The Youthful You Who Was So Beautiful

Twenty Two

The sky was a brilliant shade of red and orange as the setting sun cast its amber rays over the cloudless sky. The gentle evening breeze grazed the thick foliage of the mulberry trees, causing the tree leaves to rustle restlessly.

Sebastian sat on the swing, his eyes inevitably following Eliza's tiny figure as she swept the fallen leaves from the abandoned grounds of the steel mill.

"I noticed that, an object is missing from the drawer beneath the basin," Eliza asked uncertainly, "They said, Lily had been ......, but I suspect that she wasn't. Did you, perhaps, use that object ......"

Sebastian raised his eyes to meet Eliza's gaze. The two youths fell into silence.

Sebastian bit onto his lower lip gently. After some time, he spoke up, "In any event ...... I subsequently discovered that Lily had truly been raped. That day, after you injured her with the knife, Lily was subdued by the raincoat man who had been stalking her, and raped."

Eliza gripped the broom tightly, "Are you speaking, the truth?"

"It's Will." That day, Eliza tensed up unnaturally upon seeing Will. At that very moment, Sebastian realized that Will could have been amongst the group of males who bullied and hurt Eliza that night along with Lily."I've broken off all contact with Will. He has now fled to the other districts. The previous two cases of rape were also committed by him."

Eliza remained silent.

"Don't you remember? There were a few times when I had to help him to clean up his mess. Once, you were even at my house when he reached out to me for help."

"He was the one who murdered Lily?" Eliza asked hesitantly, the suspicion unmistakable in her voice.

"Yes."

Eliza's brows furrowed together slightly;

Sebastian rose from the swing. Walking over to Eliza, he grazed his fingers over her cheeks. Eliza gazed at him silently, her brows gradually unknotting themselves. Lowering his head, Sebastian cupped her face gently in his hands and whispered in a ow voice, "You must believe this – that you didn't kill anybody. That everything would turn out fine."

Eliza shivered quietly, "I didn't kill anybody."

"That's right. You didn't."

"You didn't too either, did you?"

Eliza stared at him obstinately. Sebastian broke into a gentle smile, and gave a small, gentle nod.

But Eliza's heart remained clouded with worries and fears. She knew that Sebastian was hiding something from her, that it wasn't anything good, and that it was a disastrous piece of news. She believed in Sebastian, but at the same time, she felt that he wasn't being entirely truthful with her, and that his reassurances were filled with truths and lies. However, she had no way of differentiating which parts were true, and which parts were lies.

She was overcome with a strange sense of uneasiness, just like he was.

After all, they were still two young, immature youths – they were afraid and fearful of the uncertain future. And yet, like the fields of wild grass who struggled to live despite the harsh conditions and lack of care, they would simply grit their teeth and struggle through what was to come.

That evening, the two youths clambered onto the window sill, hopped onto the cement ledge and sprinted up the emergency stairwell. On reaching the rooftop, the two youths sat side by side on the edge of the roof, their feet dangling beneath them as they gazed at the innumerable households in Xi Cheng. The sun had already dipped beyond the horizon, its remnant glow gradually fading away.