Chapter 19 — The Ring Has Been Removed

“Van Kieu, please do what you want.” “Me too.”* One day before the flight, I was in the office cleaning up the last batch of tools. Suddenly a black box appeared on the table. Lam Chieu Ninh pointed to the door: "Chu Nghien Tu brought it." I opened the box. Inside is a restored leather box I left at his apartment. All tools are neatly arranged in the same order. On top, place a sheet of paper. 【Give me back my things.】 【I won't step in.】 【Safe road.】 Don't ask to meet. Don't tell me to calm down anymore. Don't ask if there will be a chance in the future. Lam Chieu Ninh leaned on the edge of the table. “No answer?” I closed the box. “No need.”“Reluctant?”“A little.” I don't deny it. “But lingering and turning around are two different things.” Lam Chieu Ninh laughed. “Finally, I wised up for once.” I glared at her. She patted my head. “Let's go, go home and pack your luggage.” Early the next morning, my parents took me to the airport. Along the way, my mother kept checking and rechecking her passport and documents. At the security gate, she finally couldn't help but hug me. “Remember to report peace when you get there.” “Yes.” Dad handed me the suitcase. "If you're not familiar with it, just go home. Our family isn't just Chu Nghien Tu." The corners of my eyes sting a little. “I know.” Lam Chieu Ninh stuffed the restored leather box into my bag. “Don't lose it again.” I nodded. Before turning to walk away, the phone suddenly vibrated. Chu Nghien Tu sent a very long message. 【Van Kieu, I always thought that you couldn't leave me. It wasn't until you were really gone that I realized that in these two years, the person who always relied on that love was me.】 【I like that you will wait for me, like that no matter how late there is someone to turn on the light for me, I also like that I always put myself in the first place.】 【I took those things for granted, but mistakenly thought that as long as I was willing to turn around, you would be there forever.】 【I'm sorry.】 【I won't ask you to forgive me anymore.】 【I just hope that if I remember you in the future, it won't be all about sadness.】 I read for a long time. Finally did not answer. The plane took off, the city under the clouds became smaller and smaller. I looked down at my right hand. On the middle finger there is still a pale ring of the ring. In the past, I was afraid of being discovered by others, so I often intentionally used band-aids to cover it up. Now the ring is gone. I no longer feel like it's something I can't meet other people. Those two years were not a humiliation, seriously loving someone was also not wrong. After arriving in Florence, the first job the Academy arranged for me was to help restore a religious painting that had been covered over many times by later generations. The teacher pointed to the unusual color at the edge of the painting and told me in broken Chinese: "Restoration is not about making all the cracks completely disappear." "It's about removing the incorrect overlays of later generations, letting it return to itself." I put on gloves and took out the restoration knife. The sunlight outside the window penetrated through the tall glass pane, shining down on my fingers. The ring's imprint is still there. But it has faded a lot. I bowed my head and began to scrape away the first layer of color that did not belong to the original painting. RUN OUT OF