Without warning, Bai Ye felt his heart get struck.
Struck in the literal, physical sense.
By An Xiaotong's head.
The girl in the black dress, her face still streaked with undried tears, threw herself into the young man's arms.
Her arms wrapped tightly around his waist, her cheek pressed against his warm chest, her nose brushing his clothes as scorching tears soaked into his shirt.
"Little White, I missed you so much..."
Buried in his arms, she spoke in a soft, tearful voice brimming with longing.
The longing delayed by fifty years was finally spoken aloud at this moment.
Bai Ye froze slightly as he felt her warmth against him. "You remembered everything?"
With her cheek against his chest, An Xiaotong gently shook her head. "No. It feels like I had a very, very long dream. After I woke up, all the people and events became blurry.
"I don't remember anything from that dream, except you.
"I remember that burning feeling. I remember you standing against the whole world for me. I remember you telling me we would meet again in the next life...
"I don't know why, but I suddenly missed you so, so much. We were only apart for half a month, yet it feels like I waited for you for decades."
She slowly raised her head from his embrace. Tears blurred her vision, but the young man's features gradually came into focus, slowly overlapping with the fragmented old scenes flashing through her mind.
"So that's how it was..."
She spoke softly, her voice carrying the distant touch of half a century.
"I already told you I loved you fifty years ago.
"I just forgot... and only remembered now."
Looking at the tearful girl in his arms, Bai Ye felt the gentleness of time for the first time.