The door to Yang Zheyan's room in the hallway was locked. So Xiong Jingfei tried the alternate door that connected their rooms together. Once Xiong Jingfei unlocked the five locks she installed on her side, it clicked and opened.
The locks were only on her side of the door, and Yang Zheyan didn't bother to install any on his side.
When she finally saw the inside of his bedroom, it wasn't as luxurious as she thought. It was… A total representation of how Yang Zheyan was as a person. Clean, light colors, and calming vibes.
She let go of Pompom to roam freely in the room. While she was looking around, there wasn't much to see. Nothing stood out or piqued her interest. No hidden compartment to a secret hidden room. Nothing!
Borning, she pouted. There wasn't any dirt she could hold over his head!
Xiong Jingfei snapped her finger at Pompom to follow her out of Yang Zheyan's room. For the first time, he disobeyed her and refused to follow her order. He was wagging his tail with his tongue sticking out.
She snapped again at Pompom, but he still refused to follow her out. He actually barked, and it was rare to hear his tiny barking.
Xiong Jingfei closed the connecting door to their bedrooms. She went to where Pompom was barking at and prancing around.
Pompom was interested in a covered canvas with a white sheet.
She didn't know how she missed such a huge canvas leaning against the wall! Well, at least there was one thing that she wanted to look at in Yang Zheyan's room.
Right as she was about to pull down the cover, her hands backed off. There was nothing on this canvas to use against Yang Zheyan. What she wanted was dirt to blackmail him!
Tsk, Yang Zheyan might be home at any moment! He hasn't come home since last night, so that means there was a high chance of him coming back tonight. She figured after living in the same place with him for half a month. She eventually caught onto his pattern.
She bent over and picked up Pompom. But, he rejected her and moved closer to the canvas. Since she was unwilling to uncover the painting herself. Pompom grabbed the sheet with his mouth and pulled it down.
Pompom! Xiong Jingfei shouted, clapping her hand together to show her disapproval.
However, when she looked up at the canvas. There was something about it that her eyes couldn't look away.
The last time, Lu Weisheng uncrumpled sketches of a dancing woman. This time, Xiong Jingfei discovered the dancing woman now in colors on a canvas almost as tall as her.
It was no longer merely a pencil sketch. The woman's dress had colors, the cranes came to life, and her flirtatious smile was in a rosy-colored shade. Surrounding her was a single maidenhair tree as if its leaves were falling down.
Similar to the tree that was in Yang Zheyan's parents' backyard.
Everything appeared to be complete, all except for the face. The same areas where Yang Zheyan was having a struggle with.
Then, it was as if the dancing woman in the picture came to life. She danced and twirled, meanwhile laughing like she was intoxicated. The painted dancing woman sat down and talked as if she was talking to someone else in the painted canvas. Yet there was no one else in the painting made by Yang Zheyan besides her.
Then as if someone was responding to her, that person played the guzheng. Even Xiong Jingfei heard plucking of the string.
['Zheyan, only one day left until we become husband and wife.']
Xiong Jingfei unconsciously reached out to touch the painting. Who is this woman? There wasn't a sense of being afraid of something so out of this world and never seen before. A painted woman actually dancing! It was something that was not registering in her head to be cautious of.
"Don't touch it!"
Xiong Jingfei quickly turned around, and her fingers barely brushed against the canvas. Instead, it hit a red paint can with a loose lid.
Yang Zheyan ran as fast as his long legs would allow him, but he was still a step too late.
The knocked over red paint splashed across the canvas. It didn't get anywhere else really, besides right across the woman's neck and her lips. As if she sputtered out blood and it dripped down her white craned dress.
The red paint can clang against the wooden floor, bringing chills down Xiong Jingfei's body. The rolling of the can told her, she wasn't allowed to move from her place. Then the small tap of the can at her feet was like a frozen block of ice.
"What are you doing!" Yang Zheyan shouted, his very first time ever raising his voice at Xiong Jingfei.
His shoulder was quivering with a sense of anger he never felt before. Not even Lu Weisheng was capable of bringing this type of feeling out of him. He tried to wipe the paint off the canvas, but it wasn't helping and only made it worse.
Xiong Jingfei couldn't answer or shake her head.
He stood up and grabbed her by the shoulders with his red-painted hands, "Do you realize what you have done!"
Yang Zheyan's piercing cold voice felt like it sliced Xiong Jingfei into two. A voice very unlike him, not the Yang Zheyan in a calm manner or his flirtatious tone.
Xiong Jingfei acknowledges she destroyed an art piece he was working very hard on. However, that wasn't the reason why she couldn't answer him. It was the canvas… It was the dancing woman in the canvas that was covered with blood.
Yang Zheyan let go of her shoulder and pushed himself away from her. This drawing itself took him days! Then it took even more days when he couldn't find the right color to paint the dress and the designs. It took him longer to mix paint to find the right match.
What was even more stressful to Yang Zheyan was drawing the woman's face. He couldn't believe in one split second of a mistake. It was all destroyed because Xiong Jingfei entered his room uninvited.
Xiong Jingfei was pushed back a little when Yang Zheyan pushed himself away. Her eyes never once moved over to Yang Zheyan. She heard his voice, but her eyes were glued to the canvas.
Yang Zheyan's voice returned to the same calm old him, "Feifei… Hey, what's wrong?"
He only found himself able to calm down when he saw how dead her eyes became. It was as if her soul was no longer part of her body. It had flown away to somewhere far and in a different time era. Only her body remained with him.
Yang Zheyan was becoming regretful that he yelled at her over a painting. He pulled her into his embrace and apologized over and over.
"I'm sorry… I apologize for yelling at you. I shouldn't have."
He had seen those eyes of hers two times. The first time was when he found her in the abandoned building. Desperate eyes and abandonment.
The second time was in the hotel when she slipped in the bathroom. His heart ached for her when she looked like she was screaming, but there was no sound. She was forcing the robe off her body, not even realizing he entered. There she had on eyes of terror and pain, just like what she has on right now.
These are the times when he doesn't have any idea what is going on in her head. What is she thinking about? She was usually so easy to read, but right now, he was struggling to find the right words. What was she afraid of?
Yang Zheyan followed her line of sight, and it was on the canvas. He let go of Xiong Jingfei and covered it with the white sheet.
At that moment, you can hear a sigh of relief from Xiong Jingfei. The coldness imprisoning her body melted away like snow. Her iced heart thumped once again, and the frozen crystal water in her eyes dropped one after another.
The next time Xiong Jingfei opened her eyes, she was back in her room and was lying on her bed. For what felt like forever to Xiong Jingfei, she didn't move or change her position.
It's been a long time now... She finally met Ai again in her dream, but not through the usual dreams. It was through their old meeting in that pitch-black room. Ai sat on the rock bench and had her back turned towards Xiong Jingfei as always.
Then it started, Ai's quiet crying growing louder and louder by the seconds. When it turned to wails, that is when Xiong Jingfei knew it was time for her to wake up.
Except, this time, it was different. When Ai's voice was wailing and screaming things out of her mouth. For the first time, she heard those cursed words from Ai's mouth loud and clear.
['A broken, unfulfilled promise…']
['In this life, I followed you. In the next life, you will follow me!']