CH 35

Today, Xi Xi Chen was fully discharged from the hospital. Yesterday’s “quarrel” should be considered a reconciliation, I think.

“What’s wrong? Why are you absent-minded?”

I inwardly shook myself and said with a smile, “No, it’s nothing.”

My aunt and I were going today to the Grand Palace to see a painting exhibition. Because it was still early, we were sitting out on open-air chairs on the Champs Elysées Avenue, chatting. Next to her was an old gentleman wearing a black hat and looking down at a newspaper.  .

“But your expression tells me it’s not nothing.”

I have always been unable to “cross-examine” my aunt, so my only choice was to change the subject and say, “After the exhibition, where do you want to go?”

“Why? You don’t want to be with your aunt? Do you have a date?”

I was taken aback.

“No. No date.”

My aunt sighed and patted my hand on my knee.

“I also thought a lot last night. That person did so much that you cannot be indifferent.”

I looked at two pigeons bobbing up and down as they walked down the street.

“Yes. After all, I’m just an ordinary person.”

“He is not necessarily an ordinary person.”

I turned my head to look at my aunt, “Auntie, you really don’t like him, do you.” This was an affirmative sentence.

“No one likes a person who calculates everything. Even if his starting intention is good, what would you do if one day this person doesn’t love you?” Auntie asked seriously. “Anjie, you guys,  are you already together? Your aunt doesn’t want to influence your life, but I still want to say that I don’t approve of you being with him.”

To be honest, I myself didn’t know where I was going with this relationship.

Auntie asked if we were now together, but in fact, we were just learning how to be together.  Unexpected things had developed in this situation, making the whole thing difficult to sort out. It was hard to think about separation.

It wasn’t that I couldn’t live without him, but that I couldn’t now be cruel to him.

I didn’t want to bother my aunt. At the very least I didn’t want to spoil her mood right now, so

I finally answered her, “I will accompany you on a tour of Paris all day today.”

After the exhibition, we went to several attractions symboling Paris, such as the Elysee Palace, Place de la Concorde, and the Notre Dame de Paris. My aunt always used to come and then leave Paris in a hurry so this time out with her was great fun.

When we finally returned to the hotel at night, auntie was so tired that she lay down in the bed, succumbing to the limitations brought on by old age.

Because it was too early to go to bed, I didn’t want to waste time tossing and turning on the mattress, so I said goodnight to my aunt and then went out for a stroll.

The hotel where my aunt was staying was near the Champs Elysées. I slowly walked towards the Arc de Triomphe and looked at the Eiffel Tower in the distance. When this iconic building was first built, the French found it ugly. They had even proposed to have it demolished, but then it later became the supreme honor of the French. People’s views on what was good or bad was for sure determined by backgrounds and time periods.

I thought of Xi Xichen again. I couldn’t ascertain whether he was good or bad, but I couldn’t deny his goodness towards me.

What was amazing was, right after thinking about him, my phone suddenly rang.

“Where are you?”

“I’m about to walk to the Arc de Triomphe.”

“I’ll come and find you?”

“Sure.”

Ten minutes later, I was standing under the Arc de Triomphe. It was after nightfall so there were fewer tourists now. I looked up, admiring the relief 1 at the top. This piece of art still looked so exquisite, even after 200 years of wind and rain. No matter how many times I visited, I was still fascinated by it.

I walked around like this for a while until I felt someone staring at me intently. I turned and found a foreign man.

He smiled and walked towards me, approaching in a friendly and direct manner.

“Hello.” He spoke in English.

I answered back in french, “Hello.”

“Your voice is very beautiful.” The corners of his mouth tweaked up, this time speaking in French.

“Thanks.”

“Would you like to walk around here with me?”

Just as I was about to speak, I felt an arm on my shoulder as someone hugged me from behind, and then said in fluent English, “Sorry, she can only be accompanied by me.”

When I turned my head to see his handsome and outstanding face, I asked automatically, “So fast?”

Xi Xichen then took my hand and slid his five fingers between mine.

“She won’t be accompanying you,” he said to the foreigner in a very polite tone.

He then pulled me forward.

“What’s the matter?” I asked.

His steps gave off a little irritability, and he no longer seemed calm. He looked more like he was uncomfortable.

I can’t figure him out.

“I can’t stand it now when I see other people thinking about you like I do.”

“…”

Xi Xichen stopped suddenly and looked at me quietly. After a while, he sighed and said, “Anjie, I love you.”

I paused. This is the second time he had said “love”. I hadn’t said anything last time, but this time I answered.

There was a smile in Xi Xichen’s eyes, and he pulled me into his arms. I let him hug me. Paris is the capital of romance. Lovers can be seen hugging and kissing everywhere, and passers-by would not look twice at them.

Couple?

I smelled the scent of his body, feeling a sense of peace that I hadn’t felt in a long time.

“Xi Xichen, are you going to see my aunt?”

For about five seconds, his body didn’t move.

This is a promise, I will try to go on with him.

“Auntie will definitely be angry–” My guilty words were swallowed by a hailstorm of suffocating kisses. After an unknown period of time, he finally lifted his lips away from my mouth and put his forehead against mine. Our breaths mingled together.

I tried to calm down the intense fluctuations in my heart.

“Can you not kiss me in public from now on?”

Even though this behavior was commonplace here, I still felt uncomfortable.

But I have to admit that what makes me most uncomfortable is his closeness.

I heard him whisper, “I can’t help it.”