Still, Wait For Me

Chapter 1: A meeting long overdue

Chapter 1: A meeting long overdue

To "see you again" is a terrifying phrase. It implies reunion, whilst also signifying farewell.

When Xu Tingsheng saw Xiang Ning again, he was already 31 years old. On that fateful day, he was sitting in the small shop he had opened by a side street. The store had been open for over a year, and was the sustenance of his aimless, meandering life, during which successive entrepreneurial failures had drained away all the spirit of his soul.

Having surrendered to the winds of fate, Xu Tingsheng no longer had his heart set on business ventures, instead spending most of his time fixated on the computer screen.

"Boss, how much is this?"

Perhaps due to having been numbed for so long, Xu Tingsheng had actually already fallen to the extent of having forgotten this voice, despite how much he had once loved the owner of the voice.

Even still, he remembered this headband. The design was a little out of date, but his shop still had many of them, as that person had always liked to wear headbands, which revealed her reportedly priceless "Emperor Fu Hsi" forehead. And this, was her most loved design.

Usually, Xu Tingsheng did not like establishing eye contact with his customers, as if in fear of others seeing through his inner struggles. However, he would always raise his head to look at girls who bought this brand of headband, not because he yearned for her appearance, but just...fine, he yearned to, in what was just limited to a simple yearning, just once more- to have just one more glance at her.

In that moment in which Xu Tingsheng raised his head, he saw that familiar face, that same familiar smile, any change in her appearance tiny, very tiny-or perhaps there had been absolutely no change in it at all.

The ancients have long conveyed many emotions well, for instance 'a sudden regretful twinge of the heart'. Sorrow and grief rise in the chest; the tears well up, unable to fall in the moment.

"What brings you back here?" Xu Tingsheng enquired.

This was the city of her university, also the city where they had once met and fallen in love.

"I'm here to attend a course," Xiang Ning said.

"Where do you teach now? I did find out that you were admitted, third for the written examination, third for the interview, with the physical examination passed as well. However, I wasn't able to find out which primary school you are at now," Xu Tingsheng said.

"Wenyan Primary," Xiang Ning answered whilst paying for her items.

This pace of events left Xu Tingsheng feeling very helpless. He attempted to return a little more change, but Xiang Ning politely handed it back, leaving Xu Tingsheng even more pressured and helpless.

Xiang Ning walked towards the door.

"Have you gotten married?" Xu Tingsheng couldn't stop himself from asking.

Xiang Ning looked back, smiling as she gently shook her head.

"Can, can you stand here for a while?" Xu Tingsheng stood up, raised his hand and then put it back down, unable to find an appropriate place for it.

"No. I just wanted...to see you again, and, tell you I always believed that you would come and find me," Xiang Ning swung away, and before Xu Tingsheng could catch her expression, she was already unfurling her umbrella, vanishing off into the rainy night.

Xu Tingsheng blanked out for a minute before fishing out his handphone to call Huang Yaming and Fu Cheng.

He said through his phone, "She just appeared, a minute ago, in my shop."