41 Her final moments
“Why did you have to do this Ai?” Guiying cried, tired and helpless.
At the terrace of the Dream High Publishing building where Ai had come up to take a breath of the fresh night air, there was somebody else who had followed her too.
Ai, who stood in front of the terrace railing, stared at her best friend in a daze. She didn’t know why she was crying when it was her who should have been at that place.
At the point where Ai stood right now was the most miserable place she had been in her entire life. The man she was in love with and who had a relationship with for five years was standing by Guiying ‘s side.
It was only five years right…
Ai realized the greatest shock of her life when Yating came up to her one day and broke up with her.
He didn’t provide any reason. Just three trembling and painful words came out of his lips. He looked as if his own heart was crushing to utter those words, yet he remained firm upon them. His eyes looked dead and soulless, yet his stance was decided.
‘Let’s break up.’
They fell apart, and then she saw.
Her best friend and ex-boyfriend were in a relationship.
Was she cast aside because he fell out of love for her?
Guiying laughed as pearls of tears streamed out of her eyes. “You know Ai…I always thought that we would be best friends forever. You were someone who I felt the most comfortable with. I was always attracted to the big girls group in our high school. But after I met you, I thought that ah…I don’t really need those flashy groups. You are calm, honest and simple. I thought I needed only you. Only…only if you wouldn’t have become a writer…things would have been the same, right?”
Yating harshly pulled her back without any guilt. “Enough, Guiying. You are drunk. Let’s go back-“
“So what if I am drunk?” Her loud laughter rang in the air. “What else should I do other than drowning myself in alcohol, Yating!? What should I do when my best friend snatched everything from me! My career, my elder brother’s affection, the man I love…everything…You think I should be sane at this point?”
Ai was baffled.
“Snatched away? Guiying, when did I snatch your career from you? You are the one who has been popular for all these years. I had to scrape by for a living. In the end…I had to give up on writing,” her own words pierced her heart like a knife as her eyes ached.
Guiying stared at her and sadly chuckled. “Ah…right. I am so popular…so popular…” She kept mumbling to herself but never gave a clear answer.
“So why is it that if I was the most popular writer did my brother love you more than me!?”
“I don’t understand-“
“Stop it, Ai! It was my brother’s dream to become a writer. But he had to give up on it to raise me. I took that upon myself to make his dream come true,” her gaze looked empty. “But what happened? Every time, he praised you more than me. He was prouder of you than me. Why? I wanted to be the one to make him happy…I wanted to fulfill his dream. But why is it that he saw that fulfillment in you? Why!?”
She clutched Ai’s arms, unknowingly digging her nails into her skin. Ai slightly hissed with the pain.
Yating’s countenance turned deathly icy. “Guiying!” He pushed her away from Ai. “Hurt her once more, and you will have it from me,” he snarled.
Ignoring him, Guiying continued confronting Ai, her heart filled with resentment. She sneered, making Ai feel as if she wasn’t even Guiying anymore who she knew for so many years.
“Then my career wasn’t enough for you. My elder brother’s praises weren’t enough for you that you took away the last thing I had in my life. The last thing which was keeping me sane. The man I fell in love with. You had to snatch him away too from me, didn’t you?”
Ai froze. She had given up on her career five years ago because she had been begging Yating for marriage. There were problems and tension in their relationship. But she thought that maybe marriage could bring everything on the right track.
But in the end, all she got was those three words from Yating.
Ai stared at her, her light brown glassy with tears. “Who snatched who here, Guiying?”
Guiying tilted her head before she burst into laughter. “I snatched your love? Ah, Zhou Ai…” a tear dropped on the ground. “You really don’t know anything. You really don’t…”
She madly rushed towards Ai again and grabbed Ai even tighter. “Only if you hadn’t chosen to become a writer like me, things would have still remained the same, right Ai? But no! I…regret the day I brought you into writing. I regret the day I told how fun it would be if we both became writers? Best friends, best writers…Ah, I was so naive,” she tearfully laughed. “Actually, it’s not your fault. It’s mine…My fault…”
At that point, Yating’s own grasp on Guiying was making fresh bruises on her arm. Watching Ai in pain, in the end, he was forced to slap Guiying, his face marred with rage.
“Cai Guiying!”
But nothing affected Guiying. The burning sear on her cheek turned redder, but she didn’t seem to be in any pain.
“Over…everything is over. I was so naive. Why? Why? Why? Only if we hadn’t ever met, Zhou Ai!”
Lost in her angst, she pushed Ai hard as she cried.
Ai stumbled. The railing supporting her back harshly shook and got dislodged, and she felt the ground slip from beneath her feet.
They froze.
But it couldn’t compare to how Ai felt.
Falling…I am falling…
She extended her hand towards Yating, who was standing just directly opposite her.
Yating…c-catch me…Catch me, Yating!
But he couldn’t move. His eyes were wide in shock. The horror creeped upon his face, but his body didn’t budge from his place.
Huh…? He didn’t catch me? Why? B-But I am falling…He was standing there. He could have caught me…
W-What will I do now?
The thoughts then simply vanished as she felt the cold air striking her body, harsh and fast. She was going down faster and faster with every second bringing her heart closer to her throat for the inevitable outcome.
When the impact hit her, a piercing pain shot through her body, reaching up to her brain. She felt her bones crush as her organs dislocated. Blood spilled everywhere.
She collapsed onto a car’s hood on her belly.
When she fought for her consciousness amidst the shocked screams and shrieks, she saw a man in the car. He was drenched in blood himself.
But what shook her was not his state but his eyes.
Ah…he looks the same…
A tear slipped out of her eye.
He looks the same…Were you betrayed in love too? Have you also lost everything?
Are you…just like me?
Feeling a sense of solidarity, she reached out to him. It immensely pained her. Lifting her hand felt as if somebody was running a truck over her.
But she still did.
Please…hold me…at least you…please hold my hand…
He didn’t catch me.
But will you…?
The man inside the car lifted his hand as if he heard her plea. He clutched onto her palm, and then it collapsed upon it as if he had lost all his strength.
Ai faintly smiled through her tears.
It’s so warm…It was so cold just now. But now…it’s so…warm…
Ai felt it. Her consciousness was fading away.
I am dying. But I am glad that…in my last moments…I met you…
Even if it was for just a moment…
I don’t know who you are…But I will be forever in your debt…
Her eyelids then slowly shut themselves, and Zhou Ai took her last breath.