Together Forever - Chapter 50
Volume 3, Chapter 50: When You Listen To Me (2)
After their brief getaway, Gu Pingsheng’s work schedule became increasingly demanding. Although most of his work was handled by his assistant, and he didn’t have to be at the office every day, important meetings were unavoidable.
Especially with clients in different time zones, his schedule was often unpredictable.
On Christmas Eve, she wandered aimlessly through a mall near his office.
Finally, he messaged her, asking her to come to his office. While she often waited for him after work, she usually avoided going to his office, so she was surprised by his request.
Thankfully, she had made an effort to dress up for Christmas Eve.
His office was on the forty-eighth floor. As she entered the elevator, a well-dressed man, smelling strongly of tobacco, joined her. She was slightly allergic to cigarette smoke and, despite trying to suppress it, sneezed.
“Excuse me,” the man said, smiling.
Tong Yan, her nose itching, didn’t respond.
The man then said something in Japanese, which she didn’t understand, but it sounded like an apology.
Seeing her still rubbing her nose, he looked at her curiously. “Which country are you from?”
“I’m Chinese,” Tong Yan said, her patriotism piqued. “Sorry, I’m allergic to cigarette smoke.”
The man smiled, and she vaguely felt like she had seen him before.
As they nodded politely, the elevator reached the forty-eighth floor, and to their surprise, they both headed towards the same reception area. When they both gave Gu Pingsheng’s name, they exchanged surprised glances.
The receptionist, seeing Tong Yan, looked at her curiously. “Mrs. Gu?”
Tong Yan nodded. “Is he still in a meeting?”
“Yes, his assistant said if a woman came looking for him, it would definitely be Mrs. Gu,” the receptionist said with a friendly smile. “I’ll take you to his office.” She then turned to the man. “May I have your name, please?”
The man, still slightly surprised, finally said, “Luo… Luo Zihao. I’m a friend of TK’s.”
“Mr. Luo?” the receptionist flipped through her appointment book. “You don’t have an appointment. I can show you to the waiting area…” Luo Zihao, slightly flustered, interrupted her. “Can I wait with Mrs. Gu in his office?”
The receptionist hesitated, and Luo Zihao looked at Tong Yan pleadingly, the confident image from the elevator gone, clearly hoping she would intervene and save him from being banished to the waiting area.
Tong Yan had heard of him but had never met him. She hadn’t expected their first encounter to be so… unusual.
She quickly came to his rescue, and once they were inside Gu Pingsheng’s office, they exchanged amused glances. “We’ve been classmates for years, since parochial school,” Luo Zihao explained. “Then I went to Yale, and he went to Penn. I thought I had finally escaped him, but after I dropped out of Yale, I ended up at the same university as him, and then I stayed on as a lecturer.”
“You’re a university lecturer too?” Tong Yan looked at him appraisingly.
“The real deal,” Luo Zihao took out a cigarette, then thought better of it, twirling it between his fingers. “Too bad he dropped out of Penn. Otherwise, I could call him ‘Teacher Gu.’”
Tong Yan chuckled. “Is dropping out a trend? His cousin did the same.”
“Gu Pingfan?” Luo Zihao made a face. “She’s a true idealist, determined to make a difference. I dropped out because of… excessive patriotism. A Chinese student at Yale was expelled because, supposedly, his English wasn’t as good as a native speaker’s. The entire international student body protested, including me.”
“What happened then?”
“The university backed down, and the student switched majors. But my patriotic fervor was still burning, and I couldn't bear to stay, so I transferred to Penn.”
Luo Zihao continued reminiscing, sharing stories about Gu Pingsheng, many of which she had never heard before. Tong Yan, captivated, kept asking for more details. When Gu Pingsheng entered the office, Luo Zihao was in the middle of a dramatic retelling of Gu Pingsheng's wilderness survival skills. Unable to hear what Luo Zihao was saying, he simply smiled at Tong Yan, amused by her laughter.
Luo Zihao turned around. “TK, I have to say, you acted quickly. I saw your wife in the elevator just now, and she’s exactly the type of girl I’ve always imagined, the kind I’ve always said I liked. You know, the kind with eyes that aren’t distinctly black and white, with deep inner corners,” he gestured with his unlit cigarette. “And when she smiles, her eyes curve into crescents. Exquisite.”
