Evanescent Dreams

40. Xing Xing

It was the last day of the school trip and they were on the bus to the hiking site. 

Lin Xingren had a bright pink clip on. It was the one Ye Zhen gifted her those days when they pretended to act as a couple. 

Just thinking of that day he put this on my desk makes me wanna laugh.

"What are you smiling about? Is the clip really that funny?" Ye Zhen asked. He was sitting on the seat besides her. 

"No. It's just, I feel like you think if something was my type back then, then it must still be my type right now. You're really lucky that this clip is. Usually..."she started chuckling again.

"What's your type then?" his tone was serious. 

Lin Xingren gazed into his eyes behind his bangs. She thought of the time she was always doubtful about herself. The time she thought she couldn't see Ye Zhen as much as he could see through her. 

I can see you now. Just started, of course, but I feel like I can see many people more clearly than before. Especially you. 

Everything within her called out: "You."

Lin Xingren turned towards the window curtains to hide her blush. Light cracked through most of the heavy clouds that spread vastly ahead of her. The world was a faint baby blue.

Ye Zhen glanced away to the right.

"...me too."

She leaned over to his ear, "I can't hear you."

Still looking away shyly, he searched for her hand and their fingers intertwined. 

---

They arrived at the hiking site and started the long trek. Although tiring, the flowers, in full bloom among the vegetation, were very pretty. The leaves of the bushes were also like petals of a flower, and the air was sweet and earthy. 

In the middle of the hike, Ye Zhen lagged behind the group to tie his shoelaces. Lin Xingren told Chen Siyun, with a quick wink, to tell others that she was going back to find her phone and also stayed behind. 

"Have you found it? I'll find with you," Ye Zhen looked around after finishing his knot. 

Lin Xingren tapped him on the shoulder and wobbled her phone at him. 

"Oop, seems like it was in my pocket the whole time."

"What? You-" Ye Zhen stopped dumbfounded in the middle of his sentence as Lin Xingren beamed her heart out at him.

The crickets stopped chirping. Light dawned on them from the pockets between the silent leaves above.

"I did find something else though," Lin Xingren took out her pink bag charm from her pockets and handed it to Ye Zhen. He smoothed the old charm gently in his hands. 

"It doesn't belong here anymore. It belongs to where it first came from, your sister." 

Ye Zhen released his bag onto the floor and stepped towards Lin Xingren.

He felt for her hand and gently pulled her towards him. He gazed into her gleaming almond eyes in earnest and she nodded.

They kissed. 

"I'll miss you," Lin Xingren said after. "But I know that we'll meet again. I just know."

---

Lin Xingren sat on a bench in the shaded area next to her elementary school field. She opened her eyes to see the little girl besides her, holding a kungfu notebook tightly.