【Steel Refining Flame Steel】How to make the person I like also like me

It was midnight when Ed called Wenli Rockbell. In the quiet atmosphere, the buzzing sound of machinery and the impatient nasal voice of a girl who stayed up all night could be heard from the other end of the phone. It must be another engineering girl with a temper. night of.Thinking of this, the boy shivered a little, but he still coughed and opened his throat firmly.

"Hi, Wen Li..." Ed paused, then added, "... Miss, good evening."

There was a rough grinding sound of metal dragging on the other end of the phone.After a while, the woman's suppressed anger slowly came up. "Edward Eric!" Wen Li's voice suddenly rose without warning, "Do you know what time it is!?"

Ed covered his ears just in time.

"You haven't slept yet." The boy muttered and shook his boots, "I ask you, is Grandma Pinaco at home?"

"What? You guys haven't heard from me for half a year, did you call all of a sudden just to greet grandma?" The girl screamed, "No, I flew to meet an old friend the day before yesterday. That uncle who lives in the valley calls you a water lice that."

"Who are you talking about as short as a water lice!! That old man!" Ed almost threw his phone on the ground, "Then are you at home by yourself? Or are you spending the night in the workshop again?"

"I'm at home. What's the matter with you calling in the middle of the night?" Wen Li snorted, and the electric drill sounded again. "I'm dead tomorrow. Call Al if you want to chat. His place is only now." Afternoon."

Ed opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but a gust of night wind suddenly hit him in the distance, and hit him unexpectedly, making him shiver.The country road was quiet and deserted, and the orange street lights shrouded the passers-by. The boy changed his hand to hold the mobile phone, took a deep breath, shook his frozen feet, but accidentally kicked the suitcase next to his feet, so he had to Hurry down and help him up.How is it possible to call Al?Ed thought, if he called Al now, the other party would definitely fly back without saying a word.It was Al who said to himself that if he likes it, he will fight for it, if he is hurt, he will hurt him back, and if he is not satisfied with guessing, then he should ask him directly—it is obvious that he should be his younger brother’s reliance, and this time he does not want to continue to rely on him .

"Ed?" The other party seemed to have noticed the same silence at this moment, changed his previous temper, and whispered cautiously, "Ed, where are you?"

where is it?

The blond boy closed his eyes without a word, then slowly raised his head.He sat on the snow-covered railing, the cold wind made his fingers numb, and the long lines of frost-stained white ebony stretched on both sides of his body, leading to unknown places in the endless night.Ed opened his eyes, his golden eyes passed through the complicated woods and the turbulent snow, and cast them on the stars beyond the lights, just like the countless sleepless nights he had spent alone.At that time, the darkness grew fangs to threaten him and sting him, but failed to kill him after all; at that time, Ed could feel warm as long as he thought of someone's existence, as if he had given him an invisible armor .

At this moment, he was sitting alone in the ice and snow, looking around in confusion and anxiety, his voice was blown away by the cold wind.

"I'm in Fairfield," Ed shook his head. "I'm outside my house."

The decision time was too short and the decision content was too large, so this move seemed almost a whim to almost everyone.Even for Ed himself, there was really no reason why he had to leave: True, he unknowingly gave thieves who tried to sabotage his career a ladder to climb on, but it wasn't the person who made the mistake anyway. He also has little evidence to clearly identify himself and cast blame.Loopholes in the law meant he couldn't sue Mustangu, but he could just as well beat him up, break up with him, keep working, try to make up for the loss of the lab - but for some reason, he just couldn't seem to do that.

That night after returning from his trip to the Cascade Mountains, Ed knocked on the door of Heydrich's house upstairs before nightfall.At that time, the other party was wearing a cotton nightgown, with short pale blond hair hanging loosely by his ears, with a novel in his arm, as if he was about to go to bed, but at this moment, his blue eyes were wide open, and his expression was full of embarrassment. Confidently looking at Ed's calmly entrusting face, he looked down at the key that Ed stuffed into his palm, as if he could not accept the sudden change.

"Alphonse?"

Heydrich raised his head as if waking up from a dream, and stared at Edward in front of him with a slight frown. The long-haired boy met the blue eyes calmly, as if the scene at this moment had been brewing for a long time.Heydrich shuddered.

He took a step back slightly, put the novel in his arms on the shelf in the entrance hall, and held the key handed over by Ed, but he couldn't find a word of promise for a long time.

"Mr. Edward," he said softly, "do you... have to leave? Are you in such a hurry?"

"I'm sorry," Ed smiled embarrassedly, "I'm really sorry for pushing all these things to you suddenly, it really happened suddenly here, otherwise I would not have caused you so much trouble I have signed all the formalities and letters and brought them here, please help me hand them over to Mr. Landlord tomorrow, and the person who carries the luggage may come back to ask you about something. I will call tomorrow morning..."

