Dandelion Boy

Later everyone said that Chen Zui had never existed. But Ji Xiaoman remembered. She remembered him twisting the cap of the water bottle for her, remembering him taking a twenty-minute detour in the snow to send her home, and remembering that his eyelashes were slightly raised when he smiled, with very faint golden light spots floating around. She thought it was lights flashing. She didn't know that it was the only life he had left, and it was being ignited by her little by little. That summer, they kissed on the rooftop. He said yes. She didn't know that the word "um" was a suicide note he had written long ago. When school started in the fall, his seat was empty. Where he stood in the photo was only an overexposed white. Everyone swears: There has never been such a person in our class. The whole world has forgotten him. Files, photos, and everyone's memories were completely erased. Only Ji Xiaoman remembered. She was the only one who remembered that the boy who could scatter when the wind blew had given her all the last summer. She has never eaten Wangzai milk candy again in her life.