51 I Was Too Scared To Love
Mo Aini immediately rushed into the nearest taxi, mumbling over and over the directions Gou Manchu gave him, his heart pounding like crazy.
Out of all the time when he would recall what happened on Valentine's Day, it had to be the exact fucking date of Hu Chuntian's flight towards the 2D United States!
(At least it's not completely too late. I hope it isn't.) Mo Aini's leg jittered frantically as he sat in the cab and paid the driver. (I fucking hope it isn't! Hu Chuntian, you better not leave on an airplane without me catching up to you!)
He doesn't even know what he's going to say. The adrenaline that he had from running for 15 minutes just to find a taxi boarded to the airport is turning his brain into a sweaty pile of goo. So many thoughts whizzed past in all directions, there's no way to dwell in any single one of them, much less answer them.
Why is he even going to chase after Hu Chuntian in the first place?
Does he want him to stay?
If he does want him to stay, how will he manage to convince him?
What does he even feel about that memory?
Seriously, what does he truly feel?
That's the problem with him. Hu Chuntian knows exactly what he wants, while he was still indecisive even when he's blindly trudging into unknown territory.
Unlike Mo Jiagei, he doesn't have a choice bar presented in front of him. There's no dialogue option that will decide a Good Ending or Bad Ending.
He was completely on his own about this, and he have to figure everything out himself.
That's what makes real life so difficult compared to games. It's so complicated.
Every microscopic change affects everything.
He was deeply afraid of change, of venturing into something unknown. With fiction, he's safe because he is merely an observer. The story isn't about him. Only the main character suffers, and he can sit back and relax while either praising or bashing the main character for his actions.
Now, he's put into that spot that he would rather enjoy watching from the sidelines, and he doesn't know what to do.
Fuck it, he'll decide once he gets there.
"Can't we move faster, lao yeye*? I'm really in a hurry here." Mo Aini said persistently but still respectfully, seeing that the driver was who-knows-how-old.
The grey-haired grandpa adjusted his cap and showed his one milky eye in the rear-view mirror as he looked at Mo Aini. He must be half-blind. "Can't sonny, the traffic's heavy today."
Mo Aini tried not to grumble and used the formal 'you'* when speaking to elders. "Well, do you know a way for us to reroute and get there faster? There's someone I need to catch up to before their flight!"
"No, sorry."
Mo Aini slumped in his chair. "Thanks anyway, lao yeye. Sorry for raising my voice."
"No problem, I preferred that you spoke louder since my ears are not good as they were back in the day, you see." He pointed to his hearing aide. "You look quite nervous, son. You don't look old enough to be married, so is it your girlfriend that you want to meet at the airport?"
"No..... He's....." Mo Aini faltered. "Just my friend."
"Ah, I see, I see." The old man's smile lines crinkled as he nodded knowingly. "Just your friend. And you fear that you wouldn't see this friend of yours again?"
"Yes. He told me weeks ago that he would stay if I asked him to.... yet I didn't. But now I need to see him because things ended horribly between us, and I don't want that to be the last time we talked to each other."
"Horribly? How so? Got into a fight?"
".....Kind of."
"And this friend.....Did she* tell you she likes you?"
Mo Aini gulped. "He did. How'd you guess that, yeye?"
"I've encountered several guys like you, son. This is very common for someone who drivin' people to the airport." He chuckled.
"Lovesick boys who rejected the one girl that would make their life complete and right when she's about to go, so would he realize that he like her after all. Sometimes it's the other way around. I've seen this a lot too in dramas, never fail to excite me for what would happen to this silly couple."
The red light came, and the taxi came to a halt. The old man adjusted his cap and sighed. "Young people are ever so foolish. Mouths are made so we can speak words, yet they don't even know how to use them. If you like someone, just say it, not some rubbish that you'll regret when you're as old as me."
"It's... more complicated than that, yeye. I don't have much time in this world, so even if we got together, that time would be cut short and just bring more pain to him."
The old man's half-blind eyes grew wide, and his face immediately turned forlorn. "You have a terminal illness that would cause you to live for only a few months?"
(Whoah, this old man watches way too many dramas!!! I'm doing just fine and now a taxi driver thinks I have cancer or brain tumor!) Mo Aini scratched his head.
[Well, it's your fault for wording it that way. Don't blame the poor sentimental old man.]
(Yeah, yeah. Anyway, shut up for a whole day, will you? I don't need you adding to my frustrations, I might end up having qi deviation* or something.)
[This isn't a cultivation world*.]
(Yeah, yeah. Talk to your mother.) Mo Aini finished bickering with the system and was about to further explain himself.....
When he realized it's for the best to just roll with it.
"Yes, the doctors said I only have a month to live. I escaped from the hospital just to get a taxi and go tell him, but even now, I'm still unsure. Maybe I just want to say goodbye properly, maybe I will tell him that I.... I was too scared, that's why I pushed him away."
Mo Aini rubbed his face. "But anyway, I just really want to see him one last time."
Tears streaked from the old man's eyes. "Son... why didn't you tell me this earlier?"
"Uh... Because I don't want to bother you with such a sad story?"
