"Not really, but he definitely wouldn’t be as righteous and brave as you towards a, um... stranger who has only been seen once." Ais shrugged his shoulders.
"You really don’t recognize me?" Gu Yao switched to a new cotton swab and began to apply medicine to the cut at the corner of his mouth.
"Of course I do. The distinguished second young Miss of the Gu Family, we met once at your birthday party. Oh, that’s right, I still owe you a birthday present. I wonder if you remember that."
"Don’t talk now, let me put the medicine on."
Ais stopped talking and let Gu Yao apply the medicine.
Aside from the split corner of his mouth, the rest of his body was just bruised. Gu Yao set aside the medicinal alcohol for him, letting him rub it on himself when he got back.
"Thanks, I have something else to attend to, so I’ll be going now." Ais said, attempting to stand up.
Gu Yao hurriedly called out to him, then dug out a handkerchief from her bag and handed it to him.
Ais, finding it somewhat familiar, took it and examined it.
Looking at the handkerchief in his hand and then taking a good look at Gu Yao’s face, it took Ais a while to recall something, and he said with a hint of disbelief:
"The girl from the bar that day... couldn’t be..."
A few seconds later, Ais laughed in spite of himself: "The difference between that you and this you is too much. If you hadn’t taken out this handkerchief, I really wouldn’t have believed you were the girl from the bar last time."
"I really want to thank you for that time. Otherwise, I don’t know what could have happened." Gu Yao felt a lingering fear and revulsion when she thought of the sleazy man.
"It was nothing, but you shouldn’t go there again. It’s not suited for you."
Gu Yao smiled: "Why don’t you think it suits me?"
"I’m pretty good at reading people. You seem lively, but I bet the things you like are more on the tranquil side, right? Bars are fit for people like me and your second brother."
Gu Yao smiled bitterly and nodded slightly: "I really don’t like that place." Google seaʀᴄh NoveI-Fire.ɴet
"When you’re unhappy, there are many other places you could go. It’s not necessary to go to a bar." As Ais said this, his eyes seemed to be veiled with frost, and his expression turned a bit melancholic, eliciting sympathy from anyone who saw him.
"Do you often feel unhappy?" Gu Yao inquired.
Ais smiled, said nothing, but his smile was tinged with various types of bitterness, giving off a feeling that everything was understood without words.
The atmosphere turned somewhat awkward. Gu Yao knew she might have inadvertently touched on a sensitive spot that others were reluctant to discuss.
So, she laughed, trying to ease the tension: "Then, what are some places you think are fitting for times when you’re feeling down?"
"The seaside, yeah." Ais blurted out, then seemed to feel as though he had exposed something personal after he said it.
"Seems like you go there often."
"...I just think the air is good there." Ais laughed awkwardly, as if trying to cover up.
As Gu Yao watched him scramble to hide his inner turmoil after being pricked on a sensitive subject, she suddenly saw herself in him that evening.
She always felt that a lot of things had happened to him, and they were probably not good things.
Comparing their situations, Gu Yao suddenly felt that her own troubles were not so significant.
"Okay, let’s not talk about this anymore. It’s getting late. I’ll accompany you to hail a cab."
Both of them stood up and left the park.
Ais hailed a cab for her, opened the car door, then rested one hand on the top of the door and looked inside at Gu Yao. He smiled and said: