Why it never ends

Chapter 1202

Eleven resisted the urge to ask others about Qiqi, but she had reached her limit—she had noticed Qiqi's absence at dinner, and as a result, she ate her meal absentmindedly, looking around and paying attention to the entrances.

At that time, Shiyi thought that Qiqi might have deliberately avoided meeting him, or that she was busy with something else... But how could she possibly be late tonight? She loved these mysterious activities the most.

Is he sick? Injured? Or did something else happen?
Regardless of the actual situation, Qiqi's problem is likely very serious; otherwise, she would definitely have come despite being sick or injured...

Shiyi was lost in thought, but finally decided to go ask the teachers anyway. However, as soon as she got close, she heard them discussing Qiqi's absence. Shiyi listened quietly and overheard the gist of it; it seemed no one knew where Qiqi had gone, but several teachers had already gone out to look for her. Shiyi immediately decided to find an excuse to slip away as well, since she wasn't interested in the heart-to-heart talk session tonight anyway.

However, at that very moment, Kiki burst in.

She dashed into the small auditorium, and everyone in the room fell silent, turning to look at her. Kiki, covered in sweat, paused for a moment, then cried out, "Sorry! I'm late!"

Two teachers immediately stepped forward, one of them kneeling on the ground and asking her in a low voice what was wrong. Qiqi explained softly, and the teachers looked relieved, exchanging glances as if reassuring each other: It's alright, everything is fine.

They patted Qiqi on the shoulder, gesturing for her to find a seat. Qiqi nodded repeatedly, but did not sit down immediately. Her gaze quickly swept across the auditorium until she saw Eleven.

That fleeting glance sent a shiver down Eleven's spine, like a quietly resting insect whose location had been locked by a predator before it could even disguise itself. In that brief exchange of glances, she saw Qiqi's swollen eyes, and... a sudden, radiant smile.

Eleven's fingernails suddenly clenched around her calves, and she immediately and coldly averted her gaze. At that moment, the violent pounding of her heart caused her pain, and she could no longer hold her breath, letting out a sigh-like gasp.

The lights in the auditorium dimmed, leaving only moonlight and a few candle flames to illuminate the outlines of the crowd. Taking advantage of the moment, Eleven quickly wiped her eyes, thankful that everything was shrouded in darkness and no one could see her suddenly burning face.

She didn't look in Qiqi's direction; to avoid glancing at her out of the corner of her eye, she deliberately looked down at her knees.

Qiqi just laughed. Why did she laugh?

Why did she suddenly laugh like that? It was as if... as if they were still friends, as if nothing had happened.

A sudden, inexplicable irritation mixed with fear made Eleven restless, both agitated and aggrieved. The children around her began to sing along with their teacher's piano accompaniment, a song they had learned a few days ago, praising the night and the moon. Eleven didn't sing along; at that moment, a sudden surge of resentment towards the night and the moon welled up within her.

Across from her, Kiki gazed at the hexagonal skylight above the auditorium, softly humming a tune with a serene happiness. The moonlight, tinged with a deep blue, cast geometric shapes on the ground. A round coffee table sat on the floor beneath the skylight, upon which lay tissues, water glasses, and a glass jug filled with lemonade. A thick carpet covered the floor, scattered with cushions of various shapes, where people sat in small groups, relaxed and at ease.

No one knew the happiness she felt at that moment, nor did anyone know how lonely she had been that evening—she went back to her dorm to sleep for a while around 4 a.m., when almost everyone was in the room, but when she woke up, the setting sun shone into her bed through the window, and the entire dorm was empty except for her.

She glanced at the wall clock; it was 6:30. Everyone should be having dinner by now, but no one called her. Qiqi got out of bed alone, went to the bathroom to wash up, changed her clothes, and on her way to the dining hall, she suddenly broke down in tears and ran out of the palace.

She was hungry, but she had no appetite. At that moment, she didn't want to see anyone; she just wanted to find a place to hide. By the time she came to her senses, she had already wandered to the vicinity of Stella's old house. It seemed that her body had decided to come here before she even thought of her sister Stella.

She carefully entered the house, went up to the second floor, and heard Stella's rapid and forceful tapping—clearly Stella was busy, so Kiki decided to wait in the hallway for a while.

Not long after, Lai Lin arrived. Kiki hesitated whether to greet her, but Lai Lin seemed completely oblivious to the child crouching under the window at the end of the corridor and simply pushed the door open and went inside. The two chatted as they worked, their voices carrying through the door into the corridor. Although not very clear, Kiki could barely hear them—Sister Stella seemed to have undergone some kind of surgery, and Sister Lai Lin felt it was very risky.

Kiki was surprised. Stella looked so healthy, she didn't seem like someone who would get sick at all. Why would she need surgery? She immediately went forward and moved closer to the door, and then she heard her own name called.

"You definitely like Kiki, right?"

"Yes, I really like Kiki."

Qiqi was taken aback, not understanding how the topic had inexplicably turned to her, but she still held her breath and pressed her ear to the door.

"I like people like Kiki, even if she's a child... I like her too, and if she's... I like her even more. It has nothing to do with whether she's a child or not—I like her as a person, you understand?"

In the dimly lit corridor, Kiki's mouth gaped open. Although she tried her best to hold back a sound, she still let out a soft "Wow..."

Kiki hurriedly left the old house, forgetting even why she had come there in the first place. It was almost dark by then, and there were few pedestrians on the road. As Kiki walked, she couldn't help but start kicking her feet and running.

—So Stella likes me that much!

How could that be!

On the deserted path of the farm, the little girl skipped and hopped back. She ran for a while, then stopped and circled around something, sometimes touching the fence, sometimes touching the flowers and plants. She kicked a few pebbles along the way, and then suddenly remembered that there was a heart-to-heart talk salon that evening. Suddenly, her previous carefree demeanor changed, and she took off running.

In the auditorium, Qiqi was singing halfway through when she suddenly heard her stomach growling. She found the scene amusing and started laughing to herself.

Although she wasn't holding hands or touching knees with anyone at that moment, that feeling of loneliness was gone.