Closer, warmer

Pu Yu set the insulated food container she was holding on the bedside table, then naturally took Lu Zhen's hand and helped her sit down on the hospital bed.

"Auntie, I don't have any persimmons today, but I brought this."

Yuan Su stood to one side without speaking, quietly watching as Pu Yu carefully opened the lid of that familiar lunch box.

This time, it didn't contain rice porridge.

Instead, it held glistening rice dumplings.

The sweet fragrance of sticky rice instantly chased away the room's cold smell of disinfectant.

"My grandma made these herself. They're still warm."

"They smell wonderful." Lu Zhen glanced at them, her eyes softening. "I used to make these for Su at the start of winter, too..."

Lu Zhen wasn't actually a particularly good cook, but she loved making foods that took a little handiwork, like dumplings, mooncakes, or sticky rice dumplings.

"Then try one. Does it taste different from yours?"

Pu Yu picked up the spare chopsticks, lifted a dumpling, and held it to Lu Zhen's lips.

Lu Zhen took a small bite, and the sweet black sesame filling oozed out.

"It's delicious." A smile filled her eyes, and she looked as content as a child. "So sweet, Yu."

After eating half, Lu Zhen suddenly paused, as though something had occurred to her, and turned toward Yuan Su, who had been standing silently in the corner.

"Su, have you eaten?"

Yuan Su hesitated, then said quietly, "I'm not hungry."

"How could you not be hungry? You're still growing." Lu Zhen frowned, becoming a mother again. She took the chopsticks from Pu Yu, picked up a dumpling, and held it out to Yuan Su a little clumsily.

"Have one too, Su."

Yuan Su looked at the dumpling his mother held out, then at Pu Yu standing beside her with a warm smile.

In that instant, a corner of the defenses he had built around his heart came crashing down.

Pu Yu turned toward Yuan Su, who was still rooted to the spot. "Have some. Grandma specifically asked me to bring these for you and your mom."

Only then did Yuan Su step forward and lower his head slightly, taking a bite from the dumpling his mother held.

Soft, chewy, and sweet.

The sweetness reached all the way into the bitter depths of his heart.

"Is it good?" Lu Zhen asked expectantly.

Yuan Su lowered his lashes, hiding the emotions stirring in his eyes. His voice was hoarse. "Yes. It's good."

For the next half hour, the hospital room was unusually peaceful.

Lu Zhen held Pu Yu's hand and talked at length, sometimes clearly and sometimes jumping from one disconnected thought to another. She said Yuan Su had been afraid of dogs as a child, that he liked physics, and that he had to get into a good university.

Pu Yu listened patiently throughout, sometimes nodding, sometimes agreeing.

Eventually, the medication took effect. Lu Zhen yawned, her gaze grew unfocused, and she slowly leaned back against the pillow and fell asleep.

Yuan Su tucked the blanket around his mother, looking at her peaceful sleeping face.

After a long silence, he finally turned toward Pu Yu.

"Let's go," he mouthed.

The two of them slipped quietly out of the room.

Yuan Su was about to speak when he noticed the girl's gaze settle on his hand.

"Your cut..."

Yuan Su instinctively hid his hand behind his back.

He hadn't treated the cut from the broken glass yet, and the red mark stood out starkly against his pale skin.

Without a word, Pu Yu took his wrist and headed toward the nurses' station.

"What are you doing?" Yuan Su frowned and tried to pull free.

"Your mom was there earlier. I was afraid she'd worry if she saw it, so I didn't ask. But you have to get that cut treated, or it could get infected."

As she spoke, Pu Yu pulled him over to the nurses' station.

Nurse Yao was still on duty. She looked up, saw the two of them, then glanced at Yuan Su's hand and sighed knowingly before taking out some iodine antiseptic and an adhesive bandage.

"It's a small cut. You can take care of it yourselves. I still have rounds to make."

"Don't bother." Yuan Su withdrew his hand, his tone cold and hard.

Pu Yu ignored him and took the supplies directly from the nurse, then turned back to him with a resolute look. "Give me your hand."

Yuan Su pressed his lips together and held her gaze for a few seconds.

In the end, he held out his hand, as though conceding.

Pu Yu pulled over a chair for him to sit on, then crouched in front of him and carefully dipped a cotton swab in the antiseptic.

