Her hand resting on the window sill gradually tightened into a fist, "I remember that day, it was overcast with rain. There was a fine continuous drizzle outside the window, and my father and grandparents had rushed over to see my performance. The place we lived was very far, and we encountered a traffic jam. If it weren’t for my insistence, if it weren’t for my insistence on participating in that performance, my father wouldn’t have driven fast at all! And if he hadn’t driven fast, the accident wouldn’t have happened! And if, at the time of the accident, he hadn’t thrown himself on me and saved me with his body, shielding me from the violent collision, perhaps, he wouldn’t have died!"
Even though ten years had passed, she still remembered the drizzle on the bustling streets of Vienna. The windshield shattered, and the airbags didn’t deploy immediately. Her father lay on top of her, using his entire body as a shield. A shard of sharp glass grazed the side of his neck, and the spurting fresh blood, like a fountain, splashed hot on her face!
Before she could even react, a rear-end collision occurred! Her grandparents, sitting in the back seat, were also tragically compressed by the tremendous force, trapped inside the car!
She would never forget the feeling of her father’s blood splattering on her face, on her hands. Sticky, acrid and sweet, her pupils were a deep red, while the life in her father’s body in her arms flowed away rapidly!
Her slender hands, made for playing the piano, were stained with her father’s blood!
If it weren’t for her, if it weren’t for her desire to partake in the piano competition, her father and grandparents wouldn’t have traveled all the way from Canada! If she had left the house earlier that day, perhaps, the accident could have been avoided! It was all her fault, she had caused the death of her father, the death of her grandparents!
She wouldn’t play the piano again, for every time her hands touched the cold black and white keys, it was as if she were traveling through time, back to that most painful moment! It seemed to remind her over and over—her father and grandparents died for her sake!
"Anning?" Yu Zexiao glanced at her, and suddenly realized that the assistant, who had been standing straight, was now slightly swaying!
She was like a balloon at that moment, her nerves stretched tight throughout her body, using up all her strength, tightly knotted. Just give her an opening, and she would burst forth!
He didn’t know why, but seeing her so tormented made Yu Zexiao feel a heavy weight in his heart as well. Especially seeing her clench her fists, wanting to cry but desperately holding back, made him feel a pang of sympathy.
No wonder, no wonder she said she envied him for having a father to care for him.
No wonder, no wonder she always seemed so cool and detached. Who wouldn’t become tempered and hardened after facing the life and death of loved ones right before one’s eyes?
Yu Zexiao suddenly reached out gently and pulled her into his embrace. Her body, in his arms, was so frail but tense, like a bow. The more he held her, the more his heart ached.
"Don’t be sad anymore," he didn’t know what else to say. The past him had never looked directly at others, had never taken someone else’s matters to heart. He had always been willful, always unconventional. But this time, for the first time, that small unopened tender spot within him had been activated by her!