Once she got back to her own unit, Xiao Lei broke down the moment she closed the door behind her.
She started to cry loudly. "Arghhhh... Yuexue... Why..."
She slammed her fist down on the floor continuously until the bottom of her fist started to bruise.
"Argh!" There was an anger in her eyes as she hissed, "Fan Chuan! This is all your fault! You caused all this! I wish I can kill you with my own hands!"
To Xiao Lei, everything happened because of her uncle. If he did not kill her parents, if he had left her alone, if she were there... then Wu Yuexue would not have died in such a young age!
After crying at the door for a good 10 minutes, Xiao Lei dragged herself back to the couch. She lay with her face down on the couch... After sobbing for another 5 minutes, she took out her old dirty wallet and looked at the picture that she took with Xiao Yunjie and Xiao Zhihao during the latter's 9th birthday.
They had saved up for an entire year so that they could take Xiao Zhihao to the theme park. When they were there, Xiao Zhihao had asked for a family photo at one of those beautifully decorated photo booths.
Since then, Xiao Lei had been keeping that photo in her wallet. It was one of her most treasured possession. As she looked at her husband's face in the photo, she sobbed softly, "Yunjie... Come back quickly... Please... Please don't..."
She was afraid to say it. Xiao Yunjie loved her and their son the most, and there was only one reason why he had not returned to them even after two years.
Even though she had an idea of what might have happened to him, Xiao Lei shook her head. She refused to believe it.
"If you keep thinking about it, then it would be true..." Xiao Lei murmured to herself. As she gently rubbed the photo with her thumb, she murmured, "Xiao Yunjie, you are just lost somewhere out there, right? You'll get back to us, right? I'll wait for you here... You'll definitely find me... Don't make me wait for too long..."
...
After everyone got dressed, just as they were about to leave, Tian Le suddenly recalled something. He had already put on one of his shoes before he kicked it off and dashed back into the house.
"Tian Le?" Lu Ziyan called out. "We're going to be late!"
"Ah! Wait! I told Xiao Lei that I'd lend her the game console. Give me 5 minutes!" Tian Le yelled as he rushed back into his room to pack up the game console.
Han Ye and Lu Ziyan exchanged glances, but they did not say anything. While both of them had good feelings toward Xiao Lei, she was still a stranger to them. However, they also knew that Tian Le was old enough to decide whether or not he wanted to share his toys.
At this point in their lives, the game console meant nothing to them. They just hoped that no one would try to take advantage of their little brother who, as just shown, tended to share his things even with people he just met.
"He's too used to sharing his things with others..." Lu Ziyan said wryly.
Han Ye agreed. However, he said, "He's a smart boy. I think he just doesn't value these kinds of things too highly. If it's something that he really likes, he won't just let anybody touch it."
"I hope so..." Lu Ziyan sighed. They then waited outside the door with the stuff that they wanted Tian Le to bring back to the dorm.
When Tian Le was done, he joined them and as he quickly put on his shoes, he said, "I'll give this to her..."
He then went to Xiao Lei's door and knocked on it. When there was no response, he tried again, louder this time. Lu Ziyan and Han Ye had joined him by now, and they waited outside for her.
"Is she not in?" Tian Le murmured as he glanced at the bag he used to keep the console in.
Just as he was about to walk away, the door was opened and out walked Xiao Lei with messed up hair and red, swollen eyes.
"Erm..." Xiao Lei rubbed her eyes as she tried to focus. Her eyes stung and felt sensitive at the moment, and she could only see out of slits. "Tian Le?"
"Sister Xiao Lei, are you alright? Why are your eyes so-?" Tian Le stopped speaking when he felt a slap at his waist. When he glanced back, he saw Lu Ziyan shaking his head at him.
He immediately knew what was going on. She was crying earlier.
He then quickly changed the topic as he said with a smile, "Sister Xiao Lei, this is the game console. Do you need help setting it up?"
Xiao Lei smiled and shook her head. "I'll figure it out myself."
"Well, there's a note with my phone number inside, in case you need help... Otherwise, you can just ask Brother Ziyan or Brother Han Ye to come and set it up for you."
Xiao Lei nodded. She glanced at Han Ye, and she wondered how he made it through. When they were kids, she could already see his feelings for Wu Yuexue. So, she was not at all surprised that they were married.
However, the news about her death was what surprised her, and she was somewhat angry that Han Ye moved on so fast... and she might have inadvertently stared at him with malicious looking eyes.
For Han Ye who had no idea what was happening, he was slightly taken aback by her stare. He thought for a moment before he said in a hushed tone, "Erm, is everything alright, Xiao Lei? Are you still constipated?"
Xiao Lei scoffed, "None of your business!"
Her tone startled the other two, who exchanged glances before they stared at Han Ye. Both of them were thinking, "What has he done to her before?"
As for Han Ye, he was more confused than ever.
Xiao Lei closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she lied through her teeth. "I'm sorry... I dreamed that you stole my favorite food away from me earlier..."
Hearing her explanation, Han Ye chuckled. "That's fine. We are going out for dinner now. See you soon..."
"Sister Xiao Lei, I'd invite you if we are going out for dinner at a restaurant, but we're going to my godmother's place to eat, and it's not proper for me to invite you there…" Tian Le said with an apologetic tone, which was unnecessary because they just met each other.
No matter how quickly they warmed up to each other, they were still strangers who just met this morning.
Xiao Lei smiled at him and nodded. "Ah, don't worry about me. I took out the chicken from the freezer to defrost earlier. I'm going to make curry chicken for dinner tonight."
"Curry? Man, I want some..." Tian Le said with a jealous expression. He was salivating with just the idea of home-cooked curry.
Xiao Lei laughed softly and said, "Let me know when you're coming back next time. I'll cook curry just for you."
"Great! Let's have a mini neighbor gathering next time. Han Ye is a pretty good cook too!"
"Really?" Xiao Lei asked as she looked at Han Ye. Her anger from earlier had been contained, and she smiled at him.
"Yeah…" Han Ye nodded, slightly embarrassed.
"Great! Let's have a potluck/mini gathering next time then!" Xiao Lei said as she used all her strength to put up a bright smile as she waved them goodbye.
As they turned to leave, Lu Ziyan noticed something that made him frowned a little.
....