Sweet Beloved Reborn

Song Qinghuan stood in front of the hotel window holding a mug, enjoying the first snow of the year of Country F.

She looked at the snow turning heavier, mind wandering somewhere else.

Song Qinghuan put down the mug, picked up her cell phone and sent Xu Ningzhou a text message asking where he was.

Xu Ningzhou sent her a location. The location was not far from the hotel and it took less than five minutes to get back here.

To see Xu Ningzhou in Country F. Song Qinghuan was not only surprised, but also moved.

This man, like a fire, melted Song Qinghuan’s solid heart bit by bit and walked into her world before she even noticed.

When the doorbell rang, Song Qinghuan thought it was Qiu Meng. She opened the door and found it was only a hotel employee.

The man held a bouquet of bright red roses in his hand, with a smile on his face; he said it was sent by a gentleman, and asked if Song Qinghuan could sign for it.

Song Qinghuan said thanks and signed for it. Then she closed the door and picked out a card from the bouquet. The handwriting was pretty familiar-beautiful regular script.

It was Xi Ze.

“Mr Xi.”

In the private balcony, a group of youngsters were partying. A young man, whose buttons on the shirt already came off, grabbed the microphone and pointed coquettishly to a good-looking man sitting on the sofa, who gave a sense of youth and maturity at the same time. It was Xi Ze.

“Wanna sing?” The man was obviously drunk and shouted loudly.

Today was Xi Ze’s birthday. As the star for today, he was the one who had been proposed the toast to most. Now, his eyes already went red, and people around him still came along to have a drink with him. He pushed away the glass handed to him by someone and snorted: “Go away.”

“Hey hey hey.” The young man on the small stage took off his shirt and said loudly, “Sorry, Xi Ze, my man, I am gonna tell our guests a big secret about you, which is-he has such a beautiful voice that you guys cannot miss, or you are just gonna regret it for your whole life.”

Men and women in this room immediately got cheered up, so one by one they booed and asked Xi Ze, the birthday boy, to sing a song.

The woman sitting next to Xi Ze said with a big smile, “I haven’t heard you sing yet, I want to hear it.”

Xi Ze just smiled and looked at the one who started all this. He put his legs down from the glass tea table. Just when everyone thought he was going to sing and waited quietly. his cell phone rang.

Xi Ze took out his cell phone and gave it a quick glance. He wiped the cigarette ash on his trousers, stood up and said, “I need to use the bathroom, you guys help yourselves.”

“What …”

“Dude, you can’t be serious!”

“Ha, ha, ha, ha, Don’t tell me you are being shy and running away.”

“Everyone keeps the wine. When he comes back, either drink or sing, he must choose.”

“Pour it up, don’t spill a drop.”

“…”

Hearing the noise of this group of people, Xi Ze got into the bathroom inside their balcony. All the voices were suddenly cut off when he closed the door.

He tried to get his dizzy brain a moment of clarity. Xi Ze leaned against the door and looked at the phone screen, and then pressed the number he had been trying to forget on purpose.

Du … Du … Du …

“Hello.”

A clear female voice came from the other end of the phone. Xi Ze rubbed his own temple, with a self-teasing smile appearing on his face. He wondered how long it had been since the last time he heard this voice.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“It’s me.” Xi Ze replied.

“I know.” Song Qinghuan raised the TV remote and stopped the TV play. She smiled and said, “Why did you send me flowers on your own birthday?”

“Birthday gift.”

Xi Ze’s eyelids lowered and no one could see the look in his eyes.

For a while, Xi Ze would prepare a birthday present for Song Qinghuan every year on his own birthday. Song Qinghuan could not really understand this move. When Xi Ze gave his gift, he would smile and reach out to her and ask, “What about my birthday present?”

That was how Xi Ze managed to have Song Qinghuan remember his birthday and prepare the birthday present for him.

What was Song Qinghuan’s last birthday present for him?

Xi Ze looked up at the ceiling and recalled the past, it was … like a pen.

But since they had that argument in that summer vacation. Xi Ze went abroad, and Song Qinghuan went to Wan’ning City. They lost contact. From Song Qinghuan’s version of story, Xi Ze avoided her on purpose, so she respected that decision of his. This strange cold war made them lose touch for half a year.

The only time they got in touch was because of Xi Ze’s mother. Maybe from the outsiders, they were still considered to be good friends. But only between Song Qinghuan and Xi Ze, they knew that everything had been changed ever since that thing. Instead of good friends, they were just two people who happened to know each other.

Birthday gift … Song Qinghuan didn’t prepare one for him this time.

For Xi Ze, it had only been half a year; but for her it had been two lifetimes. She already had this buried in her memory. So Song Qinghuan kept silent when Xi Ze asked about his birthday present.

The only thing they could hear at that moment was each other’s breathing on the phone.

Xi Ze made a sneer. Then all of a sudden, he hung up the phone.

How stupid he was! When he knew that Song Qinghuan was just using him, he made excuses for her; he tried to understand Song Qinghuan’s difficult position in the Song family, and believed that she had no choice. He would have bought any explanation she gave to him.

But no, Song Qinghuan never gave him one from beginning to end. She used him to reach her goals. Since when, did his pure little girl become like this, just like others around in this complicated world?

Song Qinghuan stared at the phone and let out a sigh.

Without any trust, what was the point of this conversation? Everything she said would be treated as excuses and cover-up; so she didn’t say a word..

Xu Ningzhou came back with snow on his wind coat. The heating system made the hotel room just as warm as spring, despite that the snow was raging outside. With a beautiful box in his hand, he opened the door to Song Qinghuan’s room with the room key and did not knock at the door.

“Welcome back.” Song Qinghuan handed Xu Ningzhou a clean towel. Xu Ningzhou put the box on the table.

There was some kind of food which was pretty popular online inside of it. Song Qinghuan might have mentioned it when she saw it on the Internet. So Xu Ningzhou went out of the hotel to buy it for her in person.

“Have you been worried about me?” Xu Ningzhou took the towel to remove the snow on his head. In front of Song Qinghuan, he was just like a clingy naughty boy.

Song Qinghuan opened the box, and the aroma of cake came out from it. She stuffed a small piece of cake into Xu Ningzhou’s mouth and said, “When the snow stops, let’s go home.”

“Ok.” Xu Ningzhou said.