In Case of Rain

About that rainy night That summer, it rained heavily. The whole city was soaked, and the warm lamp in front of the convenience store was the only light at night. She was sorting out the change behind the cash register when she heard the noise of entanglement outside the door. She looked up and saw a young man blocked under the porch, soaked to the skin and unable to move forward or retreat. She walked out and took his arm naturally. "Why are you here? I've been waiting for you for a long time." The tone was calm, as if he had been waiting for a long time. After the entangled people dispersed, she let go of her hand and turned back to continue sorting, without even asking her name. The boy stood in the rain and watched her disappear into the depths of the shelf. From then on, the warm lamp fell into all his nights. --- Later, at the opening ceremony, he was the freshman representative and stood on the stage to read his speech. Across the entire playground, she could only see a tall figure in the distance and heard the host pronounce the words "Pei Jiling". The name passed through my ears, and it seemed vaguely familiar, but I couldn't grasp the source. She thought it was probably a coincidence of having the same name, so she didn't take it to heart. Until the head teacher led him into the classroom, the fluorescent lamp clearly illuminated his eyebrows. The young man stood on the podium, cool, dignified, calm and decent, but her eyes only reflected that rainy night - his soaked school uniform, his embarrassment and forbearance when he was surrounded, and the startled but restrained redness of the tips of his ears when she took his arm. She recognized it. He obviously recognized her too. From the moment that precise gaze fell on the podium, she knew it, and he remembered it too. But he didn't say anything, and she just paused for a moment, then calmly withdrew her gaze. The class teacher pointed to the empty seat next to her: "You can sit here, and the class teacher will take care of her." When he sat down, she turned her head and her tone was as calm and appropriate as that night on the rainy night: "My name is Jiang Shiyu. If you don't understand anything in the future, you can ask me." "Pei Jiling. Sorry to trouble you." Two sentences of self-introduction, clean and neat, like two strangers who have never met before. No one mentioned the rain, no one revealed that night. Some things change their flavor when mentioned. She didn't want him to feel owed a favor, and he didn't want her to think he had ulterior motives for approaching. But some things will grow in the dark if you don't mention them. The textbook was pushed to the middle and they read together. The milk tea was placed on the corner of the table with "less sugar" written on it. He blocked the flying ball for her on the court. In the evening, she tiptoed to put the grapefruit tea on the top shelf of the convenience store - he saw it from the window on the fourth floor. Separated by glass, separated by night, separated by four floors. He knew it wasn't a coincidence. When he chose this apartment, he stood downstairs for a few seconds. The agent asked him "What's wrong?" And he said "Nothing." What he was thinking about was the way the heating lamp turned on and the sound of her footsteps as she walked out from behind the cashier. --- He hid it extremely well. All approaches are in the name of "tablemate", and all attention is paid to the details - remembering her preferred taste, sorting out the wind-torn pages for her, and quietly scanning two more rows of seats when she is on duty. Sincerity and love are both kept at the deepest place in my heart. I am afraid that bringing them out will scare her, and I am also afraid that she will think that she is just "returning a favor". She was very stable. She could see his appropriateness, and could also sense his indistinct approach, but she kept her sobriety and sense of proportion, did not cross the line, did not think deeply, and just regarded everything as a coincidence. A person who comes from a rainy night is just a well-filed episode to her, and there is no need to read it again and again. But there are always people stirring things up in the dark, and there are always unprovoked misunderstandings like pebbles thrown into the lake. Lin Wen's entanglement, family pressure, and other people's intentional or unintentional fueling of jealousy pushed the distance between the two people further and closer, closer and further apart. They were each carried forward, and they repeatedly passed each other in the ensuing storms. Young people are most afraid of being misunderstood, and they are also most afraid of being blown away by time before they have a chance to say it out. --- But some things cannot be hidden. Those secret loves that have been suppressed in my heart for many years, those deliberate approaches hidden in every "happen", that convenience store heater that has been on from rainy nights to now - will eventually find the exit after the long silence. Later he asked her: "How did you feel when you recognized me in the classroom that day?" She thought for a while and said, "I just thought - why is it you." "Why is it me?" "... What a coincidence." She lowered her head and twirled the cup of grapefruit tea in her hand, with the label facing out. It was slightly sweet, refreshing and not greasy. "It seems like fate has forced a person into your life, and you can't even hide." He was silent for a long time, and then said, "That's why I didn't hide." She looked up at him. Dusk was closing outside the window, and the lights in the convenience store were on again. "Then you can tell me now," she arched her eyebrows, "why did you move here?" He lowered his eyes, and there was a slight curve in the corner of his mouth that even he didn't notice: "Because of the light downstairs." "Light?" "When you walked out from behind the cashier that night," he said slowly, as if a secret that had been hidden for many years was finally exposed to the sun, "the light just came on behind you. I stood in the rain and looked at it for a long time, and I thought it was the warmest light I have ever seen in my life." The wind comes through the window, carrying the sweet fragrance of the sweet-scented osmanthus that is about to bloom. As she held the cup of grapefruit tea, she suddenly felt that something was lightly touching her in a corner of her heart. --- Some encounters may seem hasty, but in fact they have already laid the foundation for the long years to come. Some likes start from the first sight, but it takes a long, long time before they dare to let you know. ★ Campus crush in the early stage · Reunion in the later stage ★ ★ Sober and gentle × Precious and paranoid ★ ★ First encounter on a rainy night · Reunion at the same table · Secret love comes true ★ ★ Double cleansing in both places, HE ★ Intention: Two-way growth and self-salvation