Ch.22 The Freedom Longed For So Long

Looking at my black eye circles in the mirror, I didn’t even have the strength to complain. Last night, we stared at each other for a whole night again! I picked up a lip balm and put some on. Really, I talked more than I ever did last night. Why is everyone in the Huo family such a hassle! The living are a hassle, but the dead even more so!

Last night, I used up all my reason and saliva, only wanting him to know I don’t want to get caught up in the conflict in the Huo family. But he behaved as if he didn’t understand, only saying some baffling things. When dawn came, he disappeared without any notice.

Every time I thought about it I was furious. I was just about to throw the comb in my hand down when I heard Matron Wang’s voice outside the door.

“Mistress, Madame says you can go back to school. The car is ready, waiting for you to come down.

“What? Okay!” I almost didn’t realize what happened. I put up my hair casually and pulled open the door. Outside the door, Matron Wang stood there smiling, holding a pretty lunchbox which she passed to me.

“This is for you.”

I accepted it and thanked her, then ran downstairs. I still had a chance, yes! It won’t be like what he said, as long as I could get Stepmom to trust me, freedom such as this would get closer and closer to me……

Able to go back to school, of course I was so happy I didn’t care about anything else. But now my identity was the wife of Huo Xiaoran, and the pressure was much more than I anticipated……

“Look! It’s her! Did you look at yesterday’s newspaper? Huo Xiaoran died! Do you think she’s a bad sign for husbands? They just registered a month ago and now Huo Xiaoran’s dead. What an unlucky person!”

“Shh! Quiet, what if she hears?”

“What are you afraid off, humph! I don’t even know if she’s fortunate or unfortunate!”

“Let’s go, let’s go!”

The two girls walked away slowly, but my heart was torn apart by something. I bit my lip, struggling to keep the tears in my eyes.

Actually, I’ve already heard words like these numerous times since I walked into the school. Even when I went back to my dorm just now, although my roommates didn’t say such sarcastic remarks, the expressions and the glances they exchanged weren’t any less damaging than these sentences.

“Xiaoya! Why are you alone?”

I lifted my head to the person besides me, and strained a smile, “Senior Yan, we haven’t met in a long time.” I bowed politely, but my heart started spasming painfully. The man in front of me was called Yan Bei, the same major as I was, but one grade higher than me. He was going to graduate this semester.

From when I entered the college as a freshman and saw him making a speech at the student council, I was fascinated by that solemn face, that handsome yet warm face. When he smiled, it was like the sun, chasing away the darkness in the deepest parts of my body.

“Xiaoya! Two days later, I will be leaving the school. The day after tomorrow, I want to invite you to a party. You must come!” Yan Bei said, stuffing a card into my hand, then left quickly.

Staring at his figure, I paused for a few seconds, until a familiar voice sounded by my ear, “So, you like him？”

Like the first few times, I really was scared. Him, whom I thought could only appear at night, was standing besides me right now, bending down to look at the card in my hand. His color was like previous times, phantom and pale!

“You?” I was startled, but the next moment, after getting surprised stares from around, I lowered my voice, “Why are you here?”

Huo Xiaoran straightened up, and after squinting, he raised his brows and lifted his finger. Only now did I see, there was a familiar red string tied on his ring finger, but I couldn’t see the other end. He started pulling the string up loop after loop, and finally I found, that my finger seemed to tugged on by something……