A Marshmallow: Chapter 38
Chapter 38: He has come back
"Officer Jiang! Help is on the way!"
"Jiang Yan!"
"Where are you?"
"Please respond!"
...
The blaring sirens faded gradually, and consciousness began to drift into obscurity.
Sunlight filtered through the layers of tropical rainforest, warm and gentle on his eyes, transforming countless scenes into ethereal specks of light.
He had lost track of how many days and nights he had remained vigilant without closing his eyes. In this moment, his eyelids felt as heavy as a ton, devoid of strength to open again.
Time and life flowed away at a perceptible speed, silently following the fresh blood down his arm, leaving behind a thick, mottled trail.
Until someone covered his mouth and nose, blocking his ears. He could no longer hear or see, unable to perceive the pain, sinking into profound darkness.
"The victim's brachial artery is hit, severe blood loss!"
"He sustained a blunt force trauma to the head! Multiple comminuted fractures throughout the body!"
"Blood pressure continues to drop!"
"The patient is showing signs of shock!"
...
On the hospital bed, the young police officer with severe injuries had a pale complexion. His black uniform was stained with blood, and half of his face was a shocking sight. However, if you were to gaze at him for a moment longer, you would notice his striking, refined features, far from rugged, even with a hint of sophistication and restraint.
His buzz-cut hair, slender face, sharp eyebrows fading into his temples, long and soft eyelashes cascading down. He appeared to be barely in his twenties, clean and austere, like a fresh police academy graduate.
At this age, he should be playing basketball on the court, making girls scream in excitement under the sun, or perhaps having a stable girlfriend, ready to talk about marriage...
No matter what, he shouldn't be in this state now, with his life signs fading, resembling an elderly person on the verge of the end of life.
-
At the end of June, Gu An finished her summer break, and she would be entering her junior year.
In thirty more days, that person would have been gone for a whole year. In the past eleven months, he had vanished without a trace, as if his existence had been a hallucination.
Countless times, she dreamt of him being gravely wounded, and countless times she dreamt of him never leaving. The beautiful summer at eighteen seemed like a mirage, frozen in time in front of the carousel, with the radiant lights colored like a fairy tale.
She asked him what would happen if the carousel malfunctioned again.
He laughed lightly and answered, with a tender tone, "It's okay."
Every time she woke up, the world before her was dark, and outside the arched window, the moon hung in the silent, clear night sky.
Each dream etched his mark deeper into her life, never to be erased.
In five months, she will welcome her twentieth birthday. The postcard she wrote to him may be returned with "No such person" stamped on it. She won't know what he wrote back then.
Life doesn't stand still; she can wait for him.
One year, three years, five years, until she sees him safe and sound.
Whether he falls in love with someone else or starts a family, it doesn't matter, as long as he's living well, somewhere in this world.
The day was just breaking, and Gu An had already returned from her morning run.
Almost unconsciously, she adopted Jiang Yan's lifestyle, from running to working out, even the heavy metal music in her headphones that he liked. Her clothing went from colorful flowers she liked to simple black, white, gray, and blue.
Gu An unrolled her yoga mat for a simple stretch, then turned on the TV.
After the commercials on TV ended, the background music for the morning news started.
"Good morning, dear viewers. Today is June 20th, Saturday, the 29th day of the fourth lunar month."
Gu An tied her hair into a ponytail, her loose white short-sleeved shirt and light gray workout pants making her seem small within the clothes. She had a towel draped around her neck, and she turned to the fridge to get some milk. Because of her running, her shoulders were straight and lean, and her arms, waist, and legs had started to show slender lines.
Her original intention was to grow taller and show off in front of Jiang Yan when he came back, and perhaps, one day, run a marathon together.
But Jiang Yan hadn't returned, and her height had remained fixed at 161 cm since she was eighteen. Though her face still carried some baby fat, her chin had a subtle, attractive curve, making her appear a bit more grown up.
Gu An bit the straw of her milk, and her doll-like face, by accident, puffed round, showing her adorable side, much like the time when Jiang Yan first saw her, sipping on pearl milk tea.
"On June 2, 201X, the Anti-Drug Division of the Provincial Public Security Bureau, with the assistance of several provincial and municipal anti-drug departments, successfully cracked a major case that was under direct orders from the top, arresting over sixty criminal suspects. The investigation of this case took more than ten months, and the special task force's officers repeatedly infiltrated the inner workings of the criminal organization under extremely dangerous circumstances, thoroughly understanding the structure, internal details, and operation methods of the criminal group. Starting early this year, they meticulously set up plans to apprehend this major criminal organization, and on June 2, in the early hours of the morning, they completely dismantled this major criminal group..."
