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The light rain continued to fall in the mountains, and the air was filled with mist, shrouding the distant terraced fields and mountains in a hazy, watery mist.

On the muddy path, Zhou Ai held up an umbrella, trying her best to tilt it towards Chu Yi. But a cool breeze carrying raindrops still inevitably blew against Chu Yi's face.

Although Chu Yi is 1.8 meters tall, she still looks "shorter" standing next to Zhou Ai, who is nearly 1.92 meters tall. The height and angle of the umbrella always seem a bit off.

When raindrops fall on her face, Chu Yi feels a slight chill and always instinctively shrinks her neck.

Zhou Ai also noticed the problem. He quietly adjusted the angle of his wrist, tilting the umbrella more obviously towards Chu Yi, almost completely covering Chu Yi, but his left shoulder was exposed to the rain.

Chu Yi noticed the umbrella was tilted, turned her head to look at the water stains on Zhou Ai's left shoulder, and couldn't help but say, "You don't need to tilt it like that, your shoulder will get completely wet."

Zhou Ai didn't stop walking. She glanced at him sideways, then suddenly stopped, switched the umbrella to her left hand, and naturally put her right arm around Chu Yi's shoulder, pulling him closer to her.

"Why don't you come a little closer?" Zhou Ai's voice, tinged with laughter, rang in Chu Yi's ears. "That way, neither of us will get wet in the rain."

The distance between the two was instantly reduced to an extremely close position, their arms pressed tightly together. Chu Yi could even feel the warmth of Zhou Ai's arm and the pleasant scent emanating from her.

It has a refreshing shower gel scent, mixed with a unique, crisp aroma similar to green citrus after rain, clean and memorable.

Chu Yi was startled by the sudden closeness and subconsciously turned his head to say something, but his forehead unexpectedly bumped into Zhou Ai's right shoulder. The touch was firm and warm, and the pleasant scent enveloped him even more intensely.

He momentarily lost his focus, not paying attention to his footing, and was about to step into a small puddle filled with muddy water—

"Hey! Watch out!"

Zhou Ai noticed his staggering, and quickly slid her hand down his shoulder to firmly hold his waist, while pulling him forcefully into her arms.

Chu Yi was completely unprepared, clutching the medicine box in her arms even tighter, and ended up falling completely into Zhou Ai's embrace.

Time seemed to stand still at that moment.

The mountain rain was fine and gentle, tapping on the black umbrella surface with a soft and rhythmic "drip-drop" sound, somewhat like a perfectly timed accompaniment.

Tick-tock— Tick-tock— Tick-tock—

Chu Yi tilted her head slightly, while Zhou Ai lowered her head slightly.

Their eyes met, so close they were almost touching.

Chu Yi could even clearly see the tiny water droplets clinging to Zhou Ai's long eyelashes, and her own reflection in his deep peach blossom eyes.

His waist was firmly encircled by Zhou Ai's arms, and even through the fabric, he could clearly feel the strength and warmth of that hand.

Zhou Ai held the umbrella steadily with her other hand, creating a small world for them where only their breathing could be heard.

All the surrounding sounds faded away, leaving only the sound of rain hitting the umbrella and the sudden, uncontrollable pounding of their hearts.

Zhou Ai's gaze was fixed on Chu Yi, his Adam's apple bobbed slightly, and his voice was much lower and hoarse than usual.

"Teacher Chu..."

"I think... I'm sick again."

Chu Yi's mind was still blank, and his abrupt question only made her more confused. She blankly followed his words and asked in return, "Where...are you sick?"

Zhou Ai's gaze remained fixed, and she slowly raised her free hand, precisely finding Chu Yi's hand, which was slightly curled up and resting on the edge of the medicine box due to nervousness.

His palms were warm and dry, carrying a reassuring strength, as he gently grasped Chu Yi's slightly cool fingers.

He guided Chu Yi's hand and slowly placed it on his left chest, over the area of ​​his heart—

Through the denim jacket and the shirt underneath, Chu Yi could clearly feel Zhou Ai's heart beating strongly and even too fast in his palm.

bang-bang-bang-

His heart was pounding fast and hard, striking his palm.

Zhou Ai gazed into Chu Yi's shocked and bewildered eyes, and spoke each word clearly and forcefully, his voice low and distinct, carrying a sense of fatalistic confusion and candor:

"Teacher Chu, why do you think...?"