Gu Pingsheng sat down beside Tong Yan. “I know. You’ve been copying my taste since we were students.”
Luo Zihao rolled his eyes, then turned to Tong Yan, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Tong Yan, let me tell you a secret. TK once asked me if I had ever been attracted to my students. He acts all righteous, but he’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing. I bet he’d have no qualms about seducing one of his students.”
Tong Yan, playing along, said calmly, “I know. I was his student.”
Luo Zihao, outnumbered, was speechless.
He was about to say something else, then remembered last Christmas, when Gu Pingsheng had mentioned having a girlfriend. He looked at Tong Yan. “So you were together last Christmas?”
Tong Yan didn’t quite understand, but Gu Pingsheng did. “The Mrs. Gu sitting before you is the recipient of that gift I mentioned last Christmas.”
Luo Zihao thought for a moment, then asked Gu Pingsheng, “So your sudden, inexplicable question about whether I liked my students was because of Tong Yan?”
Gu Pingsheng didn't answer.
Luo Zihao finally understood. He put the cigarette in his mouth and, taking Tong Yan’s hand, said solemnly, “Mrs. Gu, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you. My ex-girlfriend had a crush on your husband for years, without success. I’ve been a witness to your relationship, from the very beginning, even before you got together,” he mumbled through the cigarette. “An unwitting witness.”
Tong Yan finally understood why he had seemed familiar.
He had been with Gu Pingsheng at Ding Xin Wang last Christmas.
Since the meeting ended late, most restaurants were closed, so Tong Yan suggested they eat at her place. Luo Zihao readily agreed, joining them for a home-cooked meal.
He was a charming conversationalist, and even her grandmother liked him.
As he left, he reminded Tong Yan to take him out for dinner sometime.
“He said that girls at your university were… very forward. They would stick their legs out the window, or…” Tong Yan, struggling to find the right words, gestured vaguely, “…and the boys would have to guess their names based on… what they saw?”
Gu Pingsheng chuckled, wondering what else Luo Zihao had told her. “There are… uninhibited girls everywhere. Even Prince William’s fiancée enjoyed such antics at university, and America is even more… liberal. Of course, there are also more conservative girls.”
“The point is, did you… participate?”
“I think so.”
“You think so?”
“Yes.”
“Yes?”
Gu Pingsheng sighed. “Mrs. Gu, I’m a doctor, so… those things are just… anatomy to me.”
Tong Yan considered this, then, after a moment, asked, slightly apprehensive, “So… when you look at me, do you see… anatomy?” The thought was slightly unsettling…
“What do you think?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking.”
Gu Pingsheng leaned back against the pillows, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Mrs. Gu, your question makes me wonder if you’re… dissatisfied with our… marital relations.”
She was speechless.
She still had many unanswered questions.
Luo Zihao, with his different perspective, had revealed things she hadn’t known before, such as Gu Pingsheng's speech therapy after losing his hearing. According to Luo Zihao, it hadn't been necessary; he could have used a hearing aid.
She had asked him about hearing aids before.
He had simply said he didn't want to wear one, not yet.
Luo Zihao’s explanation, however, was more insightful. “I don’t mind that he doesn’t wear a hearing aid. He had speech therapy, and he says he’ll continue with regular vocal exercises. But the reason behind it… isn't good. You know about his mother. I think he hasn’t overcome that trauma.”
She thought about everything he had told her, and the rumors she had overheard at the hospital.
His mother had committed suicide, and he had said he could have saved her if he had been more attentive, if he had listened more carefully…
Even now, his words were vague, omitting many details.
Her thoughts were a jumble.
But she understood. Some things were best left unsaid, until the right time. Like her own reasons for refusing to sign the consent form for her mother’s surgery, why she had borrowed money from him, why she had insisted on leaving the remaining money from selling the apartment with him.
These were her secrets, her unspoken burdens.
She tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Gu Pingsheng, noticing her restlessness, looked down at her. “What’s wrong?”
She hesitated for a moment, then looked up at him. “Nothing.”
She then snuggled closer, tightening her embrace.
After a moment of silence, she climbed on top of him, took the book from his hand, and tossed it onto the nightstand. “Do you remember what we were doing this time last year?”
“Watching a movie,” he chuckled. “So, what do you want to do this year?”
As soon as he spoke, he leaned down, kissing her gently, his hand reaching for the lamp.
Comments
Post a Comment