The Fifteenth Song – 《Somewhere in Time》

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T/N: The Chinese name of this song is 爱人错过.

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For the past few days, I had been adapting to the new environment because of the amazing scale of the park. If our company was just a miniature landscape basin, then Guangniu was a huge ecosystem. It could be said that it was a business district, because KFC, Starbucks and other restaurants were readily available, but the beautiful greenery made it look like a park, and its software basically had its own independent office building. Contrary to my expectations, the chances of encountering the staff in the restaurant or elevator room was far lower than the chances of accidentally connecting Bluetooth on the subway, because Guangniu’s cafeteria was a thousand square meters.

The Lifu Building, where our team was temporarily stationed, had a very technological appearance, with a bird’s eye view which was like a folded silver robotic arm.

When I arrived the next morning, I tried to walk to the office building at a normal speed. The whole journey took 20 minutes. Then I thought about how Lu Chengze appeared in front of me in less than ten minutes that evening.

Thinking of him, my chest felt slightly stuffy.

I knew he must be in the same building, in some area, in some place, but he didn’t know I had come here as well. I could have found any reason to decline my boss, but when I saw this emergency message. And because of my own selfishness, in the next second, I was involved in a turbulent and peculiar view of fate, and like a black whirlpool rotating at a high speed, my soul was already typing and agreeing on my behalf: “Yes, send me the ppt and brief for this. “

I longed to meet Lu Chengze again.

The result was unsatisfactory. On a busy fifth day, I hadn’t even seen a male who looked like him and had an epiphany. I inquired about where the technical department was, but I couldn’t get the answer. The overlap of our work content was very low, and I didn’t have any excuses to go there. Every day, when I went downstairs to eat, I would raise my chin and look at everyone who walked into the elevator; but in the end, the hope I carried in my heart would slowly fall to the ground.

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It might have also been related to hormones. My heart throbbed, fierce and making my chest tight.

Lu Chengze didn’t notice me because he was sitting with his back facing me. The reason I was able to spot him at once was, naturally, because he was a person who stood out. He had his head turned slightly, talking and laughing with his colleagues.
He was wearing a crisp black jacket, and his hair was jet-black like it had been dyed. One hand was placed on the edge of the table, the other hand was holding a paper cup casually, and his index finger was tapping on the body of the cup.

He seemed to be doing well. It looked like he hadn’t been affected much.

I withdrew my eyes.

When I came back with my coffee, the shop was already full of people. I didn’t have much time to figure out my options for seating before there happened to be a girl leaving the seat right behind Lu Chengze.

I walked over and sat down but he still did not notice me.

Then, I took a sip of my coffee and decided to take a gamble which was very likely to end in failure. I took out my Bluetooth earbud case from my bag.

The moment he picked up his phone to take a glance while in the middle of chatting, I took out an earbud and put it in.

Beep, it connected at once.

Lu Chengze’s body visibly stiffened, and then he was still.

He knew I was nearby.

Would he look back? Would he find me? Or would he disconnect immediately?

He lowered his head slightly, motionless.
My heartbeat was loud as thunder and there was an intent look in my eyes.

The person sitting opposite him most likely noticed that something was wrong and approached to ask if everything was all right. Lu Chengze shook his head and put his phone back down. He didn’t turn his head, search around, or disconnect from my earbuds.

It was neither a bored nor indifferent reaction, it was as if he hadn’t heard a thing. It seemed like he had categorized me as a person who was to be neither loved nor hated, and I had become an insignificant existence to him.

I took a deep breath and stroked my hair. My nose and eye sockets felt swollen, and my body was cold. I took another sip of the warm coffee, and just as I wanted to remove my earbuds, a familiar voice hit my eardrums:

“Morning, Sugar.”

My hand froze in place..

“Would you like to listen to a song?”

I was suddenly pierced by a thin, sharp sword. But there was no blood to be seen, and goosebumps rose over my skin.

I raised my eyes in confusion and saw that Lu Chengze had picked up his phone again, but his sitting posture had not changed.

The prelude was playing, the strings became louder, and then the electric guitar began. I immediately realized which song it was, it was “Somewhere in Time”, a very popular song.