"This might hurt a little. Bear with it."

The cool liquid touched the wound, bringing a faint sting.

But Yuan Su seemed not to feel it. His gaze rested on the top of the girl's bowed head.

She was very close, her soft hair brushing his palm with a ticklish touch.

Years of repairing appliances had left thin calluses on his fingertips and tiny old scars around his knuckles, while her hands were clean and soft. Now, she cradled his scarred hand with the utmost care.

Pu Yu concentrated on cleaning his wound. Fortunately, it was only a shallow cut, with no glass fragments left inside.

The soft warmth of her fingertips, and the snug feeling of the bandage wrapped around his hand.

Those two entirely different sensations intertwined into an unfamiliar current that made his heart race, spreading from his palm through his whole body.

"All done."

Pu Yu lifted her head and smiled at him.

Yuan Su snatched his hand back as though he'd been burned and stood up, his voice unnaturally hoarse. "...Mm."

They walked out through the health center's main entrance, one behind the other.

The winter morning sunlight wasn't particularly warm, but it still dispelled the hospital's chilly gloom.

"Did that scare you?" he suddenly asked.

"What?"

"What happened back there."

Following two steps behind him, Pu Yu looked at his slightly tense back and gently shook her head.

"No."

She meant it. "Your mom is actually very kind, and beautiful too. She just loves you so much, and she's so afraid you'll be lonely."

Yuan Su didn't look back. His voice sounded a little cold in the empty street.

"Is that so?"

"It is!"

Pu Yu stepped forward to walk beside him and turned to look at him. "She remembers you're afraid of dogs, remembers you like physics, remembers you peeled the persimmons, remembers making you rice dumplings when you were little. Even when she was crying earlier, it was because she thought you'd been wronged..."

At least you still have a mother who loves you, thinks of you, and worries about you.

Unlike me. My mom is already gone...

Pu Yu didn't say those last two thoughts aloud.

Her voice was gentle. "Yuan Su, she's trying hard to remember you."

Yuan Su's fingers trembled.

He instinctively hid his bandaged hand behind his back.

"Her memory comes and goes," he explained quietly, as though afraid something might bother her. "After she had those persimmons last time, she kept saying she wanted to see you. I thought she'd forget in a couple of days, but..."

"Then why didn't you tell me?"

Pu Yu interrupted him, a trace of reproach in her voice.

Yuan Su fell silent.

Why?

Because it was too shameful.

Because I didn't want to drag someone as bright and untainted as her into my filthy mire.

Because I was afraid of seeing pity in her eyes. Or fear.

"There was no need." In the end, that was all he said, flatly.

Pu Yu took two steps ahead, turned around, and blocked his path, forcing him to stop.

"There was."

The girl lifted her face, and the sunlight fell into her earnest eyes, making them startlingly bright.

"Yuan Su, we're friends, right?"

"Friends are supposed to help each other."

She glanced toward the health center nearby. "I'll come visit your mom often from now on."

Yuan Su immediately frowned and refused on instinct. "Don't. This isn't a good place. Stay away."

"I'm coming anyway."

For the first time, Pu Yu showed him such a forceful side of herself.

She lifted her chin slightly and laid out her reasoning. "Your mom held my hand earlier and asked me to visit often. I said I would."

"That's a promise between your mom and me."

Pu Yu paused, taking in the boy's stunned, helpless expression. The corners of her lips lifted, and her voice softened a little. "Our promise has nothing to do with you."

Yuan Su stared at her, dazed.

The cold wind howled, sweeping up the fallen leaves on the ground.

Yet he felt warmth slowly building all around him.

What was this supposed to be?

A promise forced on him?

But looking into her bright, determined eyes, he turned the refusal he'd prepared over on his tongue, then swallowed every word.

"...Suit yourself."

He turned and continued walking, but his pace was much faster than before.

Pu Yu smiled and jogged to catch up.

Their shadows slowly overlapped on the road, then drifted apart.

"So, are we coming again tomorrow?"

"No. I have to open the shop."

"Then how about after school the day after tomorrow?"

"...Can't hear you."

"Yuan Su, you actually really want me to come too, don't you?"

"Shut up."

"Hehe~"