home the reality that Peng Zige was really leaving.
“Rong Si.” Her voice buzzed as she called to him.
“I’m here.”
“Do you think we’ll be able to see Peng Zige once a year?”
“I don’t know.”
“Once every two years?”
“Possibly.”
Li Erqin lifted her head, propping her chin on his chest to look at him. “What about us?”
“What?”
“If we did a countdown, how long can we still be together?”
Rong Si laughed. “What do you think?”
Li Erqin looked up as she thought. “There’s one more year until the university entrance exams.”
“The entrance exams are not the issue.”
“There’s a year and a half before we go to Uni.”
“Uni isn’t the issue.”
“There’s five years until we graduate from Uni.”
“Graduating from university isn’t the issue either.”
“Then what’s the issue?” Li Erqin asked in return.
Rong Si lowered his head to peer at her, his warm breath blowing onto her face. He quietly chuckled, “The issue is how long can you like me?”
Li Erqin’s ears were itching from his breath and she subconsciously moved to block it. “What if I can only like you until tomorrow?”
Rong Si placed his hand at the back of her head. It was so big that her entire head was practically cupped within his palm. “Tomorrow is too soon. I’ll need some time to prepare myself to leave you.”
“How about until after the university entrance exams?” Li Erqin began to be playful.
“That’s too soon too.”
“How about the start of university.”
“It’s still too soon.”
“I’m sure that by our university graduation, it ought to be enough time?”
Rong Si brought his face closer and closer, and just as he was almost touching her lips, he smiled again and looked down towards her lips. He whispered, “Still not enough.”
He leaned over.
FINALLY he tasted sweetness.
