The Beginning of a Bouquet - Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Side Story: Zhou Chi.

Lin Miao came to sneakily apply medicine to my wounds again.

She wasn’t very skilled at it; her nails grazed my injuries several times.

Yet her movements were incredibly gentle. Every time she touched a sore spot, she would panic and blow on it softly.

Just like a child, thinking that a little puff of air could soothe the pain.

After a while, the sound of muffled sobbing reached my ears.

I felt a patch of dampness-it was Lin Miao’s tears.

I wanted to open my eyes and tell her it didn’t hurt,

But I was afraid of scaring her.

A soft cheek pressed gently against my palm.

She didn’t mind the rough new calluses on my knuckles, and soon my wrist became wet with her tears as well.

When a bankrupt stray dog gets hurt, does someone actually feel heartache for him?

My wounds felt numb, and my heart felt numb too.

On many nights,

I fell asleep to the sound of those gentle breaths and the feeling of her tears.

I asked an older guy at the construction site.

Why do girls cry?

The man took a drag of his cigarette and looked at me knowingly.

“What? Did you get into a fight with your wife?”

I thought about it. It shouldn’t really count as a fight.

Lin Miao had been harsh with me, but I never talked back.

The man gave me some advice:

“Coaxing a girl is simple. Give her what she wants, give her gifts. For example, my wife has been into taking photos lately, so I’m planning to use this month’s wages to buy her an iPhone.”

So, when I heard Lin Miao say she wanted a coat,

I was actually very happy.

If she had a wish, then I could fulfill it and make her happy.

But I seemed to have messed up again.

Lin Miao still cried.

It felt like I could never make her happy.

Clearly, a few years ago when we first met,

a simple meal at McDonald’s was enough to make her smile so brightly.

She asked me where the money came from, but I couldn’t say the words.

Dangling from the roof of the 26th floor while residents watched and took photos-I didn’t actually care about any of that.

After the bankruptcy, I was willing to do any dirty or exhausting work as long as it paid.

But I didn’t want Lin Miao to see my desperation.

So I knelt down, wiped away her tears, and apologized to her:

“It’s my fault.”

Even fulfilling her wish was such a struggle for me.

I went to fight in underground matches.

I was desperate to make money, desperate to escape this state of powerlessness.

The daughter of the gym owner gave new clothes to all the employees.

I didn’t want them. Looking at the logo, I asked if I could exchange the clothes for cash instead.

The people around me laughed, teasing me for being obsessed with money.

Someone asked me for a favor-to try on a coat.

He said his younger brother was about the same height as me and he wanted to save the coat for him.

I didn’t have time to take it off before I saw Lin Miao standing at the door.

That New Year’s Eve never happened.

In the end, we got a divorce.

During that period, I was listless, unable to find the energy for anything.

Until I discovered that Lin Miao was secretly watching me.

She was very alert, hiding at a bus stop not far away.

The moment I looked up, she would quickly duck into a corner.

But I still found her.

I stood there dazed. The moment she appeared, my heart couldn’t help but beat in sync with her.

Later, when I saw her hair, I broke down and cried miserably.

I didn’t dare look up, afraid she would see the obsession in my eyes-it was terrifyingly intense.

After we remarried,

she suddenly asked me one day:

“When did you start liking me?”

I thought about it. When was it?

I had recognized Lin Miao as that girl from the past at first sight.

She had changed a lot, but her eyes were still just as clear.

Every time she said those demeaning things to me, her gaze was full of sorrow.

I knew she didn’t mean them.

Perhaps during those nights when she bandaged my wounds and wept,

my heart had slowly surrendered.

“It’s such a shame. We jumped straight into marriage; we never had a confession or a real courtship. It’s completely different from a normal couple.”

After Lin Miao finished speaking, she laughed again. “But things are very good now, too.”

“There was a confession,”

I said, pursing my lips as Lin Miao looked at me in confusion.

“I once sent you a bouquet of flowers.”

The day after I was certain of my feelings, I used all the money I had to buy that bouquet.

The internet said that a romance should start with a bouquet of flowers.

“We can start over, starting from the confession.”

Lin Miao looked at me for a long time, her eyes suddenly turning red.

I panicked instantly.

She wiped away a tear and ran off, returning with a book.

“I didn’t throw it away. I went back and secretly picked it up.”

A beautiful, pure white jasmine flower lay peacefully between the pages,

serving as a lovely bookmark.

I kissed away Lin Miao’s tears. This time, I didn’t say I was sorry. Instead, I said:

“Thank you.”

I met you.

And for that, I have begun to thank fate.