The Last Evening of Summer

[Tentatively updating every other day, ovo]

There are one or two things we can be absolutely certain of, and that's enough to withstand all the uncertainties in the world.

- Chen Chuncheng, The Submarine at Night

At sixteen, in the height of summer, Wen Shiyu carefully wrote two things into her plans for the future.

First, she would apply to Wudaokou Vocational and Technical College.

Second, she liked Lu Zhi.

That summer, on a hill outside the southern city where they had gone to watch the sunrise, Lu Zhi was surrounded by a group of boys. The girl beside Wen Shiyu quietly asked, "Is there someone you like?"

In the light of the rising sun, Wen Shiyu met Lu Zhi's eyes across the crowd. Her heart gave a jolt. She quickly looked away and laughed as she denied it. "I can barely keep up with my studies. When would I have time for a secret crush?"

A young girl's feelings were awkward and difficult to voice. She filled pages of scrap paper with his name and kept her love for him her deepest secret.

The closest she and Lu Zhi came during those teenage years was in their second year of high school, when a power outage at school sent the crowd surging and pushed her into his arms. His breath brushed her ear.

With only her own heartbeat for company, she stayed calm and set that night's date as her lock-screen password.

On graduation night, Lu Zhi had too much to drink. His classmates teased him, asking if there was anyone he liked. In the dim yellow light, his face flushed, and his eyes softened. "Yes."

She had spent three years building up the courage to confess, only to fall apart at that one word: "Yes."

-

Later, during her first year of college, at an alumni gathering, someone suggested playing "I've Done It, You Haven't."

The first alumnus to go asked a small question: "I never had a secret crush on anyone in high school."

Wen Shiyu and Lu Zhi both picked up their glasses.

The alumnus, loving the drama, went on: "The person I had a crush on isn't here today."

With everyone's eyes fixed on her, Wen Shiyu's heart raced and her hand trembled, but she firmly picked up her glass.

-

Later, after the two of them got together, Wen Shiyu asked Lu Zhi when he had started liking her.

Lu Zhi held her close, his breath falling against her ear. "That summer evening, when you looked at me, I saw the starlight I love most in your eyes."

Mutual secret crushes #FromSchoolUniformsToWeddingGowns

Theme: The sunset returns to the mountains and seas, the fireworks turn toward the stars, may every wish come true.