Thunder continued to rumble.

Raindrops fell like tiny stones, heavy and sharp.

The rain intensified within just a few minutes.

Lin Zhexia put down the cake, vaguely sensing something wasn’t right.

“Hey, Da Zhuang,” she called He Yang, “what are you doing?”

He Yang: “I’m at home, with rain this heavy, you think I’d be out jogging?”

Lin Zhexia continued asking: “Are you enjoying yourself at home?”

“…”

“Doing homework at home, wouldn’t call it enjoyable.”

Hearing this, she realized Chi Yao wasn’t at He Yang’s place either.

Sure enough, He Yang’s next sentence confirmed: “It’s Yao-ge’s birthday today. I spent a fortune sending him a new skin, but he hasn’t replied to my message yet. I even knocked on his door, but no one answered. This guy, always so aloof even on his birthday.”

He Yang added: “Has he replied to you? Are you two together now? On such an important day, do you need me to come over for cake?”

Lin Zhexia: “The signal’s bad, I’m hanging up.”

After ending the call, she looked at the wall clock. Night had already fallen.

The hour hand passed ‘9’ o’clock, moving toward ’10’.

Eighteen years old.

This number seemed touched by God’s magic.

They hadn’t realized at the time that after turning eighteen, while life expanded more broadly, people also had to face many more things. The simple straight line began to transform inexplicably, sprouting many unexpected forks in the road—

About ten minutes later, Lin Zhexia made a decision.

She stood alone in the empty room, surrounded by the thunder that terrified her.

But at this moment, the thunder seemed far away from her.

She had only one thought in her mind: she wanted to find him.

Even with the thunder outside. Even in the middle of the night.

Even though she had no idea what had happened to Chi Yao or where he’d gone.

She still had to find him.

After this thought emerged, she grabbed the umbrella standing by the entrance and resolutely walked toward the downpour outside.

The residential complex looked desolate in the midnight storm.

She walked through the complex garden to the street sign.

Rain constantly washed over the road sign.

The blue and white Nanxiang Street sign had imperceptibly become worn with age, slightly different from her memory.

Lin Zhexia stood at the intersection, facing a crossroads, gripping the umbrella tightly, unsure which path to choose. The umbrella in her hand had become heavy from the downpour, weighing down on her from above—

That night, Lin Zhexia searched many places in the rain.

Aimlessly, she checked all the places she and Chi Yao frequently visited—the convenience store they often went to, the breakfast shop, the arcade, and even the roadside barbershop where she was repeatedly victimized by the barber.

The neon sign of “Meijuan Hair Salon” was lit up.

Business was slow inside.

Lin Zhexia had always had terrible luck with haircuts. No matter how she communicated with the hairdresser, even bringing high-definition reference photos, she’d always end up with a completely unrelated hairstyle thanks to the hairdresser’s mysterious thought process.

So later, whenever she went to the salon, she’d be very nervous and would drag Chi Yao along.

“I’ll go with you,” Chi Yao would say coldly back then, looking at her, “but will that improve the hairdresser’s skill level?”

“…”

Lin Zhexia would cling to his clothes and refuse to let go: “It won’t, but it makes me feel a little better. Also, I’m afraid I won’t be able to control myself.”

Chi Yao: “Control yourself from hitting someone?”

Lin Zhexia: “Control myself from crying in the salon.”

Though Chi Yao would say, “Then go ahead and cry,” he’d still accompany her.

He would sit in the red single-seat sofa in the corner of the salon. Sometimes, when the wait got too long, he’d cover himself with his jacket and close his eyes to sleep. The salon had a small white dog that would occasionally bite his pant leg while he slept.

Once, because of his arrogant sleeping posture, Chi Yao was mistaken by a waiting elderly woman for a salon apprentice: “Young man, I’d like to get my hair washed.”

Chi Yao pulled the clothes off his face: “…Go find a staff member for hair washing.”

The woman with red curly perm: “Aren’t you a staff member?”

Chi Yao: “…”

Lin Zhexia’s haircut that day had turned out badly again, but she had no time to feel sad—hearing this conversation, she couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

“Ding-a-ling—”

Lin Zhexia hurriedly pushed open the salon door, making the door ornament jingle.

She glanced at the hairdresser who was bending over, sweeping the floor, and the empty sofa chair where no one was sitting.

The male hairdresser, no longer as young as in her memory, straightened up and immediately recognized her: “Isn’t this little Xia? Here for a haircut?”

Lin Zhexia: “Not for a haircut, just stopping by to look. Sorry to disturb you, Meijuan.”

“I’ve told you countless times, my name isn’t Meijuan! Don’t keep thinking my name is Meijuan just because the shop is called Meijuan Hair Salon. That’s my mother’s name,” the hairdresser jumped up and down behind her, “I have my name, I’m called Daniel—Daniel!”

