Novel Full 397 The golden clock
As Jun was contemplating what Xie Nuying said, the cat perched inside the cardboard box suddenly jumped outside on Jun’s lap. She raised her front legs and placed them on the window while continuously meowing.
Xie Nuying asked, “What happened to her?”
*Meow*
She softly but relentlessly howled.
Jun slightly widened his eyes. “I don’t know.”
The cat was staring outside and with her paws was scratching on the windows while howling from time to time. The cab had come to a halt because of a traffic signal.
Jun looked outside and recognized a particular building and location very clearly.
Dream High…
He didn’t realize that Dream High fell on the way to the cat shelter. He slightly stiffened, recalling the same place where he had died in his last life.
He stared unblinkingly at the same road where was driving at a high speed and eventually crashed into Dream High’s entrance. Suddenly from day and sunshine, it was as if that fateful night of darkness enveloped his vision. It was as if the scene replayed in his mind.
A heartbroken Jun who was ready to give up on his life. A guilty Jun who couldn’t bear the brunt of his brother and mother’s death. The ominous crashing sound when his car hit the building and his blood was slowly seeping out of his body. The screams of panicked people upon seeing a car crash.
And the moment when he got a glimpse of Ai for the first time…and the last time too as they held their hands together, taking their last breaths.
Jun unconsciously shuddered and trembled. His breath got stuck in his throat. He had dreams of his suicide before. At times, he recalled those memories again and again. But this time, it felt strangely real and daunting as if he was going through it all over again.
His head was covered with a slight dizziness and pain. When he looked back towards the road and Dream High building, he saw the place before him flashing and interrupting between bouts of present and the past.
For one moment, he saw the present and the next moment, he was transported to that night of the past. In that flash of the darkness, he felt as if he could see some balls of light floating in the air where Jun and Ai’s dead bodies lay.
What…what is happening to me…?
*Meow* *Meow*
Sweat trickled down his forehead, and he breathed hard. His heart was pounding faster.
*GONG!*
A loud, resonant sound sharply echoed in his ears. It resembled the sound of a clock when the minute hand would strike a new hour. When he looked outside again with his tightly furrowed brows and heaving breathlessly, he saw a big, gold clock shining and glowing amidst the chaos in the night sky. It was as if the clock was floating in the air.
What…
The gong sound became more violent, piercing his head with a strong pain he never felt before.
And just for a moment, he felt as if he heard something else amidst that ear splitting sound. Somebody was talking. Somebody was crying.
“I…did…you told. Then why…You…on purpose…”
Jun trembled even harder.
This is…Shui’s voice, right?. Why is she crying?
Who is she talking to…?
Ughhh!
He clutched his head with pain. Everything was momentary but it still felt slow and agonizing as if it was taking forever.
Xie Nuying widened her eyes. She didn’t know what happened, but Jun suddenly started looking paler.
“What’s wrong? Are you feeling sick?” She anxiously asked.
*Meow* *Meow*
His trance broke when the cab started its engine and drove farther and away from Dream High. He took a sharp gasp as if awakening from a dream and the sound and the golden clock’s image suddenly disappeared from his mind and sight. Everything was back to normal. No night. No clock. No sound.
“Jun?” Xie Nuying shook his shoulders harder.
“H-Huh?” He stared at her with bewilderment. “Did you see that? Did you hear that?”
She blinked in confusion. “See and hear what?”
“You didn’t hear the sound of a…as if a clock was striking an hour? You saw that right? There was a golden clock shining and floating in the sky,” he anxiously said.
Xie Nuying was even more confused. “No, dear. I didn’t hear any sound or see any clock. How can a clock float in the sky?” She tilted her head.
Jun widened his eyes, stunned. “Y-you didn’t see that…?”
“No.”
The cab driver also answered. “No, sir. I also didn’t hear any clock’s sound or saw one.”
“O-oh…”
Jun was even more puzzled now.
Then what did I just see now? I definitely saw a golden clock in the night sky for a moment. That sound was also so damn loud…
He still felt his head ache. He remembered the voice, which he thought resembled Shui’s, crying and talking about something to someone. But now it was all jumbled up in his mind. He couldn’t recall the exact words she was saying. The only sound that overshadowed everything was of the giant gold clock.
*Meow*
He dazedly looked down at the cat staring at him with her light brown irises.
Xie Nuying said as she curiously observed her, “It’s so strange. She was meowing a lot just now when the cab stopped at the signal. She was continuously scratching the window, looking outside. I don’t know why she became so restless. But now she suddenly stopped meowing. She is so calm now.”
“Is that so…” Jun couldn’t understand it either.
Did she…feel the same as me?
No, no. That’s impossible…
Jun lightly smiled and rubbed the top of her head. The cat closed her eyes and allowed him to ruffle her. She rubbed her face against his belly and settled down in his lap. He felt the cat’s comfort more relaxing.
They reached the cat shelter where Jun and Xie Nuying talked to the person-in-charge.
“Oh dear, that’s terrible! The owner abandoned the cat and now some kids bullied this poor one. Rest assured. You did the right thing in bringing the cat here,” the woman smiled. “We will take good care of her and give her immediate medical attention.”
Xie Nuying nodded. Jun put the box on the desk, ready to hand her over.
*Meow*
He smiled. “You will be alright now. Nobody will bully you here.”
The cat kept staring at him with an unreadable gaze.
Jun waved his hand in a goodbye to her and left the shelter while the cat watched him leave unblinkingly.
—
Ai and Zhou Yichen sat on a bench in a nearby park where Ai told him everything that had happened, including last night at the banquet. Zhou Yichen listened to her in silence while licking the ice cream cone in his hands.
She lowered her gaze with a downtrodden expression. “Jun left early in the morning. I thought about going to the library to give us some space. Maybe, he will talk to me in the evening. If he doesn’t, then I will. We cannot solve anything if we don’t talk.”
“Hm…this ice cream is yummy,” he nodded in appreciation.
“…”
Ai gave him a hard, judgmental stare.
Zhou Yichen looked as if he was facing injustice. “Don’t look at me like that. You look so much like Nuying! Staring at me as if I am a weirdo.”
Ai said nothing.
“You should say something against that, my dearest daughter! Don’t accept it so easily!”
“I just told you my problem because you said you wanted to know. Now, you are talking about your ice-cream,” she pursed her lips. “I don’t want to hear you praising the ice cream you are eating when I am sharing my troubles.”
“But the ice cream is really so delicious.”
“And I am talking about my fight with Jun.”
“Yeah exactly my point. You said you will talk to Jun in the evening if he doesn’t do so himself. But do you know what to talk about? Or else it would only make him angrier like how you are angry at me now.”
She blinked. “I know what to talk about.”
“And what is that?”
She looked solemn. “I understand it was my fault for making Jun anxious. I realized a lot of things when I contemplated. I never confessed to Yating, but…there was a phase where there were some feelings between us. Then Yating confessed but I rejected him because…of some reasons. So seeing me dance with him definitely made him uncomfortable. As for taking care of him, I only did it out of humanity-“
“Wrong,” he cut her off. “This is what I am saying. You really don’t know what to talk about because you are not addressing the real issue here.”
Ai frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Why do you think Jun-cute is uncomfortable? Because he is jealous?”
She took an uncertain pause. “…Yes.”
Zhou Yichen smiled. “No. He is not jealous, my dear. He is afraid.”
“Afraid of what?”
“That you will leave him and start loving Gu Yating again.”
She widened her eyes. “That’s impossible.”
“For you. Not for him. Tell me the truth. Did you help Gu Yating just because of humanity? Sure, that was a part of it. But were you also feeling guilty somewhere inside your heart?”