One Life, One Incarnation, Beautiful Bones

31

Chapter 10.1 - Like Your First Adornment (1)

Shi Yi made a last minute change to depart on a flight that night. Zhousheng Chen went to the airport with her.

After sending away the people accompanying him, they stood there at the entrance to the security checkpoint, both of them especially quiet.

"This reminds me of the first time I saw you." Shi Yi glanced over to the other side of the security entrance. "You were carrying your computer and ID and nothing else, but you were still asked to go back to be re-screened."

"First time," he said. "That was the first time I had ever been requested to go back and screened through security again."

It was the first time? She remembered the very first time he had looked over at her.

It was because she had been staring too blatantly at him.

He raised his wrist and glanced at the time.

She knew it was nearly time for her to leave. Hooking her pointer finger around his hand, she gently held on and said, "I'm going now."

She did not want to part from him, but nevertheless, she still needed to be sensible and leave.

Zhousheng Chen gave an "mm," looked at her, then suddenly asked, "Are you thirsty?"

"A little bit." She licked her lips. They were a little dry.

Earlier, on the drive here, she had been too preoccupied with talking to him and had forgotten to drink water.

She wanted to tell him it was not an issue, that she could buy something after she had passed through security. But before she could open her mouth, Zhousheng Chen had already made a gesture for her to wait a moment, and then he turned around, bought a bottle of water for her, twisted open the cap, and handed it to her.

Somewhat surprised by this, Shi Yi took a couple of sips, but then felt she was being wasteful. "I can actually just go in and buy one. It's such a waste to just take a couple drinks now and then not be able to bring it in with me."

"It's alright. I will take it and drink it along the way."

Their final conversation turned out to be about not wasting a bottle of mineral water.

Later, when Shi Yi was boarding the plane and thought about this dialogue again, she still found it humorous.

The nighttime flight was very quiet.

Before long, she grew sleepy. Her thoughts gradually drifted to that intimate moment that had ended soon after it had barely begun. She remembered how he had helped her put on her clothes and asked her why she was suddenly so troubled. With his intelligence, he had easily perceived her abnormal behavior, that she wanted to hurriedly solidfy their relationship and was filled with anxiousness and panic out of fear that there would be some unforeseen misfortune.

She had not answered his question.

If she had said, "I'm afraid I will never see you again," it would have seemed too soppy and melodramatic.

Or perhaps he would have found the situation unbelievably strange.

She remained in her own thoughts for a while until she heard two people near her discussing the gun battle that had occurred during the day. The content of their conversation was similar to Zhousheng Chen's explanation. However, the situation described by the mouths of the Europeans provided another perspective, which essentially described that building as a Chinese marketplace that was frequently reported by neighbouring people to have "Chinese triads" present, like the "Fujian Clan" or something similar. Their depictions were so fantastical it was as if Chinese people were the most unstable presence in the city...