Suddenly, This Summer 8 // The Sun on the Palm

The snow fell continuously. The school’s field was turned into a makeshift ice rink.

The last class of the day was PE. Zhao Cheng Jie cried in anguish, “We’re dead, dead. We’ll have to trip over and break into pieces.”

“Didn’t you always flaunt your athleticism?” He Luo laughed at him.

“But I’m tall, so my centre of gravity is high. I’m not made for skating,” Zhao Cheng Jie lamented. “Never mind, never mind. With your height, you won’t be able to understand my pain.”

“What a joke,” He Luo said. “When we started skating lessons in primary school, we’ve never heard that being tall would be a disadvantage.”

Zhang Yuan leaned forward, glancing at the ice skates she was holding. “No wonder you sound so experienced, I thought girls would use figure skates.”

“Are you looking down girls? Let’s compete and see who’s better!” He Luo lifted her chin.

“I don’t mean that.” Zhang Yuan smiled. “But since you’ve asked for it, let’s do it!”

They had just barely stood in the ice rink when Zheng Qing Yin ran over to them. Separated by the fence, she waved at Zhang Yuan. “You’re still on wheels [skates]. I saw you this morning, you zoomed past our side in an instant.”

“Superb acrobatics, wasn’t it!” Zhang Yuan skated over, stopping expertly.

“What. It’s so dangerous.” Zheng Qing Yin pouted. “In the future you’re not allowed to go so fast.”

“If I don’t go a little faster, won’t I be late?” Zhang Yuan turned around. “I’ll go and sign my attendance with the teacher first.”

Zheng Qing Yin sprawled over the fence and extended her hand to grab his coat. With a lowered voice, she said, “Promise me, promise me.”

“Fine, fine. You let go first.”

He Luo did not say anything, only running to skate a few laps around the rink. “You’re doing pretty well!” Teacher Qiu who taught language class passed by and praised her.

The PE teacher said proudly, “Of course! You have to see who her teacher is.”

“It’s because she already learned this, isn’t it. The students you teach are like that,” Teacher Qiu pointed at Zhao Cheng Jie. He was standing woodenly in the middle of the rink, both feet wide open like he was a big ‘eight’ character.

He Luo shook her head and skated over. “Do you want me to help you?”

“How? Aren’t you going to compete with Zhang Yuan? Oh, he’s being harassed by the little girl again.” With his seatmate’s help, Zhang Cheng Jie managed to stand firm, looking past the top of her head. “Ah, ah, look, look. They’re even pulling each other [acting intimately]. Could it be that in another moment they would be hugging each other!”

“Why are you so concerned about that? Learn to skate properly!” He Luo chided him.

“Don’t be so fierce. After mixing around with Tian Xin, Li Yun Wei and the rest, your temperament has changed, your temper has also become bad.” He sighed. “Look, that type of cute and helpless-looking girl would be more popular with boys. Zhang Yuan this brat really has luck with the ladies.”

“You really speak a lot of nonsense.” He Luo violently shook him off.

Zhao Cheng Jie lost his footing and with a string of “ai” sound, sprawled onto the ice floor. It hurt so bad that he grimaced. “Did you inhale gunpowder? I called you fierce and you really become fierce!”

Zhang Yuan skated over and pulled Zhao Cheng Jie up. “He Luo, why have you come here to spit fire, didn’t you say you want to have a match with me?”

“What’s there to compete,” He Luo wanly said. “While you were chatting, I have already skated many rounds and have long depleted my energy.” She turned around and left.

“Good, lest you said I didn’t win gracefully.” Zhang Yuan chased after her. “Where’s your scarf and hat?”

“Didn’t you say to compete earlier? Wearing them will be a burden.”

“Then don’t skate anymore, your ears are all red. If I touch them, they’ll fall off.”

“We’re in class. It’s not like we’re outside playing. If I don’t skate, I’ll be scolded by the teacher.” He Luo rubbed her hands and covered her ears with them.

“He won’t have the leisure time to notice.” Zhang Yuan put up his hand. “Look, there’s one who keep on falling over, using a thousand ways to get back on his feet.” He Luo saw that a few other beginners falling over and over, the PE teacher had been breathlessly going back and forth to help them.

Zhang Yuan cleared his throat and said quietly, “Were you angry? How about some roasted sweet potatoes?”

The freshly roasted sweet potatoes were hot to the touch and its burnt skin was peeling all over, revealing a rich yellow colour inside. The sweet smell swirled with the white breath floated into the nose.

“I want another one. I’ll pay,” He Luo told the hawker.

