LRAPTC Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Rainy Day (One)

Shěn Jué’s aversion to rainy days wasn’t without reason. For him, rainy days represented all the terrible, unpleasant memories, the source of his nightmares. And it all stemmed from a childhood memory. That day was supposed to be Shen Jue’s piano lesson. Perhaps seized by a sudden impulse, Shen Jue, after being coaxed by his playmates, skipped the boring lesson for the first time and played wildly outside with his friends all morning.

They wandered aimlessly under the azure sky. The air was thick with happy molecules, even the wind was sweet. Shen Jue finally got a moment to breathe, temporarily allowed to forget the unpleasant people and things that troubled him. He inhaled deeply, oblivious to everything else.

Nearing noon, Shen Jue quietly pushed open the door to his house. The moment the door was fully opened, Shen Jue saw Li Ying standing in the center, staring at him with a deep, unwavering gaze, as if she had been waiting for him for a long time. Her sharp eyes pierced through him, as if she could see through all his pretenses without Shen Jue even having to speak.

In the end, Shen Jue received his due punishment. Li Ying ordered Shen Jue not to step into the house for the entire afternoon. And so, Shen Jue stood outside for the entire afternoon. In the afternoon, the temperature plummeted, and Shen Jue was only wearing a thin shirt, quickly shivering in the wind. Then, without warning, the sky began to rain. That night, Shen Jue had a fever. Between sleep and wakefulness, Li Ying’s gaze was still omnipresent, like a nightmare he could never escape.

Shen Jue stayed in bed all day Sunday and went to school the next day in a state that was not fully recovered. Eventually, he fainted during physical education class.

From then on, Shen Jue’s luck would turn bad whenever it rained. Losing an umbrella later became a trivial matter. After experiencing countless absurd incidents like this, Shen Jue was no longer very sad, accepting the arrangement of fate very docilely.

Shen Jue opened his eyes, and Ji Yuanan had already stopped what he was doing. His hair, which had been wiped, looked a little messy, but it was no longer dripping. Ji Yuanan resisted the urge to touch it and pushed Shen Jue toward the bathroom. Water vapor filled the air, and warm water flowed over every inch of his body, converging into streams on the smooth tiles. Shen Jue finally warmed up.

Ji Yuanan brought ginger tea at the right time. Shen Jue held the cup, as if holding a ball of fire, so hot that Shen Jue almost melted. He looked down at the orange-red liquid, recalling that distant, long afternoon, never imagining that he would wait for the moment when the rain stopped sometime in the future.

“Are you feeling very uncomfortable now?” Ji Yuanan asked caringly from the side.

Shen Jue was blowing gently on the ginger tea. Hearing this, he bit the rim of the cup and shook his head. Ji Yuanan was still worried and leaned closer, raising his hand to cover Shen Jue’s forehead.

It was still raining outside, and the warmth of Ji Yuanan’s palm was transmitted through layers of skin, a temperature completely different from the outside. Shen Jue clutched the handle of the cup, at a loss.

Fortunately, Ji Yuanan quickly retracted his hand. Shen Jue took a sip of ginger tea to cover up his reaction and then explained to himself, “Actually, I was only caught in the rain for a short distance. It was because the rain was too heavy that I got wet.”

The bad things encountered on rainy days were not limited to these, and Shen Jue was used to it. He said it without any particular concern. Ji Yuanan was skeptical and said with some annoyance, “Next time, you can send me a message, and I’ll pick you up.”

Shen Jue responded casually, but he knew in his heart that it was just a polite gesture. After all, Ji Yuanan was too considerate and would extend his kindness to everyone. This was what Shen Jue had discovered in the days he had spent with Ji Yuanan.

The liquid slid down his throat, and Shen Jue finished all the ginger soup. He looked up and crashed straight into the complex expression in Ji Yuanan’s eyes. Ji Yuanan didn’t say a word, just simply stared at himself, his eyes seemed to hide a thousand words. Shen Jue had seen this expression many times before. At this moment, he finally belatedly realized that Ji Yuanan might be missing someone through himself.

So at this time, Shen Jue knew he didn’t need to speak. He just needed to shut his mouth and obediently be a substitute. So today, he remained silent as always, but Ji Yuanan rarely spoke, “Are you in a bad mood?”

Shen Jue was stunned for a moment, then put down the cup and asked curiously, “Why do you ask?”

“Because your face looked a little bad when you just got home.” After Ji Yuanan answered, he asked him again, “So Shen Jue, is there something making you unhappy?”

Unhappy. In Shen Jue’s emotions, unhappiness was a very extravagant mood, not to be easily displayed, nor to be discovered. Li Ying often warned Shen Jue not to expose his vulnerable side to others. It was very dangerous. It was best to always be smiling.

“I’m not unhappy,” Shen Jue said softly.

He just hated everything related to rainy days, nothing more.

Ji Yuanan sighed silently in his heart and didn’t press further. He quickly changed to a lighter topic and chatted for a while. Then, considering Shen Jue’s current state, he quickly ended the conversation.

They stood at the stairwell to say goodbye as usual. The moonlight shone in through the gauze window on the right, spilling on Ji Yuanan, softening his outline little by little. Shen Jue stared for a while and suddenly said without thinking, “Because I really hate rain.”

Seeming not to realize Shen Jue’s sudden honesty, Ji Yuanan paused for a few seconds, and then laughed softly. He said to Shen Jue word by word, “Then I wish you every day will be sunny from now on.”

Shen Jue almost dazedly returned to his bedroom, nearly going into the wrong room in the process. Everything that happened tonight was too unreal. He couldn’t help but guess that because he was finally fed up with the inexplicable malice from the rainy day, he had woven a beautiful dream for himself. Everything that happened after entering the door was an illusion. He was trapped in that heavy rain from beginning to end and had not come out.

But Shen Jue chose not to think about these things anymore. The rain hadn’t stopped, and he finally fell asleep to the sound of the rain. The rain also drifted into his dream.

Outside, the wind and rain poured down. Shen Jue was in a huge room. He curled himself into a small ball, only revealing a pair of eyes to look at the scene outside the floor-to-ceiling window. The magnolia flowers that had just bloomed on the tree were knocked down by the rain, scattered all over the ground. In the blink of an eye, the scene changed, and he came to his wedding, still raining.

He and Ji Yuanan stood in the center. After being rained on for a while, Shen Jue felt his whole body was cold and wet, and he was gradually losing his original temperature. The hand he held tightly with Ji Yuanan was now the only source of heat, and he subconsciously held it tighter. Ji Yuanan suddenly pulled his hand back. He wanted to keep him, but Ji Yuanan held his face, and he was stunned in place for a moment.

The next second, he heard Ji Yuanan say, “I’m sorry.”