"Every time I meet you, my heart... just goes crazy?"

Chu Yi's palm was forced to press tightly against Zhou Ai's chest. The violent heartbeat seemed to carry an electric current, instantly rushing through his fingertips, burning all the way up his arm to his heart, causing a violent resonance.

His breath caught in his throat, and his pupils dilated slightly, clearly reflecting Zhou Ai's face, which was so close to his, filled with seriousness and confusion.

The rain pattered softly, and the space under the umbrella felt cramped and ambiguous, as if the air itself had become thick and sticky.

Zhou Ai's heartbeats were clearly transmitted, fast and heavy, revealing without reservation a kind of loss of control that went beyond the physiological realm.

"You..." Chu Yi opened her mouth, but found her voice was terribly dry. "Maybe it's because I walked too fast just now, or... it's a sign that I caught a chill from the rain."

Even at this moment, Chu Yi's rationality kept him somewhat sober.

He tried to explain the unusual heartbeat with the most scientific reasoning, but his voice trembled slightly as he tried to pull his hand back.

However, Zhou Ai tightened her grip even further, giving Chu Yi no chance to escape.

He lowered his head, his gaze still fixed on Chu Yi, shook his head, and said with a stubborn seriousness, "No. It's not because of walking, nor because of getting wet in the rain."

As she spoke, Zhou Ai lowered her head even further, the stray hairs on her forehead almost brushing against Chu Yi's forehead, and her voice became even lower, carrying an almost seductive magnetism:

"It all started when I saw you."

"It all started when you handed me the hairdryer."

"It all started when you told me to take my medicine."

"It begins... from now, when you're in my arms."

He recounted each and every matter clearly, each word like a small hammer gently tapping on Chu Yi's heart.

"It only does this to you, Chu Yi."

This was the first time Zhou Ai had called him by his full name, her tone filled with an almost helpless honesty and confusion, "Tell me, if I'm not sick, then what am I?"

Chu Yi froze completely, forgetting to struggle and forgetting to react.

Zhou Ai's bluntness was like a sharp blade, slicing through all pretense and excuses, laying everything bare under the umbrella in the rain.

At this moment, Chu Yi felt as if her heart was infected by Zhou Ai's violent heartbeat, pounding against her chest and making her eardrums buzz.

The world outside the umbrella was still shrouded in drizzle, but the world under the umbrella seemed to have been paused, leaving only the intertwined breaths of the two people and the irresistible, drum-like heartbeats.

Chu Yi looked into Zhou Ai's deep eyes, where her own panic and helplessness were clearly reflected.

He opened his mouth, but found that he couldn't utter a single word.

Rejection? Denial? Or...?

Zhou Ai looked down at Chu Yi's flushed ears and flickering eyes, and didn't press him any further. She simply loosened her grip on his hand, but didn't let go of the arm around his waist.

"Dr. Chu," he suddenly leaned forward, closing the distance between them so that he was looking directly at Chu Yi.

He whispered with a sigh, his warm breath brushing against Chu Yi's lips, "This illness...can you cure it?"

The air under the umbrella seemed to freeze, leaving only Zhou Ai's rhetorical question, hot and lingering on Chu Yi's lips.

"Can you cure this disease?"

Chu Yi's heart felt as if it had been gripped tightly by those words, then suddenly released, pounding wildly almost out of control.

Zhou Ai's warm breath almost completely enveloped his face, and he subconsciously held his breath.

But their noses were almost touching, a position that was too intimate and even a little dependent, blocking all his escape routes.

Chu Yi could clearly smell the crisp scent of Zhou Ai mixed with the fragrance of shower gel, feel the still rapid heartbeat in his chest, and even count the trembling eyelashes of Zhou Ai, who was so close to him that he could count them.

Zhou Ai didn't speak again, but just looked at him quietly with her deep peach blossom eyes, which were filled with undisguised expectation, a trace of unease, and a kind of pure confusion that Chu Yi couldn't resist—as if she was really asking him, her doctor, for a cure for an incurable "heart disease".

Chu Yi's fingers were still slightly curled, the warmth and pulsating sensation of Zhou Ai's chest lingering on her fingertips, a feeling she couldn't shake off.

He opened his mouth, his throat tightening, trying to find his voice, to find those rational, professional words that could break the eerie atmosphere.

However, looking into Zhou Ai's eyes, which were so close to his, all those words got stuck in his throat.

