It was a sunny afternoon in 2017 (or 2016). I visited her family in Sichuan. We stayed at her home and tried to have some fun. She proposed to sing a song together and record our voice on an APP that can score our singing. I was so bad at music but she taught me a song sentence by sentence, word by word very patiently. We spent the whole afternoon on Jay Chou's SUNNY DAY (晴天) tirelessly. What a lovely and chill day!

The SUNNY DAY is not a happy song. Instead, it ends up with "At the end of the story, it seems like you still said GOODBYE" ("故事的最后, 你好像还是说了拜"). I am not a fatalist, but looking back now, this song foreshadowed our ending.

This is the begining of my story. It was probably an ordinary Sichuan-style afternoon, but it is the one afternoon that holds my last impression on my first love. Now in July 2024, we haven't seen each other for 7 years and I can't remember many things clearly. I have to use that afternoon and the song as the anchor to trace back our days.

The Valentine's Day was probably during my visit. I decided to give her a surprise because I had some incomings as a graduate student, not much though (~ 2500 RMB per month) but I can afford some nicer gift beyond cheap silver rings or cartoon watches. I brought her to a Swarovski store in a mall and asked her to pick one item she likes. We both discovered a beautiful bracelet featuring a rotatable heart-shaped crystal stone. I was so hesitant because it costs around 1800 RMB and I have never bought any gifts at that price. She asked the salesperson if the bracelet comes in a smaller size, as the one she tried on looks too big, even though I knew she just wanted to save some money for me T_T. No smaller one, and no other good options, and I decided to buy it for her. Getting out of the store, I told her I felt so sorry that I haven't bought any nice gifts in the past 6 years we've been together but I believe our life will get better! She cried tears of emotion.

One of the main themes in our six-year relationship might be food, all sorts of classical Sichuan dishes and appetizers, probably it is something we could afford and easily gain some fun. We had a small electric scooter and used to often ride it to the supermarket. She complained I kept forgetting to charge our scooter and sometimes we had to push it all the way back to our school.

Thinking back, they are all beautiful memories. However, at that time, it all seemed so ordinary. 当时只道是寻常.