Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Ji Cheng and I fell in love.

But because work was so demanding, we didn’t actually see each other that often in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Most of the time, we crossed paths at the sites of various conflicts.

He would be sprinting to treat the wounded, while I would be desperately filming footage for my reports.

A fleeting brush of hands as we hurried past each other was often our only form of communication.

Internet signals were also spotty at best.

We would frequently go days without receiving a single message from the other, only for them to suddenly flood our phones all at once.

The constant chiming and pinging would ring out in a jumbled mess of notifications.

It was as if those messages had just fought their way through a hail of bullets themselves, carrying the heavy weight of our longing and stubbornly delivering the desires of our hearts.

However, the situation in North Kivu Province was far from optimistic.

Our first fight happened on the day a village near Goma was attacked.

By the time we reached the scene, the militants hadn’t fully retreated. Security forces were still trading fire with them.

We rushed back to our vehicles, preparing to evacuate, but then I saw Ji Cheng bolt out of the ambulance.

A villager had fallen at the edge of the crossfire.

He carried the man back on his shoulders, but he ended up drenched in blood from a shrapnel wound.

I was both furious and terrified, and we had a massive row.

But he refused to back down.

“I’m a doctor! I can’t just watch someone die!

“He only had a gunshot wound to the leg at the time-he could still live! But if I hadn’t saved him, he would have been dead for sure in that crossfire!”

I knew he was right. I knew saving lives was his mission.

But I was truly scared.

When he came back, he was covered in blood. It was impossible to tell whose it was.

I spent a long time trembling as I checked him over, only to find out he had just sustained superficial injuries.

Suddenly, I didn’t want to fight anymore. I threw my arms around him and sobbed uncontrollably.

“Ji Cheng! I don’t want to lose anyone else! If something happens to you, what am I supposed to do?!”

He fell silent.

After a moment, he held me back, his voice raspy.

“I’m sorry…

“I’ll be careful from now on. I won’t put myself in danger or make you worry…”

I sobbed against his chest. “Promise me!!”

“Then let’s pinky swear.”

He took my hand and went through the motions.

“Pinky swear, cross my heart, hope to die… a hundred years without change. Whoever breaks it is a puppy!”

“I definitely can’t become a puppy. Otherwise, how would you introduce me when it’s time to meet your mother?

“As your puppy boyfriend?”

He coaxed a laugh out of me through my tears.

I reached out and pressed a pillow onto his face.

However, he lay there perfectly still. I panicked and pulled it away immediately, terrified I might have smothered him.

He looked at me with a mischievous glint in his eyes, completely unharmed.

It was as if he were saying, [See? It’s not that easy to die.]

I could only glare at him until my eyes grew sore, and then suddenly, they welled up again.

My heart slowly sank.

Everyone knew that a pinky swear was nothing more than a psychological comfort.

The battlefield is the most cruel place on earth.

For the first time, I realized profoundly that every day I spent with Ji Cheng was precious.

Because no one could say for sure which would come first: tomorrow, or death.