Finally Being Snatched Away at My Wedding by My Ex-Boyfriend - Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Ambiguous Water Surface

Under the midday sun, there was good reason for Pei Xing’s entire body to be scalding hot.

The happy little bird left the stiffened Pei Xing behind, sat on the swing, and began to sway slowly.

“Pei Xing, this swing is so steady. The height is just right, too it doesn’t even kick my toes. You are the best swing-maker I’ve ever seen. I love this swing so much, thank you, Pei Xing…!”

In eighteen years, Pei Xing had heard too many words of praise, but he had never felt like this as if he had truly done the most remarkable thing in the world.

Yet, it was just a swing.

He thought only children from poor families felt satisfied because a wish was fulfilled. Su Yuan had an affluent family and doting parents; one could tell from his occasional small tempers that he grew up surrounded by love. Would he also feel satisfied because of a single swing?

“My mother used to take me to play on swings often when I was little.”

Su Yuan’s sudden opening pulled Pei Xing back from his thoughts.

He walked to the side of the swing, sat down on the thick tree roots, and quietly listened to Su Yuan continue.

“Later, she passed away. My family worried that seeing a swing would make me sad, so they tore them all down.” Su Yuan lowered his eyes, his voice very light. “I miss my mother, and of course I’m sad, but I still want to play on the swing.

“They didn’t do anything wrong; they just wanted to protect me. But the swing is like the cod I never got to eat again.”

Su Yuan turned his head to look at him and smiled. “My dad and grandpa dote on me very much.”

Pei Xing didn’t know what kind of expression he had on his face right now that would cause Su Yuan to turn around and comfort him instead.

The hemp rope rubbing against the tree trunk made a sound like a bird spreading its wings.

Su Yuan held the swing ropes and leaned backward. “Pei Xing, do you know? Playing on a swing is when I am closest to the sky. It’s as if I’ve really turned into a bird.”

He looked at Su Yuan as if looking at a hatchling pecking open its shell, bit by bit revealing its fragile body before him.

Su Yuan was afraid of hurting a newly molted crab, yet he wasn’t afraid that he himself might be hurt.

Just as he had told Su Yuan about his own background, he didn’t think Su Yuan would have even a hint of contempt and of course, he never imagined Su Yuan would shed tears of sadness for him.

This afternoon, Pei Xing felt that he, like Su Yuan, had turned into a bird, except he was still curled inside a hard shell.

Pei Xing smiled. “What does the little bird want to do now?”

Su Yuan looked at the pond water beneath his feet; ripples broke the cyan surface like a soft vortex. “I want to have my feathers wetted.”

Pei Xing froze; this answer was unexpected.

In the few seconds while he stood up in a daze, Su Yuan, with his back to the pond and toes pressing against the bank, looked on with sparkling eyes and asked with a smile, “Are you coming?”

The next second, Su Yuan disappeared from his field of vision, falling into the water.

Pei Xing’s heart skipped a beat.

Su Yuan emerged from the clear water, his long hair plastered to the back of his head, revealing an unobstructed, smooth, and beautiful face. Water droplets clung to his skin; his white top clung to his transparent body, and his arms moved gently in the water like a glowing butterfly.

This scene crashed headlong into Pei Xing’s world.

In his dreams that night and in the countless dreams after their eventual breakup, it surfaced over and over again.

“Pei Xing,” Su Yuan called softly, “come.”

At this moment, Su Yuan was no longer gentle; his voice was so light, yet it fell on the ears like a temptation. He couldn’t find any courage to refuse; he was unwilling to refuse.

The water temperature was cooler than Pei Xing had anticipated, but he didn’t know if his frame of reference had any value. His heart was burning.

“Is it cold?” Pei Xing asked.

“Maybe. Anyway, my heart is hot.”

Su Yuan’s gaze remained fixed on Pei Xing’s face, like a flower blooming solitary on the water’s surface, making it impossible to look away. He slowly sank until the water covered his rosy, wet lips and the bridge of his nose, leaving only those eyes.

Pei Xing held his breath with him; his body felt light. Su Yuan’s gaze was a transparent rope that exiled him, holding him firmly in the palm of his hand.

“Little bird, come out,” he couldn’t help but say.

A pair of slightly cool hands rested on his shoulders. Su Yuan emerged from the water and spoke with a laugh, “Pei Xing, I love holding my breath. This way I can control my own heartbeat I become the most powerful person in the world.”

After saying this, Su Yuan shook his head like a soaked puppy toward him, splattering wet water all over his face.

Pei Xing didn’t dodge; he just narrowed his eyes with a smile.

“Someone entering the water for the first time, yet your courage is this big?”

Su Yuan’s gaze was like a hook. He looked at him and said ambiguously, “Yes. So many ‘first times’ are shared with you.”

This made him dizzy again.

The next second, Su Yuan used both hands to splash water, soaking him. “Water fight! You might not even be able to beat me.”

Pei Xing didn’t speak. He held his breath, submerged into the crystal-clear water, and began to swim around Su Yuan’s bare legs. Su Yuan couldn’t find him and didn’t dare truly dive down, so he just reached out to grab.

Soon, a hand grasped him.

As if in an unpredictable future, he had caught that person.

Pei Xing’s hand was broad and warm; in just a few short seconds, it warmed his cold fingertips. Su Yuan felt this sensation was both foreign and exciting.

“Are you two playing in the water?”

The voice that suddenly came from behind startled Su Yuan, making him shrink his neck. The person in the water sensed Su Yuan’s fingers tighten; he leaped out and looked at Pei Wen standing on the bank.

