Because of the festival, school ended more than an hour earlier than usual. I packed my bag and waited beneath the enormous camphor tree at the school gates.
The shade was dense and the cicadas deafening. Time passed minute by minute, but Chen Jingming—who normally came out early to wait for me—was nowhere to be seen.
The departing crowd gradually thinned. The sunset stretched the camphor tree's shadow across the ground, and only a scattering of people remained at the gates. My heart sank a little more with every passing moment.
Just as I could no longer restrain myself and prepared to go inside to find him, a familiar figure came sprinting from the direction of the classroom buildings. He ran at full speed, his backpack bouncing behind him and his bangs flying in the wind.
“Sorry, Nian-Nian! Have you been waiting long?” He stopped before me, bracing his hands on his knees as he panted. His face was flushed from running, and he could not hide his excitement.
“Where did you go? Why did it take you so long?” I asked, worried by the fine beads of sweat on his forehead.
“Ha!” He straightened and gave me a mysterious grin, his eyes shining as though they held stars. Still catching his breath, he opened his backpack. “Obviously, I entered a contest and won the grand prize!”
“A contest? What contest?” I was even more confused. The basketball game had ended long ago.
Chen Jingming carefully drew something from his bag and presented it to me like a treasure.
“Ta-da! Aren't I incredible? It's for you, Nian-Nian!”
It was an endearingly foolish cloth doll—the very “Chinese Language” doll handmade by Ms. Liu from the Chinese department. It wore a pale green hanfu dress and two adorable hair buns. Its black-button eyes curved sweetly, and it hugged a tiny bamboo scroll. The neat stitches revealed how much care its maker had put into it.
I stared at the doll in shock, then looked up at the proud, bright-eyed Chen Jingming in disbelief.
“You actually entered the poetry-response contest? But... didn't you say Chinese was your worst subject?” I still remembered his miserable score on the last monthly exam.
“That's only because I didn't study!” He immediately straightened, lifted his chin, and assumed an arrogant I'm amazing pose. “See? The moment I put in a little effort, a tiny poetry contest falls right into my hands. Don't underestimate me.”
He tossed his head smugly, his imaginary tail practically pointing at the sky.
I could not help laughing. I lowered my head to study the unexpected gift in my arms, warmth spreading through me as though my heart had been steeped in warm water.
Perhaps because I only smiled without speaking, Chen Jingming suddenly leaned closer without warning.
His warm breath brushed my bangs, carrying the clean scent unique to a teenage boy. I instinctively held my breath. My heart missed a beat.
“Besides...” He lowered his head and softened his voice to an almost whispered tenderness that entered my ears with perfect clarity. “This doll is just as cute as Nian-Nian. Of course I had to win it and give it to you.”
Time seemed to slow.
The bicycle bells after school, the distant laughter, and the clamoring cicadas all ebbed away in an instant, becoming indistinct. The whole world held only his voice, close enough to touch, and my reflection inside his eyes.
Those words were like a green but heavy fruit dropping without warning from a summer branch, striking the still surface of my heart with perfect accuracy.
Thud.
The muted sound echoed through my chest. Then ring after uncontrollable ring spread outward, drowning every trace of calm.
Heat rushed uncontrollably into my cheeks. I lowered my head in panic, my fingers tightening unconsciously around the doll's soft cloth.