Crossing the Clouds and Sky to Fall in Love with You - Chapter 8

After calming down, I felt apologetic for my earlier offense towards Sister Tao.

However, she didn’t seem to plan on giving me a chance to apologize. The day after watching the show, she left… I guess she was preparing for the trip yesterday, wasn’t she?

I wonder where she’s run off to this time?

I stared at the iron gate, where a small corner of paper caught my attention. I walked closer and saw it was a small envelope with “For Xiaoning” written on it! I picked it up and felt something small and hard inside. What was it?

Opening it, I found a… key? And a small note.

‘Here’s a spare key for you. Open up if you want to watch TV.’ This… so this is her front door key! She actually gave it to me this way… Sister Tao, aren’t you being too bold!

“Too generous, maybe?” I held the key, which was almost identical to my own door key, and stared at Sister Tao’s door for a while longer. A warmth immediately surged through me. She was willing to generously give me the key… giving me the right to enter her room. Besides completely trusting me, it also felt like a form of reconciliation with her.

She trusted me and saw me as a friend… This truly was a hard-won great gift. “Thank you,” I murmured, clutching the key tightly and hanging it on my keychain.

My mood, which had been low all night, brightened instantly because of this precious gift.

The entanglement in my heart dissolved into thin air with a bouquet of flowers and an apology from him.

The day after the program aired, he brought a small bouquet to the classroom to find me during the first class. Just as I had predicted, he’d only said those things for the sake of the show’s effect, and if I thought about it carefully, the person he described was precisely Senior Saya, wasn’t it?

“It’s okay… but, please, next time tell me first.” If there is a next time… at least someone will have given me a preemptive injection before the heartbreak.

I accepted his flowers and apology amidst the surprised, envious, or jealous looks of my classmates.

The unintentional hurt I received on the show was thus lightly put aside. Sister Tao would definitely scold me to death if she knew.

However, this week was not like usual. Besides meeting for dinner on Wednesday evening, he told me that in addition to performing at Plato, he had several program announcements to rush, so there wouldn’t be much chance to see each other.

I was a little disappointed. Although I knew that after they became popular, the distance between him and me would slowly widen, I hadn’t expected this day to come so quickly. I was a bit slow to react.

I told him I would go to a classmate’s house on Friday to celebrate a birthday and would rush to Plato to watch their concert afterward. He first asked which classmate, and after hearing the name, he frowned. “A guy?”

“Yes, a transfer student. I’ll—I’ll ask Yiting to go with me!” To prevent him from worrying, I specifically brought up Yiting’s name; Tao Yian also knew Yiting and I were close. When I said I’d invite her along, he just smiled and agreed without saying much more.

“And you’ll still come to Plato?”

“Yes! Of course, I will. I’ll try my best to rush over… It’s been a long time since Yiting has been there too. We’ll go together. You still start performing at eight, right?”

Han Jun’s expression was unnatural as he nodded. “That… Xiaoning, if you come on Friday, remember not to go directly backstage.”

“Huh? Wh-why?”

“I’ll come out to find you anyway. We’ll meet in the parking lot.” His smile was somewhat forced. “I have some things I need to tell you.”

What things can’t be said directly?

Then, the next day, Thursday, an argument erupted in the Man-Faced Fish group chat.

It was understandable that the Man-Faced Fish would receive more and more invitations and program appearances in the future. Jack, the leader, had already begun working with others to discuss an agency contract. Just as they were about to make a decision, Han Jun was the one who jumped out to object.

Han Jun believed they should discuss the contract more carefully, and Senior Jack’s notification was actually a bit late… he had already negotiated with someone else before notifying the group, instead of discussing it with the other members.

But it felt like the others didn’t have any particular opinion, did they?

Saya: ‘Ajin, what’s wrong with you today?’

Senior Saya, contrary to her usual outspokenness, only gently asked this one question in return. Han Jun, who had used strong wording initially, didn’t reply anymore.

Afterward, I called and briefly asked about it… but he used a gentle yet distant tone to tell me not to ask too much, as it was internal band business.

