Time passed quickly,and the school bell rang, signaling the end of the day.Students rushed out of the classroom, and Hao stood up, saying goodbye to Da Tou before heading towards the bus area.
As he passed the cafeteria, he glanced casually and froze.It was his father, standing there.
Hao's heart skipped a beat. His thoughts were pulled back to the past.In his previous life, he remembered…From elementary to middle school, his father was always busy with work, and they only saw each other at night. There was little interaction between them.
His father waved at him from a distance.
"Don't you have work today?" Hao asked.
"Come on." His father replied briefly, handing Hao a helmet.
They didn't speak much more, simply riding the motorcycle home in silence.
Hao remembered that growing up, communication with his father had been rare.Whenever they did speak, it was usually about discipline—stern, distant, never personal.
The sound of the motorcycle engine filled the silence, and Hao sat quietly behind his father, his head down.
About thirty minutes later, they arrived home.Hao got off the bike and handed the helmet back to his father.His father took it without a word and went inside to watch TV, not acknowledging Hao at all.
Hao entered the house and quickly headed to the bathroom.As he turned on the shower and stood under the water, the feeling of loneliness that had haunted him for years washed over him again.
His mother was in the kitchen, busy preparing dinner."Go take a shower, dinner will be ready soon."She called from the kitchen.
"Okay," Hao replied softly, his gaze unfocused, as the water flowed over him, washing away the frustration and silence.
The water gradually washed away Hao's exhaustion, but his thoughts were not so easily cleared.
Standing under the shower, Hao stared blankly at the tiles on the wall.His gaze became distant.The memories from his past life rushed back, and again, he felt the indescribable loneliness—No one asked him how his day went.No one cared about his inner struggles and worries.
In this family, Hao felt like just a shadow on the side.Unneeded, unnoticed.
His mother was always busy with household chores, and his father was always lost in his work.Sometimes, Hao wondered if they even had a "family" at all.They were merely individuals living separate lives, connected by the occasional dinner table.
Hao took a deep breath, trying to shake off the feeling.He knew he couldn't let this emotion drag him down; he couldn't let it affect his future choices.Rebirth gave him a chance, but that chance shouldn't be wasted on memories.
He walked out of the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror.The boy before him had the innocent look typical of his age, but his eyes—those eyes were no longer naive.He knew what loneliness was. He knew what it was to miss an opportunity.But more importantly, he knew that the future was not fixed.He still had the chance to change everything.
His mother called from the kitchen: "Dinner's ready, come eat."Hao walked over and sat at the dinner table.His mother was still busy, occasionally glancing up to put food on his plate, but she didn't say much.His father sat across from him, eyes glued to the TV screen, hardly noticing Hao's presence.
The atmosphere at the table was as silent as always.Hao lowered his head, eating his food, but his mind was elsewhere:If I could start over, could I change this loneliness? Could I change the distance between my parents and me?
But he knew that changing the dynamics of this family wasn't something that could happen overnight.It would take time, patience, and most importantly, courage—to break through the silence and the distance.