Side Story 1 HOW MUCH I ENVY YOU (4/4)  

Jodie, your new haircut’s not bad. Short hair makes you look cuter.

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After Gu Mingxi and Pang Qian parted ways with us, I sent Xie Yi home. After he got out of the taxi, he didn’t stagger anymore and his eyes had cleared. He just grabbed my hand tightly and walked down the deserted road to his house.

I didn’t struggle. The street lights cast two shadows behind us. As we walked, Xie Yi suddenly said, “Jodie, do you know how much I envy you?”

I looked at him beside me, but I didn’t answer.

He suddenly laughed at himself and then turned to me, pulling me into his arms.

“How exactly was your heart formed?” Xie Yi held me tighter. His hoarse voice floated into my ear. “Where is it exactly that I fall short compared to him?”

“I’ve never thought of you in comparison to anyone else,” I said. “Xie Yi, you should know. You’re the one that everyone envies.”

“Really?” He released me, and then looked at me with red eyes. “Then, do you envy me?”

“No.” I honestly shook my head.

He couldn’t help laughing. “You can’t even bother to lie to me.”

“No, I don’t envy anyone,” I said, looking him straight in the eyes.

He suddenly moved closer to me, forcing me to step back. He spoke slowly and clearly, “Do you dare to say that you don’t envy her, even a little?”

Faced with this question, I could only remain silent.

I wondered how I could leave, when suddenly my phone rang. I picked it up. It was Lin Weiqi.

“Jodie, I have some good news and some bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?” His voice sounded tired, heavy. My heart tightened, and I said, “Bad news.”

“I have a fever,” he said. “Good news is that Ah Miao’s fine.”

I let out a sigh of relief. “Ah… Thank you.”

His voice was gentle when he responded, “You’re welcome. I’m a veterinarian, so this is my job. But… Why didn’t you say anything about my own condition?”

I suddenly laughed. “Did you go to see a doctor?”

“No, but I took some medicine.”

Firecrackers sounded in the distance. It was the last day of the Spring Festival holiday, so a lot of people were set off all the fireworks they still had. Lin Weiqi must have heard the sound, because he said, “Sounds lively. I miss the New Year’s in China. That’s how you celebrate a new year.”

I asked curiously, “You’ve spent New Year’s in China before?”

“My mom’s Vietnamese-Chinese and my dad’s Chinese-American mixed. My grandpa’s from Beijing, so I lived there for a long time.”

I laughed. “No wonder your Chinese is so good.”

When I saw Xie Yi’s cold expression, I immediately stopped the conversation. “Sorry, Virgil, I have to hang up. I’ll call you when I get back to New York. Thanks for taking care of my cat.”

After I hung up, I turned to Xie Yi. “I want to go home.”

He said, “I’ll send you.”

I was speechless. “I had to send you back because you drank too much. How can you send me back now?”

He was angered by me again. He suddenly asked, “Who were you on the phone with?”

I looked at him. “Xie Yi.”

A moment later, his hands curled into fists. “Let me apologize to you. I’m sorry. I feel a bit light-headed.”

He hugged me again, pressing my face to his chest. “I’m a bit light-headed, really. (Note: or perhaps ‘I’m out of my mind’ is more fitting) Jodie, I’m beyond saving.”

After the holiday concluded, I returned to New York and went to pick up Ah Miao from Lin Weiqi.

He would occasionally give me a call and ask something about prosthetics. After we got to know each other a bit more, I found that he was a rather interesting person. He was very serious, and his face often gave a fierce impression. But when he smiled, he was very cute.

Lin Weiqi ran a pet shop and a small animal hospital. Because of my parents, I’ve always liked pets, so sometimes I would drop into his store to look at the puppies.

I would help him bathe the dogs. He taught me how to feed the little kittens with a syringe. I watched as Lin Weiqi treated the dogs. He was very patient and gentle. He would speak to the dogs as he helped to clean up their wounds.

I sat at his side and watched. I watched as he walked, his left leg a bit stiff. I watched the serious and quiet expression on his face. I licked my milk candy lollipop, a snack he bought for me and left in the shop. He said, “Girls love sweets.”

I could very clearly feel the slight change between Lin Weiqi and myself. But before anything could happen, I was sent to Germany to study for a year.

A year later, in the summer of 2012, I returned to New York and received Gu Mingxi and Pang Qian’s letter. They told me a lot of good news. Pang Qian got into her graduate program, Gu Mingxi got into college, and they were getting married.

I sat in front of laptop for a long time, before I finally sent a reply to Gu Mingxi.

I told him the story of Arno and his family’s drum. And then I said, “Mister Ostrich, Happy Marriage.”

Then I went to the hair salon and cut the hair that I’d been growing out for years, returning to my refreshing, short hair.

Every day, I went for a morning run. I took the same path and I went at the same time each day. One morning, as I was running, I turned a corner and then someone started running beside me.

I turned to look at him, surprised. “Virgil?”

I hadn’t seen Lin Weiqi in a year, but he was looking good now. His dark brown hair bounced as he ran and his eyes glowed. He was wearing shorts, and I could see his slender and strong right leg, as well as the left leg prosthetic wearing a pair of running shoes.

He was running really well, keeping pace with me. He smiled at me. “Jodie, your new haircut’s not bad. Short hair makes you look cuter.”

“Thanks,” I said. “Hey, let’s have a race.”

He raised his brow. “Sure.”

After a bit, he fell behind. I heard him shout, “Jodie, hey! Xiao Yujing! Wait for me!”

I finally stopped, and put my hands on my waist, gasping for breath. Lin Weiqi slowly and leisurely came over. His posture and pace wasn’t as good as when he started.

“What’s wrong?” I asked him.

He was covered in sweat as he reached out a hand. “I can’t keep going. You’ll have to drag me.”

He was also out of breath. I grabbed his hand and he shook his head. “The Chinese are especially attentive to the old, sick, disabled, and pregnant. But you… You’re really too bad.”

I glared at him. “Where did you see that?”

“When I… When I was in Beijing… Sitting… Sitting on the subway. And on the bus too, they wrote it everywhere.” He clasped tightly to my hand and walked forward with me. “Goodness, after we run this far, how are we going to make it back? I’m afraid I won’t be able to walk anymore.”

I laughed. “I’ll piggyback you back!”

He turned to look at me, and the sun behind created a halo of gold around him. In the sun, his brown eyes looked the color of amber.

I suddenly felt that the joke was over and I wanted to let go of his hand, but he didn’t let go. Instead, he held on tighter.

“Jodie, I’m tired. Let’s find somewhere to have breakfast, okay?”

I could feel the sweat on his palm. Wet, sticky, and hot. I also heard the heart inside of my chest beating very fast.

On an ordinary morning, on an ordinary street corner, I held hands with a man, both of us soaked in sweat, looking at each other.

I raised my head up to the sky. The weather was really nice.

I smiled toward him and said, “Okay.”