Lu Yi sat down and placed a gentle hand on her face. His palm was warm with tenderness.
“No matter what comes, I won’t let anything happen to you,” he murmured to himself. He was the only one who knew the meaning behind his words.
Yan Huan put her phone on the table and began leafing through the calendar. She stopped when she reached January.
On that day of this month…
“Lu…” she wanted tell Lu Yi about the events that would unfold on this day, but stopped abruptly when she remembered what the old fortune teller told her. Would she be punished by the heavens if she interfered too much with the future? What was the price of messing with the timeline? Her life?
She flipped the calendar back and chose to remain silent in the end.
She didn’t have the courage too.
She really didn’t.
Deep in thought, she took a pen from the table and began spinning it between her fingers.
“What’s wrong?” asked Lu Yi, taking the pen from her and putting it back on the table. That was his signing pen, and he didn’t want Yan Huan pricking her fingers with it. It was obvious she had something on her mind.
“It’s nothing,” said Yan Huan dismissively. She pulled the blanket to her chin and continued hibernating.
Lu Yi didn’t press her, but he could sense that something was wrong.
Yan Huan was hiding something from him.
“You have to tell me if there’s something you can’t deal with alone,” said Lu Yi reassuringly. He rested a large hand on Yan Huan’s forehead. Did something bother her? Was that why she was spacing out more and looking more stressed?
Yan Huan’s hands tightened around his. She wanted to tell him, but changed her mind in the end.
“Lu Yi… Do you think what he said is true? Would I lose my life because I interfered with the destiny of others?”
“Since when were you this superstitious?” asked Lu Yi. Being a materialist, he didn’t really believe in things like destiny. Who could tell the future, after all?
But that wasn’t entirely true. He felt a sudden contraction of his heart.
There was someone who could tell the future.
Is something about to happen again? he wanted to ask, but in the end he couldn’t.
He had never believed in supernatural manifestations, but for some reason he was afraid.
Would I lose my life because I interfered with the destiny of others? Yan Huan’s words scared him.
It was just baseless supposition, but his heart felt heavy as though something was pressing on it.
Out of habit, Yan Huan squeezed the air out of the snack packet in her hands. She stared forward, her eyes dilated and dull with a hint of gloom.
Then they lost focus entirely. She didn’t know how much time had passed when the warm sunlight spilled onto her through refraction.
Slowly, life returned to her eyes as she watched the movement of the sun.
Lu Yi hovered a glass before her. It was time for milk.
Yan Huan took the glass and took small sips.
She often spaced out, but Lu Yi chose not to ask her what was going on. There was a strange atmosphere between them. Perhaps they were both trying to escape from reality.
Yan Huan placed the cup down when she finished the milk. Pensive, she rubbed the edge of the glass with her finger.
“Lu Yi, there’s…”
Just as she was about to speak, Lu Yi took the glass from her and walked away, leaving her a silhouette of rejection.
Before this, she didn’t know whether she should say it, but now that she had mustered her courage, it seemed like he didn’t want to listen to it.
She got out of the blanket and stood up cautiously. Her arm was recovering and didn’t hurt anymore. In a few days’ time, she could return to the hospital to get the cast removed.
Inside the kitchen, Lu Yi washed the cups below the taps. He washed them so thoroughly that the glass shone with crystal transparency.
He stored the cup away and turned around, to find Yan Huan standing at the door, her arm drooping sadly beneath her neck.
He walked over to her and fixed her cast.
“We can get rid of that cast of yours in three days’ time. You have to bear with it for now.”
“Can’t we get it removed today?” asked Yan Huan piteously. The cast had been there for nearly three months, restricting her movements and subjecting her to a prisoner-like experience. She longed for freedom so much so that she was going crazy.
“Like I said, three days,” insisted Lu Yi. He led her into the bedroom and helped her remove her shoes, before ensconcing her in the bed. Three days, not one minute less.
Fine. Yan Huan complied obediently. She had been living like a pig for three months already. Three days wouldn’t make a difference.
“Lu Yi…” she called again.
Lu Yi suddenly stare at her right in the eyes and cupped her chin with a hand.
“Listen, Yan Huan.”
“I’m listening,” she nodded obediently.
“I don’t want to know about the future. Are we clear on that?”
Yan Huan froze. Then nodded. She grabbed a corner of the blanket and pulled it over to cover her face. She didn’t want to speak to him. But she knew the meaning behind Lu Yi’s words.
It was the same for her.
But was that really for the best? She might not be able to change history, but she had the power to save lives. Lives that should not have been lost. Every life mattered, regardless of gender and status.
Life and death were the only things that are unavoidable in one’s life.
Is life meant to be a tragedy? she wondered at times.
In a few decades, you live. Then you die.
You will laugh, and you will cry. You may pass on peacefully, or die the most painful death, but in the end death comes all the same.
Then again, you would miss out on all the beautiful sceneries had you never been born. You would never know the love shared between parents and child, the love between wife and husband, the love between brothers and sisters, the love between friends.
Life is worth living.
“Today’s the day we pry this off you,” said Lu Yi as he was about to push Yan Huan to the hospital. He squatted down before her. “Are you afraid?”
“Yes,” pouted Yan Huan. She had always been an honest child. “I’m afraid that you wouldn’t want me anymore if I’m crippled.” She could live without anything, but not Lu Yi. The thought of losing him made her nose tingly. Without realizing, tears rolled off her cheeks.
“Silly girl,” said Lu Yi, brushing a finger across her face. “You may grow as fat and ugly as a sow, but I’ll love you all the same. In this world, I’m the one person who would never betray or abandon you.”