Instinctively, Pei Xing gripped Su Yuan’s arm and hid him behind his back. Su Yuan remained silent, obediently hiding behind Pei Xing’s tall frame, calming his racing heart.

“Why are you here?” Pei Xing asked.

Pei Wen scratched his head. “Isn’t it normal for me to come find you to play? I’m coming down too—watch out for the depth charge!”

Pei Xing turned around expressionlessly, holding the back of Su Yuan’s head with one hand while the other covered his exposed ear.

The quiet and ambiguous water surface was broken by a churning paddle.

Su Yuan gave Pei Wen a thumbs-up. “You’re really good at water fights.”

Pei Wen tilted his head proudly. “Of course! Come, Su Yuan, I’ll teach you.”

“He’s going ashore,” Pei Xing gripped Su Yuan’s waist and lightly lifted him onto the bank. “He’s been playing for a long time.”

Pei Xing followed him ashore, took an absorbent bath towel from his bag, and draped it over Su Yuan’s shoulders. He unscrewed the thermos of warm ginger soup and handed it over. “Drink some.”

Before long, Pei Wen, finding it boring to play alone, also came ashore.

He poured the water out of his ears. “You two are too boring. I’m going to buy soda.”

Once he was far away, Su Yuan held the thermos and spoke in a small voice, “My clothes feel so uncomfortable.”

Pei Xing glanced at the sun, which was blocked by the tree canopy, took another towel from his bag, spread it out in the sun, and moved Su Yuan over. “Sunbathe for a bit. Did you bring spare clothes?”

Su Yuan shook his head. “You didn’t tell me to bring any.”

Pei Xing seriously considered the possibility of helping Su Yuan pack his things next time and suggested, “Let’s go back.”

“Your cousin went to buy soda; it wouldn’t be very good [to leave].” Su Yuan took off his top. “This is fine.”

A snow-white body flashed past those black eyes.

“Wrap up.”

“Oh.”

Su Yuan glanced at Pei Xing, whose expression wasn’t exactly great, and sullenly wrapped himself in the bath towel. The next second, his vision went dark as the sound of hair being rubbed came from above his head.

He reached out and lifted a corner of the towel. “Pei Xing, you seem very good at taking care of people.”

“Mm. I took care of my mother.”

Pei Xing didn’t deny it, nor was he perfunctory; he even wanted to continue pecking open his own shell. “She had heart disease. In those years of heart failure, she couldn’t even get out of bed.”

Perhaps it was an illusion, but with Su Yuan making no movement and his expression hidden, Pei Xing suddenly felt his silence was very sad.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Slowly, the head under his palm shook.

After a while, Su Yuan’s bitten lower lip finally released. “Pei Xing…”

“I’m back!” Pei Wen ran over clutching sodas. “Here, drink! By the way, cousin, remember to return that glass bottle from last time; Su Yuan definitely wouldn’t understand such things.”

Pei Xing kept his eyes down. “It broke. I let the boss deduct your deposit.”

Pei Wen clutched his chest in heartache, then started telling Su Yuan how good the new soda flavor was, chirping like a sparrow.

“I feel a bit unwell,” Su Yuan said in a low voice. “I want to go back.”

Pei Xing immediately packed everything and helped Su Yuan up. The two walked side-by-side slowly back to the small courtyard. Su Yuan’s sudden silence gave rise to an inexplicable unease in Pei Xing.

“Did he disturb you?”

Su Yuan kept his head down, his thin body wrapped in the towel entirely shielded under the umbrella, as if he could never walk out of the shadow.

Pei Xing didn’t ask further. He settled him onto the sofa, went into the bathroom, filled the tub with hot water, and went downstairs to get mugwort to put inside.

“Take a bath to get rid of the cold; I’ll go brew some more ginger soup for you.”

Su Yuan climbed up from the sofa, opened a drawer, took out his portioned medicine box, and swallowed all the pills. His throat hurt for a long time where they caught; a few tablets stuck deep in his throat for a while, the bitter taste forcing tears out. Even after finishing the ginger soup and lying in bed, it didn’t dissipate.

“Rest first. Call me if you feel uncomfortable.”

He didn’t look at Pei Xing, his face half-covered by the quilt, and nodded slowly.

The room grew quiet. Su Yuan began to suspect that everything that happened in the water was just a dream.

The feathers of a little bird cannot be wetted.

Drowsily, he remembered the question he hadn’t been able to ask: Pei Xing, taking care of a sick person is very tiring, isn’t it?

Su Yuan turned over, becoming an ostrich, and fell into a deep sleep.

…

In the small building, Pei Xing was packing his suitcase for university. The zipper of the cheap suitcase got stuck from time to time, but he had no desire to fight with it.

Standing up, Pei Xing opened the door and glanced toward the door opposite.

After moving the suitcase aside, he finally entered Su Yuan’s room.

The room was beautifully decorated: light coffee-colored parquet wood floors, with the sofa and cabinets in dark green, echoing the greenery seen everywhere. It was exceptionally beautiful when the sunlight shone in. Su Yuan told him this was “Nanyang Vintage style,” and it looked best in the summer.

Pei Xing squatted by the bed. Su Yuan was sleeping quietly, making no sound; even his breathing was very shallow.

He reached out and felt Su Yuan’s forehead.

Something was very wrong.

Pei Xing quickly doubled back to his room to get a thermometer. He gently gathered Su Yuan into his arms, unbuttoned his pajama top, and slid his hand inside. “Su Yuan, it’s Pei Xing. I’m taking your temperature. Five minutes.”