Was there?
The boy took a deep breath.
He tried hard to force the tears from the corners of his eyes back.
He couldn't cry.
He was so frustrated with himself for always crying.
What was there to cry about?
He had told himself over and over...
He wouldn't cry for that man or that woman anymore.
It wasn't worth it...
They didn't care anymore.
Why should he still cry for them?
He wasn't going to cry for them.
They had made him nonexistent.
So he would treat them as nonexistent, too.
But what had just happened was like a bucket of ice water dumped over his head.
The ice battered him until he was bleeding.
So...
They really did treat him as though he didn't exist.
It wasn't just something he told himself in a fit of anger.
And yet he was nowhere near managing to treat them as if they didn't exist.
"She..."
The moment the boy uttered the first word, his voice caught with a sob.
His lips trembled.
Xiao Xiao took the boy by the arm.
"Come with me."
They were at an intersection. It wasn't a good place to talk.
Zhang Bo and the others looked at one another.
They all looked a little bewildered.
"What happened?"
"No idea."
"We'll find out if we follow them."
They moved to the big tree by the side of the road.
The wind picked up.
The rustling of leaves and branches brushing together sounded in their ears.
The shadows on the ground swayed gently.
A few flecks of sunlight danced in the gaps between them.
"Here."
Xiao Xiao took a piece of candy from his pocket and held it out to the boy.
It had become something of a routine whenever he saw