The news on TV continued, the cicadas chirped outside in the early summer, and the rice cooker softly simmered thick and fragrant rice porridge, the air conditioning creating a cooling atmosphere...
However, Gu An felt as though someone had covered her ears, and she couldn't hear anything.
Her heart plummeted as if it had fallen into a deep sea, and she felt like she was drowning in still waters, time frozen, air no longer flowing, a huge wave of bitterness engulfing her.
Where was her Jiang Yan?
Where was he?
Was he still alive?
When would he come back?
Her intuition told her that Jiang Yan was on a secret mission connected to this top-level case. But why had the case been solved over twenty days ago, and he hadn't sent any message?
Gu An blinked her eyes, watching the TV screen without blinking. She tried to find any trace of Jiang Yan, even a silhouette with a mosaic over it.
However, not a single police officer appeared throughout the entire news report.
The broadcast returned to the studio, and the host concluded, "There is such a group of people, walking on the edge of a knife, silently unknown, shedding blood and sweat, bearing heavy burdens, yet they can never be known by the people. Let's pay our respects to these nameless heroes who can't show their faces!"
Gu An's eyes were painfully sore, and tears finally uncontrollably dripped onto the floor.
She stood in front of the television, still a small figure, wiped her tears, looking pitiful, like a child abandoned by someone, but there was no one to reach out and hold her in their arms.
He had a light and pleasant scent of mint on him, and the warmth in his embrace was comforting. He gently whispered in her ear, "Be good, don't cry."
She struggled to control her emotions, but they burst forth unexpectedly, and at that moment, the phone on the table rang with a notification.
Her vision went from blurry to clear, and the phone screen displayed four concise words.
Each word was like a sharp blade, unexpectedly piercing the softest part of her heart.
"He's back."
---
In the hospital corridor, the members of the Criminal Investigation Team stood in a row. Even the tough and unyielding detectives with blood and sweat on their faces had red eyes. Chu Hang, who used to joke the most, crouched in a corner, burying his face in his hands and refused to look up.
"Jiang Yan was ambushed by the fugitive's accomplice while chasing a suspect. He was shot in the arm artery... How is he enduring this... it must be so painful!"
"He must have been prepared to go down with the criminal."
"He's been in a coma for over twenty days... we don't know when he'll wake up..."
The room was very quiet, with only the beeping of precision instruments replacing his laughter, his words, his gentle gazes, calling her Gu An, little kid, crybaby, and the heart-fluttering "Princess."
He lay quietly, his sleeping face handsome and tranquil. His police officer badge was placed aside, and the person in the photo was clean, confident, and had clear eyes, reminding people of a clear blue sky after a storm.
Behind his identification photo, a corner of a peace charm stained with fresh blood was revealed.
Gu An remembered the first time they met, when he had pinned a criminal suspect to the ground, his delicate side profile cold and distant, "Police."
She remembered rainy days when he picked her up from the library after school, holding a black police umbrella, looking exceptionally handsome, "Go home with the police uncle."
She remembered his adorable and secret childish behaviors, running at night to buy barbecue, running in the morning to get breakfast, getting caught and acting smug, "The boss said I'm good-looking, he'll give me a freebie tomorrow."
She remembered him circling the basketball she had thrown, the challenging senior year they spent together, and the hug at the amusement park that made her blush and her heart race.
When he left, he turned his head and whispered in her ear, one word at a time: "Grow up well, stay safe every year."
Now, looking back, that was probably the best blessing he could give.
Because of his profession, he couldn't hope for, and couldn't expect, those four words.
He made her feel like fate was giving back bit by bit what it had taken from her, making her feel cared for, loved, and treated like a child, free to be herself, free to depend on others, without having to be strong on her own.
And now, he lay there with his eyes closed, and the pale sunlight from the window cast a gentle light over his handsome profile.
She didn't know when he would wake up, or if he ever would.
Gu Zhen stood in the corridor, leaning his head against the cold wall, from start to finish not saying a word. He always seemed to have no proper form, and now his eyes were bloodshot, and the whites of his eyes were filled with red lines.
He returned to the police station from Jiang Yan's drawer this morning, only to discover a letter. Before he left, he had already written his will, with only two sentences:
- Do not inform the family if injured.
- Please cancel my engagement with her if I die in the line of duty.
