Promise Under the Moonlight

Episode 2 - The Boy Under the Plum Tree

'You are the transfer, right?' One of the girls came over. She had a bright ponytail and a friendly, curious face. 'I am Shen Xi. Can I sit here?'

Lin Yue nodded, a little surprised. Shen Xi sat down and immediately leaned in, eyes wide.

'So. Word is that Gu Yan actually said something to you. That is basically a miracle. He has not spoken more than three sentences to anyone in our class since the beginning of the year.'

'He said a few sentences,' Lin Yue admitted. 'He told me not to go to the back courtyard after sunset.'

Shen Xi's smile froze for half a second. Then she laughed, a little too quickly. 'Oh. That old rumor. Do not worry about it. There is nothing back there except an old well and some plum trees.'

'A rumor?' Lin Yue asked.

Shen Xi leaned closer and whispered, 'They say a girl disappeared there, a long time ago. They say the plum trees bloom out of season sometimes. They say if you stand under them at night, you might hear someone calling your name. But it is all just stories. Every old school has stories.'

Lin Yue nodded and pushed the rice around her plate. Every old school had stories. Of course. That was what she told herself.

After school, the rain had stopped. The sky was a pale, tired grey, and the air smelled like wet stone. Lin Yue gathered her books slowly. Most of her classmates had already left. Gu Yan was still at his desk, finishing his own packing in that quiet, careful way of his.

'Gu Yan,' she said, before she could stop herself.

He looked up.

'About the back courtyard,' she said. 'Why did you tell me that?'

For a long moment, he only watched her. Then he stood, slung his bag over his shoulder, and said, 'Because you are the kind of person who will go and see for yourself if no one tells you anything.'

She opened her mouth to argue, then closed it again. He was right, and somehow he had known.

'I am walking you to the gate,' he said. 'Come.'

They walked down the stairs together in silence. The hallway lights flickered once as they passed, then steadied. Lin Yue told herself it was just old wiring.

At the gate, Gu Yan stopped and turned to her.

'Lin Yue,' he said, using her name for the first time. It sounded careful in his mouth, as if he had practiced it. 'Promise me something.'

'What?'

'If anything strange happens tonight, do not go looking for the answer alone. Wait for me.'

She laughed, uncertain. 'What could happen tonight?'

He did not answer. He only looked at her with those deep, quiet eyes, and for the first time she felt that he was not being mysterious for the sake of it. He was worried. Genuinely, carefully worried.

'Okay,' she said, because she did not know what else to say. 'I promise.'

He nodded once, as if a weight had lifted a little, and then he walked away down the street, his figure disappearing into the slow grey evening.

Lin Yue stood at the gate a moment longer, looking after him. A single plum blossom drifted down from a branch above her head and landed in her palm. It was pink, soft, and very out of season.

She stared at it.

Plum trees did not bloom in autumn.

Somewhere behind her, deep in the school courtyard, a bell she did not remember hearing began to ring, low and slow, as if from very far away.

And in that moment, although she could not have explained why, Lin Yue understood that her new life at Mingyuan High School was not going to be quiet at all.

That night, Lin Yue could not sleep.

Her new apartment was small, tucked into a quiet street two blocks from the school. Her mother had already gone to bed, exhausted from her first day at the new hospital. The building was silent except for the occasional click of the old heater and the soft breath of wind against the window.

Lin Yue lay on her back, staring at the ceiling, turning the plum blossom over and over in her fingers. It had not withered. It had not even started to curl. It was as fresh as if she had picked it that very second.

She tried to tell herself that plum trees sometimes bloomed late. She tried to tell herself that Gu Yan was just a quiet, dramatic boy, that rumors were only rumors, that bells could ring on their own in old buildings. She tried all of these things and none of them worked.