Chapter 36: Give Me Time

Three weeks later, startling news reached me.
Cao Jingyi had dumped Ji Feiyang.
Everyone had long known that the Ji and Cao families intended to join through marriage. Such a sudden reversal quickly became everyone’s favourite topic of conversation.
How could it have happened?
Ji Feiyang was wonderful. Even a goddess descended from heaven ought to have liked him.
He must be miserable.
Was he hurting as badly as I had, with pain reaching into every part of him?
Jiajia was furious.
Cao Jingyi had actually become engaged to someone else. How could she?
According to her, Yan Rong had looked thunderous for days.
“What about Ji Feiyang?” I asked.
“My cousin’s strong. He’s not the sort of man to shed tears easily.”
At dinner, my sister brought it up.
“Feiyang’s so accomplished. Cao Jingyi must be blind. I don’t know what her family is thinking. The Hong family isn’t that much better off than the Ji family.”
“There are plenty of other women in the world,” Big Brother said. “He’ll find someone better.”
I burst out laughing.
“Did you hear that, Sis? Big Brother says there are plenty of other women.”
“Yijun, are you trying to cause trouble?”
“You said it. Don’t deny it now. Mum, Dad—you heard him.”
“Boshan, you’d better be careful,” my sister said. “Now I have Yijun to keep an eye on you. If you dare—”
“I wouldn’t dream of it!”
Big Brother cut in before she could finish.
“I wouldn’t dare offend either of you.”
We all laughed.
“I wonder how Feiyang’s doing,” my sister said. “It’s awkward for us to ask him about something like this…”
Suddenly, she looked at me.
“Yijun, why don’t you go and see him?”
“You’d be the best person,” Big Brother agreed. “Nobody would think anything of it. He looked after you for a while. It’s perfectly natural for you to drop by.”
I could barely manage to avoid him. Why would I seek him out?
“I’m not going. He wasn’t nice to me. Let him be miserable.”
Ji Feiyang would be all right.
He was strong.
That evening, he called me.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Nothing. How have you been?”
“Fine.”
“Good. Get an early night. I’ll let you go.”
I didn’t know why he’d suddenly called.
Perhaps he was unhappy and wanted someone to talk to.
After thinking about it all night, I decided to visit him.
He’d called first. As a friend, surely I ought to show some concern.
But I didn’t get to see him.
He was away on business.
That evening, he called again.
“Tang Yijun, are you feeling better now?”
“Couldn’t be better.”
“So you’re not upset anymore.”
Upset?
Of course. Big Brother and my sister were married now.
“Not anymore… What about you?” I asked tentatively.
“What about me?”
“Aren’t you upset?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I’ll tell you another time.”
“When are you coming back?”
“This weekend.”
We talked about little things that didn’t matter: what I’d had for dinner; how Big Brother and my sister had been so busy they’d only taken a three-day honeymoon; how he’d just boiled some water; how his window was open and the breeze felt pleasantly cool.
Two days later, he called again.
I noticed that he always rang around ten. Perhaps that was when he finished his work.
The night before his return, he called as usual.
His first words were strange.
“Yijun, give me a little more time.”
“What?”
“I’m coming back tomorrow.”
“I know. It’s the weekend.”
“Tang Yijun, I love you.”
Every word was clear.
Yet I couldn’t believe I’d heard him correctly.
My heart began pounding.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
His voice sounded light and happy.
“I’ll take you out for a meal tomorrow.”
The night seemed endless.
I tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
Had I imagined it?
Surely I had.
But when I replayed his voice in my mind, it sounded so real.
Perhaps he’d said he hated me.
No. Why would he say that for no reason?
What had he said?
He was coming to see me? He wouldn’t disturb me? I annoyed him? He despised me? I was in his way?
The next day, I waited and waited.
Only moments before our break did the call finally come.
“Tang Yijun, I’m waiting outside.”
I took three deep breaths and went out, my heart refusing to settle.
He lowered the car window and smiled.
I smiled back, then climbed in with my nerves in knots.
I’d thought he had something to tell me.
He said nothing.
After our meal, he drove me back to work.
As I got out, he said inexplicably, “Tang Yijun, give me a little more time.”
Time for what?
Now that he’d been rejected, was he going to try accepting me?
I tapped my forehead.
If Ji Feiyang didn’t like me, he wouldn’t suddenly start just because nobody else wanted him.
Or did he feel he hadn’t given me enough attention? Was he asking for time to get over his heartbreak?
There was no trace of sadness on his face.
But he was the kind of man who kept unhappiness to himself.
For the next few days, he didn’t come to see me.
He didn’t call either.
Another week passed before he rang again.
It was only a brief, ordinary conversation.
How was I? What was I doing?
Occasionally, he came to our house to chat with Big Brother and my sister.
Life continued quietly.
Half a year passed.
Cao Jingyi had married into the Hong family the previous month.

One Saturday evening, Ji Feiyang told me there was something happening at Beishan Park.
He wouldn’t say what.
The park didn’t normally hold events on ordinary days. What could it be? Would it be fun?
I hurried over.
There was nothing.
Everything looked exactly as it always did.
Ji Feiyang was infuriating. He’d lied to me.
My phone rang.
I was ready to let him have it, but his calm, gentle voice reached me first, and my anger obediently subsided.
Following his directions, I went farther into the park.
At the back was a grove of peach trees. During the day, people often wandered through it. At night, it was deserted.
As I approached, I noticed a brilliant patch of light hidden deep among the pitch-black trees.
Lively piano music drifted through the grove, the notes clear as drops of water falling from a height.
Someone was playing.
Step by step, I walked towards the light.
When I reached the illuminated circle, I looked around.
Nobody was there.
The whole grove lay in darkness except for the small pool of light where I stood, less than a metre in radius.
I was wondering where the music came from when I turned.
Ji Feiyang was behind me.
“This is for you.”
A bouquet of vivid red roses, every bloom fresh and bright.
For a moment, I could only stare at him suspiciously.
What was he doing?
“Sorry,” he said. “It may not be very romantic. But this is the best I could manage.”
I looked at the flowers in my arms, then at him.
“What’s going on?”
He stepped closer.
Without warning, he drew me into his arms.
My face flushed instantly.
“I love you, Tang Yijun.”
His voice reached me softly.
My whole body seemed to grow weightless, as though I were floating above the clouds.
Surely I ought to have been happy.
Instead, a large tear slipped from the corner of my eye.
I began to cry against him.
“I’m sorry. I hurt you. I made you wait so long.”
“Do you really… really love me?”
I looked up at him with wide eyes.
“Yes. I love you.”
“Are you lying?”
“No.”
“You must be.”
“I promise I’m not.”
A small smile came.
He really did love me.
“You really love me?”
One more time. Just to be certain.
“I do.”
The flowers were being crushed between us.
I gave a cry.
“You’re squashing them!”
He didn’t seem concerned.
“Then I’ll buy you more.”
“I want a hundred bouquets.”
“All right.”
“A thousand.”
“Are you planning to sell flowers?”
“I’m not a flower seller!”
“Then what do you need so many for?”
“I just want them.”
“Listen to you. Still so bossy.”
Smiling, he pulled me close again.
“How about one bouquet a day for three years?”
“Yes!”
This time, my smile was full of happiness.