Your Distance

61 - Driving To The North

Ting Shuang was sweating profusely as he kicked the ball, and his shoes, legs, and pants were all dirty. He wasn’t conscious of anything else. Only happiness and victory. He just wanted to rush towards the audience on the bleachers after sharing a group hug with his teammates — just like the other boys playing football.

The other boys ran towards their girlfriends. They wiped their sweat, drank water, and bragged to their girlfriends about how good they were just now.

Ting Shuang also wiped his sweat and drank water, happily breaking down their tactics in front of Bai Changyi.

Bai Changyi smiled and listened for a long time before saying, “They’re leaving, and waiting for you.”

Ting Shuang turned around and saw the other boys and their girlfriends standing under the bleachers.

He smiled and waved, saying goodbye to them loudly.

After bidding farewell, he turned back, kissed Bai Changyi and asked, “How does it feel to watch your boyfriend play football amongst a group of high school girls?”

Bai Changyi was happy to fuel Ting Shuang’s vanity, “They’re all jealous of me. My boyfriend’s more handsome.”

Ting Shuang pretended to be distressed, “Those guys playing football were also jealous of me. It’s too annoying.”

The two looked at each other, laughed, and then shared a long kiss on the empty bleachers.

The wind blew across the grass, blowing past their hair and clothes.

“Are you cold?” Bai Changyi said, “You’re all sweaty. I brought you a long sleeve shirt in the car. Go and change.”

Ting Shuang nodded and changed his clothes before driving off.

The street lights were bright, but the sky was not completely dark yet. Layered clouds were in the distance, colours of gold, rose-pink, purple-grey, and dark blue, extending from the horizon to the zenith.

‘Love Is Reason’ started playing on the car stereo.

“What are we going to do next?” Ting Shuang moved to the rhythm of the record, very comfortable.

“Like what you said, sail the seas and ride with the winds and waves, so as to fight the sharks.” When Bai Changyi said this, his tone sounded as if he was like saying, ‘find a restaurant to eat at, then go home and sleep.’

After the craziness from before, Ting Shuang didn’t feel particularly surprised when he heard that, “Okay, where do I go?”

“All the way north.” Bai Changyi pointed to a highway, “To Lübeck.”

Ting Shuang glanced at the map, “God, are we going to cross half of Germany all the way to the Baltic Sea? How long will it take?”

Bai Changyi said, “We can reach before two in the morning. The car rental shop has a chain. We’ll return the car in Lübeck tomorrow morning and return by plane. Your son is still waiting at home.”

“You’re familiar with this?” Ting Shuang was curious, “Have you done this kind of thing before?”

“More than ten years ago.” Bai Changyi said, “Go to the gas station first.”

Ting Shuang parked the car at the gas station, bought water and a lot of food from the 24-hour convenience store, and waited for Bai Changyi to fill up the gas tank while eating.

“Were you particularly cool more than ten years ago?” Ting Shuang sat on the hood of the car and imagined, “Just, a map, a car, a beautiful girlfriend, and a piece of the European continent. The world is yours, and all boys envied you. That kind of thing.”