“I’m sure that a hundred years earlier I already said “I love you”
It’s just you forgot, and I couldn’t recall

I’m sure that a hundred years earlier I already said “I love you”
It’s just you forgot, and I couldn’t recall”

The moment the lyrics came out, there was a dull pain, like a blood-red plant with small thorns, growing uncontrollably in my body.

I guessed he must have adjusted the volume to the maximum, the sounds in the room were completely blocked out; the singer sang like they were venting their emotions, they were singing their heart out, without any scruples:

“Walked by, passed by, didn’t meet
Look behind, turn around, it’s still wrong
You and me haven’t experienced running into each other at an intersection
running into each other at an intersection”

When I heard the lyrics, “Did your mom not tell you, If you bump into someone you have to say sorry,” I couldn’t help but smile for a moment. Perhaps it was out of bitterness, or having lost my courage to appear before him which stirred my emotions, but either way, I could not tell.

“Originally today was fine
Lovers just slip by, lovers just slip by”

Yes, everything was fine. Why did I meet you and you meet me?

I pressed my lips together and finished listening to the whole song.

After the silence returned, I took out my earbuds, opened up WeChat, and sent two words to him, I’m sorry.

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I did not receive a reply from Lu Chengze. He left with his colleagues shortly after playing the song. The path to the exit was not the aisle beside me, so he most likely had not seen me this entire time.

After returning to my work station, I was absentminded, the coffee was cold and unfinished. Occasionally I stared at the monitor in a daze.

In the evening, I went to the pantry to pick up a glass of water, and glanced at the dusk outside the window. The clouds seemed to have soaked up orange juice.

The skies had darkened, but this didn’t necessarily mean it was late. Wasn’t that right?

Back in front of the computer, I quickly picked up my phone and clicked on Lu Chengze’s WeChat profile. My finger lingered on the screen for a second, and then tapped his avatar twice.

【You patted “Little Panda”】

I nervously twisted my fingers, straightened them out, and continued typing: Does it still move?

There was only silence. I began to feel desperate, as if after coming to Guangniu, every moment of impetuousness and loneliness was all coming to an end at this moment.

A few minutes later, Lu Chengze, who was still using the panda profile picture, replied: The button was broken.
His pouty tone made the corners of my lips rise: Can a magical button also be broken?

Lu Chengze did not answer, how he felt was unclear.

He didn’t continue with this subject, but after a while, he only asked: How is the little bird?
I replied: I’m afraid it won’t last much longer, smothered in its box.

I said again: I will return it to you tomorrow.

My original intention was to bring it to the company tomorrow so that I could meet him along the way, but he didn’t give me a chance. He only gave me a vague address: You can ask a DADA¹[1] It’s the name of a delivery service company. to bring it here after you get off work, and just leave it with the security guard.

Are you that afraid I will come knocking on your door? I was a little angry and did not reply.

After getting off work, I took a taxi and went home, took out the box in my drawer, and took a taxi to the address Lu Chengze gave me. When shuttling through the boundless night and neon lights, I told myself that no matter how reluctant I was, this was the last time. There was a limit to how much dignity I could afford to lose and I would not allow myself to cross that line.

God wouldn’t give a selfish woman a second round of good luck, but she could gather her courage and give it a go.

She could take the risk despite knowing the dangers.

After arriving at the destination, I did not bother to carefully survey and examine the environment. I had no time to care about what kind of community it was and what kind of conditions he lived in. All I wanted was to see Lu Chengze right away.

The second the call was connected, my first words to him were: “Which floor do you live on? I’ll give you your stuff.”
He was silent for a few seconds before he told me the door number, and unlocked the corridor for me.

After entering the elevator, I began to guess how we would end, ABCD, perhaps heartbreak, perhaps recoverable, perhaps regret, perhaps free and easy. I accepted every option, and I was ready to bear it.

My heart rate doubled as the number of floors doubled, and it almost felt suffocating.

Finally, it was the sixteenth floor.

The moment both elevator doors opened, my eyes widened.

Lu Chengze was standing outside, wearing that funny and cute panda hat, welcoming me, but with an expressionless face.

Our eyes met, he smiled, and then I smiled. We seemed to come alive simultaneously.

Sorrow and joy flooded in me. My first reaction was to let out a crude word in my heart: D*mn.

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Translator:

Credits: Somewhere in Time lyric translation taken from fanslationlyrics.com

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Index:

[1] It’s the name of a delivery service company.