A New Beginning

When I woke up the next day, it was already noon.

Feeling groggy, I reached out and felt no one beside me, which made me anxious.

As soon as I opened my eyes, he was sitting quietly on the floor next to the bed.

I was about to call out to him when I saw him holding those cards in his hand.

My heart skipped a beat.

I thought about how to tell him about what happened.

After a long inner struggle, I got up from the bed and hugged him from behind.

"Where did you get?" His voice was cold and unfamiliar, making me shiver.

I was stunned.

"From England."

I paused for a moment, took a deep breath.

"Your mother's house."

"...," he looked up at me with emotions in his eyes.

After a while, he seemed to realize something and threw the cards away. "So, she remembers me, but just doesn't want to come back," he said bitterly, standing up.

I stood up too, looking at him seriously, seeing his smile and his pretended indifference, and feeling heartbroken.

"She doesn't remember," I said.

"?" He looked at me puzzled. After a few seconds, he looked down and laughed bitterly. "Forget it, she's already dead, it doesn't matter."

I looked at him, my lips trembling, wanting to give him a hug.

"She had amnesia. When she thought of you, she drew these cards. Her memory stayed in your childhood. She didn't forget you, she just had amnesia," I said, tears falling from my eyes.

"Who are you fooling?" Suddenly, Zhou Juan's emotions became agitated. "Chen Qiu, I don't need you to say these things to pity me!"

"Zhou Juan..." I ran over and hugged him, crying uncontrollably. "I'm not lying to you. She finally remembered you completely and couldn't wait to come back to China to find you. She drove to the airport herself, but had a car accident on the way."

"..." At that moment, the person I was hugging suddenly froze.

The silent air helped me understand his shock and sadness even more. I reached out and gently stroked his back, feeling sorry for him.

But suddenly, he turned his back and didn't say another word.

After a while, he cleared his throat and said, "What do you want to eat? I'll make it for you."

Then he broke free from my grasp and went to the kitchen.

"..." I stared at his calm back and felt a deep sadness. "Anything is fine."

I followed him to the kitchen.

The kitchen was sparsely stocked, and what he called cooking was just boiling instant noodles.

He put the pot on the stove and watched it absent-mindedly, lost in thought.

"Zhou Juan, the water's boiling."

I said, but he didn't respond.

After he found out about the news, he was eerily calm. I had thought he would cry, and I worried about how to comfort him.

But I don't need to do anything, he's more powerful than I imagined.

"Zhou Juan," I called him again.

"Hmm..." He snapped out of it and took out the noodles. "How much can you eat? Is this enough?"

"It's enough." I looked at him, hesitating to speak.

He cooked the noodles, but his movements were not very skilled.

After he finished cooking, he gave me the noodles. "I'm going downstairs to buy cigarettes."

He went to change his shoes.

I followed him calmly and said, "I thought you quit smoking because you didn't smoke yesterday."

"Yeah, I quit." He put on his shoes and glanced back at me.

"Wait for me at home."

"Okay."

The door slammed shut.

I sat in front of the table, unable to eat anything.

After a while, he still hadn't come back, and I felt uneasy. I changed my shoes and went downstairs to find him.

When I got to the elevator, I had second thoughts and turned back to the stairwell.

As soon as I pushed open the door, smoke filled the stairwell.

He stood there with his back to me, smoking.

I couldn't help but frown at the cigarette butts littering the ground.

"Zhou Juan," I called softly.

"..." He turned around when he saw me, looking somewhat surprised.

"Don't smoke," I walked over and took the cigarette from his hand, then tightly held his hand.

He stared at me blankly.

I stood on tiptoe and gave him a gentle kiss.

But he turned his face away.

"Don't kiss me, I just smoked,

"You'll choke."

"I want to." I insisted.

"..." He stared at me with shimmering eyes, and eventually let out a sigh before leaning down to kiss me.

The smoke really made me choke, and tears streamed down my face.

He released me and patted my back with a pained expression.

"I told you not to kiss me."

"But I want to," I looked up at him. "Zhou Juan, I don't want to see you sad all alone. When I see you sad, my heart breaks too. Can't we be together? Don't run away here by yourself anymore..."

"..." He was stunned for a moment, then reached out to touch my head before tightly embracing me. "Okay."

"Zhou Juan, I will never leave you." I said, burying my face in his embrace.

"Okay." his voice choked up.

"Zhou Juan, let's get married." Saying those words was unexpected, I had never been so bold in my life.

But seeing him alone in the hallway smoking, his lonely and despairing figure, that was all I could think about.

"...," he stiffened for a moment, remaining silent for a long time before finally uttering a single word, "okay."

After saying that, he leaned down to kiss me again.

He kissed me until I couldn't stand, then picked me up and carried me home.

...

In the middle of the night, I looked at him sleeping next to me by the moonlight, frowning.

I reached out and gently touched his frown, and he slowly relaxed.

I gently kissed his forehead and said, "I love you."

The sleeping person suddenly opened his eyes and said, "Me too."

I was shocked!

"Aren't you sleeping? Do you want to die?" He pulled me over and held me in his arms.

"I'm sleeping," I dared not move.

He kissed my forehead and said, "Go to bed early, we'll go get our marriage license tomorrow morning."

"Tomorrow morning?"

"What, having second thoughts?"

"No, is it too soon?"

"...," he kissed me again without a word. "If we don't do it quickly, and you run off to another country, where am I going to find a wife?"

I...

"You're the one for me in this lifetime, just be good."

"Okay."