The autumn sun blazed down, a warm surprise after the relentless summer. As Shen Nianci squinted at its brilliance, a pang of nostalgia hit her – she almost missed the cacophony of cicadas that had filled the previous months. Their brief, fated intersection had finally run its course, a story with a clear ending.
Memories flickered: Shen Nianci could picture the first time she'd laid eyes on Li Yingze.
It was the first day of junior high. A friend had gushed, "There's this ridiculously good-looking new first-year!"
Shen Nianci, preoccupied with her own dramas, had rolled her eyes. "Come on, how good-looking could he be?"
Curiosity wasn't exactly piqued, but that evening, her friend badgered her into helping snag his contact info. With a sigh of resignation, Shen Nianci agreed.
They loitered by the first-year classrooms until the last student shuffled out. Finally, a tall figure emerged, and her friend nudged her excitedly.
"That's him!" she whispered.
It was just a quick glance, but that image of him stuck with Shen Nianci for the next seven years.
Moonlight cast his profile in a sharp relief, what she later called "ethereally handsome."
At first, Li Yingze's response to their request for his contact info was a simple, "Why?"
It wasn't rude, but it politely conveyed a hint of resistance. However, Shen Nianci's friend, ever the persistent one, somehow managed to convince him, using the flimsy excuse of needing it for her "little brother." The next day, Shen Nianci found his QQ number scribbled in a biology book her brother "borrowed."
She couldn't add him anyway – no phone and no QQ account back then. Later, when a friend spilled the tea about Li Yingze dating the girl who bullied her, complete with a sickening couple's profile picture, Shen Nianci wasn't shocked.
It fit the pattern – the girl notorious for snagging the hottest guys and then discarding them like tissues, as one of Shen Nianci's male friends could unfortunately attest.
It didn't seem to faze Li Yingze much, but a flicker of something in his eyes – a shift from trusting openness to guarded suspicion – told a different story.
Shen Nianci kept her distance after that, never mentioning the incident for fear of reopening old wounds. Maybe a part of her wanted to be his hero, to heal whatever had caused that change, but she knew she wasn't the one.
June 2018 marked the last time Shen Nianci saw Li Yingze. It was during high school registration, fresh off his middle school exams. The June sun beat down mercilessly, dappling his face in a light that felt more like a scene from a movie than real life.
Li Yingze stood outside the school building, a crisp white shirt clinging to his frame. Shen Nianci, there for her own exams, pretended to casually stroll past, stealing glances over her shoulder. Did he feel her burning gaze?
When Li Yingze was in his final year of middle school, classmates gossiped about high school plans. "Where do you think he'll go?" someone asked.
Shen Nianci, brimming with misplaced confidence, declared, "This school, obviously."
Then, a comment about his stellar grades sparked a flicker of worry – what if they ended up at different schools? Unable to contain her anxiety, she messaged him that evening: "You're coming here for high school, right?"
His reply arrived soon after: "I'm thinking about Hongde, supposedly better academics." The news hit Shen Nianci like a punch to the gut. The realization that this might be their final goodbye settled heavily in her stomach.
After their last encounter, Shen Nianci clung to a fantasy, picturing them like star-crossed movie characters destined for a dramatic reunion. But reality, unlike a carefully crafted film, rarely offered such convenient plot twists. They were just two people on separate paths, starting from the same place – that crowded bus station of life – but their journeys diverged. The days turned into weeks, and with each passing day, the silence between them grew louder.
Finally, she caved and messaged him about his new school. His response was lukewarm – "It's okay, I guess," he said, unsure if the workload was tough or if he was simply surrounded by academic overachievers. Back in junior high, he'd consistently ranked in the top ten. Shen Nianci used to sneak peeks at the year-level rankings plastered on the school building, a silent way of tracking his progress.
It was Christmas during Li Yingze's last year of middle school, and Shen Nianci embarked on a mission. First stop: a fruit shop for the reddest, most perfect apple she could find. Next: a gift shop to deck it out in a fancy box and a festive ribbon. The apple wasn't the only star of the show, though. Tucked inside was a scarf she'd knitted herself.
Unfortunately, Shen Nianci never got to hand it to him personally. She enlisted a friend to make the delivery, and the report came back: "He didn't say anything."
Shen Nianci often wondered if he still had it.
YOU ARE READING
Secret Love at the Equator by Xia Zhiyao
Teen FictionThere was this boy in her youth who stole her heart completely. But for almost ten years, her feelings were a one-way street. Every time Li Yingze glanced back, it was never for her.
