27 Chapter 21: Nine Years Apart

On the subway home from work, Cen Mingchan was scrolling through Zhihu when she stumbled across a silly question: "Do you like your eighteen-year-old self?"

The answer, of course, was no.

She didn't like her eighteen-year-old self—and she liked her current twenty-seven-year-old self even less.

Back at her apartment, she decided to unwind with a mobile game.

In a ranked match, she ran into a girl with her mic on. The girl had a lovely voice and a filthy mouth; she was tearing into her mid laner for playing like garbage.

The girl's player ID was the same one Cen Mingchan had used at eighteen—Zangchun Goes Solo. Edgy, lone-wolf brave, and utterly non-mainstream.

Cen Mingchan wasn't angry. She unmuted and apologized instead. The girl's attitude flipped a hundred and eighty degrees. She apologized like mad and begged to add her as a friend so she could carry her up the ranks.

Cen Mingchan suddenly remembered: on an afternoon when she was eighteen, she too had flamed a girl, then offered to carry her up the ranks as an apology. Unfortunately, the other girl never accepted her friend request.

The bullet she had fired nine years ago by accidentally unmuting struck her right between the brows today.

Eighteen

In a ranked match, Cen Mingchan met a very gentle older girl.

They added each other in-game and on WeChat, and grew closer and closer.

Then she began noticing how much they overlapped. The same birthday. A shared love of sweets. Neither ate cilantro, scallions, ginger, or garlic. The same picky habits. They even liked the same singer, and on and on.

As if she had met another version of herself in this world.

One time, she was at home on a voice call with the older girl, playing a game, when her parents called her to dinner.

The older girl, who always told her to finish the match first and then go eat, suddenly went quiet for a long moment. Then she said, "Baby, can we stay on the call the whole time? I want to hear what it's like on your end."

Cen Mingchan found it strange, but she assumed the older girl was just being clingy, so she agreed.

Dinner was fairly pleasant. Her father told her to go to bed early; her mother asked if she wanted another bowl of congee.

Cen Mingchan shook her head.

And through her earphones, she heard the older girl's stifled sobs.

Twenty-Seven

The call connected, and the other woman's voice came through—soft and sweet, in that coaxing tone she always used. "Sister, I really wish you were here with me right now at the Music Terrace, feeding the pigeons."

After listening, Cen Mingchan reached out and scattered a handful of pigeon feed. White pigeons gathered around her.

"We'll meet someday," she replied gently. "Be good, Mingchan."

She was at the Music Terrace.

At the same time of day, in the same place, they were doing the same thing.

Except nine whole years lay between them.

When you turn twenty-seven and look in the mirror, you will see me. *** Tags: GL, Modern, Psychological, Drama, Supernatural/Sci-Fi, Slice of Life.