Guan Xia met Chen Yian when she returned to the countryside during her summer vacation in high school.
He was tall and slender, with fair skin, a straight nose, thin lips, and captivating eyes. He was so beautiful he seemed untouched by the world.
Unfortunately, he was mute.
Guan Xia had just had surgery and could barely walk, still limping around.
The others wouldn't play with her, but Chen Yian took her along.
She followed behind him, his little shadow for the whole summer.
As she watched him plant jasmine all along the fence, she, too, planted the seeds of a young girl's secret crush.
Then, one evening, as the sunset cast its glow over the pond,
Guan Xia leaned over and kissed Chen Yian.
His eyes went from surprise to shock, and he didn't show up again for days.
He only came to the station to see her off on the day she left, and signed something to her.
"What does that mean?" Guan Xia typed into her phone and showed him.
His gaze darkened. He was silent for a few seconds, then took the phone and calmly, coolly handed it back to her.
He made no attempt to stop her from leaving.
There was only one line on the screen: "All good things must come to an end. Goodbye."
"..."
So Chen Yian didn't like her. He just thought she was as pitiful as he was.
A sour ache spread through Guan Xia's heart, and she put an end to her brief, embarrassing first love.
Many years later.
Guan Xia returned from abroad to pay respects to her ancestors and heard that the beautiful mute from the town had died.
He'd had no parents, and he'd come into the world alone and left it just as alone.
She suddenly thought of Chen Yian.
She logged back into WeChat, which she hadn't used in ages, and discovered the messages he'd left her.
"Guan Xia, I dreamed you had transferred to a school in a beautiful building."
"The whole wall was covered in roses and camellias, with green vines everywhere."
"I dreamed I went to see you. We walked together and ate together. You looked beautiful when you smiled."
"Actually, I lied. That sign I made back then didn't mean goodbye."
"It meant I love you."
-
When they met again beneath a jasmine-covered wall, its green leaves dotted with white blossoms, on a hazy golden afternoon,
her eyes stung, and she couldn't help but cry.
"Don't cry."
She watched his Adam's apple bob as he spoke, his eyes bright, just like they had been all those years ago.
"We've just been apart for a long time."
[I traveled so far, yet still found my way back to you. Goodbye means we'll meet again.]
Tender, devoted landscape painter X sweet cake designer
Happy ending, one true love
Theme: Live life to the fullest