"That's not what I mean," Heydrich frowned, "I don't mind doing this for you, what I mean is..." He paused, biting his lower lip, "I think I have to go suddenly, Mr. Edward Are you in any trouble? I am willing to help you if I can, what happened..."

Ed shook his head to interrupt the opponent, then raised his hand and patted the slightly trembling back of the opponent's hand. At this moment, the dead man himself seemed to be giving Heydrich strength.

"Thank you for letting me entrust these matters, Alphonse." Ed smiled, "Let's meet again when we have a chance."

After finishing speaking, Ed immediately waved his hand as if intending to cut off Heydrich's hesitating words, and quickly ran to the stairwell and went downstairs.Acknowledgments, apologies, and due explanations were all so perfunctory, and Ed ran downstairs with a pang of guilt, but Heydrich always reminded him of little flames and almond pies, and his eyes made him miss another Alphonse.

Early the next morning, Ed completed the necessary formalities and packed the necessary household items, and left the room next to the chemical factory and the cemetery on the right before finding the second tenant. He should not have stayed there long ago Empty apartment.He rushed to the institute with the suitcase he brought in that year, waited at the entrance of the personnel department and carefully avoided acquaintances to invite them for a long vacation. He dragged on and off, hiding and hiding until noon before he finally had time to rush to the airport.When he got off the plane, the sky was already dark, he stuffed some food in the snack bar near the traffic interchange, and then got on the long-distance bus to Lewiston, at this time, it was only 24 hours after yesterday's accident Hours.Along the way, he sat in the carriage and looked at the sunset of his hometown outside the window. Edward felt that he had once again become a spectator in his own time. He stood behind him and watched the rapidly changing scenery without any waves. Walking together on a snowy mountain path, leaning over in a cable car and trying to kiss yourself-the picture is so fleeting that it seems like a lifetime ago.By the time Ed walked around in circles to his house and found that the house had no electricity or natural gas, like a haunted house, it was already dark again.

"You didn't lose the key?" Wen Li drank alone with a cup of hot milk, ignoring Ed's sharp white eyes and continued, "Al forbid you always hide the key under the door rug. Useful!"

"Fart! I didn't find it." Ed made a grimace, and then gulped down the hot cocoa in the mug, "If it was really put under the door rug, it would definitely not be lost! But Al insisted that I put it away, so I couldn't find it. Lewiston is much colder than Seattle in the countryside! I just blow the cold wind outside the door for so long!"

The engineering girl laughed like a drill, "Ed, you really haven't made any progress! So what? How did you get in in the end?"

Ed curled his lips, and stretched his feet towards the stove, "Of course it's climbing the window, what else can I do. Fortunately, when I was a child, I used to crawl out to play in the middle of the night."

"You can still drill through the window when you were a child? Ed, you really haven't grown up."

"You woman! I can't stand you!"

Hearing the words, the girl leaned back on the workbench and let out a laugh, and the heating instrument roared in the background.Edward glared at his childhood sweetheart angrily, put down the mug angrily, and simply sat cross-legged in front of the stove, reaching out his hand to try to absorb more warmth. "It's almost March, why is it still so cold? What about global warming?" Ed pouted and complained. Stop it, you can’t even climb into your own house.”

Wen Li shrugged, "Are you ashamed to complain about Al, have you only spent a few days at home in the past two years?" Speaking of which, this woman actually got serious, ignoring Ed's death gaze and counting the days with her fingers Come on, "Last Christmas you said you took 3 days off from the lab and spent a day and a half on the road. Last year you were on a business trip to Maple Leaf Country and stopped in Boise for the night, and you went home and sat for an hour .Well, I didn’t come back this year at all!”

"Wow, I'm always working, okay? I'm not wasting my time!" Ed raised his eyes angrily, his eyes were shining brightly from the fire, "And I'm back now, haven't I?"

The girl snorted, flicked her long hair and turned to look at her workbench. Edmund was furious, and before he could say anything to pursue the victory, an overwhelming tiredness crept up his body along with the long-lost warmth.

The young man lowered his head, reached out and rubbed his browbones, the warmth attached to the cold clothes seemed strangely unnatural.For a moment, the noisy room was quiet, and the aroma of hot cocoa was lingering with a faint burning smell.The girl put on her work glasses and started to operate the rattling drill again. The buzzing vibration turned into plain white noise in the room, like running water to relax a person's body.Ed almost fell asleep for a moment.

Wen Li said suddenly, "Ed, why did you come back suddenly?"

Ed was stunned for a moment, then curled his lips, "What's so sudden about going back to my home? The research institute happens to have a free time, so I'll come back to visit my mother's grave."

