Their Love Stories

Mo Suqing fell into silence. She felt as if she and Ye Zhongjue were from different worlds. She hadn’t known such a thing could happen in this era.

Ye Zhongjue said someone had taken the shot for him. Could it be Jian Jie?

Watching her pale face, Ye Zhongjue knew she had guessed it. He squeezed her a little.

“That’s right. Jian Jie took the shot for me. In fact, if it wasn’t for her, I might not be able to be sitting here and talking to you. The sniper aimed at one of my vital organs. Fortunately, when she threw herself on me, it only got her arm.”

“I planned to stay in the UK for a week at most and to come back once everything was taken care of. However, I hadn’t expected something like this and I felt responsible for Jian Jie’s injury. Although I don’t like her, we did grow up together. I was also shocked she would do such a thing for me.”

Ye Zhongjue stroked Mo Suqing’s hair and continued, “The reason I put my hand protectively on her shoulder at the airport, as you have seen in the newspaper, is because she is injured on the arm. And I am the cause of that! How can I not take responsibility for her? At the very least, I had to take her safely home.”

Mo Suqing had wanted to tell Ye Zhongjue that Jian Jie told her they were in love with each other before and that the only reason Ye Zhongjue would marry her was to piss Jian Jie off. However, now that she knew Jian Jie could sacrifice her own life for him, Mo Suqing wasn’t able to say any of those things.

She reckoned that Ye Zhongjue wouldn’t take her side even if she did tell him. After all, Jian Jie almost got killed for him. All the other vices were forgivable in the face of it.

Later, Mo Suqing would regret not telling Ye Zhongjue all the things Jian Jie had said and done. If only she had done so, they wouldn’t have to go through so many sufferings.

Alas, there was no such thing as “if only”!

Ye Zhongjue resumed, “As for what you said about Jian Jie growing up with me, it is indeed the truth. And we did go abroad together when we were seventeen, when I met my first love. However, it’s not Jian Jie. She may like me, but I have always seen her as a little sister. I can’t give her the love she wants. Do you understand what I mean?”

Mo Suqing was surprised. It’s not Jian Jie? So there is someone else?

“Don’t crumple up your face like that. Look at you, you aren’t as cute because of all the wrinkles. Yes, it’s not Jian Jie. Actually, it’s someone you know!”

Mo Suqing was struck dumb. I didn’t even know him at that time. How would I know who his first love was? That is bullshit!

Ye Zhongjue pinched her face playfully at her baffled expression.

“Yeah, you definitely know who she is. Now, let me tell you a story. When I’m done, you’ll understand everything.”

Mo Suqing looked at him eagerly. She felt what he was about to tell her would be able to answer the questions and untie the knots in her heart.

Ye Zhongjue had a faraway look on his face, as if his mind had taken him back to the past.

“When I was seventeen, my parents had a fight. You probably have no idea, but my father almost always does anything my mother says, so it was very unusual that they had a fight. I felt quite upset, because I was the root of it.”

“I was a senior in high school. My mother wanted me to apply for a school here, while my father wanted me to study abroad. According to him, I should leave the country and gain more experiences, and prepare myself to take over the company in the future. As for me, I was young and impetuous and rebellious.”

“I understood why they were having this fight and couldn’t reach an agreement. The real reason was my little sister, who had become a taboo topic in our house long ago.”

Ye Zhongjue’s expression became melancholic. “I had a sister who was two years younger than me. I still remember how she and I would make a mess in our villa together. However, when I was four, she was gone. A servant of ours took her away and never came back. At that time, my mother cried every day and my father tried every way to find her. Sadly, after all these years, we still haven’t found her.”

“Perhaps they had given up on her, because they began to shower all their love and expectations on me. My father wanted me to go abroad, so that I could become stronger, have more experiences, and protect myself better, thus preventing the same tragedy from happening again to me. On the other hand, my mother, having lost a child, wasn’t willing to let her other child leave her.”

“I was very difficult at that time, very rebellious. I grew sick of their incessant fight over me, so I sneaked out of the house and rented an apartment to stay for a while.”