"Bother? Why do you think it would be a bother to explain to this old man why you need to meet your girl so badly!?"
Lao yeye wiped his eyes roughly and wore his hat again. "Fasten your seatbelts."
"Huh?"
Even with the red light still 30 seconds in, the old man slammed his foot on the gas pedal and they zoomed in at 120mph!
Mo Aini was he wasn't able to even touch the seatbelt before he was pulled back to his chair hard due to the force and hit his head. "Ow!"
Cars beeped and honked, and they even passed by a police car, but the old man kept driving like a maniac! Mo Aini felt like they're going straight for a crash and he's gonna die here!
"LAO YEYE, WHY ARE WE GOING SO FAST!???"
The old man just flashed his teeth, or more correctly his dentures, at him with his hands still wildly turning the wheel left and right. "YOU NEED TO CATCH UP TO YOUR GIRL! I CAN'T LET YOU DIE BEFORE YOU MARRY HER AND MAKE HER YOUR WIFE!"
Mo Aini was stupified. Did the old man just say 'girl' and 'wife'? The rusty taxi was roaring too loudly so he can't be sure, he only manage to catch the word 'marry'.
"LAO YEYE, I'M UNDERAGED! AND BESIDES, I'M GOING TO DIE IN A MONTH, I DON'T HAVE TIME TO EVEN PROCESS MARRIAGE!"
"Oh...." The old man's eyes widened, slowly losing a bit of his unhinged adrenaline rush. But he didn't stop the car and kept on like a daredevil. "WELL, JUST MAKE HER YOUR GIRLFRIEND THEN!"
Now he definitely knows there must have been a misunderstanding. All this time, because of stupid grammar and language, he was referring to a boy while the Lao yeye thought he was talking about a girl!
Boom!
They bumped sides with another family van, but it was the van that got off track, and the ancient taxi old as time itself manage to be steady and still whizzing past the road.
Mo Aini almost had a heart attack from that bump, and he started to pray to every god he knows to keep him and this insane grandpa safe.
(I'm not gonna die of terminal illness any time soon, but I might die from either an accident or a cardiac arrest!) Mo Aini sweats profusely for the whole wild ride. It felt like both the shortest and the longest 5 minutes in his life.
But thankfully, against all odds, they managed to park in front of the airport without a hitch.
The wheels skid, and Mo Aini quickly jumped out of that taxi cab from hell with a good-natured but certainly mentally unstable driver. But at least he got what he wanted now.
"T-Thank you, lao yeye....." Mo Aini caught his breath and handed a whole 100 yen, not even wanting the change.
"Go get your girl! And make me a godfather for your child or children!" The old driver winked at him.
"Lao yeye..." Mo Aini gave an awkward smile. "My conscience couldn't take it anymore. The person I'm catching up to is a man."
The old man froze completely like his .exe stopped working.
Then, he teared up again. "Oh, that's even more tragic than I thought! Not to worry, pursue him no matter what people tell you! Go to your beloved and make him your boyfriend! Then adopt a kitten and name it as your junior, and I'll personally help him take care of it!"
Mo Aini: .....
He felt sorry for how persistent and sincere this old man is, so he decided to exchange numbers with him and promised that he will adopt a dog or kitten soon and name it to himself, then the old man can help his 'beloved' and buy the pet food and give elderly advice to cope with grief.
After all that fiasco, Mo Aini went inside the building while scratching his head. The people in this 2D world sure are..... something. Even taxi drivers can be this intense!
But more importantly..... He has to find his 'beloved' now.
Yes..... Beloved.
That was a really scary word, he still can't say it out loud. But for Hu Chuntian's sake....
He'll try when he gets there.
He was walking aimlessly and frantically, running up and down through steps and riding escalators just to look for him in the busy crowd. He doesn't even know when Hu Chuntian's flight is. He was looking everywhere for 30 minutes and was about to lose hope when....
"Mo Aini?"
His eyes widened and it seemed like the whole world went to a standstill. He turned around, and sure enough, there he was.
Mo Aini couldn't say anything for a moment and just rushed to wrap his arms around him.
Hu Chuntian's blue eyes widened, and he didn't dare to make any movement. It's like he could not even believe that he's here despite being hugged by him. But he eventually gave in, returning his embrace and burying his head in Mo Aini's shoulder as he cried.
It was their own moment. Despite the bustling crowd and people bumping into them now and then, they could not care about anything else.
To Hu Chuntian, there was only Mo Aini. To Mo Aini, there was only Hu Chuntian.
"Don't cry, A-Tian." Mo Aini patted his head.
(Because if you keep crying, I'm gonna cry too, goddammit!) The words got stuck in his throat, and he really tried his best to keep it in. But his eyes are turning red.
Mo Aini just said: "I'm so fucking relieved you still haven't left. If your flight was way earlier, I would have—"
"My flight should have been since 6:00 a.m."
Mo Aini blinked. "Then.... Why didn't you go?"
Hu Chuntian broke away and rubbed his eyes. "Da Ge.... I remember everything now."
Mo Aini's heart fell, and the courage he had been building up earlier was crushed by the next words that came from Hu Chuntian's mouth:
"This is the third time I loved you, isn't it?"
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