Chapter 42: In Fact, They Were Strangers   She found a shelter, the entrance of a mall, for herself. At present, many pedestrians were taking shelter from the rain here, and Yan Huan was on the edge with rain occasionally falling on her body. She was almost soaked, her hair plastered down to her neck wisp by wisp, and the raindrops gathered from her hair and fell down with a tock-tock, silently, making ripples.

Under the blue-gray sky, cars came and go and pedestrians walked by in a hurry due to the pressures of modern life.

She curled up. Some people left. Maybe they didn’t want to wait for the weather to clear up so they took taxis, or were picked up by their relatives. Yan Huan lowered her head to look at her wet clothes. No taxi driver would want to take her. Even if someone would like to, she didn’t want to make the seats dirty.

Then she felt that the rain seemed to slow above her head. She blinked and a raindrop fell from somewhere above her wet eyelash. She looked up and found there was an umbrella. The one who was holding the umbrella was a tall man, wearing a black windbreaker and a pair of black leather shoes. It was a man who was almost in all black, with an angular jaw and thin lips that seemed to mean apathy.

She lowered her head in a hurry, letting raindrops fall from from her hair to her neck.

“Meow...”At the moment, the kitten came out from her breast. She looked almost like a drowned rat, but the kitten was protected well. She cooed at the little kitten in her arms, smiling. But there was mild pain in her heart, which made her cry, made her shed tears.

Music came to her suddenly. It was an old song, which she was also familiar with. It was the ringtone of a man that had not been changed for decades.

Don’t look back if it’s end,

If there is something that deserves my lingering,

I think it must be that you have loved me,

But there is no end of the road,

Both of us are passers-by, what kind of feeling I can take away,

I can refrain from tears,

But my broken heart cannot be saved.

She raised her head, with the song ringing in her ears now and then. Perhaps he had answered the call, perhaps the song had been stopped.

When I lost your hand,

Blowing sand blurred my eyes,

I love you but the last scene was hazy,

Don’t regret the pain.

I don’t regret that I have loved,

But since then I am alone in the world.

The ferry was far away with lights on the other shore,

People on the river can just drift.

I don’t regret that I have been loved,

But we can’t have a happy ending.

Suddenly, her lashes veiled her eyes again and a teardrop that nobody saw dropped from her eye. The deep voice of the man sounded. She was so familiar with the voice that her heart instantly ached.

“Okay, Mom, I’ll go back soon. It’s raining outside. I’m under a building. No, you don’t need to send someone to pick me up, it’s fine.” She forgot what he said then. Occasionally, raindrops fell down from the umbrella above her head, splashing on the ground. Then, for a long time, just her breath could be heard. The kitten had fallen asleep. The rain was still falling. The man was still there.

There were fewer and fewer people at the entrance of the mall. Just them two were left at the end. The man was holding the umbrella the entire time. The umbrella was tilted to keep all the rain off of the thin woman. He gave her more shelter but nobody knew in fact, they were total strangers.