At around two in the morning when silence had filled every corner of the streets, Jia’s head was rolling head side to side as she lay seated at the sa place in her room. She didn’t know if it was sleep kicking in or the effects of Mingshen’s dicines but her tired eyelids were drowsily blinking to sleep.
"And that’s how..." Jia rubbed her eyes. "I helped Lihua complete her project back in fifth grade..."
"I was right in not holding much expectations from her," Mingshen said from the other side of the call.
The only thing he wanted ever since he left the award ceremony was for Jia to continue talking to him. It didn’t matter about what or what ti it was, he simply wanted to keep hearing her voice.
"Don’t say like that...Lihua is a bright girl..."
Jia then heard the bedroom door creaking open and froze.
"Mingshen, s-sobody has broke into my room!" She whispered and attempted to get on her feet but felt too weak in her knees.
With a click, the bedroom lights ca to life, making Jia imdiately shut her eyes in response.
"He switched on the light to take my surprise! Gun...gun...where is my gun...?" She tiredly shuffled through her drawer.
"How does that thief look to you, Spicy?"
"Finding my gun is more important..."
Feeling a shadow loom over her, Jia felt a chill run down her spine and she slowly looked up. She blinked continuously at a slow pace as she stared at the intruder.
"Mingshen that thief...seems to look a lot like you. Do you have a twin?"
Mingshen said, "It would be a waste to have another one like , wouldn’t it?"
Jia rubbed her eyes and looked up again yet even through hazy vision, she could still see Mingshen standing before her.
"You have...wings?" she scrunched her brows. "O-or is it teleportation magic?"
Mingshen slowly lowered his phone from his ear and stared at the state she was in. He threw a glance across the room, which was nothing but a ss. Two large and empty pizza boxes were flung at the side while so pill strips lay scattered on the other side.
But what felt like poison coursing through his veins was Jia’s face. Her beautiful black eyes that always reflected strength and confidence, seed lost and hopeless. From being sharp and no-nonsense, she was reduced to a frightened, defenseless woman who feared to face the light.
He slowly sat down beside her, making Jia scrunch her brows. She dazedly stared at him and while still in disbelief, her hand reached out to touch his face. It patted across his eyes, nose and forehead.
"Is it possible to be able to touch sothing physical in your dream?" Her head tipped to the side.
With his hands on his knees, he rested his chin upon them and leaned forward with a smile.
"You can always touch whether it is a dream or reality."
Shocked, Jia stumbled back with her jaw-dropped. It was still difficult to grasp but sohow from London, Mingshen was now in Beijing, in her apartnt and in her bedroom.
"I-It is really you?"
"Yes."
Her unblinking gaze was fixed at his, stunned. "...Why? Wait!"
She breathlessly searched for her phone all around her but couldn’t find it.
"Wh-where is my phone..."
"You are holding it near your ear."
Jia realized he was right and with trembling fingers, she switched the live streaming app but it had already ended. She frowned and smacked and shook her phone twice to revive the live streaming.
"Your phone is fine, Jia. The live streaming has ended."
"W-When did it end...? But you should still be in London now so why...are you here?"
He held her hand in his and tilted his head, a very faint smile catching on his lips.
"I told you I would fly all the way to your side whenever you will need . I was serious about it."
It took so ti for Jia to process but eventually it dawned upon her. At the ti she had called him, she didn’t realize that it was the middle of the award ceremony. Tears rolled down her cheeks as her lips quivered.
It ant that Mingshen abruptly cut down on his trip and rushed back ho from the ceremony, only to be by her side.
"I..." a lump ford in her throat and she broke down, "I ru-ruined your award ceremony too...I always ruin everything..."
"You didn’t ruin anything," he said with dead serious countenance. "You are my patient who is hurting. I must be at your side."
Jia trembled, feeling cold. Her face turned ashen upon realizing how ssy of a room he happened to witness just now. The two pizza boxes felt like a death sentence to her.
"I..." it only got more and more difficult to speak, "r-really tried to n-not eat the pizza b-but I couldn’t help it. But you don’t tr-trust , right...? You think I am lying..."
"I am not mad at you. I didn’t co here to scold you. I just want to listen to you."
"L-Listen to what?"
"Anything that you have in your mind. Anything that you have kept locked up in your heart."
Her vision blurred, tears pooling her eyes once again.
"I shouldn’t have gone to the party..."
Mingshen blinked twice. "Party? Wait...that reunion party?"
Her face paled and her breathlessness turned even more erratic. The bitter words from the evening washed like a giant wave.
"Every...everybody hates , Mingshen. Everybody thinks I-I am pitiful. Mom and Dad...T-They did the worst possible things a-and yet I am trying to shalessly live a respectable life. That’s a j-joke, right? I d-don’t deserve to be a cop or li-live a good life because my parents were so horrible. I shouldn’t even d-dare to live in the sa city because that is so shaless. They...thought I u-used pity to climb in your bed so c-can you please...please tell them that I-I never did such a thing...?"
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