NOVEL WEB The flowers arrived at lunchtime, Ziyu Ai put the chopsticks down and walked to the door.
He didn’t order a bouquet but pots of flowers, about thirty pots of jasmine, all blooming. As Ziyu Ai helped the seller move the pots into the living from his van, Zhishu He stuck his head out and watched.
“Nice flowers.” Ziyu Ai paid the bills and returned very quickly. He had been in contact with this flower seller for more than a week; every pot was well checked, otherwise, there would be another ten pots more.
Zhishu He was a bit astonished. He watched so many pots of jasmine lining up to the foot of that Phoebe folding screen. The fragrance of blossoms suffused the whole house.
Zhishu He got up and walked over, his heart touched by a very light poke.
“Do you like them?” Ziyu Ai held Zhishu’s hand in a smile, “There’re no blossoms in our garden but we can get some in our room…”
“I like them very much.” Zhishu He looked at Ziyu with moistened eyes. He leaned over and gave him a hug. “Thank you.”
No one cared about lunch anymore. They sat on the couch. Zhishu He stared at the flowers with Ziyu Ai by his side in silence.
“Jasmine was my grandpa’s favorite. Jasmines were all over our garden since I could remember,” Zhishu He smiled, he was more than talking to himself than speaking with Ziyu Ai, “The first thing Wenxu Jiang said to me was why do I smell so good? I could still remember, the next day, I picked a pocket full of flowers. I put several buds on every cluster in case they lost the fragrance and I dared not to let my grandfather see.” It was the first time Zhishu He mentioned his and Wenxu’s old story. He wasn’t being reminiscent or regretful or sarcastic, he was calm and gentle as always.
“At the time, Wenxu Jiang was so careful when he looked things up in those pages because he put the flowers everywhere in the book and he cherished them. For a very long time, the strong smell of jasmine was all over our classroom, even on his sport shirt,” Zhishu lowered his eyelids; his flicking eyelashes were like butterfly wings, “Every time I went back home, I could smell jasmine from a distance. It was like the guidance on my way home. Back then… it was like the best smell in the whole world to me.”
Zhishu He’s eyes dimmed, and his voice told bitterness. “But then the garden was left unattended after my grandpa passed away. No one in my family was willing to take care of those plants.”
Ziyu Ai held him in his arms and solaced him with the strokes on his black hair and his back.
“Thank you, Ziyu Ai,” Zhishu He’s sound was extremely light, “I will never forget you… If people’s souls do linger after they die, I will trace the fragrance to your garden and living room and I will be your house guardian.” The last part was more like a joke.
“I have myself to thank, too. I have spent the luck of my whole life to be with you,” Ziyu Ai kissed Zhishu He’s eyelashes, “I love you… forever.”
The two greatest shames in this world: one is the death you cannot resist; the other is the love you cannot own. Aiyu Zi suddenly wanted to cry.
Wenxu Jiang had gone back to the company. He worked harder than he ever would, leaving no time to rest for himself, he practically lived in his office. But every lonely night, he would look at his empty office in his leather seat and let his mind wander. He couldn’t help thinking about Zhishu He.
He slightly stroked the picture of Zhishu in his sleep on his phone and muttered, “Are you… doing fine? I have been taking care of your birthday present… It was an Akita. You cried so hard when you watched the movie, Hachi: A Dog’s Tale and you begged me half a month for a puppy… When your operation is finished, you can play with it.”
What Ziyu Ai said on Zhishu’s birthday pushed Wenxu Jiang to the edge of his mental breakdown but he made it through eventually. Wenxu Jiang told himself that it was karma. After everything he had done, he had no right to question anything. He only deserved pain. He still worried a lot when he was over it. Maybe Ziyu Ai tricked or forced him; maybe he hurt Zhishu; maybe Zhishu was too feeble to stand the intensity… Even he didn’t break down, he was nearly insane.
Someone knocked on his office door; Wenxu Jiang put his phone away and said in a low voice, “Come in.”
Assistant Song walked in with a fluffy creature in his arms. “Boss… it has been vaccinated.” He was doing too much for him while he was just a business assistant.
“Take care of it these days, please. It’s just two months old, it’s delicate. I’ll take Zhishu to your place to cuddle it.”
Assistant Song stood still; not until the puppy licked his face several times, did he come to sense. He held the dog to his office in a wry smile.
Wenxu Jiang got a phone call shortly after his assistant left. He looked at the number, it was Jingwen Zhang.
“Jiangwen?” Wenxu lighted up a cigarette and asked, “What?”
Jingwen Zhang sounded a little agitated, “Do you know? Xia Cheng… Xia Cheng’s dead.”
Wenxu Jiang went blank. “Which Xia Cheng?”
“Zekun Li’s Xia Cheng,” Jiangwen Zhang exhaled hard several times, “I have asked around and I was told he had a severe rejection reaction within half a month, very severe GVHR. He died in operation room… Zekun Li went crazy right away, he nearly beat the head doctor to death. No one could stop him until then Mayor Li came…” What Jingwen Zhang didn’t say was that Zekun Li collapsed on the ground; he even ignored his father’s arrival. He kept crying, mumbling how successful the operation was and they hadn’t got time to take a look at their marriage certificate mailed from the UK…
Jiangwen Zhang thought of Wenxu Jiang right away. If one day, Zhishu was gone… Wenxu Jiang would be more desperate then Zekun Li.