Together Forever

Chapter 5.3

The Real You and Me

The alumni party that evening, simply put, was actually just a small, private gathering. More than twenty people were present but only five or six were fellow alumni of the University of Pennsylvania.

"TK, China is still the best. Everywhere you go, there're black hair and black eyes that give you this near and dear feeling. And there's also the Chinese language, with all its multitudes of variations." Luo Zihao put his arm around Gu Pingsheng's shoulders. "Nong ho. Le se va?" ["Hello. Pretty awesome, eh?" in Shanghainese dialect][1]

"I'm sorry, I couldn't understand the last part of that." He was sitting on a sofa near the balcony.

Luo Zihao was his good friend since childhood. After graduating from high school, Luo Zihao was accepted into Yale University, but less than one year later, he withdrew himself from the school. At the time, Yale was planning on forcibly discharging a Chinese female student from the university on the grounds that this particular student's English was not as good as an American. As someone who had a strong sense of patriotism, Luo Zihao immediately joined in with the protesters of this. When it was finally arranged for the individual with the grievance to transfer departments and continue her studies to obtain her doctorate degree[2], he, however, withdrew from the school with just a wave of his hand. He then turned and went to the University of Pennsylvania and ended up staying there.

And then, he met Zhao Yin and got engaged to her. And then after that, his affections shifted to someone else. All his talk about not wanting to return to China simply was his guilt speaking. He wanted to wait until Zhao Yin had married before he dared come back. But he did have some merits, considering that all the former torments and troubles between them had come to a point where now, when they met, a single smile exchanged between them had erased all the love and grievances of the past.

Outside, the rain was still coming down furiously, but out on the balcony, silhouettes could be seen.

From here, looking out through the floor-length windows, the Garden Bridge[3] was seen sparkling down below. The silhouettes on the balcony were a pair, and occasionally they would embrace one another and other times, they would separate again. He suddenly remembered that pair of eyes in the taxicab this afternoon.

"Let me ask you, how come you and her still aren't together yet? I miss the great land of my fathers — my homeland's water, my homeland's clouds. I'm just waiting for you guys to blissfully tie the knot and then I'll be able to truly come back to my home country with honours."

"With whom?" he asked.

"Zhao Yin." Luo Zihao handed him a glass of wine, but seeing him shake his head, he immediately waved down someone for a glass of iced water for him. "Didn't I already tell you a long time ago? At the start, she had actually liked you, but she had no choice but to settle for second best and, in a moment of blindness, ended up choosing me. The end result, however, was us breaking up and going our separate ways. As her former boyfriend, I'm going to be very responsible and tell you, she's been single these last three, four years."

Luo Zihao's parents were northerners, and hence, he spoke very quickly. With some difficulty, Gu Pingsheng managed to keep up with the pace of all of his words, and then, he smiled and did not say anything.

"Don't just be silent." Luo Zihao's hand that was not holding his wine glass naturally wrapped around Gu Pingsheng's shoulders, and when he saw Gu Pingsheng turn his head to the side to look at him, he continued, "You returned to China and on top of that, came to Shanghai. Isn't that just showing your 'desire to love but with a pretense of refusal[4]' [you like her but you're pretending to reject her]?"

"Have you ever seen me 'desire to love but with a pretense of refusal'?" Gu Pingsheng automatically ignored the random, useless tidbits in his words.

Luo Zihao felt around in his pocket for his cigarettes, and clamping down on one between his lips, he stated in a muffled tone, "My heart is feeling plagued with guilt. You guys are the true match made in heaven."