Part 19: Realization
Wei Wei isn’t worried since the Great Master has never come late, but it’s also normal for him to be a few minutes behind. The clock continues ticking; 7:45pm comes before she knows it. Wei Wei is starting to worry. Although she knows that NaiHe is not online, she can’t help but to send him a message——
“Are you there?”
Naturally, she doesn’t get a response.
Two minutes later, she sends another one. Wei Wei stops sending them after a while and refreshes NaiHe’s name continuously instead; the system reminds her repeatedly that the player is not online, so she cannot refresh his profile.
YuGong, MonkeyWine, and the others are also in grey.
Not online.
7:50pm.
Wei Wei shows up in front of the NPC at the entrance by herself. The team setup symbol sits on top of her avatar, but she is the only one present in the team.
Many players have already started to gather around the NPC; the top couples elimination rounds and the finals are open for an audience to watch. These people standing outside are all waiting to buy tickets to go inside. But they’re getting curious as to why ReedWeiWei (HumbleReed) is standing there alone, so they start discussing in front of her.
[Local][BugGnawingLettuce]: “How come there’s only ReedWeiWei? Where’s ASmileNaiHe (WhyNotJustSmile)?”
[Local][FishingWire]: “He’s not going to be late, is he?”
[Local][963]: “It’s such an important competition and he’s late?”
[Local][NotWearingUndiesIsVeryRefreshing]: “There’s still ten minutes, so no need to be anxious. Top expert players always come late.”
7:55pm.
Wei Wei ignores all the discussions and calmly leaves NaiHe a message——”I’m waiting for you in front of the NPC at the entrance. Just come over directly.”
The bystanders continue their discussions.
[Local][DingDingCleanse]: “There’s not much time left. How come he’s still not here?”
[Local][RocketTurtle1.0]: “Could it be that he’s not coming?”
[Local][IdiotBaby]: “Holy, could history repeat, and these two are also getting a divorce?”
[Local][daydreamer]: “Doesn’t seem like so. If they’re divorcing, why would ReedWeiWei still be standing here?”
[Local][ThunderboltCallsWow]: “I’d say, maybe ReedWeiWei got dumped again!”
8pm.
More and more friends are messaging Wei Wei at this point. Wei Wei opens and closes them one by one. In the end, she clicks on her mouse and closes her chat window with NaiHe.
The crowd slowly dissipates.
[Local][①SingleForLife]: “Let’s leave, let’s leave. Old man here is bored.”
[Local][☆CheNing☆]: “Yet I thought we were gonna see an awesome PK competition today. Good thing I didn’t buy a ticket.”
[Local][DogTailGrass]: “It’s like hogging the toilet and refusing to take a dump. If you’re not going in to compete, why aren’t you leaving? The other server is getting crowned the champion without a fight. Disgusted.”
[Local][jager]: “You can’t really say that. If it weren’t for ReedWeiWei and ASmileNaiHe, our server might not have made it to the finals.”
[Local][RoManTic]: “Let’s wait and see. There’s still 3 minutes of preparation time. They can still enter the competition during the 3 minutes.”
[Local][July]: “I don’t think he’s coming. Sigh, I think ReedWeiWei is quite pitiful.”
[Local][LittleRainMianMian (ContinuousLittleRain)]: “She is quite pitiful indeed, hoho.”
8:02pm.
Wei Wei clicks on the NPC, wanting to enter the arena herself, but the NPC prompts: “You must enter the arena with your husband.”
8:03pm.
The system bot announces that due to ASmileNaiHe and ReedWeiWei forfeiting, the couple from another server is the winner of the PK competition.
8:03pm.
Wei Wei exits the online game.
*********
“I think there’s something wrong with Wei Wei for these past two days.”
Xiao Ling says prudently at night in their dorm room as she fixes her gaze on Wei Wei, who is wearing headphones and doing something on the computer.
“That’s normal. It’s exam time. She turns into a vicious monster every examination period,” Er Xi answers without lifting her head as she continues to write with a pen.
“But she’s not playing games online.”
“That’s normal. If she plays games right now, she won’t be able to get a scholarship. If she can’t get a scholarship, she won’t have money to play games next semester,” Er Xi continues to write without pausing and asks, “How come you still have the time to care about Wei Wei? Weren’t you full of tears just the day before? How’s Da Zhong doing?”
“He’s fine. He did it to himself. It was his fourth-year seniors having a graduation dinner and he was thick-skinned enough to tag along. See what happens? They get into an accident.”
Xiao Ling gets angry from talking about it and starts criticizing her boyfriend, and neglects Wei Wei.
Wei Wei, who is immersed in her own world, obviously doesn’t know that her roommates have been talking about her. She is busy watching the video of the female thief abducting a man. She has not been on the game for the past two days; besides studying, she has been watching the video over and over again. Even when she does not want to play it, after memorizing some vocabs, she can’t resist watching. Her heart feels stuffy, and the feeling just won’t go away; it seems to feel a bit better only when she watches the video.
Or more precisely, only when she sees that silhouette.
ASmileNaiHe.
ASmileNaiHe.
Wei Wei repeats his name in her heart as she stares blankly at the computer screen.
On the screen, the white robed musician is standing on Sunset Summit accompanied with simple and depressing music. The shadow of his back looks lonely and desolated; it reminds Wei Wei of how she felt when she stood in front of the NPC by herself to enter the arena that day.
She was probably in a panic at the time.
She wasn’t angry because she was stood up or because she couldn’t compete. She felt helpless, anxiety, and fright. In the very last few minutes, she couldn’t stop thinking——
How come NaiHe is still not here?
Could it be that he is never coming back?
There are too many players who leave without saying goodbyes; could NaiHe also disappear this way?
She can’t stop herself from watching the video for the past few days. She keeps thinking——In the years to come, could this video be the only evidence that she and NaiHe have once been together……
Sigh~~~~~
Wei Wei lies powerlessly on her bed and don’t know what to say about herself.
How did she suddenly come up with this absurd and ridiculous train of thought? Maybe NaiHe couldn’t come because something came up. Why is she taking the matter so seriously? Furthermore, all she needs to do is to log into the game to see if NaiHe has really disappeared for good. Why is she refusing to sign in?~~~~
Her thoughts continue to be in a mess while the story of the female thief comes to an end; the music plays mournfully as the image pauses on the white robed musician and the red clothed heroine until it fades to white.
Wei Wei wipes her tears. The video is so incredibly good that she is in tears again after watching it. To be honest, the video is very moving when you watch it the first time, but after you watch it many times, you’ll become numb.
But she’s actually crying again this time….
Wei Wei stares at the image of the elegant white robed musician, and slowly and silently, a strong sense of realization crosses her heart……
She quickly snaps her laptop close, throws away her headphones, and buries her head underneath her pillow.
Oh no, oh no, she has become sentimental all of a sudden.
Oh no……
She seems to have fallen in love.
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