Why it never ends

Chapter 1209 Weakness
At the other end of the palace, led by their teachers, the children walked through winding corridors back to their own rooms.

Everyone was quiet along the way. The children looked a little tired. The good friends held hands but didn't speak, each lost in their own thoughts.

At first, Shiyi walked alone at the front of the group until she noticed that Qiqi seemed to be following behind her the whole time—she was standing about two or three steps away, her gaze fixed on her.

So Eleven slowed down, gradually moving from the front of the group to the middle. Throughout this process, Qiqi never overtook her, maintaining a distance of a few steps. With just a slight increase in the amplitude of her body movements, Eleven could catch a glimpse of Qiqi out of the corner of her eye.

A premonition made Eleven almost hold her breath. She immediately pretended to squat down to tie her shoelaces, making herself fall to the very back of the group. This time, Qiqi didn't stop to wait for her, but slowly followed behind the group. When Eleven caught up again and kept changing her position, Qiqi always stayed close.

Suddenly, Shiyi felt a little lost. A secret hope rose in her heart, and all her previous anger and resentment were temporarily put aside. But she bit her lip, not knowing what to do.

Will Qiqi suddenly walk over and put her arm around her?

Would she suddenly walk up to me and whisper something, as if nothing had happened—just like when she rushed into the auditorium and smiled at me without warning not long ago?

Eleven's attention was entirely focused behind her until the dormitory corridor suddenly appeared before her. A sigh escaped Eleven's lips—she and Qiqi were currently living in different rooms, and once they reached the dormitory, they were destined to be separated.

She glanced back more frequently out of the corner of her eye until her legs crossed the threshold of the dormitory, when a feeling of falling sadness suddenly gripped her tightly.

"Teacher," Qiqi's voice came from behind, "Can you let Eleven talk to me for a while? I have something important to tell her."

The journey came to a halt during the National Day holiday.

"Eleven?" the teacher called out to her. "Do you have time? Qiqi has something she wants to tell you."

Eleven, who had her back to the corridor, took a few quick breaths and reluctantly turned around. When she glanced casually at Qiqi, she almost immediately felt herself caught by Qiqi's gaze—Qiqi was looking at her with a serious yet sad expression. The gaze seemed so focused, even the line of sight carried weight.

Eleven's eyes immediately dropped to the ground: "...What is it?"

“Let’s go over there and talk.” Qiqi pointed to the corner of the corridor not far away, where there was a woven coffee table and three small chairs.

Eleven didn't say anything, just nervously followed behind Qiqi. She felt like a piece of meat being slapped on a chopping board, yet she also looked forward to Qiqi's blade falling.

The sounds in the corridor gradually subsided as the other children returned to their rooms. Eleven noticed a teacher still standing in the corridor watching them, but at a distance of over ten meters, that person probably couldn't hear their conversation.

Eleven plopped down on the chair, but after a while, she noticed that Qiqi was just standing there and didn't sit down with her, so she stood up again, her face slightly flushed.

Qiqi kept looking at Shiyi, even though the person in front of her kept avoiding looking into her eyes.

In silence, Kiki gathered her courage until she felt she could speak.

"I have something I want to tell you—" Qiqi whispered.

"I'm sorry," Eleven suddenly said. "Hmm?"

"I'm sorry." Eleven suddenly started rubbing her eyes, her voice trembling with tears. "I'm sorry, I did something very bad."

Qiqi was suddenly interrupted and couldn't quite find the feeling she had when she spoke. Seeing Eleven crying so sadly, she couldn't help but redden her eyes as well.

"So...did you do this? My photos, and..."

Eleven kept swallowing, unable to speak, and could only nod repeatedly.

"How could you do such a thing..." Kiki whispered, "You know how important that photo is to me. I used to sleep with it in District 14..."

At this point, Qiqi suddenly paused, then belatedly realized, "You did this because you knew it was very important to me."

Eleven wanted to defend herself, but could only let out a few sobbing sighs. At this moment, she cried even harder, as if she were the one who had been bullied.

Qiqi looked at her former friend with a bit of helplessness.

The feeling of happiness she had felt outside Stella's room that evening still lingered around her like a mist. It was this faint feeling that pushed her back to Eleven, making her want to lay bare everything that had happened these past few days.

However, at this moment, Qiqi suddenly felt that she couldn't do that well either—just now, when she was listening to Kasyapa talk about life in the mountains, she vaguely felt that her sadness was insignificant, as if she could be magnanimous and reconcile with Eleven with just a little effort.

But Qiqi still felt a lot of pain. She suddenly wondered if this bitterness was the taste of dandelion leaves.

Qiqi instinctively took a step back to distance herself from Eleven. This slight change suddenly aroused Eleven's fear. She almost stepped forward to grab Qiqi's hand and say something like, "It's all my fault, please forgive me." However, she only awkwardly grabbed the other's clothes.

“Qiqi——”

"...I still have something I want to say to you." Qiqi sighed softly and placed her hand on the back of Eleven's hand. "Let me finish."

Eleven sobbed, trying to calm herself down. She tried her best to stop her shoulders from shaking, while looking at Qiqi with a wronged expression. The two of them remained silent.

Qiqi put her hands behind her back and took another step back: "I want to tell you that no matter what happens in the future, even if one day we are no longer friends, I will not fight with you for Sister Xiaohe, I promise."

Shiyi stood there stunned. Before she could react, Qiqi had already started running towards her dormitory.

"Goodnight!" Kiki shouted. She didn't look back once as she ran. Her feelings were incredibly complex; she realized it might take a long time for her to truly understand how to name this feeling.

There was no response from Shiyi. She rubbed her eyes with both hands, sobbed, walked to the wall, and sat down on the small chair again.

Jane once said that the person who apologizes first is brave, but tonight Eleven felt the complete opposite—compared to the frank and brave Kiki, she felt so weak.