'Till Death Do Us Apart 長相守

Chapter 5

V

"Sir?"
Hearing no response, the girl tried again.
"Mister Ch'in!"
"What?"
Three days had passed since that night and the two did not make any contact. Ch'in Ching went on with his daily routine - eating, sleeping and teaching - but from time to time, that man would pervade his thoughts. For instance, the chime had just struck and his mind wandered again as he tidied his materials. He thought back to a day not long ago, the same day of the week, the same class. He had reached the last section of Former Red Cliff Rhapsody when he saw the man outside his window...
"Sir... There's something I wanted to ask you." Ch'in Ching turned his attention back to the girl slouching against the podium with a paper in hand. She continued hesitantly, "You didn't write this comment, did you?"

"Which?" Ch'in Ching had gone home and straight to sleep that night with a disconcerted mind. The lesson was first thing the following day, and he handed back the papers that Shen Liangsheng had graded without checking them over. It was only a quiz that would not be counted towards the final grade, so he thought it wouldn't matter even if it was wrong.
"This one here."

The girl raised the paper up to eye level. Ch'in Ching was quite amused when he had read its contents. It turned out that the girl had not paid attention in class and did not know the answer to three-quarters of the questions. Feeling embarrassed of herself, she tried to appeal with a comment at the end of the examination:
"I'm sorry, Mister Ch'in. I promise I will listen to your lectures and review properly. This will never happen again."
Shen Liangsheng's feedback was interesting as well, responding to her message in English:

" Time and tide wait for no man. "

The words were short and to the point, and the cursive letters flowed neatly like its author.

"Why? Do you think this is a false accusation?" Ch'in Ching could not say that he was not the one who marked it so he chose not to answer the original question.

"I just knew it wasn't you." The girl had no fear of her teacher, even dropping honorifics. She giggled, "If it were you, you'd probably say something like 'The sun and moon passes by; time doth not wait for us.' You wouldn't write English."

"Congratulations on your brilliant observation. Since you understand that, you should put more effort into your study and stop fooling around."

"You're changing the subject, sir." The girl had not given up on her original intention for gossip. "Who wrote this? Was it a friend?"

As expected, she received nothing but silence from her teacher.
"Was it the one who came to the school looking for you last time? The really handsome one?"
"Why are you asking me this?"
"Then it's true!" The girl slapped the table with glee. "I had better keep this safe so my children can have it as heirloom!"

A kid was going to be a kid. Ch'in Ching shook his head with a smirk while she skipped back to her desk and packed her things. He stepped out of the classroom with his documents under his arm and into the dazzling autumn sun. This time, however, there was no one waiting for him. He didn't want to admit, nor think about the sudden disappointment that he felt. Instead he fled for the staff room.

Some chit-chat with his colleagues seemed to help him get a hold on himself. When he had just strolled out the school gate, however, he stopped dead in his tracks and backed away. He recognized the car parked across the road. He knew the man behind the wheels, too.

He had just been absentminded thinking of this man but when said man actually showed up, he could only think of escaping. He turned tails and left through the back entrance. As he walked he asked himself: if he has those intentions and you want none of it, then you should tell him exactly that and never see each other again. Why the heck are you hiding?