Beneath the will, there was a pre-signed organ donation agreement. He probably anticipated that, after experiencing the rain of bullets, only his eyes would remain intact...
He had once asked him, "Why become a cop?"
This guy was all about aristocratic manners and a spoiled temper, with an attitude that was simply insufferable. He couldn't figure out why someone like Jiang Yan, an aristocratic young man, would become a cop.
In response, Jiang Yan put away his lazy and indifferent demeanor and replied seriously, "Because someone saved me. Every time I come across a case, I think about what he would do."
-
The calendar flipped to July with a rustling sound.
At 7 in the morning, Gu An opened the curtains. The morning sunlight was beautiful. She turned to the person in the hospital bed, her tone soft and teasing:
"You're so pale, you shouldn't be afraid of the sun, right?"
"In English and American dramas, even vampires are afraid of the sun. It'll sizzle them up, and they need a custom-made ring from a witch."
The sunlight became gentle when it touched him, falling lightly on the corners of his eyes and brows. His long and soft eyelashes caught the light.
"It looks like you're not afraid. Does that mean you're not a vampire? Are you a sleeping beauty instead?"
"Maybe I need my princess to come and wake me up?"
He used to call her "Princess" back when they were together.
Gu An looked at his peaceful and harmless sleeping face, rubbing the tip of her small nose.
No, she couldn't do it.
"Just teasing you a bit..."
The warm towel in her hand landed on his forehead, sliding down from the corners of his eyes and brows.
"Why do you have such long eyelashes? They're even prettier than a girl's."
"Do you want to slide down my big brother's nose? Your nose height should be enough..."
"Why don't you ever get tanned?"
Gu An pouted childishly, but she was meticulous and gentle in her movements as if taking care of kindergarten children, afraid of using even a little too much force.
Before, when she cried, he wiped her tears, just like this.
Gu An's nose suddenly felt sour, but she held it back and moved a small stool, sitting by his sickbed.
She rested her elbows on the edge of his bed, holding a cute little doll-like dumpling in her palm.
"You know what? I liked you back in my sophomore year."
"Definitely among the girls who liked you, the one who liked you the longest..."
After all, when other girls liked him, they probably gave up entirely after hearing him talk about all sorts of whimsical things. Only she had persevered, secretly loving him for four years.
It's a pity that love doesn't come first, you can't get the best position by the water's edge, and you can't make Jiang Yan give her a special status or be the first in line.
"But I think that continuously loving you isn't a good idea. If you don't wake up soon..."
Gu An pouted and said in a negotiating tone, "I might start liking someone else, you know?"
"You said daring to fall in love early would break your legs, but I'm about to turn twenty, so it's not early love."
"In college, so many younger guys like me," she began to count on her fingers, "What's so great about being the most handsome guy in class? There are also departmental crushes and campus crushes, those younger guys can form a whole field of fresh grass!"
"But..."
She lowered her eyes to the person on the sickbed.
His hair had grown longer, falling over his eyebrows, long lashes covering closed eyes. She couldn't see him smile, but she remembered how radiant he was when he did, his eyes brighter than a thousand stars.
Gu An's little face wrinkled up, her voice carrying a heavy nasal tone. "But I only like you, what should I do? I've liked you since I was sixteen."
She couldn't pretend to be cheerful and talk to him anymore.
In the quiet air, she talked to herself throughout.
The only responses were the cicadas outside the window and the sound of the IV drip.
Gu An buried her face in her arm, her shoulders trembling.
She didn't know how long she had cried.
There was a cool sensation, gently brushing her hair, as light as a butterfly's wing.
Gu An blankly lifted her head, her eyes were red, and her little nose too. Her mind was still blank, and the tears on her eyelashes were gently wiped away. In the moment her vision cleared, it coincided with her gaze meeting his deep, dark eyes.
His fingertips were icy, lacking strength, as they lightly brushed the corner of her eye. The slight downturn at the corner of his eye seemed helpless.
Gu An covered her face, and her tears flowed even more intensely, like a child who had been greatly wronged and finally found her parents to pick her up.
The person in front of her only began to feel real at this moment, making her believe that he had truly returned. She couldn't stop crying but also couldn't bear to cry. She held back her tears and stared at Jiang Yan without blinking, afraid that he might disappear in the next moment.
His lips had lost some color, and he appeared handsome but frail. It seemed that with each word he spoke, it would tug at countless wounds on his body.
After a whole year had passed, she heard his voice again.
"Come here," Jiang Yan spoke, his voice hoarse, "Big brother will wipe away your tears."
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