After the college entrance exams, during the golden summer vacation, the class monitor organized a gathering for two classes. By then, every girl had quietly started to become more beautiful. Qianye also wore a light green dress, fresh and elegant, highlighting her fair complexion, delicate features, and waist-length hair. Zhou Ran, on the other hand, wore the most fashionable two-piece dress of the moment—a nude-colored sheer fabric that looked breathtakingly graceful.

All the previous concerns seemed to dissolve as they approached their parting. Zhou Ran took the microphone and sang “Liqiu” (The Beginning of Autumn), each note tinged with sadness. At the end of the song, she said, “This song is for you, Qianye. I hope we can still be good friends in the future.”

Qianye felt Zhou Ran’s sincere wish and, suddenly, a pang of bittersweetness rose in her chest. She looked up and met Zhou Ran’s gaze, the tension between them melting away. They shared a knowing smile, as if they had returned to the days of sitting next to each other. At some point, someone suggested that both Class 3 and Class 4 take a group photo to commemorate the moment. Everyone eagerly agreed. Finally, just as the camera clicked, a beam of light captured her and him in a small, eternal moment. Han Chao stood just behind and to the right of her, a fleeting eternity.

The sound system continued playing the accompaniment to “Liqiu,” with the lyrics softly repeating, “Some things must flow with the wind, some things must enter dreams, some things stay forever in the heart…” And Han Chao, you are destined to stay in my heart forever.

The entire summer vacation passed by with Qianye feeling bored and aimless, so she spent most of her time reading novels. Zhao Nanzhuo commented that she was wasting her life away in a dreamlike stupor.

In the end, she decided to find a part-time job at a book cafe, where she continued reading novels. As the time for registration at university drew closer, Qianye kept hoping that Han Chao would invite her to go to school with him. But right up until the day before departure, he never contacted her.

After the exams, Qianye spent her days either reading or obsessively checking Han Chao’s MSN space. She memorized every word he said, every comment, every status update, and every reply. She could recite them all by heart, but still couldn’t resist clicking on his page every time, revisiting the same messages, reliving his presence. Then she would delete the visitor record, erasing all traces of her visit.

The day before departure, she walked into her high school classroom and passed by their old class, where she saw the empty seat where he used to sit. A wave of sadness washed over her. He had never said he was going with her; there had been no promise. Why had she held such high expectations?

The next day, she boarded the train to Beijing, while Zhao Nanzhuo insisted on accompanying her. He said she might get so lost in her novels that she would end up getting lost herself, and since his school started later, he could play around a bit. He also said that he’d already bought the train ticket and it was too late to back out. The 20-hour train ride felt exceptionally long, and Zhao Nanzhuo didn’t say much. He kept stealing glances at her, his imagination stirred by the faint glimpse of her shoulder straps behind her slender figure. As night fell, they sat in their seats, watching the fleeting scenery outside the window.

Without realizing it, he fell asleep. When he woke up, Qianye had already drifted off. After a while, they both lost their sleepiness. She looked up and met his clear eyes.

“Zhao Nanzhuo, do you still like me?” Though this was the last leg of the train journey, Qianye’s bold question startled him.

“Did you suddenly realize how good I am, and now you want to turn things around and accept me?” he joked.

“Pfft, I just saw how lonely and pitiful you are, and I’m warning you—you’d better accept Zhou Ran, or you’ll regret it later,” she teased.

Zhao Nanzhuo fell silent. We’ll stick to our own paths, he thought. You don’t have to accept me, but you can’t stop me from liking you.

“I love you, but it has nothing to do with you,” he wanted to say.

Qianye wasn’t unaffected by his words. Over these years, she had given so much of herself, as if trying to drain every emotion. But love is the pain that won’t let go. Late into the night, in her drowsy state, she felt Zhao Nanzhuo gently place a kiss on her cheek, a kiss that felt like a goodbye, full of sadness. When morning came, the train pulled into Beijing Station, and he wished this journey had no end.

He carried her luggage and escorted her to the dormitory, but couldn’t help but wander around G University for a while, imagining what her life here would be like. Suddenly, he received a message from her: “I’m sorry, thank you.”

He took one last look at her university, boarded the train back alone, and the kiss from last night, light as a butterfly’s wing, gradually grew cold.