I almost touched the moon

After the meeting, Wen Song left the office building tiredly and went to the door to smoke. After so many years, she found that she was still the same. Once she had a meeting and needed to communicate with people, she would feel exhausted.

She lit a cigarette at the door, looked at the message on her phone, smiled faintly, and did not reply.

Felix soon came out and stood beside her to smoke. He said bluntly, "Ilia, to be honest, I think it's a pity that you're leaving ESA. You've contributed a lot to the Aether Venus probe, not just theoretical guidance. If you stayed at ESA, you would be an engineer of the planetary probe, not a supporter of astrophysical theory."

"I don't care." Wen Song smiled. "I was really exhausted during the year I worked at ESA. I had to constantly coordinate the opinions of all parties and collaborate with other engineers. I couldn't do so much. I would be exhausted. Don't you understand my personality? I am only suitable for doing research alone. Therefore, it would be easier for me to be a professor at a university. I only need to finish my classes and then I can do my own thing."

"Of course, I just miss you." Felix also smiled, "I miss the time when we scolded the ESA executives for saying that our design cost too much money and asked us to reduce costs."

"Don't worry." Wen Song handed him a cigarette and comforted him, "At least the design phase is over. The next assembly work has nothing to do with us. Do you have any plans?"

"I'm going to Mauritius for vacation. It's too cold in the Netherlands, and the weather in Noordwijk is really bad." Felix shivered as a gust of wind blew by, complaining, "How about you? Do you want to go to Mauritius with me?"

Wen Song shook his head and said, "I want to go skiing. I haven't been for a long time."

Three years ago, shortly after Dr. Wen Song graduated, she received an invitation from ESA, asking her whether she would like to participate in the follow-up research and development of the Venus probe Aether as an engineer in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, the largest research and technology center of ESA.

The Netherlands... Wen Song thought that the Netherlands was just like the UK, with 200 days of rain a year, and even in June and July it was windy and rainy and extremely cold, so he hesitated whether to refuse.

However, she made a decision that shocked herself. She accepted the invitation from ESA because she found that if she really wanted to find a place in Europe that she was willing to go to and that did not have any memories of her and Cheng Che, it seemed that the only place was the Netherlands...

Unlike Portugal, Spain, southern Italy and southern France, where they go on vacation every weekend, they have only been to the Netherlands once, visited Giethoorn and went to the Keukenhof Gardens to see the tulips.

It was a completely new place for Wen Song. She thought that there she should be able to let go of Cheng Che.

But a year later, she found that the unfamiliar environment could not make her forget Cheng Che at all. On the contrary, because of the bad weather, she missed him even more. She missed the days when she and he sunbathed on the shore of Lake Starnberg, scuba dived in Bora Bora Island, and walked the dog on the shore of Lake Zurich.

Moreover, she really couldn't adapt to the work of an engineer. In addition to daily design research, she also needed to communicate and coordinate with her superiors and other project teams. She was most afraid of dealing with people, and she felt exhausted after every meeting.

A year later, she received an email from Professor Ferrero asking if she would like to return to her alma mater as a lecturer. Her star and planet formation research group was recruiting young scientists and offering an adaptive training program to gain professorship qualifications.

Professor Ferrero extended her a warm invitation in the email, and even said frankly that he believed that with her ability, she would be able to obtain the title of W1 Professor within a year.

Wen Song has no goal for a title, and she doesn't necessarily want to be a professor. She thinks being a lecturer for life is fine. Working at a university, she doesn't have to deal with such complicated interpersonal relationships and can focus on her own research, which is undoubtedly easier for her.

Therefore, she immediately accepted Professor Ferrero's invitation and submitted her resignation to ESA.

The day she returned to Munich, the weather was very good, with bright sunshine and a gentle breeze. She sat on the grass beside the main fountain of Munich University, enjoying the warm sunshine of early summer. At that moment, she suddenly felt that she should come back earlier.

After saying goodbye to Felix, Wen Song didn't want to stay any longer in the cold winter in the Netherlands with drizzling rain and strong winds, so he immediately went to Schiphol Airport and took the nearest flight back to Munich.

When she got home, there was no one at home. Looking at the empty house, Wen Song actually felt lonely for a moment, she smiled bitterly and quickly abandoned this stupid idea.