“You really can eat!” Zhang Yuan said, “I’ve even chosen a particularly big one for you, is it still not enough?”

“For my seatmate. I caused him to fall just now.”

“Why are you always losing your temper at Zhao Cheng Jie?”

“Did I lose my temper?”

“Did you not? You’re usually not this sensitive.” Zhang Yuan took a large bite on his sweet potatoes, but it was so hot that he jumped a little.

“I’m usually like this.”

“The more I say, the more stubborn you become.”

“I’m usually this stubborn.”

The two of them lowered their heads and ate the potatoes in silence. Zhang Yuan usually kept his back straight but whenever he talked to girls, he would lean down slightly, but not in a condescending way. He is this considerate and polite to everyone, He Luo thought, this is a type of habit, not a special treatment towards me.

The potatoes remained really hot. Zhang Yuan gasped for cold air and said a string of words that she could not decipher the long and short of.

“What did you say?”

“Mean girl.” He lowered his head and continued eating.

“Say that again!”

“Me–an. Gi–rl!” Zhang Yuan said each word clearly.

He Luo was biting on her potato, lowered her head to hide a smile. “Pumpkin thief,” she said.

“Mean girl.”

“Pumpkin thief.”

At that time, Immortal Sword was at the top of the computer game rankings in magazines. He Luo and Zhang Yuan had played a few times to clear the levels and were familiar with many corners of the in-game map. “Pumpkin thief” and “Mean girl” were the nicknames Li Xiao Yao and Lin Yue Ru called each other when they clashed upon their first meeting. “The one I like the most is not Ling er, it’s Yue Ru,” Zhang Yuan said this one day while discussing about the game’s heroines. “It’s such a vivid character, it felt more real and admirable.”

Remembering this, He Luo’s intent to smile only deepened.

Zhang Yuan said, “You’ve changed your mood so quickly. The power of food is boundless.”

“Staring from tomorrow, help me book a seat,” he said.

“What seat?” A seat at the library? He wouldn’t be that hardworking.

“Bus no. 2. Don’t you take the bus at the terminal? I get on at the third stop.”

“You’re not riding your bike anymore? That little girl’s words are really effective.” Even she herself could taste the sourness in her words. He Luo bit her tongue.

“The roads are so slippery. Do you want me to break my bones coming to school every day?” Zhang Yuan said. “If I lose my arm or leg, will you be responsible for it?”

“The meat processing factory will be responsible.” The specialty will be Russian-style sausages.

Zhang Yuan raised his fist at her. “I won’t mistreat you. I’ll help you squeeze onto the bus.”

“En?”

“When we finish school, we’ll be leaving together in the future, okay.” Without even asking for He Luo’s opinion, Zhang Yuan had already made his decision.

Really hope that this snow-covered winter will be longer, if only a little longer.

*

When it was the year 1 students’ turn to take skating lessons, Zheng Qing Yin fell over and slammed her head on the ice. After a CT scan, the doctor found a small blood clot in her brain but said there won’t be future complications. She was allowed to go back to school but was ordered not to do any strenuous exercises in the short term.

“I initially wanted to learn how to stop like you did,” she told Zhang Yuan, voice full of grievance.

“Don’t blindly worship someone.” Zhang Yuan smiled. “How many fingers are these?” He waved two fingers at her, and said, “Come, go learn some basic brain exercises in the nursery, develop your infant-level intelligence.”

Zheng Qing Yin mimed kicking him, laughing. “If you annoy me anymore, I’ll go crazy! Hurry up and treat me to candy as an apology.”

“Ah, you’ll get tooth decay. Your head is already broken, don’t ruin your teeth too.”

“You’re taking so long just to clean one blackboard. You don’t want to go home?” Tian Xin asked. “What are you looking at?”

He Luo was still cleaning the blackboard, her eyesight floated from time to time to outside the door. She pointed with her mouth. “See for yourself.”

“I think she’s not crazy, she really hit her head and became mad,” Tian Xin said. “Do you want me to rush over with a stick?” She glanced at the mop on the floor. “Or else, I’ll throw this over?” Seeing that He Luo did not reply, she timidly asked, “Hey, don’t tell me you’re really hurt?”

“There’s nothing to feel hurt over, it’s a big child teasing a younger child,” He Luo replied. Earlier before Zhang Yuan went out of the door, he passed her a note that said: “I’ll be back immediately, wait for me so we can go together.” When she unfolded the note, there was a drawing of two pigs wearing backpacks desperately squeezing into a crowded bus. There was a little post-script: “Guess what’s the ending, they will become… A) pork chop, B) pork floss, C) ham.” The writing was really just scribbles. She could tell he had written this in a hurry.

