Together Forever

Chapter 7.3

The Person I Like

In the end, they found the Shanghai Film Art Centre[1] by Fahuazhen Road.

The all-night Christmas Eve movie line-up had already started, with three movies that would be played back-to-back beginning from eleven o'clock. As they were stepping through the dark corridor into the cinema, Tong Yan could hear the song from the ending credits of the first movie.

After they had taken their seats, Tong Yan finally breathed out a long sigh of relief. Using the glow from the cinema screen, she mouthed to Gu Pingsheng, "Good thing. The first movie is a really bad one, and now we don't have to watch it."

On days like Christmas or Valentine's Day, the movie line-ups for the all-night shows were all Hong Kong romance films. New ones, old ones — all types were brought out and shown. Gu Pingsheng had been the one to purchase the tickets, so she did not even know what was going to be shown next.

"Which movie was it?" he asked her in a lowered voice.

The volume of his voice was truly very low. Looking into his eyes, the thought suddenly came into her mind that, after he had lost his hearing, he must have put great efforts into controlling and practicing his speaking volume. That process would certainly have required someone's aid ... It must have been very awkward.

" I Really Want To Be With You[2]," she answered.

With a hint of a smile, Gu Pingsheng gazed at her. "Really?"

"Of course." Tong Yan scrunched her nose slightly. "It honestly sucks. Online score for it is only a six out of ten ..."

She abruptly halted her words, her lips pursing together. Teacher Gu, how can you behave so inappropriately for your older age[3]?!

"I meant ..." she clarified, forming and articulating each word clearly, "the movie that just finished showing is called 'I Really Want to Be With You.'"

He nodded. "I know."

The lights suddenly illuminated but then, the next instant, they were turned off again. In that brief period when brightness was followed immediately by darkness, the program had already moved forward into the opening song of the next film. And in that span of time, he had already turned his face away and was watching the opening song with focused attention.

Halfway through the movie, a few more people left from the rows up ahead. In the entire cinema, only two or three couples remained, and all of them were blatantly cuddling and making out, as if in this sort of time, this sort of place, of course "something" should be done ... And they were sitting in the last row, so even if they did not want to look, it was not possible to avoid doing so.

Tong Yan fixed her eyes straight ahead on the subtitles, remembering that last time, in the Upper Building, she and Gu Pingsheng had also witnessed a hot, lightning-striking, earthquake-inducing scene.

She snuck a peek at Gu Pingsheng, who was watching the film very intently. Drowsiness tugged at her eyelids until finally, she was unable to last any longer. She pulled the hood of her down jacket up like a pillow behind her head, intending on catching a quick nap. She did not expect, however, that after she closed her eyes, she would fall completely into sleep ...

This slumber was very deep and also very peaceful.

It lasted until someone patted her on the face lightly a couple of times, and only then did she hazily hear the sound of the movie playing once again. She was still too sleepy, and instinctively, she nuzzled her face against that soft, fluffy hood of the down jacket. After a while, she finally had the strength to pry open her own eyes. All around, it was still dark.