Last Days On Earth

Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Night Sky (2)

Her voice attracted the gazes of money. Ye Ke sighed and stood up. “Why are you yelling? You send me Haagen Dazs ice cream in the winter, give me pillows when I sleep. It’s like you’re my parents! I’m being taken care of by you! Why are you chasing me? You’ve given me so many troubles.”

This woman…

She had access to the surveys of the college students mental health and their wishes in life. Ye Ke noted that he missed the taste of ice cream and the absence of his parents, missed the memories of his parents happily buying ice cream when he was a child. So this flower happily bought him a tub of Haagen-Dazs ice cream.

Ye Ke sighed.

She’s truly helpless.

She’s seen him several times when passing his class. She’s seen him sleep on the hard table so she gave him a pillow.

He was brought to the office thereafter and given a lecture; told him he should bring his bed instead if he wanted to sleep so badly.

But he found the delivery of the toilet paper and paper bag a more embarrassing occasion.

At the time, a sudden abdominal pain hit him while sleeping in class. He hadn’t brought any material so he asked his classmates around.

They had none.

He texted Lao Wang to buy a toilet paper and paper bag before dashing straight to the restroom during class sessions.

At the time, he wasn’t sure how the beautiful flower got the news of it all but that stinky Han Song apparently sent her a message.

He was in the restroom, pushing out all the contents from his bowel as he watched “Living in the Last Days” on his mobile phone. A packet of paper bag and roll of toilet paper suddenly appeared from the bottom of the door.

“So fast! Lao Wang, thank you!” When Ye Ke grabbed the items, he found something wrong. The hand was soft and feminine.

“Take your time. I’ll go first.” Once he finished what he’d needed to do, a soft voice sounded and Ye Ke shuddered. His phone had almost fallen into the toilet bowl.

“Shi Yiran, you’ve no shame! Ahhh ヽ(`Д´)ﾉ damn it!”

When Hang Song sent her the message, she found herself in a dire and desperate predicament.

It’d take a lifetime for one to head out the campus grounds and back to Ye Ke so she took advantage of the time and went straight to the men’s restroom and handed the items without hesitation.

……

“Ye Ke… you’re a very kind person.”

He thought this beautiful flower would leave in the next second. It hadn’t gone as he expected because she rushed into his arms regardless of the sweat coiling his body from the earlier run. She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest.

Ye Ke blushed red. He felt the softness of her body. “Shi Yinran, let go!”

He hadn’t expected it’d take a turn in this situation.

He attempted to push her away but he couldn’t.

She wouldn’t budge.

“I don’t want to let you go…” She said, her voice muffled.

Ye Ke sighed helplessly. He could feel her, could smell her sweet fragrance, could her bare skin. It’s truly tempting… this woman.

For a moment, no one spoke. The air around them was tense and silent.

“Let go…” He said once more, this time more calm yet there was an undeniable coldness deep within.

“Why…? Why can’t you accept me? My heart… can’t you feel it? Why do you push me away?”

He didn’t reply. He couldn’t. He didn’t know how to. He looked away, grabbed her arms and broke free the arms hugging his waist.

“I’ll be going.” He said bluntly before turning away, his body fading into the darkness.

Shi Yinran stood there alone high above the starry skies. She looked lost and unsure why the guy she yearned for was like that. She sighed, smiled wistfully, smoothed her hair, and left.

Why…? Why can’t I accept you?

He knows but he doesn’t know. If he knows, he won’t speak of it into existence. Maybe Shi Yinran would find it ridiculous if she’d known the truth.

He’s not a man with high ambitions in life.

He’ll graduate in two years, he’ll look for a job, whatever that might be.

He’ll save money, buy a house, and when the time comes, look for an ordinary woman to marry and have children with.

Thereafter, he’ll go out with his friends.

They’ll get drunk, talk of the past, of their memories, of their regrets, of what they should’ve done in life.

That’s what he’ll do. He’s fine with it.

He won’t settle for great.

He’s not ambitious enough.

But he doesn’t understand why the beautiful flower looks at him in that way. He doesn’t belong to her circle. He knows of her family background. Her father’s a commander of the military and her mother’s a businesswoman, a self-made entrepreneur.

He wouldn’t be able to provide her anything. But perhaps she wouldn’t want him to.

Perhaps she wouldn’t want him to do anything other than be with her and love her.

Perhaps she knows the difference in their status, in their wealth and perhaps she understands this.

And perhaps she’s accepted this.

But so what?

Love doesn’t mean anything. It’ll disappear through time.

The love will turn to poison.

It’ll be toxic.

It’s pure bittersweet pain.

Love comes and when you least expect it, love goes.

Yes, he knows this fairly well.

Love doesn’t last.