"Running, for me, is like a special ritual. Only a few people can share the ritual together. ”

Gradually she stopped.

From jogging to breathing for a walk, walking to the fence of the tennis court next to it, as if following the long river of time, the memories that she once took for granted slowly emerged from the bottom of her heart.

A true sense of ritual is not something that is only done once in a lifetime.

It's not about eating foie gras on silver cutlery in a fancy restaurant, it's not about walking out of the theater in your best evening gown and excitedly waiting for the swallow-tailed waiter with a small tail to bend down and open the heavy black Mercedes door for you.

It is to do what you will do every day, do it solemnly, and do it solemnly and seriously.

This young girl who likes to jump and bounce and always smile with her eyebrows and eyes, her demeanor at this moment is solemn, almost simple or sacred.

Gu Weijing remembered reading Haruki Murakami's article before.

Haruki Murakami is also a super fan of running.

There are only three things that I am most serious and obsessed with in my life, one is jazz, one is Fitzgerald's, and the other is the morning jog every day, rain or shine.

He loves to run quietly alone.

Murakami mentions that running is for him a process of enlightenment and self-reflection, an ascetic practice of a person, and "the most effective metaphor for life".

Gu Weijing didn't know.

In Koukou's mind, running has a similar significance.

Some people sleep with others like eating and drinking, but they never say love in their lives.

There are also some people who talk about love every day, but they are stubbornly unwilling to share the music that touches their souls with the people closest to them, share the football field they used to go to with their father when they were young, and share an apple tree planted with their first love......

It was the untouchable pure land in their hearts, the most private space behind the layers of curtains.

He just felt it.

The feeling that Coco exudes is very similar to Haruki Murakami's words—with the smell of long-forgotten things, with tender nostalgia, and with harsh pain.

As white as clear water, it is almost transparent, and it is so light that it almost does not exist in the world.

The pink on her body was not the color of her clothes, but the phantom light left behind by the setting sun in the sky at the end of the day as it passed through the transparent girl.

"There is also a small barbed wire fence in the municipal park, which used to be a gateball court for the elderly, but it has been abandoned for many years, and my mother used to use the pillars there to press her legs."

She walked to the edge of the tennis court, and instead of pressing her legs, she put her fingers between the elastic barbed wire, leaned forward, and the tip of her little pink nose passed through the gap in the barbed wire, and there was a wave of light in her eyes.

"Do you know Gu Weijing?"

"Every time we finished our run, she watched me eat chicken steak rice. When I said that I would grow up quickly, I would be beautiful and beautiful, like magic in fairy tales. ”

Kou Kou turned her head to look at Gu Weijing, "At that moment, I would believe that she was really awake to me and the whole world in those few seconds...... It's like magic in a fairy tale. ”

Gu Weijing nodded very gently.

"Will you always run with me?"

A few seconds later.

Gu Weijing shook his head.

The girl just shared such a precious relationship with you, and he chose to leave coldly, which is really cruel.

It's more than cruelty.

Gu Weijing felt in his heart that his behavior was worth directly dragging down a dog's head to serve.

But he thought seriously for a few seconds before he resisted the temptation and said, "If it's just running, it doesn't matter." "I'm going to get my girlfriend's consent first. "These bastard words.

What just running.

Don't fool yourself, okay.

It's not the same concept as a birthday party.

Gu Weijing was happy, Sakai Katsuko dressed up beautifully every day and went out with Komatsu Taro, and came back with a flushed face and told him - "Uh-huh, Dalang, don't think about it, we just ran away." ”

He's not the kind of chauvinist who forbids girlfriends to have personal relationships with all members of the opposite sex.

But this kind of ambiguous temperament is off the charts.

Gu Weijing knew that it was difficult for him to bear, and he would not be happy.

Since he couldn't stand it himself, he couldn't ask Miss Sakai to put up with these things.

Again.

It's not all about considering Katsuko's feelings.

Who wouldn't like a cute and cute girl like Koukou?

He knew very well that if he continued to run together, he would only run farther and farther, and slide unstoppably towards the edge of crossing the line.

He's gone too far in areas that shouldn't be his own.

