Chapter 2 - Barely Made It

It took them 2 hours before they finally reached the port. They parked the car in the allotted area. All 3 of them thought it would better to park the car at a paid parking rather than parking it in the port parking lot, So while Wei went and spoke to the person in charge about how they would pick the car a week later and paid for the deposit, Liang and Hua took their luggage and went near the ticket counter.

"Hello! We're waiting for the ferry to take us to the private islands. Where do we need to go to catch it?" Hua asked with a smile. "Just go to the right sir…. You will find a guy with a board in his hand, he will take you to your destination, but I think you should hurry sir or you will miss the ferry" "What?" Hua panicked "Thanks a lot," said Hua as he turned to Liang and Wei who just arrived. "Let's go we need to hurry" Hua screamed as he grabbed his luggage and began to run followed by the other 2

They barely met the guy and caught the ferry. Once they got on the ferry, Hua showed their tickets and IDs to the guy, "I'm sorry sir, you have the ticket to the Open terrace top deck. But as you are late your ticket was to given to someone else. So would have to use the bottom deck until we arrive at the destination." Said the ticket collector with an apologetic smile. "No no, please don't apologize for it's our mistake to be late. Anyway, thank you" Hua said as he eyed Wei angrily, who just replied with a sheepish smile.

"I'm sorry okay !" Wei screeched for the nth time. Hua just folded his arms near his chest. "yeah! Whatever!" he said as he looked out. Hua then let out a deep sigh. " I brought the top deck to see the view .… and now I need to sit here," he said as he shook his head in disappointment. Wei felt even more guilty " I'm really sorry Ge," he said. Hua just nodded. "I know"

1 hour into the journey, Hua couldn't take it anymore. he looked around to see that Wei was now fast asleep on Liang's shoulder as the latter was wearing earphones and full focus on staring at the sea. Hua slowly looked towards the staircase that leads to the top deck and saw no one standing there guarding the route. So he made a plan, slowly got up, acted like he was stretching, walked towards the path, and slipped in when he was sure no one noticed him.

The moment Hua reached the top deck, the sunlight on his skin and the wind blowing through his hair made him feel alive. He breath-in the fresh air and walked towards the side of the deck looking out on the view. The view of the water from the top deck was different from that of the bottom. He cranked his neck to the sun trying to get as much as vitamin D he could be trying to make up for all the time he missed the sunlight training people in their indoor training center. A small smile gazed on his slips as light air passed through his hair.

Hua doesn't know how much time he spent enjoying the moment until someone tapped him on his shoulder. He turned around to see the ticket boy staring at him with a small smile. " You aren't supposed to be here you know?" he said. Hua returned the smile, "I know I'm sorry ! I just couldn't help myself" he said causing the ticket boy to laugh. " Okay how about this, I give you 15 minutes to walk around the top deck. but you need to go down then ?" said the boy with a raised eyebrow and smile. "Done !" Hua said as he happily started towards the end of the deck.

Hua passed countless people who were like him enjoying the view. He stood at the end of the deck and stared at the dock port which was now far away. After some time he started to walk towards the start of the deck, slowly taking his time as he was occasionally insulting Wei for being the reason why Hua couldn't enjoy this view for the whole trip. As he reached the start of the deck he saw quite some people mostly couples, standing as they embraced each other. It brings a small smile to his face seeing couples of different ages, just hugging each other, giggling lightly as they enjoy their time together, yet his heart hurts his heart a little too, As it makes him think about a guy who he should have forgotten by now. Zhao Shufen, the little Middle Schooler who used to follow Hua like a shadow, Who finally convinced Hua to give up and get into a relationship with, Who grew up to be a famous model and businessman, who broke Hua's tiny little fragile heart 2years ago and left. Hua walked towards the rail as he stared into the vast blue ocean, the pain in his heart slowly increasing, he took a deep breath and reminded himself, "No Hua! You on this trip to make yourself happy … to finally let everything go and move on .. don't think about those who left you. It's Time for you to be happy" He let out a sigh as he turned around ready to go back and froze. His heart stopped beating.

There on the other side of the deck stood a guy facing his back to Hua, a man with similar height, broad-shoulder black hair staring into the ocean in front of him. It reminded Hua of someone. " It Can't be !" he thought. " That is just some random guy who has a similar appearance as him .. it is not him. You've been fooled too many times already to believe it again. But something was felt unsettling this time. So he quickly yet quietly, with his shaking feet made way to the bottom deck. He held the rails tightly as he made it down the stairs afraid his legs will give up.

When he made it to his friends he realized Wei was now awake, Looking at him with panicked eyes. "Ge where were you?" he asked worriedly. Hua didn't trust his voice. So he took multiple deep breaths to calm himself down. He kept reminding himself that there is no way in hell Zhao Shufen was on the ferry with them. Wei stared at his Ge with confusion, by now even Liang realized something was wrong. He gave Hua a bottle of water, which the latter took and gulped down calming himself. He placed a hand on his heart and once he was okay, Hua smiled at the 2 guys. " I snuck up to the top deck ….. got to see how it was," He said with a mischievous smile but continued knowing his friends weren't convinced " when I was coming down due to the motion I felt seasick ..that's all stop staring at me like," He said the 2, praying they would buy it, he held his breath until the other 2 nodded their head and continued to do what they were doing before Hua appeared.

Once everything was back to normal, Hua looked out and only kept repeating one thing "It's not him… Don't worry it's not him"