I dated a girl during my college years. She was a medical representative, from Sichuan, very pretty, but we broke up. I thought she had gone back to Sichuan to get married, but I never contacted her. Last week, my mother was hospitalized with asthma and pneumonia, so I took a leave of absence and went back to my hometown. I was relieved to see that my mom’s health had improved. The last few days were very cold, and even though there was air conditioning in the hospital room, it was still chilly, so I went out to buy a hand warmer for my mom. As soon as I entered the supermarket, I saw a familiar figure, it was her! I would never be mistaken, even though the hairstyle has changed, two years is not enough time for a woman to change much. Didn’t she go to Sichuan? How did you meet her here? As I hesitated to go up and talk to her, she saw me, and I could clearly feel her flinch, and then she smiled at me. I smiled back and walked over to her. She said to me first, “What, you want to leave without even saying hello to an old friend?” She still spoke so aggressively that only I could feel the taste of it. I said, “How can that be, if I don’t come in front of you anymore? She didn’t hesitate to pull my ear, just like she did back then. It was cold, she was pulling the ear a heartbreaking pain, but I actually hope that she kept pulling my ear. I resisted the urge to smile and said you’re not back in Sichuan? She said, “Yeah, but my husband’s coming over for business now, so I’m following him here.” Then we both didn’t say anything and walked straight inside. It took two minutes before we started joking again, but neither of us mentioned anything about what happened between us, just chatting. After half an hour in the supermarket, we came out of the checkout line and she said, “Let’s go somewhere for tea. Then we went to a coffee shop, ordered something, and had nothing to say to each other. Then we talked about what’s going on now. She has children now, and her husband is doing his own foreign trade here. She also asked some questions about me, and I didn’t hide anything from her. I wanted to ask her if she loved her current husband, but I couldn’t get the words out of her mouth. After sitting in the coffee shop for more than half an hour, she received a phone call, and it was her husband who called me. Before she left, she leaned in front of me and kissed me like she did back then. The kiss was still so sweet that it broke my heart. It was a long kiss, and it was like a movie in my mind. All the moments of that year, playing with her, going to the movies, shopping, and that crazy last night together, all came to life one by one. After that, I said, go back, have a good time, your husband is good. She smiled shallowly and said, “You should also marry a beautiful and gentle wife.”
I didn’t lose any sleep that night; on the contrary, it probably made me feel better to see her living happily. I hope she will always be so happy in her life.
