Chapter 2 — The Day They Forgot Me

Good heavens, there is no end in sight. There must have been an accident up ahead.

I pulled out my phone and checked the navigation app. Six kilometers ahead, a severe traffic jam loomed, with the estimated delay exceeding two hours. I stared at the congested route on the screen. A sudden, quiet realization took root in my heart. I opened the family group chat. Forty minutes ago, Father had sent a message:

Stuck on the highway.

Mother had replied:

What time will we arrive?

My eldest brother sent a voice memo, which I did not open. Tran Dao sent a crying emoji:

I want to throw up, where is the motion sickness medicine?

My sister-in-law chimed in:

Didn't we tell Xiao Bai to bring it?

Silence stretched across the chat for more than ten seconds. Then Tran Dao sent another voice memo, and I pressed play.

The medicine is in Tran Bai's backpack, which is right next to me, but it seems to have fallen out somehow, I can't find it! Does anyone have motion sickness medicine anywhere else?

My sister-in-law answered:

No, that was the only box.

Mother chimed in:

Where is Tran Bai? Tell him to explain where it is.

Silence. My eldest brother sent a text message:

Which car is Tran Bai sitting in?

Silence once more. Thirty seconds later, Mother sent a voice memo. I pressed play. Her voice was terrifyingly calm:

Isn't he still at the rest stop? Tell him to look after himself. Stop searching for the medicine, we will buy some when we arrive.

Even the phrase when we arrive was spoken with chilling nonchalance. As though I were merely a suitcase accidentally left behind at a rest stop. And not even a valuable suitcase, one whose loss mattered little. Right at that moment, my phone rang. My eldest brother. The characters Tran Hang flashed across the screen. I stared at the call interface. I did not answer. I pressed reject. Three seconds later, the phone buzzed again. Still my eldest brother. I rejected the call once more. Then my sister-in-law. Rejected. Mother. Rejected. Father. Rejected. I switched my phone to silent mode and placed the screen face down on my lap. Brother Chu glanced at me through the rearview mirror:

Your phone is ringing.

Yes.

Aren't you going to answer?

No.

Brother Chu let out a soft chuckle:

Very well, if you aren't answering, then you aren't answering.

It seemed he understood everything. [Chapter 6] The phone kept vibrating relentlessly. I flipped it over to look. Within the span of three minutes, there were fourteen missed calls. My eldest brother had called six times. Mother four times. Father twice. Tran Dao twice. Nine WeChat messages waited for me. I read them one by one. My eldest brother:

Where are you? Why aren't you answering your phone?

My eldest brother:

We are stuck in traffic, the map is glitching, check it for me.

My eldest brother:

Where did you leave the phone charger? There is no charging cable in the GL8.

Mother:

Tran Bai, what on earth are you doing that you won't answer your phone?

Mother:

Your sister is carsick and miserable, where on earth is the medicine?

Mother:

Tran Bai?

Tran Dao:

Second brother! I am about to throw up! Which compartment of your backpack is the medicine in anyway?

Tran Dao:

Tran Bai! Are you dead?

Father sent only a single sentence:

Answer the phone.

I read through every single message. Not a single one asked:

How are you holding up?

Are you safe?

Where are you right now?

Everything was a demand. The phone charger. The map. The motion sickness medicine. In their eyes, what was I? A walking toolkit. When the toolkit was left behind at the rest stop, not a single person cared. Only when the tool was needed did they remember that the box had vanished entirely. I cleared all the notifications. I opened the phone settings and located the Do Not Disturb mode. I switched it on. I turned off all sounds entirely. Then I opened the music application, selected a song, and pushed the volume to its absolute maximum. I slid the earphones into my ears. Brother Chu's car remained trapped on the asphalt, unmoving. Yet at this very moment, I felt strangely, profoundly calm. It was as though a taut string that had been pulled tight for twenty-eight years had finally snapped. Once it broke, the pain was entirely gone. [Chapter 7] After forty minutes of gridlock, the stream of vehicles began to creep forward slowly. Brother Chu took an alternate route, bypassing the section where the accident had occurred. We began to accelerate, seventy, eighty, one hundred. Meanwhile, the stretch of highway where my family was stranded still glowed dark red on the navigation map. They were projected to wait another hour and a half. My earphones played music while my phone remained on Do Not Disturb, leaving the entire world with an unbelievable, profound quiet. About twenty minutes later, an unfamiliar number flashed across the screen. It was not saved in my contacts, but the caller ID indicated the call originated from Shanghai. I hesitated for a single second before pressing answer.

Is this Tran Bai? I am Fang Hongyuan.

Fang Hongyuan. President Fang. The largest client I was currently managing. At the same time, he was the very account my eldest brother's company had fought tooth and nail to secure for the past half year. Yet my eldest brother did not know that the only reason President Fang was still considering a partnership with Tran Hang's company was because of me. I had been in this industry for six years, rising from a humble supplier's sales representative to an independent commercial consultant taking on projects as I did now. President Fang was a client I had personally negotiated and won three years ago. He trusted me. He placed no faith in the empty promises printed on my eldest brother's PowerPoint presentations. During this National Day holiday trip, my original intention had been to arrange a meeting with President Fang upon reaching Thousand Island Lake, since he was also vacationing there for the holiday.