He took out a cigarette, lit it, and started to lean there, smoking, not knowing what to think. His mind was just a mess, and his ears buzzed with a relentless humming. It was utter chaos, filled with fear.
He feared that this friend, this brother who grew up with him, had left him forever.
While he stood there smoking one cigarette after another, his ears caught what seemed like the sound of a woman’s high heels hurriedly clicking over the floor, tap-tap, distinctly crisp against the tiled floor, and particularly grating.
Finally, he lifted his head and looked in the direction of the sound, only to see, through the haze of blue smoke, a young woman in a beige chiffon shirt and an army-green cotton long skirt approaching.
Seeing the woman’s slender, pale face, he felt he had seen her somewhere before but couldn’t quite recall.
It wasn’t until she approached him, saw him, and called out, "Ou Mucen, how is he doing? Is everything okay?"
The people who knew him well enough to call him by his full name were few.
So he narrowed his eyes, taking another look at her nearly transparent white face, "Who are you?"
"Yes, the Han Duo who always followed La Chenxi." The girl was straightforward.
At hearing this, Ou Mucen finally remembered. Indeed, there was always a girl with that woman, plain and frail. He would have forgotten her existence if she didn’t say so now; it had been such a long time since he had seen such a person.
What was she doing here now?
Now recognizing her, Ou Mucen, largely unaware of past events, became puzzled: "Then why are you here? And, how did you find out about his accident?"
Upon hearing this, Han Duo’s face turned even paler: "He... went to Jinma Theater, I asked him to meet me there."
"You asked him to meet you there?"
Ou Mucen was astonished!
This girl asked his brother to meet her? Why didn’t he know about this?
No, that’s not right. How could the two of them know each other, let alone to the point of arranging a meeting?
Ou Mucen felt like he had missed so much, his eyes full of confusion as he looked at the girl he hadn’t seen in five years.
He couldn’t blame himself; he had always been a loner and indifferent. Even in school, he was , only ever focused on his own concerns, the few acquaintances he had, his studies, and his games. He wouldn’t bother with anything else.
So, when he heard that this girl named Han Duo had asked to meet his good friend, he was truly surprised and taken aback.
However, faced with his question, the girl named Han Duo just bit her lip and said, "It’s nothing, just had something to talk over."
Just had something to talk over?
Ou Mucen’s eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at her, his gaze skeptical.
A woman he hadn’t seen in five years suddenly comes over saying they just had something to talk over, and before they could even talk, an accident happens. Could there possibly be no mystery here?
He took another fierce drag from the cigarette in his hand, and after exchanging these few words with her, he saw her walk over to the operating room. There, she saw the red light lit above the operating room and, upon hearing a few nurses and doctors discuss the extent of the injuries, she wobbled and then collapsed onto a chair nearby.