chapter 8
Bonus Story: How the Graduation Photo That Shocked the Entire University Came to Be
A terrifying legend had recently begun circulating at X University:
“Stay away from the doctoral dormitory at night. A female ghost haunts the building!”
Filled with worry, I warned the second female lead.
“Wifey, they say there’s a ghost in our dorm. You have to be careful when you walk home from the library at night!”
I wrapped my arms around her and wailed.
“I’m so useless. If I weren’t blind now, I would never let you walk alone after dark!”
She gave me a level look.
“Have you been staying up late again and secretly feeling your way around the building?”
I nodded.
“Yes. There are fewer people at night, so it’s the perfect time to map the place. I want to adjust to being blind as soon as I can.”
She was silent for a long moment.
“Next time you explore the halls at midnight, don’t wear that white nightgown.”
I answered obediently, “Okay.”
I did not understand my wife’s reasoning, but she undoubtedly had her reasons.
…
Since arriving in this world hand in hand with the second female lead, I had never loved academia so much.
I had assumed I would never complete the mission to obtain a doctorate.
But who was my wifey? She single-handedly produced enough research for two people and even gave my dissertation the full-service treatment from start to finish!
And so, I ate, slept, and coasted all the way to graduation.
At the commencement ceremony, she gave a speech as the outstanding graduate representative, while I spoke as a model of perseverance for blind young people.
When she took the stage, she looked in my direction.
I could not see her gaze, of course, so I held my junior labmate’s hand to soothe the pain of missing my wife.
After thanking several people, the second female lead said softly:
“Aside from my advisor, there is one more person I would like to thank.
“My life was always monotonous, like a dull score written only in black and white.
“But she transformed every note on that page into a beautiful melody of color.”
Hearing this, I excitedly slapped my junior labmate’s arm.
“She’s talking about me! She’s talking about me! She loves me so much!”
On the verge of tears, my labmate covered my mouth.
“Senior, keep your voice down! You get to graduate and leave. I still have another year here!”
Onstage, however, the second female lead abruptly changed direction.
“That person is my mother. Without her, I would not be who I am today.”
Me: “…”
My sharp-tongued junior finally revealed her true nature. She leaned close and stabbed me straight through the heart.
“Senior, I think I heard something shatter. Oh! It was your heart.”
I argued stubbornly, “My mother-in-law has known my wifey twenty-some years longer than I have. Of course their bond is a little deeper.”
Once the university administrators finished their sleep-inducing speeches, the graduates were finally allowed onstage for photographs.
The second female lead made her way through the crowd. My labmate solemnly placed my hand in hers and said with great earnestness:
“I’m entrusting my senior to you. Make sure she fights her way into the center of the graduation photo.”
The second female lead took my hand and smiled as she nodded.
After everyone had arranged themselves for the picture, she murmured my name.
I turned toward her voice and felt something brush gently against my lips.
As the photographer called, “Three, two, one—cheese!” the graduation photo immortalized the most brazen kiss the two of us had ever shared.
That photograph would hang at X University until the institution itself collapsed, admired by generations upon generations of students.
From that day forward, I left behind two great legends at X University.
The first was “We Still Don’t Know the Name of the Female Ghost Seen in the Doctoral Dormitory That Night.”
The second was “That Inspirational Blind Girl Who Kissed the University’s Most Brilliant Doctoral Student at Commencement.”