Lin Zhexia noticed the dog was missing before she left: “Where’s the dog?”

The hairdresser’s sweeping hand paused: “Gone. It’s been so many years, it’s gotten old, too. Taking it out for walks would make it wheeze. It passed away two months ago.”—

Finally, she found Chi Yao at the lakeside in the park.

The place where, from childhood to adulthood, she liked to hide whenever she encountered problems.

This was the last place she could think of.

If she couldn’t find Chi Yao here, she wouldn’t know where else to look.

Fortunately, as she approached the lake, she spotted a blurry but familiar silhouette from a distance. So familiar that she could recognize him just by the outline of his hair.

There was some shelter near the bench, but the rain was too heavy.

The young man was still soaked by the rain, even his hair was wet, and large patches of his thin hoodie were soaked through. One of his legs was bent, foot resting on the edge of the bench. He looked like some kind of disobedient, rain-soaked stray animal.

“…”

Chi Yao was looking down when an umbrella suddenly appeared above his head.

Lin Zhexia held the umbrella, tilting it toward him to block the rain pouring from above.

Raindrops hit the umbrella’s surface.

Making a “patter” sound.

Through the misty rain, he saw Lin Zhexia, panting and looking equally disheveled.

“So you’re here,” Lin Zhexia’s anxious heart finally settled the moment she saw him. Holding the umbrella, she said, “I thought… thought something had happened to you, afraid I wouldn’t find you.”

Chi Yao seemed surprised to see her there. He looked up at her with some astonishment, studied her for a long time, his Adam’s apple moving slightly, but in the end, he said nothing.

Countless street lights blurred in the rain.

Through the hazy light, he saw the girl’s hand on the umbrella handle, her slender, thin wrist, and above that, her bright eyes.

Chi Yao’s eyelashes were covered with raindrops. He blinked: “Why did you come?”

“I sent you messages, but you didn’t reply.” Lin Zhexia said, “So I went to your place to check.”

Hearing this, Chi Yao glanced at the phone beside him and uttered two words: “I replied.”

“?”

“Messages.” Chi Yao explained, “Probably bad signal, didn’t go through.”

Lin Zhexia was stunned: “You replied? What did you say?”

“Lied that I went to my parents’ place.”

Chi Yao said “lied” without the slightest embarrassment. He knew it was his birthday today, and Lin Zhexia would certainly look for him. Using this as a cover was the only way to avoid her. After speaking, he reached for his phone and fidgeted with it, then added: “Didn’t wait for a response, my phone died.”

He also wanted to say, “How could I not reply to your messages?”

But this sentence was too intimate.

These words turned over in his heart, but ultimately weren’t spoken.

The heavy rain that had lasted for an hour or two finally began to weaken.

Lin Zhexia wasn’t sure if she should ask further. After hesitating, she decided that if Chi Yao didn’t speak up voluntarily, she wouldn’t ask. Between them, too many explanations and clarifications weren’t necessary.

So she said, “You had the nerve to lecture me before, but I see your symptoms are much worse. Going out in the rain without an umbrella, sitting here getting soaked in the middle of the night—couldn’t you find a place with better shelter?”

Yes.

Why did he come here?

Chi Yao wondered.

This secret base of Lin Zhexia’s had somehow become his instinctive hiding place, too.

Starting from being intercepted by that group of people, the series of actions he took was very unusual for him.

Chi Yao tugged at his collar, and rainwater flowed from his jaw down into his collar.

—Are you Chi Yao?

—Chi Hanshan’s son?

—I’m not looking for you for anything special, just that your family has some issues. I don’t want to see him having too good a time, so I’m meeting you in advance. After all, if your father can’t pay back the money he owes me, we might have to see each other often.

—Oh, right, your mother fell ill because of this, you probably don’t know yet? I’m telling you out of kindness, you should thank me.

At that time, facing these people, he suddenly recalled Chi Hanshan’s retracted message on the bus more than two months ago, as well as that seemingly inexplicable phone call.

—”Be careful at home alone, don’t talk to strangers…”

“Are you done?” He remembered saying these words at the time.

“If you’re done, you can leave.”

The people opposite were stunned. They thought the seventeen-year-old boy in front of them would be surprised, would lose his composure, but they hadn’t expected these two sentences: “You’re quite calm, kid.”

Chi Yao’s fingers curled slightly, and he said without revealing much emotion: “I’ll find out the specifics myself.”

“What needs to be faced, I won’t avoid.”

…

“Something happened at home.” Chi Yao didn’t intend to hide it from her, but skipped the details, saying self-mockingly, “It’s been going on for a while.”

He had said, “Face it.”

But for him at this moment, “facing” wasn’t an easy thing.

Lin Zhexia said, “Uncle and Auntie probably didn’t want to affect your studies.”

