This time, before the housekeeper could speak, Han Zhifan cried, “Left?”
That was when the housekeeper realized Han Zhifan’s three consecutive cries of that one word wasn’t for her to hear.
She sealed her lips and gulped back her words.
Han Zhifan stood with his back to her and stared out the window for a very long time. He spoke once again, but this time, he didn’t speak with a questioning tone of voice. “Left…”
His voice was very soft, but she was still able to clearly hear the incredible tremble in his voice.
The housekeeper’s heart started to ache with a sharp pain as though she was shocked by something.
She knew Han Zhifan was hurt and she wanted to comfort him, but she didn’t quite know how.
It was really quiet in the room. She didn’t make a sound from start to end, but she clearly saw how his shoulders started to gently tremble as time went by.
–
After Cheng Weiwan left, Han Zhifan felt like time was endlessly stretched out all of a sudden. Time passed unusually slowly, and amidst this sense of disorientation, summer turned into fall.
On the final day of September, Han Zhifan met up with an old client that he’d known for many years for afternoon tea.
The old client had to leave early to go pick up his son, who had just turned a year old, from school.
Han Zhifan continued to stay in the cafe on his own for half an hour before he paid the bill.
There were several ginkgo trees at the door of the cafe. All the leaves had turned golden yellow, and as the wind blew, they rustled and drifted down.
Han Zhifan lifted his head and stared at the endless downpour of leaves for a while. That was when he remembered he also stopped by this cafe a few days before she left his home. At the time, the gingko trees were still young. On his current visit, the leaves were all yellow and she had moved out of his home… So as it turned out, the season had changed since she left. Now that he counted the days, it seemed to have been over forty days since she left him…
Han Zhifan stood in a daze by the road for a long time before he drove back home.
It was still early. Dinner wasn’t even ready yet.
The housekeeper noticed he had returned. She immediately walked up to him and helped get his slippers.
After removing his shoes and putting the slippers on, Han Zhifan handed the jacket to the housekeeper. Without even knowing it, he blurted out, “Where’s Hanhan?”
After asking his questions, he saw that the expression on the housekeeper’s face looked odd. That was when he realized Hanhan left with her a while ago, but he still had this habit he couldn’t shake off every time he came back home.
Han Zhifan lowered his eyes and curved his lips into a mocking smirk. He waved his arms to signal the housekeeper to leave then he walked upstairs.
The decorations in the bedroom hadn’t changed, but when he pushed the door open, his heart felt incredibly empty when he stared at the empty room.
He walked into the changing room and changed into his home clothes then he walked over to the baby’s room next door. She didn’t take all the things he prepared for Hanhan, and the housekeeper hadn’t put them away. It looked just as it used to when Hanhan lived there; everything was neatly tidied up. The maids even cleaned Hanhan’s favorite toys in the toy room every day. The new toys he brought back with him after his business trips were thrown to one side and left unopened.
Han Zhifan stood at the baby room door for just a while, but his heart felt incredibly stifled.
When he stepped into the study, he smoked several cigarettes before it forcefully made the dullness in his chest disappear.
She clearly left him over a month ago, but how come he couldn’t escape that?