Liu Zuo Ye said there was a bus transit line that was particularly convenient. It passes by the school, her house and the downtown mall.
And so, Yang Han took the bus early in the morning and sat in the window seat, looking out at the scenery as it sped by. She was feeling nervous without any reason, so she put on her headphones and played soothing music.
At each stop, there would be many different kinds of people getting on the bus.
Yang Han saw children with backpacks and pencil cases who were on their way to weekend tutor classes. Three to five of them huddle closely together with an adult watching over them. Yang Han thought to herself, these were likely one of the parents who agreed on taking turns to pick up and drop off the children.
She also saw a pretty young girl, squeezing her way through with a satchel bag hung over her shoulder while talking on the phone without stopping, as if she was rushing her boyfriend.
Yang Han then saw another middle-aged woman holding hands with her little grandson. The child grinned toothlessly and greeted the gentle female driver as he got on the bus. His smile seemed to have brought back some memories for her. Seeing the driver’s age, if she was married, her children would probably be around his age.
Then came an old man walking slowly onto the bus with his guide dog, as a middle-aged man who was originally sitting in the special needs’ seat got up in embarrassment, moving aside and held onto the pole to steady himself. The people on the bus had their attention attracted to the golden retriever. Some were smiling while some were using their bags as a shield to hide.
Taking all of these in, Yang Han felt some light leaking into her heart. She suddenly wanted to go around after she grew up, to observe every ordinary person that the sun could shine on. It didn’t sound too bad being a small officer responsible for keeping track of the mundane things…Although there was no such occupation right now.
She smiled a little as her gaze slid over the last young man wearing black clothes with a cap. Paying no mind to him, she turned away to look out the window.
The young man wrapped himself up tightly. With sunglasses and a mask, he attracted some odd looks around him, so he coughed and sneezed a few times, pretending he had a cold.
He walked to the back seats, where he found a man who looked a lot like him there. A white camouflage jacket and jeans with two large holes showing his knees. He put up his hoodie along with a pair of sunglasses, a mask and white-coloured headphones in his ears.
The man in black stared at him for a few moments before taking the seat beside him. Leaning on the empty seat in front of him, he looked ahead in the direction where Yang Han was.
The bus stopped by at this time as Liu Zuo Ye got on. Her build was really tall, her face was bare without any make-up and her hair was let down at shoulder-length. As for her outfit, she wore a white cap on her head with a worn-out work jacket while carrying a black shoulder bag.
This was quite different from her image in school. She looked both pretty and cool today – so Yang Han couldn’t help but let her gaze linger on her a little longer.
After paying with her transportation card, Liu Zuo Ye looked up and saw Yang Han. She walked towards the seat beside Yang Han, stroking the head of the golden retriever guide dog on the way.
The golden retriever stuck out its tongue and licked her, wagging its tail around a little while looking at her.
Yang Han: “Hello…”
Liu Zuo Ye turned towards her, pulled something out of her bag and passed it to her.
Yang Han subconsciously ducked to the side.
Liu Zuo Ye: “……”
She shook the water bottle in her hands and frowned, “Thirsty?”
Yang Han suddenly found her own reaction to be a little too much. Embarrassed yet unable to revert back to her previous state, she took the bottle of mineral water and said, “Thanks.”
Liu Zuo Ye was puzzled, “Why are you afraid of me?”
Yang Han shrinking away caught the attention of the man in black at the back. He let out a small ‘tsk’, poking his head out to see what was in Liu Zuo Ye’s hands. But the man next to him pushed his head back, causing the man in black to look at him in confusion.
The man acted like nothing had happened as he pulled out a set of newspaper from the back pocket of seat in front of them. He nodded his head as if to say sorry.
The man in black: “……”
His gaze slowly trailed over to the back of the chair in front of that man.
There were clearly two sets of newspapers right in his seat as well. Why did he go out of his way to take the further one?
The man in black threw him a strange gaze before continuing to look at Yang Han. He no longer looked over as blatantly as just now, but only glancing over subtly.
The man next to him slowly unfolded the newspaper.
Yang Han: “Me? I…I’m not.”
“In our school, there are a lot of trashy people who detest the rich. You’ll certainly attract trouble without knowing.” Liu Zuo Ye sighed, “I was only habitually giving you a reminder before. If you refuse to listen, just take it as I farted in front of you then.”
She didn’t expect what Liu Zuo Ye had said to her before was out of concern. Although the way of expression was a little awkward.
Liu Zuo Ye noticed Yang Han hesitantly fiddling the mineral water bottle with her hands and assumed she couldn’t unscrew the cap. So she grabbed it, opened the cap, and handed it back to her. Yang Han was surprised at her attentiveness and said thank you.
Liu Zuo Ye: “Personally, I don’t like people who are spoiled by their family’s wealth. When something really happened, they would run away faster than anyone else and depend on their parents’ connections and money to clean up their messes.”
Yang Han blinked.
“But I realized you seemed different from those people.” Liu Zuo Ye turned to look at her. “You’re quite brave and very straightforward.”
Yang Han suddenly felt a little embarrassed. She scratched the back of her neck, her ears turning red as she laughed, “Nah…”
The man in black noticed Yang Han chatting and getting along quite well with the other party, so he leaned back in his seat out of relief.
Right at this time, the bus reached another station so Liu Zuo Ye and Yang Han got off there. Liu Zuo Ye’s height was extremely intimidating. Yang Han could feel the numerous gazes on them as she walked beside her.
The bus echoed with the sound of announcements of the next stops, making its way through the traffic for a while more. The man in black stood up when they reached another station.
He stood still and glanced at the man beside him.
Because that man got up as well.
The two of them looked at each other for no apparent reason.
The man in black: “……”
The other man: “…….”
A strong sense of premonition drove the man in black to take off his sunglasses and asked out loud, “Do we know each other?”
The man was stunned as he took off his sunglasses and mask too.
The man in black exclaimed, “Yang Mo!”
Yang Mo darkened his face, “Han Shi Yu?”
Through the rear-view mirror, the driver noticed the two of them who got up but did not get off the bus so she kindly reminded them. After hearing that, Han Shi Yu put his sunglasses back on and pulled the person next to him to get off.
The bus whistled past.
While the two of them stood still on the side of the road.
There was a park right next to the station. Green trees and plants with a few sparrows around, skittering past them.
In the end, Yang Mo broke the silence first with his fists.
Han Shi Yu: “Why are you hitting me—”
Yang Mo couldn’t explain why either, but having your disguise seen through like this was so embarrassing that he turned irritable. Especially when Han Shi Yu added a line of, ‘I really never expected you to stalk people’.
After they had enough of messing around, both of them sat down on the stone steps by the park.
Han Shi Yu: “Don’t you have work?”
Yang Mo: “…It has nothing to do with you.”
Han Shi Yu: “Oh…”
The two of them only followed after Yang Han because they were worried about her. But they never intended to disturb her outing with her classmate.
Han Shi Yu secretly glanced at Yang Mo. He hadn’t seen this side of him in a very long time. It reminded him of their student days so he felt a little happy inside.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve been out for fun together,” Han Shi Yu took Yang Mo’s hand in his and laughed, “I’m free today, how about we go on a date, handsome?”