Kong Youling nodded, so whenever other children were playing in the playground later, while Ji Minghuan was reading alone in the library, there would always be a figure beside him.
One night, on the attic roof, she talked about her mother.
She wrote in her notebook, saying her mother was from Iceland and moved to China for her father. But then her father abandoned them due to debts. Her mother lived with her in a place unfamiliar to them, struggling even with the language, and eventually died from overwork.
She said her mother died because of her.
Ji Minghuan shook his head and said it was not her fault, but her father's. He also said her mother was wrong. To truly live in this world, one can only rely on oneself; those who rely on others for survival can only get a temporary chance for respite.
She thought for a long time and asked, "Can I rely on you?"
Ji Minghuan hesitated for a moment, then nodded and coughed twice, overturning what he had just said: "I'm different. Depending on me is a worthwhile thing because I'm super good to the people around me."
He paused: "Well, even though there's only you around me, you are like family to me."
She said, "You are my family too."
As they continued chatting, they started talking about their first impressions of each other.
"First impression?" Ji Minghuan thought for a moment, "Oh, oh, your first impression to me was... when winter just arrived, the little snowmen kids stacked on the street."
The girl asked, "Snowmen?"
"That's right, little snowmen." He said seriously. "Not the big snowmen, but the kind that shatter with even a tiny touch."
Kong Youling glanced at him emotionlessly, her cheeks slightly puffed as if she were upset.
"Okay, I'm just joking."
Kong Youling was silent for a moment, then wrote to him: "The nurse said you liked to lock yourself up when you were a child. Why?"
Ji Minghuan stared at the night sky in a daze for a long time and then said: "The last time I saw my parents, they locked me in a closet and told me to wait there for them without making a sound, saying they would be back soon."
He lifted the corner of his mouth, "As a child, I was too foolish, actually believing they meant it. Then, even after being sent to the Welfare Institute, I'd foolishly shut myself in, thinking... doing this, would they come back to find me?"
"But they never did, and later on..." He paused, the smile on his face slowly fading. "Later on, I grew up and didn't need them to find me anymore."
"I always feel... I haven't fully understood you." The girl, seeing his desolate expression, was taken aback and wrote in her notebook.
Ji Minghuan was silent for a long time and softly said: "Actually, I present different personalities to everyone, constantly disguising myself. I'm terrified of being abandoned, like my parents... I always cater to others, pretending to be how they like. Sometimes I want to get close to others, but when I think of being abandoned, I take the initiative to cut off the relationship. I really don't want... don't want to be thrown away like garbage."
"But you are different. I hope you are by my side, because I don't need to disguise myself around you, don't need to cater. So I want to be with you forever."
Saying this, he suddenly lowered his voice, "Kong Youling... will you abandon me like my parents did?"
Kong Youling looked sideways, quietly watching him for a while.
For the first time, she saw this typically arrogant, reckless, always composed person show a vulnerable side—lonely, scared, worried. At this moment, she remembered he was just like her—a teenager, abandoned by parents, always hiding his own unease, fear, loneliness.
The girl lowered her gaze, looking at the tiles on the roof for a long, long time.
Unexpectedly, she didn't write or use lip language, but put down her notebook, slowly moved closer to him like a probing kitten, and then opened her arms, hugging him. Her white hair softly rested against his cheek.
Ji Minghuan, eyes lowered, was looking at the Welfare Institute's roof, and feeling the slight chill next to him, hadn't reacted yet when the girl already hugged him.
He was stunned for a long time.
This girl, often ridiculed by other children for not being able to speak, just chose to express her care for him in this simple way, clumsy yet sincere, without writing or using her special ability.
His eyes reddened slightly, hesitated for a moment, then gently raised his hand to embrace her in return.
The two embraced on the roof; this was Ji Minghuan's first memory of being hugged. Despite her skin being icy, he felt warm, lightly burying his head in her snowy hair.
It was a ripple-patterned sky, waves of clouds filled the deep blue sky, and the moonlight appeared dim.
A while later, the girl suddenly lowered her eyes and seriously wrote on the notebook, facing it towards him.
Ji Minghuan glanced sideways.
"Let's escape." The notebook said simply, but Ji Minghuan was puzzled.
Ji Minghuan curiously asked: "You say escape, but where to?"
"Anywhere."
"But... if we leave the orphanage, I might not survive. I have no parents, no identification, no education. I can't find work or a place to live." Ji Minghuan paused, "But you are different."
"Why?" The girl asked.
"Because you are a Superpower User, and the country treats Superpower Users very well. As long as you tell them this someday, some very powerful people will come in a big car, provide you with the best place to live, good food, good sleep." Ji Minghuan touched his nose, "Just use your powers well, and you'll be welcomed anywhere, but I..."
He looked up at the night sky, the moonlight flickering between clouds, "Once I leave this orphanage, I'm nothing, just an abandoned stray child, no one will care whether I live or die. Outside, people might not be as good as the director."
Kong Youling didn't write, just lowered her head in thought for a moment, then looked sideways at him, raised her right hand, and extended her pinky finger.
"Pinky promise." She put down the notebook and spoke silently with lip language.
"Huh?"
"You and I are always together, so it's not 'I', it's 'we'..."
Saying this, Kong Youling silently repeated his previous words, just replacing "I" with "we".
She said: "We have no parents, no identification, leaving the orphanage, perhaps can't find work, perhaps have no place to live, but we... as long as we're together, we'll find a way, as long as we're together, we'll survive."
The moonlight that day was bright and clear, her hair like ribbons of early winter snow flying in the evening wind.
Her light-sensitive eyes were wide open, never so bright before. Though this girl couldn't voice any sound, her words fell into Ji Minghuan's heart.
Ji Minghuan was stunned for a long time.
Then he laughed lowly, reached out, touched her white little finger, hooking it with his own.
"Mom said that once you pinky promise, you have to keep your word."
She smiled quietly, saying without voice, "We will always be together."
"Okay, then we will always be together."
This sentence seemed to pass through memories shrouded by moonlight, softly resonating in Ji Minghuan's ears.
In a pitch-black confinement room, he drowsily opened his eyes, seeing the isolation door already open, a figure entering the entrance— a girl with white hair in a coded hospital gown, her silhouette as always light. As she saw Ji Minghuan, she stopped, quietly staying put.
Ji Minghuan was first dumbfounded for a moment, then blinked at her.
"Long time no see."