I Left the North

The marketing department temporarily assigned He Wenjun a job.

It was a photography book series project, lasting one week in Beicheng.

The goal was to secure the cooperation of a well-known photographer who was notoriously unwilling to collaborate.

This was the second time in his life... No, the third time he'd set foot on this cold land.

As his suitcase wheels rolled across the airport floor, He Wenjun seemed to hear the sound of snow being crushed beneath his feet as he dragged his luggage away on that snowy night seven years ago.

People always run into the unexpected when they're least prepared.

Like finding the decades-old wonton shop on the corner of the old town still open.

Like seeing the once-dilapidated children's market turned into a huge amusement park, bustling with people.

And like seeing Xu, tall and dashing, brush the unmelted snow from his shoulder on the first day of the season's first snowfall. His eyes shone like ripples spreading across a deep pool as he said to him:

"He Wenjun, long time no see."

He Wenjun froze.

...Could this difficult photographer really be his ex-boyfriend from high school?

He looked once. He wasn't sure.

He looked again. It really was.

Oh no. Could he still make a run for it?

But he probably couldn't outrun him...?

-

From the giving partner's perspective:

Before coming north, Shen Jueming thought this was all just a dream.

Snow filled the sky, and the wind cut to the bone. All his thoughts seemed buried beneath the sea, obscure and hard to grasp.

Until, in that snowfall, he saw that person again.

When he left seven years ago, he'd left that person a crumpled sheet of paper.

He never mailed it, but kept it safe for many years.

"Wenjun, are you still afraid of the cold in winter?"

"Do your fingers still get so cold while washing your palette that you cry?"

"Do you still tremble when you have an episode?"

"Do you still prefer to walk on the left side when crossing the street?"

"Have you finally left the north?"

And seven years later, he received a reply.

-

"I'm not afraid."

"They don't."

"I'm better now."

"I still do."

"Yes."

And beyond the answers, there was one more thing:

"I miss you."

-

Rekindled love, happy ending. A medium-short novel.

Shen Jueming (giving partner) x He Wenjun (receiving partner)

A seemingly cool, arrogant, and obsessive rough-around-the-edges man who actually wins himself over x a seemingly warm ray of sunshine who is actually fragile and gloomy

Independent photographer x publishing-house editor

Theme: Love gives people a new lease on life