Don't leave again.

It will only hurt Coco, and it will hurt even more.

Gu Weijing felt that he was too much, but if he was so slimy and didn't explain everything clearly, he just wanted to enjoy this ambiguous atmosphere.

He felt more excessive.

He didn't look down on himself at all for being so cowardly.

Opening your mouth to say "no" requires more courage than vaguely getting by.

Coco didn't speak.

She just turned her head back with sad eyes.

A moment later.

There was a fluttering singing voice ringing out on the side of the small stadium.

"Midnight, not a sound from the pavement."

"Has the moon lost her memory?"

"She is smiling alone."

"In the lamplight."

"The withered leaves collect at my feet."

"And the wind begins to moan."

“Memory， all alone in the moonlight…… (Memories, lonely shadows in the moonlight, how beautiful the past was)

“……”

Gu Weijing recalled.

This song is popular enough, and Mona is also a literary girl who will ask him to go to his home to watch musicals and stage plays on the Internet together.

It didn't take much effort for him to hear that it was the most famous episode of "Memory" from the town-level stage musical "Cats" that broke box office records on Broadway and in London's West End.

It comes from an eight-line poem by the English poet Thomas Eliot inspired by Sanskrit and Eastern culture.

The gist is that an old cat with infinite charm in the past is reminiscing about the good things he used to be.

Singing a song from the past in the moonlight.

After getting a cat.

Gu Weijing was very seriously skeptical.

Even if Ngawang loses his hair when he is old, her narrative memories should not be mournful and self-pitying love.

Instead, he did evil on the banks of the Yangon River, guarding the canned food and fighting the old man Wu, and baring his teeth to scare the Chihuahua in the house of the lady in the commissary next door.

This song once filled Gu Weijing's heart with the smell of beef, cats, canned food, and the panicked shouts of dogs.

Right now.

The smell of cheese added to those cans and the noisy chatter of the poor Chihuahua next door gradually faded in Gu Weijing's heart, and a powerful voice overflowed his ears.

Coco's singing voice is so cold, so pure, so sad.

The notes sung are not gone.

Instead, it seemed to be tangibly piled up at their feet, covering them layer by layer.

Gu Weijing seemed to be overflowing from his head by the invisible seawater, and the whole person was suspended in the quiet singing current, drifting, drifting, drifting into the distance.

Also affected by the singing are the men and women playing on the tennis court.

The boy and girl, who looked like a couple, put down their rackets and looked at them, and they listened attentively, letting the tennis ball bounce at their feet a few times, and finally tumbling into the bushes to the side.

Gu Weijing didn't know that Kou was singing herself.

Or her mother.

He didn't ask.

It wasn't until Coco finished singing this short song adapted from the eight-line poem that the power of that voice still pressed on him and did not fade, making him unable to speak.

The entire tennis court seemed to be frozen by her voice.

"Gu Weijing, you have something to say to me today, right?" Coco asked suddenly.

Gu Weijing nodded.

"Do you have to say it?" Coco asked.

Gu Weijing continued to nod.

"But I don't want to hear it at all."

The corners of her mouth were hooked, as bright as moonlight.

She smiled again, and a lively and vivid expression suddenly appeared on her cheeks again, as if a hundred flowers were blooming together.

It's not just boys who are excited.

The girls who have been secretly watching it on the tennis court are also fascinated.

With a grin, Kou walked in from the small iron door next to the tennis court, gently hooked her arm on the girl's shoulder, and whispered a few words to the other party.

The two laughed in a whisper that others couldn't hear.

The girl struck Koko with her shoulder with a smile, pointed her finger in the direction of Gu Weijing, and Koko poked the girl's face with her finger.

Another burst of laughter like silver bells.

"Let my sister use the venue!" "Let me pay." ”

"It's okay, it's okay, I'll pay it! I can invite Miss Coco to play, but it's something worth showing off on INS. The girl seemed determined to have a treat.

The trotter ran over and swiped a few times on the credit card machine on the side.

Dulwich's tennis courts are available for an additional fee.

There is no distinction between indoor and outdoor.

The venue fee for ordinary students is 120,000 kyats per hour.

