When Bright Moon Encounter the Dark Clouds

We looked at each other.

She was still like that. When I got close to her, a hint of awkwardness finally appeared on her face. She looked away quickly to avoid my gaze.

She was dressed very nicely today and looked as pretty as yesterday.

I lowered my head to light a cigarette and leaned against the roll-up doors, taking a few draws from the cigarette quietly. Contrastingly, she simply stood there with her face slowly growing red. Several of my colleagues came by but quickly backed off after I gave them a look.

The two of us stayed there without talking for several minutes.

“Didn’t you already sign up for a membership? Why did you sign up for another one?” I initiated the conversation.

“I lost it,” Tan Jiao replied with a bold and confident tone.

I repressed my emotions, put out the cigarette, and said, “Alright. I’ll go wash your car.”

She did not reply nor move; she only stood there.

I walked out of the shop and saw her car that was reflecting the sunlight. It was spotless and practically dust-free. That’s right, she came yesterday to get her car washed.

Looking at the very familiar car, I picked up the hose and started washing it.

When I was half done, I heard the clicks from a pair of high heels. Without looking back, I knew it was her, so I did not turn around.

“Wu Yu, just to be clear. I didn’t ask you to wash my car because I want to cling to you. You were the one that promised to wash my car.”

“I know.”

“I don’t feel anything for you anymore.”

Looking at the immaculate car and the tall buildings that were reflecting the sun’s rays, I ran the sponge across the car calmly and slowly, not willing to say anything.

Then she said calmly again, “In fact, I never really had any feelings for you. I was just mistaken when you kissed me out of nowhere and told me that we can’t be together….”

At that moment, I threw the sponge on the ground and turned to look at her. Seemingly scared, she backed off a little. It made me realize how my actions must have been too big.

I fell quite for a moment, suppressing the emotions rolling inside of me one more. “I know, you don’t need to bring it up again. I’m going to Li Xian this afternoon and will probably come back in a few days. Let’s talk about the ship when I come back.”

Her black pupils gazed steadily at me, revealing her cold demeanor again. “I don’t want to bring it up again either. You’re going to see that professor and Ruying? You were talking pretty loudly yesterday.”

My heart ached again slightly. “The professor has done many things for my family. Something happened to his family, so I need to go see him. There’s also another reason: his daughter and wife were also on that ship.”

Tan Jiao’s expression relaxed slightly. “They were on the ship too? The professor’s wife and daughter? Why didn’t you mention this before?”

“Why did I need to bring them up in the past?”

She continued to look at me. For a few seconds, we fell into a lull while looking each other in the eye.

Then out of nowhere, her gaze softened, and her tone changed as she said, “Oh… well, I have something to tell you. It’s about the time when we returned to that ship. I talked to Zhuang Yu about it, and she said…” Tan Jiao proceeded to tell me about parallel timelines, wormholes, and a mysterious force in the universe.

In fact, this was actually something I had thought about too. As such, when she saw that I did not look surprised, she gave me a look and said, “This is what you were thinking too? I should have guessed it. Both of you are very studious.” She seemed somewhat disappointed.

Looking at her gradually becoming lively once more, I felt somewhat relaxed. That urge I had that night to part ways with her seemed like something that had never happened. We were slowly going back to how we talked to each other in the past, and I was surprised that I felt relieved. I understood then that this was what my heart wanted.

“We must have encountered some mysterious power during the few days on that cruise.”

She nodded and said, “I think so too. But how are we going to find out what had happened?”

I paused for a moment and said, “There’s perhaps a possibility. Tan Jiao, have you thought about the fact that we might be able to go back on that ship once more?”