Evanescent Dreams

10. Why did it have to be that night

Late into the night of Xuan Miaomiao's death, the rain had stopped and a thick fog loomed outside. A sheet of water vapor suffocated the glass windows of the library. The outside was hidden from the inside, and the inside was also blinded from the outside.

The security cameras unanimously shut down for regular maintenance. The person came prepared. 

The person was dressed in black, and was prepared with fit gloves and a mask. In the eerie darkness, the person, one step at a time, tread over the soft red carpet of the library. No sound could be heard except cicadas shrieking on the dripping trees outside. 

The person was here for that phone. 

---

15 minutes before Xuan Miaomiao's Wechat message...

While Lin Xingren and Ye Zhen were still leaning on each other in the rain, Chen Siyun was peering across the glass wall of Class B from the third floor hallway. She finally found Weng Bai at a desk right next to the glass.

The people around were all chatting or studying. Weng Bai, not budged by any of this, was slouched in his seat, cheerfully reading a manga held up on one hand. 

*clunk-clunk*

Chen Siyun gently knocked on the glass wall behind his head.

He turned around and his eyes instantly lit up.

"Chen Siyun!" he called, sitting up and waving at her through the glass.

His classmates turned curiously towards the glass wall. Chen Siyun immediately lowered her head. Her hair fell down to cover her red cheeks, and she dashed away from the classroom.

Actually, what is the point of this? I could just ask for his wechat...or not contact him at all. It's not like he had said anything about that night in the past few days. Chen Siyun murmured to herself. 

"Hey, wait!"

Without putting down his manga, Weng Bai rose to follow her. 

Chen Siyun completely ignored him. Flustered and anxious, She passed her own classroom and almost crashed into Ms. Mei and a few other classmates walking by. She arrived at the door to the restroom at the end of the hallway. 

Finding problems that needed to be cleared was easy, but handling them head-on was another matter. A matter too much for her. She needed the bathroom, her safe place, to calm down and decide on an alternative plan. 

She was about to open the bathroom door but suddenly a hand laid on her shoulder. 

"Wait, don't go," Weng Bai said from behind with a more mild tone.  

She turned around awkwardly and managed to give a shy smile. Weng Bai exhaled in relief and leaned back on the wall. The ends of a neon orange T-shirt was exposed from under his school jacket. 

"Sorry for calling so loud, but I'm glad to see you," Weng Bai beamed. 

He ruffled his hair. The light brown curls and his carefree attitude made him look like a golden retriever. 

"So, how's it going? " he added after hearing no reply, "did you want to say something to me? You didn't have to come all the way up here. You know what? Next time just text me and I'll go find you downstairs. I'm hella bored. "  

So he also thought that we were not in the same grade...

Chen Siyun made a thoughtful expression and looked up to find him looking curiously at her thoughtful expression.

She blinked, "Oh, uh, I'm also a junior."

"Oh! Sorry about that, " Weng Bai slapped his mouth, "I took a gap year, you see."