That's about fifty or sixty dollars, and it's a matter of private lessons or if you're a member of a tennis club.

If you play a lot, it will be easy to spend two or three thousand dollars a year.

This price is at the lower middle level in Magic City and Bangkok, and it is still a friendly price for students. Of course, it is super expensive to put in Yangon, but the families of Dulwich students are mostly from the upper class and can afford it.

The venue is in demand.

At popular times, venues have to be booked on the mobile app, and tennis electives are sold out every year as soon as they are put up.

Coco is indeed attractive.

In a few words, the venue was asked, and even the rackets were left behind.

"Well, the locker over there, the top two are connected together, the one on the left is my password is 363, and the one on the right is his password is 812. I'll renew you for two hours, have fun. After the game, just put the bag in, and put it directly outside, and no one should take it in the school. ”

The student girl hugged Kou again.

"Let's go, Coco wants to play here, what kind of light bulb, leave the racket for others, hurry up."

She playfully looked at Gu Weijing outside the barbed wire fence on the court, drew a cheering gesture towards Kokobi, and walked over, and dragged away the boy who saw her girlfriend and Kokoo hugging there, I don't know whether she should feel pleasing to the eye and lingering, or if she felt frightened and had a chill on her back.

Holding a tennis racket in one hand, Kou Kou stretched out a finger towards Gu Weijing and hooked it at him.

"Hello, come here." The little woman said in a commanding tone.

Gu Weijing's footsteps did not move.

Coco tugged at the corners of her mouth.

"Let's make a bet."

Gu Wei couldn't stand it, so Kou Ko took the initiative to walk over and said through the barbed wire, "You are a boy, you should have confidence in yourself." Come over every day for a run, and after the run, we will play tennis together, and if you win, I will listen to you. I won ......"

Coco's tone softened, and she asked pitifully, "I don't ask for anything else, you just listen to me, and we'll continue to run tomorrow, okay?" ”

Gu Weijing shook his head.

"I can sing to you......" Coco murmured softly.

"It's okay to ask your girlfriend."

Gu Weijing couldn't stand the guilt, he wanted to run away, and he didn't want to look at Kou Kokou's eyes.

In his heart, he felt that he was really the biggest fool in the world.

But he still stood firmly in place, like a puppet being manipulated on the stage, and twisted his head stiffly and stubbornly.

The wind blew, and the bent ears of wheat in the rice fields covered the ridges.

The light in Coco's eyes dimmed, and there was no clear luster in her watery eyes.

Some words.

It's not that you don't want to listen to it.

She can run so that the other party can't catch up, she can desperately win every game, and get a small moment of companionship and happiness in her heart.

But something, she has already lost.

If she loses, there is no way to win it back, that is the verdict of her feelings.

is like some people in the past, it's not that she doesn't want to separate, so she can not separate.

Gu Weijing didn't say anything.

The moment I saw his eyes.

She knew that in fact, the other party had already said everything.

Gu Weijing opened his mouth and wanted to apologize in vain.

Words are pale.

Except for the pale words, Gu Weijing didn't know what he could do.

"You like playing tennis with my boyfriend so much?" A cold voice sounded from his ears, and Gu Weijing was covered in cold sweat.

WTF！

His hands and feet were cold, and his lips were dry.

It looks like the wife of the main house who was going home for a round, just caught the scumbag who hooked up with other girls while his wife was not at home.

He turned around in a slow-motion pose.

I saw a girl wearing a red knee-length pleated skirt and red lily standing not far from him, and next to him stood a blonde aunt holding her hand and stepping on high heels, and pushing her sunglasses to her forehead.

The two people, one big and one small, looked at him coldly together, and then rolled their eyes at the same time with an extremely high synchronization rate.

Even when Miss Katsuko rolls her eyes, she turns soft and pure, and she looks super cute.

But that's not the point......

The point is that Xiao Gu felt a domineering momentum coming from his face, and his lips trembled.

This moment.

Gu Weijing finally felt that Katsuko was really Mrs. Sakai's daughter.

That's probably how Uncle Sakai felt when he was caught by his wife stealing a doughnut.

It's really scary!

(End of chapter)