On a winter night, the cold wind sliced through the sky like a sharp knife and lashed at Chi Xu.
Chi Xu thought he had misheard. Confusion clouded his eyes, and his voice trembled in the frigid air. "Yuanyuan, what... what did you just say?"
Just now, she said that she had known nothing about his departure years ago. She hadn't even noticed the hasty note he had left behind.
In an instant, a jolt of electricity seemed to surge through his body. Chi Xu's hands and feet turned ice - cold, and his blood almost froze.
He lowered his head, pursed his lips, and looked at Jiang Yuan.
All his inexplicable actions finally made sense.
He clearly remembered leaving a note on the table in a hurry before leaving with his parents. Then why, after their reunion, did Jiang Yuan say that she never wanted to have anything to do with him again?
She was completely disheartened and had no expectations left.
It turned out that back then, Jiang Yuan had been kept in the dark. She thought he had left without saying goodbye, just when she was full of joy and about to confess her feelings.
He had been a coward, running away in a hurry.
Anyone would have harbored a deep - seated resentment.
Worse still, he had been so self - righteous. He had conspired with Lin Suye to deceive Jiang Yuan. He had planned to tell her his true feelings little by little when her feelings for him reached their peak.
The heavy emotion weighed on his chest like a boulder. Every breath Chi Xu exhaled made the oxygen in his chest grow thinner, and he could hardly breathe.
His eyes suddenly stung and swelled. Chi Xu tilted his head up and stared straight at the boundless night sky.
The stars twinkled.
Thank goodness it wasn't too late. Thank goodness there was still a chance. There were infinite possibilities between him and Jiang Yuan.
The world seemed to have played a huge joke on him.
He thought Jiang Yuan knew about his departure. Due to his hardships in the past two years, he had been reluctant to talk about it with her.
He had avoided the topic because he didn't want the little girl who had once adored him to see how down - and - out he had been during those two years. His pride wouldn't allow him to tell her.
Chi Xu blinked gently, holding back the tears in his eyes.
Jiang Yuan hung her head, staring at the ground. The street lamps on campus stretched their shadows, and a small part of them overlapped, just like their reunion at this moment.
The boy's voice, soft yet trembling, came from above her. Jiang Yuan didn't look at him. After a moment of silence, she whispered, "Why did you leave without saying goodbye back then?"
Yes, why did you leave without saying goodbye? Did you know that I sat alone on the bench beside the artificial lake from noon until night, soaked to the bone, but waited in vain for the one I was longing for?
The next second, he suddenly reached out. Before Jiang Yuan could react, she was pulled into the boy's embrace.
His sharp - edged jaw rested on her shoulder. The familiar scent of pine after snow wafted from his body. It was Chi Xu's signature smell. Jiang Yuan's pupils dilated bit by bit, and her almond - shaped eyes widened. She looked like a startled little rabbit.
"I didn't leave without saying goodbye back then," he said.
Half of his face was still buried in her hair. He nuzzled deeper, and his deep voice grew hoarse, losing its former clarity. It floated into her ears in the night.
Like a thunderbolt out of the blue, Jiang Yuan froze on the spot. Her mind went blank, and the hand that wanted to push Chi Xu dropped limply.
All those past events that she had guessed and resented countless times in her heart were instantly shattered by Chi Xu's casual words.
"You didn't leave without saying goodbye?" Jiang Yuan's voice trembled violently, and her body also quivered slightly.
"Yes, I didn't. Yuanyuan, how could I leave without saying goodbye?" A faint sigh echoed in her ear. Chi Xu slowly raised his head. His gaze pierced through the night as if he was recalling the past.
He spoke in a deep voice, his throat choking with emotion. Every word seemed to be squeezed out from the bottom of his heart.
"After my parents found me, they urged me to leave immediately. I wanted to tell you, but you weren't at home, and there was no one else there. I left a note on the table in a hurry."
"You had the key to my house. When you found I didn't come and knocked on the door but got no answer, you would surely use the key to open it. Then you would see the note I left on the living - room table."
Each word hit Jiang Yuan hard in the heart. She felt a sharp pain, and her eyes welled up with tears.
For over a thousand days and nights, she had resented Chi Xu for leaving without saying goodbye, for leaving her, and for breaking their promise.
But reality dealt her a heavy blow. Jiang Yuan felt that her heart was like a precarious string, on the verge of breaking at any moment because of Chi Xu's next words.
Three years. Those three years were nothing but a joke.
"But... I didn't see the note." Her slender shoulders trembled slightly, and her voice quavered, like a withered leaf floating gently onto the water, causing tiny ripples.
Jiang Yuan closed her eyes in pain. The cold wind howled. That day, when she used the key to open Chi Xu's house and found it empty, her heart had been as cold as the weather.
Yes, she remembered.
It had rained heavily those days, and she had had a fever for several days. When she finally got a bit better and went to Chi Xu's house, she saw that the window in the living room was not closed tightly. The strong wind had blown all the odds and ends on the floor in a complete mess.
The light - as - a - feather note might have been blown into some unknown corner.
From then on, the misunderstanding between her and Chi Xu had been planted.
Another soft sigh echoed in her ear and landed deep in her heart. Chi Xu tightened his embrace around the girl in his arms, shielding her from the cold outside.
"It's my fault. I was wrong. I was in such a hurry to leave back then that I only thought of leaving you a note, thinking you would see it as soon as you came in."
He had overlooked the possibility that the note might go missing and that Jiang Yuan might not see it.
And he had been gone for over three years.
Although he had come to visit Jiang Yuan twice, he had done it secretly. The first time he hadn't found her, and the second time he had seen her with another boy.
The feelings hidden deep in his heart had sprouted and grown wildly, filling his empty heart.
The girl in his arms was so real that he was afraid that if he closed his eyes, Jiang Yuan would disappear from his embrace.
So he tightened his arms even more.
The soft street - lamp light enveloped them, stretching and overlapping their shadows.
Jiang Yuan lowered her eyes and sobbed softly. She had thought of many reasons, but never this one. Her eyes were brimming with tears, and she forced herself not to let them fall.
She heard Chi Xu continue.
"I skipped a grade in high school. When I was in my senior year of high school, which was your sophomore year, I went to Haining City to look for you, but you had moved, and I couldn't find you. The second time was when I was a freshman in college, and you were in your senior year of high school. I saw you near the school gate."
"But because of my timidity and inferiority complex, I didn't dare to walk up to you and tell you, Yuanyuan, I'm back."
Jiang Yuan casually wiped away the tears from the corner of her eyes, struggled out of his embrace, and smiled brightly, almost dazzling Chi Xu.
"You've deceived me for almost a semester. I won't forgive you so easily."