“Parents are all like this. If my mom and Uncle Wei encounter problems at work, they definitely wouldn’t tell me either. In their eyes, no matter how old I am, I’m still a child.”

Lin Zhexia didn’t know what to say. At times like this, she seemed exceptionally awkward.

And no matter what she said, it wouldn’t solve the problem.

Apart from wanting to stay with him, Lin Zhexia couldn’t think of any other way.

Moreover, the word “child” seemed to gradually drift away from them starting from this evening.

Children eventually have to grow up.

After a while, Lin Zhexia asked him, “Chi Yao, are you cold?”

“If you’re cold,” she continued, “big brother’s jacket is also available for you to wear.”

Chi Yao, even soaked by rain, rarely gave off a sense of being disheveled. He still looked like that proud Chi Yao: “Not necessary.”

Lin Zhexia carefully picked up his response: “…Because you want to strike this rain-soaked cool pose?”

She immediately added, “Your joke is heavy.”

“Don’t say it’s fine, last time you went home and caught a cold.”

“…”

This familiar conversation immediately took them back to the winter break of their first year in high school.

That winter, at the same spot, Chi Yao, in his thin sweater, had given his jacket to her, stubbornly claiming he looked cooler that way.

The atmosphere relaxed because of these words.

Chi Yao seemed amused by her. He propped one hand on the edge of the bench, turned his head slightly, and let out a light snort.

As they spoke, Lin Zhexia remembered something very important: “What time is it now?”

Chi Yao reminded her: “My phone is dead.”

She fumbled to pull out her phone, pressed the screen to light it up, and saw “11:58” displayed.

“It’s almost twelve,” she said a bit anxiously.

“What about twelve?”

“Your birthday! I wanted to give you birthday wishes right at twelve o’clock.”

There were just two minutes until midnight, and her twelve o’clock plan was completely disrupted.

According to the plan, she should have timed it perfectly to give Chi Yao the cake.

But now the cake wasn’t with her, and she and Chi Yao were still getting rained on outside.

…

As Lin Zhexia was wondering what to do, while putting her phone back in her pocket, she unexpectedly touched something with hard edges, covered with smooth plastic film.

After two seconds, she remembered it was the package of candles and a lighter that the bakery owner had forgotten to put in the gift box and had run out to give her in the afternoon.

“I have an idea,” Lin Zhexia handed the umbrella she was holding to Chi Yao, “hold this for a moment.”

Chi Yao sat and took the umbrella.

His hands were wet with rain, knuckles bent, subtly holding the umbrella high, tilting the umbrella surface toward her.

“What, performing magic again?”

When Lin Zhexia had celebrated his birthday in a previous year, she had specially learned a clumsy magic trick.

That trick was called making a rose appear out of thin air.

Although her magic that day had been full of accidents, the rose didn’t appear out of nowhere but slid out from her sleeve.

Lin Zhexia also recalled that forgotten embarrassing memory and said: “This magic trick definitely won’t fail, watch carefully.”

After speaking, she took the candles and lighter out of her pocket.

With a “click” sound.

In the dark, rainy night, an unexpectedly small light appeared.

“Chi Yao, happy eighteenth birthday.”

“I prepared a cake for you too, but we’ll have to cut it when you get home—though fortunately, you can make a wish without the cake,” Lin Zhexia held the burning candle and urged, “Hurry up and make a wish.”

“Wishes made on your birthday are the most effective,” she emphasized.

The umbrella was a bit small, and the wind blew from all around.

Chi Yao looked at the candlelight, stunned: “Where did you get the candle?”

Lin Zhexia: “That’s a magician’s secret.”

Chi Yao gave her another look.

She stopped joking and honestly explained: “When I was leaving, the owner almost forgot to give them to me, so I could only put them in my pocket.”

The rain continued to fall.

Chi Yao’s eyes were illuminated by the light for a moment.

He looked at the candlelight that seemed capable of dispelling darkness in the rainy night, and the girl’s delicate profile outlined by the light.

Before Lin Zhexia arrived, these few hours had been blank for him.

After she came, time began to flow again.

Lin Zhexia was afraid the wind would blow out the candle and reminded him: “You should close your eyes when making a wish.”

Chi Yao’s Adam’s apple moved slightly, then he closed his eyes.

At this moment, it was hard for him to think about what “wish” he had.

He fell into a strange illusion where it seemed he had nothing, yet was surrounded by everything. The slight warmth brought by this candle, soft and warm, withstood the fierce wind and rain. It gave him a kind of courage to face whatever might happen.

“Have you made your wish?” Lin Zhexia asked.

Chi Yao responded softly.

“What did you wish for?” she asked again.

After asking, she realized: “No, birthday wishes shouldn’t be told. Don’t…”

Don’t tell me.

Before she could finish, Chi Yao opened his eyes and called her name: “Lin Zhexia.”

As he opened his eyes, the candle happened to go out.

“Let me hug you.”