Ye Zhongjue paused and looked down at Mo Suqing thoughtfully. She had her head against his chest and her cheeks were a little flushed.

Ye Zhongjue continued, “During that time, I fell in love with a girl; the first girl I have ever loved.”

Mo Suqing, finally hearing the key phrase, looked up. Her hair brushed against his chin, tingling him.

He chuckled. With one arm still around her, he spared the other hand to smooth her tousled hair.

“During those days, I lived in the apartment I had rented. At first, I often got lonely because I couldn’t see my parents and I knew they were still fighting over me, arguing all the time. I was depressed and exhausted. One day, when I was heading to school, I saw a girl whose smile was the sweetest I had ever seen. From then on, I saw her every day at the same place, helping blind people cross the street. On the bus, she yielded her seat to the elderly. She was like the sun itself, warming up my oppressive existence.”

Ye Zhongjue lowered his head to see if she had any reactions. She didn’t.

“I think it was what people call love at first sight. I was practically a stalker, following her around every day and watching her do the same things over and over again, never getting tired of it. I was inexperienced with girls, so although I wanted her to notice me, I dreaded it all the same. To be honest, I was very popular at school. Every girl smiled at me! Yet somehow, her smile was different to me. In my eyes, her smile was completely different from those of the girls in my school who dressed fashionably. Hers was innocent and sunny. It seemed to sparkle, so you couldn’t help but be attracted.”

Mo Suqing felt uncomfortable listening to Ye Zhongjue praise his first love so much. She pouted her lips indignantly, although she felt awfully familiar with the stories he was telling her.

Helping the blind cross the street every day. Yielding her seat to the elderly on the bus. Picking up rubbish on the sidewalk and throwing it into the trash can. Didn’t I use to do all those things at the time?

Other people might think they were trivial, but she had felt the difference in the long run. She also felt happy helping others.

Ye Zhongjue was still speaking in his husky voice, “I thought she was the most kind-hearted girl in the world. She was so kind that I couldn’t help but look at her. And she wasn’t pretentious at all. After she helped someone, she would smile happily like a little fool, you know? But she was not as foolish as me, stalking her all day long every day and having not the slightest idea what I wanted to achieve! It went on like that for a long time until one day I belatedly realized that I had fallen in love with her.”

Ye Zhongjue could see Mo Suqing’s face was clouded. She looked unhappy.

He knew she was jealous of his first love.

He didn’t mind. His little fool would belatedly realize the truth in the end, too – that she was the girl he was talking about.

“At first, I always got off the bus at my stop. But after I realized I liked her, I followed her and got off at her stop, which was only one stop away from mine. I found out that she was actually in the same school with me. She was two grades behind me and had become famous soon after she entered high school. She was pretty, so it took only a short time before everybody knew of her. I hadn’t because I didn’t update myself with that kind of thing.”

“After stalking her for more than half a semester, I made up my mind to tell her how I felt. However, just then, I realized she had got together with a guy in her grade. I had missed my chance and another person had beaten me to it. I knew I didn’t stand a chance now because she wasn’t the kind of girl who would ditch her boyfriend for another. Seeing her happy smile, I decided to give up.”

“Actually, I didn’t give up simply because she was with another guy. My parents had reached an agreement and decided to let me go abroad. I had blown my chance with her and didn’t want to run counter to my parents’ wish. At that moment, I felt I had grown into a man all of a sudden. I had outgrown the young rebel inside me and become aloof and mature.”

Somehow, when Mo Suqing heard him say he became aloof and mature after his first love, she felt deeply for him.

She hugged him tightly, wanting to give him some comfort.

Ye Zhongjue smiled. His girl was always so considerate.

He patted her back and brushed a lock of hair away from her face before continuing, “I studied in the UK for four years and did not come back until three years ago. I dared not look her up and planned to let her stay forever in my memory. I never thought we would actually bump into each other due to a series of unexpected events.”

Ye Zhongjue left his story at that, feeling he had made it very plain. He looked down at Mo Suqing and saw that she clearly hadn’t figured it out.

Ye Zhongjue smiled, feeling defeated. You slow girl!