Why it never ends

She was sitting on a wet low rock with a group of her peers. The transparent rain shield on the brim of her hat caught a lot of raindrops and blocked her eyes.

Hesta stopped. She suddenly realized that she had not prepared a topic. She seemed to have thought about a lot of things on the way here, but now she could not think of anything.

Suddenly the wind passed by, and Ksenia raised her head.

When their eyes met, Hesta clearly felt the other person tremble for a moment, and then Ksenia laughed. Several people around her also noticed Hesta's figure and loudly invited her to come and sit down.

Although they shouted their names enthusiastically, most of the faces here were completely unfamiliar to Hesta. They handed over plump and fresh soft persimmons, and everyone had some orange-red moist persimmon flesh stuck to their hands, but everyone in the rain didn't care.

Hesta held three or four persimmons and sat down next to Ksenia somewhat inexplicably.

Kseniya was about to say something when she suddenly coughed violently. All the persimmons in Hesta's hand suddenly fell to the ground, and everyone gathered around her.

After about five minutes, Ksenia's coughing finally stopped, and she half-commanded, half-playfully asked everyone to disperse and sit back in their seats.

After the first round of noise passed, Hesta leaned slightly towards Ksenia and asked, "Are you really okay?"

Ksenia laughed. She did not answer the question, but lowered her eyes and opened a piece of persimmon stem. She dug her nails into the flesh and divided the persimmon into two halves.

"Eat?"

"...Thank you." Hesta took the persimmon, "Are these people your friends?"

"Yes, they are all friends from the club and my roommate."

"Why do they all know me?"

"You are so famous now!" Ksenia laughed again, "You scolded Zuo Wentao again in class yesterday, right? I heard that he couldn't say a word at that time and could only listen. Is it true that you finished sharing the whole story?”

"That's right," Hesta said softly, "He did seem to become friendly yesterday without interrupting."

"It must be that the teasing words he originally prepared couldn't come out. Otherwise, why would he choose a time when Teacher Chen was not around to let you give a speech?" Kseniya smiled, "You did a great job."

The two of them lowered their heads to eat the persimmons. The sweet persimmon meat required almost no chewing. Hesta swallowed absentmindedly, and a few small tongues suddenly slid down her throat and into her esophagus. She quickly turned her back and choked a few times.

"Eat slowly," Ksenia said softly, "Do you need paper?"

Hesta shook her head, rubbed her hands in the rain, and whispered, "...Did I scare you when I came up just now?"

"Huh? No, why do you ask?"

"...Maybe I saw it wrong."

Both of them were silent. Ksenia suddenly turned her head and said, "I thought you were going to shout my name again, just like you did in the city hall..."

Hesta glanced at Ksenia very quickly.

"...But you didn't." Ksenia laughed, "Thank you for not doing it, otherwise it would have been so embarrassing."

Hesta laughed and looked down at her fingertips.

"Is it my imagination?" Kseniya said softly, "I feel like you are a little shy today?"

"……Have it?"

"No?" Ksenia smiled, "Are you looking at me?"

The rain fell on the hood of the raincoat one by one, making a light and crisp patter. Hesta's throat moved slightly, and her whole body remained still in the rain. She lowered her head slightly and let the brim of her hat cover her eyes. In her limited field of vision, she saw Ksenia peeling off a persimmon again... Her hands were full of pulp and rainwater. "Jane?" Ksenia said with a smile, "Why are you so silent today?"

Suddenly, someone in the distance called Ksenia's name and asked her loudly whose flag the drama club was - it seemed that the mountaineering club was planning to take a photo with the drama club in this open space.

Ksenia and her friends all stood up one after another, and the classmates who were originally scattered everywhere gathered in one place. Taking advantage of this chaotic moment, Hesta quickly unbuttoned the collar of her raincoat and pulled her hat behind her. She stood up and walked around, her whole head steaming in the rain.

Not far away, several people were unfurling two flags in the rain, and one person was hurriedly adjusting the delay parameters in the rain cover, repeating several times without success. Ding Jiali snapped his fingers and called Hesta to come over and help press the shutter.

In the light rain, Hesta looked at everyone through the camera, and quickly spotted Ksenia among the crowd. Kseniya looked at the camera with a smile, she stared quietly at Kseniya's face.

This was the first time today that she looked at her so carefully and seriously. Hesta pressed the shutter button continuously, and the sound of the shutter reminded her of a bird flapping its wings. She couldn't explain why, but she clearly felt that something was flapping its wings in her heart, leaving a feeling of emptiness.

The crowd changed several formations and postures, and everyone asked Hestad to take a few more photos each time in order to choose the one with the best effect, and Hestad did so one by one. After the group photo ended, the rain gradually weakened. Everyone packed up their luggage and trash, got up and started heading to the top of the mountain.

Hesta stood there, and she saw Ksenia sitting back on the low stone before, waving her hands to say goodbye to her companions.

"Aren't you leaving?" Hesta stepped forward and asked.

"Let's go," Ksenia whispered, "but I have to rest a little longer."

When almost all the troops left, Ksenia finally stood up. Only then did Hesta realize that there was a camera in her arms.

Ksenia changed the lens, readjusted the parameters, and began to take pictures of snails in the rain, broken dandelions with bundled down, and red fruits of dog roses.

"...I know another way up the mountain," Ksenia turned her head. "It's a bit circuitous and the road isn't that easy, but the scenery is better. Do you want to take a walk?"

"Okay." Hesta pulled up the rain hat again, "You lead the way."

……

"Ksenia."

"Ok?"

"What do you study?"

"Haha, guess what?"

The light in the forest was very dim. The two walked one behind the other on the stone path in the mountain. They jumped over the small puddles on the ground briskly, and the towering pine forest swayed in the wind above their heads.

"literature?"

"No."

"history?"

"Not at all."

"Philosophy? Jurisprudence?"

"That's wrong, guess again," Ksenia turned around, "Do I look like someone who is willing to work at a desk?"

"...agriculture?" Hesta frowned, "or medicine?"

"Forget it, you're not even close to me," Ksenia laughed. "My undergraduate major is physics, and the research I'm doing now is related to meteorology."