A Small Connection

He looked at Hua Lee and nodded.

"I didn't think you'd recognize me, I planned on staying quiet too."

He responded with an awkward smile.

Rou Ming's face suddenly dropped as she took a closer look at his face.

"It really is you!" she exclaimed, "But, what happened? Weren't you studying to go to a top university? Why are you here in this night market?"

"Ahaha, things happened and I found this to be what I wanted to do, so I did it", he responded.

"Oh my god? When we had our class reunion, everyone wondered where you went!" she said.

Hua Lee then chimed in.

"Wang Li, the top of the class, we all thought you would have ended up in some big corporation or something. Everyone thought it was strange that you never came to the reunion."

"Ah, heh, I was so busy with this that I couldn't find a chance to come. In any case, how is everyone?"

There was a curious look on his face when he asked and the two women obliged to his question.

"Well, Hua Lee became a personal trainer at a gym, she started with her partners."

"Yes, and Rou Ming became a lawyer at her own firm."

"A few people ended up working in government, some started their own businesses. If I remember, one of them began their own bookstore too."

"Yeah, one or two became teachers as well."

"And Liu Yang?" he asked.

They looked at her, asleep on the counter with a bottle of beer still in her hand.

"Ah, she works at Golden Treasure, some big investment firm", said Hua Lee.

"Really, wasn't she going to pursue a career in art? She even saved up money to enter one of the top art universities, no?"

The two friend's eyes drooped slightly as their smiles turned a bit awkward.

"Neither of us know what happened but she suddenly stopped. We never saw her sketchpad or any drawings anymore. We tried to ask but she wouldn't tell us. In the end, all she said was that it wasn't a career for her. She took a year off before going to a different university and worked like crazy before landing her job at Golden Treasure."

"Re-really... She loved drawing and painting. Her stuff was really good too, especially the portraits."

"She did love it."

They shared a moment of reminiscence before Rou Ming and Hua Lee got off their chairs and each took one of Liu Yang's arms.

"It's getting late, we should get going now."

"It was great seeing you! You should come for the next reunion!"

As they said their goodbyes, Wang Li waved back before looking at his stall.

"Guess, it's time to go", he thought.

Like everyone else, he cleaned up and packed his things into his little truck before driving off, saying farewell to the other stall owners.

On the way back, Wang Li thought back to what those two said about Liu Yang.

"So she stopped doing art... I wonder what happened?"

He pondered all while driving and when he returned home, he took out a book from a drawer in his bedroom.

"Hm, highschool reunion..."

He looked at the book, his high school yearbook, and opened it to the last page where a piece of paper fell out. Catching it before it fell to the ground, Wang Li looked at it.

It was a drawing, a detailed portrait of him smiling, back when he was happier. At the bottom left corner, there was a name scribbled on it, Liu Yang's signature. He looked at it warmly before putting it away.

"If it weren't for you..." he thought.

Night came to pass and Liu Yang's sleeping body laid sprawled across her bed. The sun slowly rose up but her curtains were closed, letting none of it enter her darkened room. Of course, that was until her mother came to her.

"Liu Yang, wake up!"

Barging into the room, her mother briskly walked to the windows and pulled them apart, allowing all of the sunlight to shine in.

"Ugh, ahhhh... You couldn't just keep them closed, mom?" she asked.

Wearing an apron and having her hair tied back, Liu Yang's mother turned to her, clicking her tongue several times.

"Tsk, tsk, It's noon and you're still in bed? You didn't even change your clothes or shower! Come on, get up!"

Walking up to her daughter, she grabbed her by the arm and pulled her off. Suddenly standing, Liu Yang groaned aloud before her mother thrust a change of clothes onto her.

"Go, go, go, you'll feel much better after showering. Or take a bath! Maybe that's better for you."

Her mother pushed Liu Yang out of the room to which she finally relented and began walking to the bathroom on her own. Once inside, she closed the door and sat on the toilet lid. Putting her clothes aside, she rubbed her temple, groaning from the massive headache after a night of drinking.

"Oh god, what happened last night? We went back to the stall but I got so drunk."

As hard as she tried to remember, nothing came to mind and she took out her phone.

"I wonder if those two said anything in the group chat. Hm? Over a hundred messages... what happened?"

She began to scroll up, reading through the conversation between Rou Ming and Hua Lee. The further up she went, the more surprised she had become.

"That stall owner is... Wang Li?... From our class... from our class?! That was him? What?! Wasn't he the smartest one in our class?"

Liu Yang was beyond shocked but that shock quickly became one of nostalgia.

"I wonder if he remembers me..."

Thinking back to their days as students when all she did was art and all he did was study, she had a tender smile on her face.

"Ah, he probably does. He helped me study so many times, how can Wang Li forget me. He was always there to look at my drawings and paintings."

She looked up at the ceiling before looking at her phone, rereading the text messages.

"I still can't believe it. He owns his own stall. I'm a customer there. I've been going there for a few months now, maybe not every day but a good amount. Has he always recognized me?"

Her figure still hunched over, sitting on the toilet cover. Straightening up, she stretched out her body before putting her phone away.

"I still have that ticket, don't I."

Before she could even think, there was a furious knocking on the bathroom door. The voice of her mother yelling out angrily.

"Liu Yang! Did you fall asleep in there? I don't even hear the water running! Hurry up and shower, I already cooked lunch too! It's going to get cold at this rate!"

"Okay, okay! I'm going, I'm going!"

"You better get going! As much as I love you, I don't remember raising a drunkard of a daughter!"

"Ah! Ten minutes, mom! That's all I need, okay?"

"Then hurry up!"

Liu Yang waited for a moment, listening to the angry stomps of her mother. When they disappeared, she breathed out a sigh of relief took as quick of a shower as she could, coming out with her hair still damp.

Dressed in her fluffy pajamas, she quickly walked to the dinner table where a bowl of rice awaited her. At the same time, her parents were seated on opposing sides, both of them suddenly looking at her with interest.

She reached out for one of the many side dishes before noticing their stares.

"What?"