A Puppy Meets a Butterfly

The first time Xiang Hui said Ji Wenjing looked like a puppy was on the first day of their second year of high school.

He was standing at the school gate when he handed her his school badge. She told him he had beautiful eyes, like a puppy’s. He didn’t deny it, but the tips of his ears turned red.

Later, she gave him a notebook with a puppy printed on the cover. The pages inside were blank. She said he could use it to write down happy things. He said there wasn’t much to be happy about. She told him to write about her, then.

And later, he really did. Page after page, every entry was about her.

In everyone’s eyes, Ji Wenjing was hard to approach. He got good grades, hardly spoke, and kept to himself. But Xiang Hui knew he was just a puppy who didn’t know how to speak up.

Whatever you gave him, he kept. Whatever you asked, he answered. Show him a little kindness, and he tucked every bit of it away in his heart.

Xiang Hui was the kind of girl everyone liked.

She got good grades, was pretty and gentle, and had a smile that made your heart melt.

There was a sea of flowers by her childhood home. Every spring, they bloomed in glorious, cheerful chaos. She said she would take him to see them. He said okay.

They never made it there.

That year, the sea of flowers was turned into a shopping street.

Later, he planted a new field on the outskirts of town.

On the day the flowers bloomed, he stood among them and softly said, “Little butterfly, remember the way home.”

The wind blew, and waves of flowers rolled across the field.

A butterfly landed on a flower, then flew away.

He smiled.

Some people don’t know how to speak, but keep everything in their hearts.

Some words never get said in time, but the flowers will bloom for her.

Puppies don’t bark, but they know how to wait.

They wait for the flowers to bloom, and for the butterfly to return.

They wait for her to remember the way home.