At a senior-year class meeting, the homeroom teacher asked everyone to stand up and share their plans for the future to encourage their classmates.
Most students gave ordinary answers just to get it over with. Only Ren Ye, the last-ranked student in the class, stood up and said carelessly that he planned to go home and inherit the family business.
Everyone in the room was so jealous their teeth hurt. The homeroom teacher merely took a sip of hot tea, expressionless.
After Ren Ye, Yu He, the top student, stood up and said gently that she wanted to work hard and make money. She said nothing more.
Nobody was surprised. They all knew that Yu He's family had been hit by a devastating change when she was in her first year of high school. Her father had disappeared, and her mother was ill and needed a large sum of money. It was as if the sky had fallen. Back then, the class had even held a fundraiser for her.
The homeroom teacher's nose stung, and she nearly burst into tears. Some people could run as hard as they liked and still lose at the starting line. And since the two had spoken one right after the other, the contrast was impossible to miss.
After class, the teacher called Yu He to the office and tried to counsel her so she wouldn't feel bad. "Don't let this get to you. You and Ren Ye are like parallel lines. Your lives don't intersect, so don't waste your time comparing yourself to him. Life will get better one step at a time. Everyone's life has its own colors."
"I know, Teacher."
What did she know?
Ren Ye was standing by the office door. He scoffed, then blocked Yu He at the stairwell when she came out. "Parallel lines? Our lives don't intersect?"
You didn't say that when you borrowed money from me. :)
Yu He paused, lowered her head, and only after a long moment said, "I only said that to the teacher to put her at ease."
"Oh..." Ren Ye pretended to be calm, but couldn't stop the corners of his mouth from lifting.
Yu He murmured, "Mm," watching Ren Ye walk away.
But it was true that I wanted to earn money to pay you back, Ren Ye. Because our lives were never supposed to intersect.
Original blurb dated: 2022.5.31. Revised: 2022.6.2
Theme: Face setbacks honestly and confront difficulties head-on.
