Chapter 24: Chapter 24

“Don’t be afraid, trust me just this once, alright?”

Ye Jing An’s voice was soft and tempting, making Du Yu Shu stand up.

But the moment she stood up, Du Yu Shu closed her eyes.

The Ferris wheel slowly began to rise, the warm sun hit the body of the two people. Ye Jing An kept a safe distance between them and carefully held onto Du Yu Shu who had tightly closed her eyes. He didn’t give up and repeated in a warm, gentle and charming voice, “There is nothing to be afraid of, I’m by your side, trust me alright?”

“Open your eyes and look at the blue sky, it is so close to you, so warm and bright,” Ye Jing An softly urged, “Legend has it, if you are close to the sun, you can see what you are yearning for.”

“Open your eyes and let us watch together alright?”

Du Yu Shu’s body began to involuntarily tremble and a memory appeared before her eyes. A girl wearing a white dress struggling, crying, begging and in despair while being dragged away. She saw that weeping boy running out and was then knocked down. Bright red blood filled her eyes...

“I’m here with you, Yu Shu.”

“I am with you, trust me just this once, alright?”

“Yu Shu, trust me, alright?”

Yu Shu.....

Du Yu Shu suddenly opened her eyes and gently said, “Ok.”

She saw the man’s eyes brightened, like the birth of the sun, beautiful and pure, exuding a dazzling light.

Why are you so happy, Ye Jing An?

“Don’t be afraid, I’m here.” Ye Jing An held Du Yu Shu’s arm. Du Yu Shu could feel the heat from his hand under her sleeve. Ye Jing An raised his other hand to the sky. On his face was a bright pure smile like a child’s, putting people at ease.

“Look at the ground. Compared to the sky, don’t you think everything appears smaller?”

“Look down below, is it not beautiful?” Ye Jing An’s voice was light as if he was afraid of disturbing something, “In the eyes of the sky, we are all the same, taking care of all of us, Yu Shu......”

When she heard the word Yu Shu, it seemed as if some kind of force had overtaken her. She looked down and a memory instantly appeared in her mind. Ye Jing An’s voice drifted away and suddenly, she had an urge to speak.

For so many years, she had never spoken what is on her mind and never appeared weak. However, that doesn’t mean that doesn’t want someone by her side to ease the pain.

At this time, Ye Jing An was in a trance as he reminisces about the eighteen-year-old him holding an umbrella when they coincided.

In the desolate rain, a youthful and warm Yu Shu coincided with a gentle Ye Jing An/

As if he had never left her.

“I was five or six years old at that time, I don’t remember,” Du Yu Shu’s voice was hoarse. Ye Jing An listened from the side, careful not to alert Du Yu Shu while trying to figure out her emotions, “It’s been so long, I don’t remember.”

“It doesn’t matter, this kind of matter if it is forgotten, then it is forgotten....” Ye Jing An gently said.

“That day, I was very happy. I prepared a lot of thing with my brother, Uncle Wang, and Xiao Hua. We prepared a lot of things.....” Du Yu Shu’s narration was a bit confusing, but strangely, Ye Jing An understood it. He carefully comforted Du Yu Shu and listened to her recall her painful past.

“That day, I was very happy as I pulled my brother’s clothes which he had spent a lot of time choosing. Uncle Wang told my brother and I that are parents are going to come back today. We haven’t been together as a family in a long time and I really missed them so I was really happy,” Du Yu Shu unknowingly stressed the word ‘very happy.’ Hearing this, Ye Jing An felt heartbroken and whispered, “Yes, you were very happy, very happy.”

“My brother and I continued to wait, oh right, also Xiao Hua. We all waited together for mom and dad to come back. I was very hungry, but I still want to wait for them so I picked up Xiao Hua. Xiao Hua has a lot of furs, very soft. I like it very much. We continued waiting and waiting but mom and dad haven’t come back. I was very hungry.....”

Ye Jing An could picture this scene. A little girl waiting for her mom and dad from morning to the afternoon. She was elated, trying on many sets of clothes. Then she sat at the dinner table until she grew very hungry but held back the urge to eat. She sat there happy and anxious, waiting for her parent to come home.

Ye Jing An’s heart felt sour, he looks at Du Yu Shu, his eyes gentle as water.

“They will come back, they will quickly come back.”

Ye Jing An unconsciously comforted Du Yu Shu. A part of him hated that he wasn’t there at the time to comfort the little girl.

