No Apology
The older man felt more and more indignant on behalf of his younger self.
"He was just a child."
The older man fumed.
"Come to think of it..."
"I can't believe I actually forgot something so outrageous..."
"That was because I'd more or less believed what my parents told me, and gradually came to think it had all been an illusion..."
So no matter how angry he got, he couldn't take it out on an illusion...
There was no one to vent his anger on.
He couldn't exactly take it out on himself.
He'd already suffered enough.
Was being unlucky something he could control?
Since he couldn't...
What was the point of dwelling on it, other than making himself miserable?
So he stopped thinking about it.
There was no need to make himself unhappy.
When he was little, he'd shed plenty of tears over his bad luck.
Gradually, the memory faded.
That was right.
It had only faded.
He hadn't forgotten it completely.
So, one day more than twenty years later, an accident... brought color back to that faded memory.
He remembered.
"...I never thought I'd see him again..."
The older man clicked his tongue a couple of times.
"It was..."
"Unbelievable."
"Just incredible."
"Like a dream."
"I was stunned for quite a while..."
Thinking back to what had happened, the older man crooked his mouth. "I didn't say anything."
"Neither did he."
"...He didn't remember me at all."
The older man gave a bitter smile.
He felt a little indignant.
Then his expression grew dazed. "When I saw him, it was a rainy day."
"He wasn't holding an umbrella."
"He just let himself get rained on."
"And do you know where he was?"
Xiao Xiao didn't answer.
The older man