“Didn’t the senior tell you anything?”

‘Hmm…’

“Senior Jack can sometimes be a bit headstrong, that’s true, but he wouldn’t say nothing about something this important, would he?” I bit my lip, tentatively asking, “Should I call Senior Jack and ask?” I had the phone numbers of Man-Faced Fish members other than Senior Monk. Even if I didn’t use them often, I had to call when they were needed.

‘Don’t. We’ll handle this ourselves… I don’t want to drag you into it.’

“But…”

‘Xiao Xiao, I just want to ask you one question.’

“What question?”

‘No matter what difficulties we encounter later, you’ll always stand by me, right?’

His tone when he spoke startled me.

Only because I heard a sob in his voice.

“What’s wrong…” I covered my mouth, trying to make my tone lighter. “Of course, I’ll stand by you! Not only that, but I’ll always support Man-Faced…”

‘It has nothing to do with Man-Faced Fish. I’m just asking if you support me? And all the decisions I make.’

Nothing to do with Man-Faced Fish…?

Senior Saya’s words seemed to echo in my ears—’You have to watch out for him for us, okay?’

“What exactly is going on between you and the Man-Faced Fish?”

My voice was trembling.

Could it be that… something I didn’t know about had happened during this time?

“Are you going solo?” Going solo before even truly becoming popular?

‘I asked for your opinion, do you remember?’

“My opinion?”

He sighed heavily, seemingly “dropping” to the bottom emotionally. ‘Let’s… meet tonight. Can I come to your place?’

I took a deep breath, forcing a wry smile as I made my words exceptionally clear, “You know… I never know how to refuse you.”

Then, we ushered in the most passionate and intense night since we started dating. He completely unleashed all the suppressed and hidden emotions in front of me.

“I haven’t truly made a decision yet,” I heard him say as I lay beside him.

“What decision exactly? Also, I don’t remember you… asking for my opinion?”

He wrapped his arm around my waist and made me roll onto him. “Did you forget? The first time you came to my place, with Loser, I asked you how my singing was.”

“Oh! That! I remember.” I smiled. “And then?”

“You said I must have a producer who suits me and tailor-makes songs for me.”

“Mmm, yes.” I remembered up to this point… “And then I fell asleep!”

“But you still answered, didn’t you?” His chest rose and fell with his laughter. The calluses formed on his fingertips from years of practicing guitar brushed against my back, causing a wave of ticklish pleasure! I loved this natural intimacy. “I asked if you would support me if I found an agent truly suitable for me, and a producer to create songs exclusively for me, offering better conditions and a stage than the current situation.”

My mind was blank. “I was really tired at that time… What did I say?”

“Xiao Xiao, don’t be like this, okay?” Han Jun’s tone was a little playful, and I couldn’t see his expression clearly because the room was completely dark. “You said to leave it up to me to decide… Today, I asked if you were willing to support me, and you also said you would stand by me.”

“Of course, I’ll stand by you… So, what about the Man-Faced Fish?”

He was silent for a while. “Senior Jack has his own arrangements.” Then there was no more to be said.

My chest tightened from his silence, feeling as if a heavy stone was pressing on it. I recalled the times we performed and practiced together, the wonderful memories of eating and chatting together. If he truly went solo and left the band… could these memories continue?

“You went through all this effort from not being popular until today… are you just going to break up now?”

“Are you saying I didn’t share hardships with them? Or do you think I’m too selfish and disregard old feelings?” His tone suddenly became agitated.

“No, I didn’t mean that…” To be honest, his decision wasn’t wrong if there was genuinely better development potential.

It just felt hard to let go emotionally; we had just gone out at night a few days ago and had such a happy and wonderful time.

“I haven’t truly decided yet. You don’t need to worry too much.”

That was true, but I felt like he had already made up his mind, and everything he was saying now was just to appease me…

He kissed me and placed me back on the bed. I passively accepted until he whispered, “Is it okay?”

“Oh… but I don’t have…”

“I’ll be very careful. I love you.”

I was easily persuaded by him, unconditionally dedicating myself and my heart to him.

I love him.