“They came back, wait, no, mom came back first. I was really hungry at that time. When she saw us at the dinner table, she became unhappy. She had me put down Xiao Hua. She said a lot of words that I didn’t remember, but I was afraid; she was very loud. When dad came back and saw mom like this, he got angry and they began fighting. Their very loud and there was the sound of broken plates. Finally, she went upstairs in anger. I remembered that mom hadn’t eaten yet and wanted to block her....”

“Then my mom pushed me away and they started fighting again. I wanted to stop them. Xiao Hua was scared and whimpered. And then, my mom grabbed Xiao Hua and threw her aside; she fell on top of the broken dishes......”

Du Yu Shu’s hand began to tremble, her voice shaking, “Blood.....there was a lot of blood....I was so afraid.....Xiao Hua lied on the pool of blood....there was no sound, I wanted to go and see, I wanted to see my Xiao Hua, but my mom didn’t let me. She grabbed my hand and took me away.”

“I didn’t want to go, why did I have to go, this is my home ah. My brother chased after me, but he tripped over the broken plates. He fell beside Xiao Hua with the pool of blood, so red, I was so scared, and then I started crying.....”

“But my mom already took me away.”

Du Yu Shu slowly closed her eyes, her mind seeming to return to that winter. The broken dishes, the temperamental couple, her mother taking large strides while pulling her, the soundless Xiao Hua who fell atop of the broken plates, and her blood-stained brother who fell next to Xiao Hua.

He strenuously tried to get up and chase after her. He seemed to have injured his knee as he fell once again. When he got up, he wiped the blood from his face.

She was crying and clamoring, but the woman’s strength overpowered her. She was like this, slowly drifting away from her paradise.

She had so much hate, hate for her father, hate for her mother, hate for herself.

And then she was brought onto a plane, high up in the sky, so high that she couldn’t wait to jump down from it.

––––That was her nightmare her entire life.

Ye Jing An held Du Yu Shu tightly in despair. Du Yu Shu doesn’t know where to look. Ye Jing An gently cried out her name like a weak little kid that needs someone to rely on.

Du Yu Shu weakly laughed, “Ye Jing An, why are you looking at me like that?”

“Put away your pity, I don’t need it.” Du Yu Shu coldly broke away from Ye Jing An’s embrace and sat down. She looked at the ground below, her heart cold as if she could no longer feel and sadness or despair.

Du Yu Shu sat there pale and expressionless as if there is a layer separating her from the outside world.

“I didn’t pity you....” Ye Jing An lowly said.

“No?” Du Yu Shu laughed out loud. There was an unspeakable sense of mockery and oppression. She stared directly at him with her sharp eyes as if she could see through his heart like a queen high up above, every move carried a sense of charm, “Inquiring about my past with that look in your eyes that could make people nauseous if it’s not pity.....”

Du Yu Shu suddenly leaned in and stared coldly into Ye Jing An’s eyes. Her voice was like a stone smashing into a marble wall, sharp and tough, “Then could it be that you like me?”

“You worked hard to dig up me past after realizing that something wasn’t tight on the plane right? My acting deceived Wang Jie but it didn’t deceive you. So you dug up everything because of you like me, pity me and want to help me?”

Du Yu Shu smirked, brightening her features as she coldly laughs, “––––I’ve heard this before, what a joke, ha!”

Du Yu Shu’s heart felt mixed, her feelings rushing like magma. She just wanted to roar in anger.

–––––How can Ye Jing An do this to her?

He used her trust and her feelings and little by little dug up her secret past.

It was her nightmare that she didn’t want anyone to know about. But her rotten wound was drastically dug out by someone

And everything is because she trusted the wrong person?

Ha!

Ye Jing An unconsciously took a step back under Du Yu Shu’s sharp gaze. He wanted to refute her and mercilessly mock her to cover up his heart.

But when he opened his mouth, he couldn’t control what his emotions. Trembling, he heard himself say, “––––What if I said that is true?”

“What?” Du Yu Shu was taken aback.

Ye Jing An heard his cool and rational voice but his brain was muddle-headed, and he didn’t know why he said those words. Perhaps those were the words that he had been longing to say those words out loud that had been suppressed in his heart for so long.

“I said, Du Yu Shu, I like you.”

“I like you, the pained you, I want to help you, make you happy, and bury all your past scars.”

Ye Jing An and Du Yu Shu stood, facing each other in the silent Ferris Wheel as the leaves rustled in the summer wind.