He Luo smiled and realised that the winter sun can actually be this warm.

*

The windows during winter were coated in thick snow. He Luo clenched her fist and created an outline in the window before adding four circular indents. “Look, it’s a tiny paw!” She said, nudging Zhang Yuan.

“Aren’t you scared of getting your hands cold?” Zhang Yuan used a finger and traced an outline of Garfield’s head. “Looks like you.” He was standing right next to her, close enough that their shoulders touched each other. Being in such a close distance made both of them unsure what to say, the two of them kept on starting conversations all over again. But the topic of their conversation was unimportant. What was important was hearing his voice, He Luo was already happy with this.

“That little girl didn’t hurt her head, did she?” she asked.

“No, she’s actually worried about losing her memories,” he replied.

“If she lost her memory that day, you can carry your basketball and wave it in front of her. She’ll definitely remember you then.”

“Ah, she also said this herself.” Zhang Yuan clapped. “You’re really a fortune-telling half-fairy.”

“She really is a straightforward child. What she thinks of, she will have the courage to say.”

“Then what have you thought about that you don’t have the courage to say?” he suddenly asked.

“I… …” I thought of you, thought of being with you. He Luo only moved her lips, smiling a little. “What about you? Do you have the courage to say what you’re thinking about?”

“I don’t.”

“Then what are you thinking about?” He Luo continued to ask.

Zhang Yuan cleared his throat and leisurely said, “The same thing as you’re thinking.”

“Ay…” He Luo’s face redden in that instant, the neon lights outside the moving bus flashed past, their light imprinting on her cheeks. “What if I say what we’re thinking about is not the same thing?”

“Then you must have thought wrong,” he answered simply.

“I, I was always worried that it was my one-sided feelings,” He Luo whispered.

“Like I said, you must have thought wrong.” Zhang Yuan smiled. The bus continued to let out passengers at every stop as they pushed their way down and forced their way up noisily.

Her hand was pushed into his palm.

The both of them were wearing gloves, their fingers clasping each other’s, but they could still exchange warmth with each other. He Luo felt dizzy, her legs began to feel light and weak, she couldn’t care about her rapid heartbeat, couldn’t care about her breath. All her attention was on their connected hands – in the hollow of his palm.

Zhang Yuan steadied himself with one hand on the wall of the bus, enclosing He Luo in a tiny corner of her own. All the outside noises seemed to be isolated. In between the sound of his breathing, He Luo could hear the friction as her hair touched his blue parka. On the smooth and cold surface, delicate hair swept across it. When she looked up, Zhang Yuan’s face had a trace of embarrassment as he stared out the window. Yet his lips were curved into a beautiful smile. The scene was indescribably intoxicating to her.

Shu, shu… the light from the street lamps flashed across their faces over and over. Under those lights, his side profile was illuminated especially brightly. With every passing light, she imprinted his face deeply into her heart. Like batik, smeared with colours, yet uncomplicated – all those colours deeply weaved into her, into all crevices and corners, colours that were impossible to erase.

The bus passed by a dream-like north city that winter night. The negative 20-degree air was practically frozen, the headlights faintly piercing the darkness on the road. As if they could stay jolted like this, riding the bus endlessly for eternity. Neither do they have to open their mouth to say anything.

This moment was blissful.

Zhang Yuan also pressed a small paw print. A smaller one next to a bigger one, the pair of paws were clearly imprinted on the frosted window.

Have you seen the thickly frosted window, the condensation on it? A nature-born elegance that modern technology could never replicate the delicateness of, all magnified in the winter night. The tremor on the bus created a crack on the window frost, making it a trail from the two paws to an unknown fairy tale land. Their small paw prints were imprinted at the beginning of a long journey, pointing at the same direction.

As if all the happiness in the world can be anticipated. As if.

Thoughts

That’s the end of the first part! I like how bittersweet their journey has been to be high school sweethearts. They could have just dated if they have been honest from the start but that’s youth for you. Feelings are always ambiguous and nothing is ever for certain, especially when you’re staring at the other person with the hope that he’s looking at you too. This brings back so many feelings and despite the ominous tone (and the prologue), I really hope there will be a good ending for this two. Looking back, I realise there really wasn’t any grand, epic reasons for them to fall in love so far. They just like each other and are clumsily trying to express their feelings. Somehow that’s more heart fluttering to me. 

How are you all finding the story so far?