A Lovely Girl Turning into a Rat

In a cinema, Chen Qi and Dong Ci sat in the last row of a projection hall watching the movie, Helen Of Troy. It was safe here. The sound of shouting and ancient weapons crashing filled the hall and masked the conversation between Chen Qi and Dong Ci. Most people in the projection hall were couples. They were whispering, and none of them cared whether there was an insane murderer sitting here and watching the movie with them. So, they were safe.

“Where’s your husband?” Chen Qi asked,

“He is working overtime. By the way, he is not my husband. We’re not married yet.” Dong Ci corrected him.

Chen Qi held Dong Ci’s hand tightly, as if he would never let go of her.

Tears rolled down her cheeks.

“I don’t want to marry him.” Dong Ci put her head on Chen Qi’s shoulder. “I want to be with you.”

“We can’t be together.” Chen Qi said, “You will be happy with him.”

Dong Ci raised her voice, “You are not me. How can you be so sure that I will be happy with him? ‘You will be happy with him’, everyone says so. But none of them have really put themselves in my shoes. Even if you are right, I don’t want to live without you. You loved me so much in the previous life. Why do you want to leave me now? Why? We’ve just found each other. I don’t want to leave you.”

“What about your fiancé?”

“I know I owe him a lot. I will repay him in the next life.”

“I will have to hide myself from place to place. If you stay with me, you will live a hard life.”

“I want to stay with you forever!” Dong Ci looked steadfastly at Chen Qi. “I’m not afraid of death. I’m just afraid of living without you.”

“You are really annoying. I won’t come to see you again. Forget me and marry him. He’s a perfect match for you.” Chen Qi looked into her eyes and continued, “I really like you. But to be honest, you are not my style.”

“You liar!” Dong Ci cried, “You are a selfish liar! You don’t want to take me with you. You don’t want to look after me. You were talking incoherently. You are a lunatic!”

“Yes, I am a lunatic. All I want is to sleep with you.” Chen Qi detached his arm from Dong Ci’s grip and stopped talking.

The projection hall suddenly lit up because the projector broke down in the middle of the movie. Some people heckled, shouted abuse and claimed a refund. Some people asked for a replay. Some women sat in their seats and looked at their beloved men while crying sadly. Some men stared at their beloved women, sighing and feeling helpless. No matter how they felt and what they wanted, they had to leave the cinema in the end.

‘Life is like a movie. After the show, I have to part with you, though I am reluctant. I don’t know if we will see each other again. But I will miss you very much, Ci,’ he thought to himself.

Chen Qi kissed Dong Ci under the streetlight and said, “Promise me you will be happy.”

Mosquitoes flew round and round over her head. She looked up at the mosquitoes and said, “Only by your side can I be happy.”

“I am going. I won’t disturb your life anymore.” Chen Qi said, “You will forget me by and by. Marry your fiance and be a good wife.”

“You’re not me. How can you be sure that I will forget you soon?”

“I have to go now. It’s time for our relationship to come to an end.” Chen Qi turned and walked away.

Lovers didn’t always break up on a rainy day. Autumn was not the only season to say good-bye. It could be on a sunny day, on a lovely starlit night, under the streetlight in summer and even on the phone. You could break up with your beloved whenever and wherever you liked.

With his back to Dong Ci, tears that Chen Qi had been holding back for a long time began to spill out. ‘I’m sorry, Ci. I can’t be with you,’ he whispered in his heart.

For Dong Ci, an apology was never enough to compensate for the pain of being separated from him.Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.

Everything seemingly remained unchanged. But in essence, everything was changing quietly. Dong Ci crouched on the ground and gazed at his receding figure, crying in an uncontrolled, hopeless way. The dim street light illuminated her pale face. She murmured in a choked voice, “If you don’t love me, why did you approach me and bring me so much happiness? If you love me, how can you bear to make me sad by leaving me?”

If she had known that things would turn out this way, she would rather she had never met him.

“The Buddhist abbot!” Dong Ci ran madly towards the temple. “He can send me back to the past. He can show me the way…”

The temple was dark. Dong Ci knocked at the gate. Before long, a handsome monk came out in a fluster and asked, “Can I help you with something?”

“Where is your abbot? I want to see him.” Dong Ci grabbed him by the collar.

The handsome monk burst into tears and asked, “Are you Miss Dong?”

Dong Ci nodded, “Yes. Take me to your abbot. He remembers my name. He knows me.”

The handsome monk took out a note from an inside pocket and handed it to Dong Ci. “Our abbot has just passed away. Before he died, he asked me to give you this note when you came. Amitabha!”

There were several lines on the note: “You two are doomed to be separated. Stop looking for him, because you will never meet him again. Let go of your past and salvation is at hand. In the end, please cherish the one who is with you now.”

Gathering and separation were always capricious. Since he left, she shed tears every night, but no one would kiss her tears away; she drowned her sorrows, but no one would hold her in his arms and stopped her from heavy drinking. Her beloved was gone.