Everything that happened last night was just hormones. They had been separated for too long and suddenly met again. Both of them were a little confused, which was why they got so excited for a while.

When the day comes, Cheng Che will also understand that they can't go back. Everything that happened last night... Wen Song smiled and thought of it as him accompanying her in a dream again five years later.

However, when she opened the refrigerator, she found that it had obviously been taken care of by someone. There were many fresh ingredients and even a sticky note saying, "If you don't know how to cook, just call me and I'll cook for you."

"Childish." Wen Song couldn't help but scold, tearing off the sticky note and throwing it aside, but the corners of his mouth rose slightly.

So, it wasn't a dream... But after five years, she had gotten used to living alone. Was Cheng Che's sudden intrusion a good thing or a bad thing? She was really afraid that they would repeat the same mistake.

Wen Song took out beef and tomatoes from the refrigerator and made a simple pot of beef brisket stewed with tomatoes. Over the years, she also learned to cook by herself, but she couldn't cook anything well, except for the beef brisket stewed with tomatoes, which tasted good.

After finishing her meal, she caught a glimpse of the bag left by Cheng Che on the sofa and finally took it out. In addition to the Comet series jewelry, there was also a letter in it.

The moment she picked up the envelope, Wen Song's fingers trembled a little. She unfolded the letter paper and saw the familiar thin gold script.

"I hope you'll always be free, and I hope you'll be happy."

It was a very simple sentence. Wen Song couldn't help but think that maybe Cheng Che had really changed. He used to always say that he hoped Wen Song wouldn't leave him, but now, he said that he hoped she would be free.

On Friday, Wen Song saw the familiar figure in class again. She didn't bother to care why Cheng Che came again. One more person wouldn't affect her class. She taught as usual, asked questions, interacted with students, and smiled and waved to the students at the end of the get out of class, saying, "Have a nice weekend."

However, on the way back to the office, Cheng Che suddenly stopped her, leaned forward, and said childishly: "Professor Iseylia, are you going to disappear after sleeping with me?"

"I'm not playing missing." Wen Song didn't mind his childishness. This kind of Cheng Che made her feel more familiar. He was the person she was most familiar with.

"We don't have any relationship now, so there's no need for me to tell you my schedule. Is there anything else? If not, I'll go back to the office first."

After saying that, she pushed Cheng Che aside and left quickly. She admitted that she left without saying goodbye that morning, which was a bit of a sullen move, but she really didn't know how to face it.

Cheng Che walked up to her and stopped her. Seeing that there was no one around, he leaned over to whisper in her ear, gently put his arms around her and said, "But you slept with me, you have to be responsible for me."

"It's not the first time I've slept with you." Wen Song chuckled, his tone nonchalant, "Besides, I told you yesterday that if you don't get off the car, I won't be responsible for anything that happens. This is your own choice, and you agreed to it, so I don't need to be responsible."

"Just treat it as a one-night stand, don't take it to heart."

As soon as the words came out, Wen Song felt that it seemed a bit too much. She clearly saw that Cheng Che's eyes were slightly red, and the look he gave her became hesitant and lost, and he seemed to be hesitant to speak.

"You're right, you don't need to be responsible for me, I volunteered." Cheng Che sighed softly and said humbly behind her, "So, are you satisfied?"

"Very satisfied." Wen Song turned around and looked at him and nodded. When she saw his eyes, she couldn't help feeling heartbroken. She seemed to always have a way to accurately hurt Cheng Che's heart.

Finally, she couldn't bear it anymore, glanced at her watch and said, "It's half past four, I should get off work. Does the note you left on the refrigerator still count?"

"Of course." Cheng Che smiled immediately, "What do you want to eat for dinner?"

"Sea urchin and tofu casserole, butterfly shrimp with vermicelli and garlic sauce, and chicken wings with sand ginger."

"My Professor Iseylia, these are very difficult." Cheng Che walked forward and held her hand, but she immediately broke free. He didn't care and continued to follow her.

"Oh, then just ignore what I said." Wen Song stopped and said, "I'm going to the office to put something away. I have something else to do. You can wait for me at my house. I haven't changed the password yet."

"Then I'll prepare dinner and wait for you to come back." Cheng Che smiled with his eyes curved and his tone cheerful.

No matter what my identity is, as long as I can stay with her, it's fine.