"Hm?"
Li Chunhua, who was crouching while admiring a bunch of colorful flowers, raised her head.
"Brother Jie, did you hear sothing just now?"
Contrary to her sister, Li Junjie just stood with his hand folded in front of his chest with a bored expression. He showed no interest whatsoever in the flowers or view.
"No. You sure it wasn't your imagination?"
Li Chunhua wasn't convinced, so she looked up to the building, particularly to one balcony on the second floor, where ng Renshu's room was supposed to be. It was empty with no one in sight.
"Strange. I thought I heard Xiaoyi calling our na."
Li Junjie didn't respond, so Li Chunhua quickly brushed it off as nothing and continued taking a picture of the bed of flowers.
***
ng Renshu had never felt so pathetic before. Hearing Li Caiyi's explanation was like receiving a slap on the face.
Now he understood why she never seed to take him seriously. To be fair, she tried, but ng Renshu subconsciously knew that she took his words with a pinch of salt every ti.
'So that's the reason,' He thought inwardly.
There was a period when he doubted his own feelings, but he thought he had long since settled down that doubt. Still, what Li Caiyi said hit him to the core and rendered him speechless.
He couldn't deny that there was so truth in Li Caiyi's words. If soone said that was the only reason for his change, he wouldn't be able to deny it. Because he indeed changed a lot after those series of dreams.
Would he ever see Li Caiyi in a different light without those dreams? It made him doubt himself again.
'Did I really misunderstand everything from the beginning?'
Thinking about this made his headache even more. ng Renshu looked to the side and found her seat was empty.
"Brother Jie! Xiaohua!"
He snapped his head when she heard her voice, and his eyes widened when she saw her standing on the balcony. Since when was she there?
Sting!
A terrible headache stung him hard at that mont. If previously it felt like a needle prickling on his brain, this headache was like a giant hamr smashed on his head.
"Argh!" ng Renshu groaned as he held his head, fighting the pain.
A flash of mory passed through his mind as he tried to do so.
It was the sight from his dream, where he looked into the bag where Li Caiyi's body was kept. Even now, that horrendous view was etched deeply in his mind, invoking the deepest trauma he wanted to forget.
That despair and bone-crushing sadness ca back to him like a tidal wave. His whole body shook, and cold sweat ran down his spine.
"Brother Jie! Xiaohua!"
Her voice once again snapped him out of his reverie. However, his eyes almost rolled down their sockets when he saw her in an extrely dangerous position.
She was leaning out from the railing with her upper body bending downward like she was trying to reach sothing.
[Your wife committed suicide by jumping down from a high building]
ng Renshu didn't know where that voice ca from, but fear took over his body instantly. Everything seed to move in a slow motion before him, or maybe his brain just worked in lightning speed.
He couldn't lose her again.
He didn't want to experience that despair anymore.
He didn't want to live a life like a dead person anymore.
ng Renshu kicked his blanket and ran barefooted on the cold floor. He mustered every strength his currently weak body could muster and ran out of the balcony in horror.
'This ti, it will be different. I can't be late again this ti!'
"STOP!"
He yelled on top of his lung as he gathered the girl's body inside his arm and pulled her backward, so they toppled to the floor, with Li Caiyi half resting her body on top of him.
Throughout his life, he never felt so scared. His whole body trembled. Only when he sensed the rapid heartbeat of the girl in his arm did he feel everything was real.
'She is alive. She is not dead. She is with right now.'
ng Renshu was vaguely aware that he spoke sothing, but he was far too shocked and relieved to care. He clung to her like his life depended on it.
Then, his vision also beca blurry when she raised her head and stared in shock at him. Her clear eyes widened, and her tiny mouth slightly agape.
It was her face and not the smashed version he saw in his dream.
A bittersweet feeling gushed out of his heart, and tears unknowingly poured down from his eyes. Even he couldn't rember when was the last ti he had cried.
"Brother…Renshu? Why are you crying?"
Hearing her voice made him feel even more wrenched inside. It felt like centuries since he had listened to her voice, and he couldn't stop his tears.
"Ugh, don't scare like that. I thought you would leave again without words."
"What are you talking about?"
"It was all my fault. I'm sorry, Xiaoyi. You can bla all you want, but please don't do that. Anything but that."
"Why would you say that?"
"I know I made a grave mistake, but I didn't an to corner you like that. Please believe . I love you." He cried like a child as he cradled her deeper in his arm.
ng Renshu was so focused on letting his heart out that he missed the horror look on Li Caiyi's face. Blood drained from her face as the aning behind his every word finally sank into her.
"L-let go!" Li Caiyi struggled vehently, and the sudden movent made him loosen his hold on her.
Using that chance, she slipped out of his embrace and crawled away to take so distance from him.
ng Renshu stared at her in puzzlent, but the fear in her eyes canceled any thought of approaching her. She was like a cornered herbivore in front of the beast.
"Y-you…what you said just now…what was that?"
"What did I say?"
"Don't play dumb with . You said you didn't an to corner ." Li Caiyi glared at him. "Speak the truth. Did you say that because of your dream again, or is it because of sothing else?"
"Xiaoyi, your face is pale—"
"JUST SAY IT!"
ng Renshu's pupils shook at her shout. Any trace of sadness slowly ebbed away from his face and was replaced with a grim look instead. He sat up so they could face each other properly.
"Just like you, I rember it. The so-called past life mories."
Li Caiyi felt the ground beneath her disappear, swallowing her into deep darkness.
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