The sound of raindrops hitting the umbrella became exceptionally clear, drip, drip, as if counting down the seconds for this silent standoff.

Just when Chu Yi felt she was about to be driven mad by the silence and the sound of her heartbeat, Zhou Ai suddenly chuckled very softly. The laughter was low, tinged with self-mockery and a touch of helplessness.

He stepped back slightly, but his hand around Chu Yi's waist didn't loosen; he just loosened his grip a little, changing from a restraining gesture to a protective one.

"Never mind," Zhou Ai's voice returned to its usual languid tone, but if you listened carefully, you could detect a hint of tension and... compromise.

He looked away from the umbrella at the misty rain outside, as if the person who had been pressing him just moments before wasn't him. "It seems even Dr. Chu doesn't have much of a solution for these kinds of difficult cases."

It was as if he was trying to save face for himself, or giving Chu Yi some time to recover.

"Is the medicine box heavy? Let me carry it." He changed the subject very naturally, reaching out to take the medicine box that Chu Yi had been holding tightly in her arms. His movements were fluid, as if the earth-shattering conversation just now was just a brief interlude in the rain.

Chu Yi stared blankly at his sudden change, momentarily unable to react. Zhou Ai easily took the medicine box from her arms, and her arm suddenly felt lighter.

Zhou Ai held the umbrella steadily in one hand and carried the medicine box in the other. She looked at Chu Yi again, a faint smile on her lips that seemed no different from usual: "Let's go. Don't we still need to go to the clinic? If we delay any longer, Grandpa Li will get impatient."

He spoke so naturally, as if the person who had just grabbed Chu Yi's hand and pressed it to his own heart, asking if he could be cured, was not him at all.

Only the umbrella stubbornly leaned towards Chu Yi, and his slightly reddened ears betrayed the unsettled state of his heart.

Chu Yi looked at his profile, and the tension in her heart eased slightly, only to be replaced by an even more complex and indescribable emotion. He nodded silently and took a step.

The rain was still falling, and the two walked side by side on the muddy road, sharing the space of one umbrella.

The silence spread in the rain, but it was no longer the stagnant, suffocating silence of the beginning. Instead, it was a subtle and restless lingering feeling, mixed with many unspoken words and violent heartbeats.

Zhou Ai stopped looking at him and stared ahead, seemingly focused on leading the way.

Chu Yi tilted her head slightly, and she could see Zhou Ai's smooth jawline and the occasional movement of her Adam's apple.

The lines, "Every time I meet you, my heart goes completely mad?" and the final, somber "Can you cure me?", echoed in his mind like notes on a loop.

He knew that things had changed from the moment Zhou Ai asked that question.

As Zhou Ai felt the faint breathing of the person beside her, the forced calm smile on her lips finally faded, turning into a faint, unseen laugh that was both apprehensive and determined.

Not urgent.

He told himself.

At least, he wasn't pushed away.

This is already... a very good start.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The two delivered the rheumatism medicine they had brought for Grandpa Li. After Chu Yi carefully explained the usage and dosage, she belatedly realized that the rain had quietly stopped sometime earlier.

The dark clouds dispersed, the sky brightened, and even a faint ray of sunlight pierced through the clouds, shining on the wet ground.

Zhou Ai closed the umbrella she had been holding and shook off the water droplets. Chu Yi, who was standing to the side with a first-aid kit, stood there for a few seconds and then said, "The rain has stopped. Why don't you... go back first?" He asked hesitantly, but his gaze remained fixed on Zhou Ai.

Zhou Ai paused in his act of closing the umbrella upon hearing this. He had, of course, understood the subtext in Chu Yi's words, and he also clearly remembered the unsettling interlude that had just occurred under the umbrella.

Having walked this far, both of them tried to maintain a calm facade and ignore the awkward and ambiguous atmosphere, but they found that they simply couldn't do it.

The air between them seemed to become sensitive and thick; every glance they exchanged, every unintentional closeness, could evoke memories of their intensely beating hearts.

Zhou Ai smiled, folded the umbrella, looked at the now clear sky, and said in a calm tone, "Aren't you going to the clinic? I'll go with you."

Chu Yi subconsciously opened her mouth as if to say something, but seeing the frank gaze Zhou Ai cast at her, she swallowed back the words she wanted to refuse, and finally just nodded and said "okay".