Chapter Sixty-Three: Reflections on the Future (Part Two)

“You’re about to start the new semester too, aren’t you?” Luo Yixia asked.

“That’s right. We’ll be seniors once school begins. Soon we’ll be off to internships and job hunting—it’s all going to be so hectic.” As graduation approached, their prospects and the future ahead seemed shrouded in uncertainty.

Luo Yixia had never truly understood such feelings. Whether in childhood or now, confusion about the future was almost foreign to her. Her family’s wealth meant she never had to worry or strive for anything.

But hearing He Die speak this way made her pause to consider: what did she want to do with her life? She had followed Song Chengyi into medicine, but the truth was, she was utterly at sea. Was she truly going to become a doctor? Or, more to the point, could she ever be a good one?

She was not like Song Chengyi, who had been outstanding from an early age, excelling at whatever he set his mind to. As for herself, there were only two things she had managed to stick with all these years: one, the ballet lessons her mother, Mrs. Yu Wenjing, had forced upon her since childhood; the other, her affection for Song Chengyi.

Beyond that, she had never truly persevered at anything. The thought weighed even heavier on her—she couldn’t even manage to win at a simple game, always getting trounced by others… Truly, she was good for nothing.

Luo Yixia was distracted even at dinner.

Several times He Die tried to talk to her, but Luo Yixia was lost in thought and didn’t hear a word.

Even Song Chengyi furrowed his brow.

“Luo Yixia!” After calling her name three times, she finally snapped out of it.

“What is it?” She looked at him, bewildered, with no idea that she had been daydreaming just now.

Song Chengyi ran his fingers through his freshly washed hair, water still dripping down.

“Go take a shower,” he said, his tone helpless.

“Oh, all right.” Hugging her clothes, she slipped into the bathroom.

Song Chengyi glanced at his phone—several messages had come in.

[Song Chengyi, tomorrow the school has asked us to help move desks and teaching materials.]

It wasn’t that he had no friends, just very few. To him, time spent socializing was better used reading a couple more medical books.

Yu Bin was perhaps one of the exceptions.

[I’m traveling and won’t be back by tomorrow. Could you help out?] After a moment’s thought, Song Chengyi replied.

The answer was swift: [You seem to be living the good life, eh? Off traveling? I’m sure you won’t have to lift a finger—someone will handle everything for you. After all, our medical school’s heartthrob has a whole fan club of admirers.]

Such teasing was nothing new to Song Chengyi.

[Thanks for the trouble.] He typed a few words and left it at that.

He picked up Luo Yixia’s iPad from the table. The screen opened to a Baidu page filled with articles about the filming locations for the movie “Your Name.”

He scrolled through some of them—the manga had indeed recreated the real places with remarkable fidelity.

With nothing better to do, he searched for the movie itself.

Judging by the sounds from the bathroom, Luo Yixia would be a while, so he started watching.

The film didn’t particularly move him. The animation was exquisite, the visuals captivating—he could appreciate that. But perhaps he was getting older; the romance didn’t interest him much anymore.

Truth be told, it never had. Even as a child, though there always seemed to be girls circling around him, he’d found it annoying, especially those as thoughtless as Luo Yixia.

For that reason, Song Chengyi had never cared for any of those girls; yet, he had not expected Luo Yixia’s devotion to persist all these years.

Perhaps he hadn’t noticed before, but gradually, he realized that on his way home, he would always look back, searching for that shy, elusive figure.

When he was home for the holidays, the chatter from downstairs would reach his ears.

Somehow, all this had become a habit, and when he became aware of it, he felt a touch of reluctance to let it go.