"but……"

The boy frowned and raised his head, facing the questions and accusations that were about to come out, he was full of words to fight back—but they missed.The blond girl in overalls turned her back to herself, the sound of homework rumbled, but half of what she said ended up in the air without any problems.However, at this moment, Ed was very clear about what she had failed to say, and he didn't answer because there was no way to answer her like this.

Why are you leaving?

It was late at night, and Wen Li was still busy at work, while Ed spent his first sleeping night on the sofa downstairs with pillows and a borrowed electric blanket.In the darkness, one could faintly see the smoked yellow lights cast from upstairs, and the sound of mechanical operation was hazy and soft. The young man curled up between the quilts, and the warmth of the electric blanket wrapped him like an affectionate embrace.

In theory, Ed really has no reason to go.It is better to say that he left without saying goodbye, which may instead arouse confusion and even dissatisfaction among teachers and colleagues.In fact, not long after he got off the plane, Izmi called impatiently. Ed repeatedly assured that he was just taking the opportunity to take a vacation and would be back soon, so he reluctantly made her agree not to rush to love immediately. Dahome beat himself until he lost his right hand and left leg.

From Lin, it was Ed who took the initiative to send a text message.The golden-haired boy pretended to be calm and told him that he had already returned the house, and even deliberately expressed his dissatisfaction with him when he suddenly moved out with the wild man, expecting him to cry and plead for mercy .Unexpectedly, the other party took it very seriously. Not only was he not angry, but he even persuaded Ed to let himself go during the short vacation, as if he had a rogue attitude of "I have a partner and I have a reason".Ed was so angry that he almost refused to return the flashing Geng Gui that Lin had sent over for communication evolution.

In short, although it doesn't make much sense for him to stay in the institute at this moment, leaving cannot change the status quo.Although the blow was painful, it was far from a rare event that these old drivers had not experienced. His teachers, friends, and colleagues were all working hard to recover from the blow.As for Edward, he could not take revenge on those who hurt him, nor could he make up for the losses he had suffered.His departure has no rational basis at all.

On the second day, Ed went to the community to complete a series of matters such as the use of water, electricity and gas at home, and then started to settle the household items in the house with the luggage that the moving company brought in one after another.So busy, Ed spent a long time at home unknowingly, lying at home during the day and rereading the books he read when he was a child, going out for a walk in the evening, and digging out the GBA and NDS that he secretly hid under the bed when he was a child Play again, and occasionally go to do Wen Li's two compulsory physics homework problems.For a while, he almost returned to the summer vacation when he had nothing to do. Even the small house he grew up in was not much different from the past, with old wooden floors, a sunny kitchen, and an attic leading to the roof. Walking in the aisle beside him with a basket in his arms, he berated Ed with a smile to wash his hands and told Al to come and eat together.Only the vines that were once less than the height of the window recorded the traces of time, and had already covered the outer wall before they were full of green leaves in the spring.

The potato field in front of the house has long been deserted due to lack of care; the small forest behind the house took advantage of the unmanned opportunity to seize the midsummer of several years and grow wildly, enclosing the valley house in the forest airtightly, and Ed almost missed it at first glance. I couldn't find this place where I climbed countless times when I was a child.In Ed's memory, there should always be a starry midsummer night, with unknown insects and birds chirping one after another, and the breeze blowing, bringing coolness and the fragrance of plants.But at this time, the roof of the grain storage house was covered with thick snow, not to mention climbing up to see the stars, Ed stood aside and felt shivering from the cold.When Mustangu sees it, he may say that Ed is a liar, and then he will show an aggrieved smile and complain that he has wasted so much expectation.

This is naturally just Ed's habitual delusion, and he has long blocked the contact information of Mustangu.It’s not that Ed thinks that Mustangu will come to pester him or something—presumably he is also a victim of being stalked to death—but that Ed can’t think of anything to the extent that Mustangu still treats him now. There is nothing to say.Before he gave the answer he needed, he either had nothing to say, or what he said was meaningless, which they both knew now.

Roy Mustangu, in the past, as long as the name was uttered between his lips and teeth, he could feel an obscure sweetness, but now it could only bring him emptiness.Before answering Ed's question directly, that Roy will always be false and empty. The beautiful skin is God's ingenious workmanship, and the ingenious wrist is the precise calculation of his mind.Under the appearance and routine, the feelings and heart that once deeply shocked and attracted Edward now also look vain and absurd, like a scarecrow made to scare crows.

Reality was indistinguishable from pretense, and Roy Mustang was never generous enough to give Ed a tangible glimpse of his truth, leaving him only a pale idol woven of lies.Ed's dreaming and self-righteous understanding of him once seemed stupid and ridiculous, and the anger and grievance in his heart at this moment can't be vented on that illusion.

But he still heard the other party's news and was caught off guard.The weather was exceptionally clear that day, the sunset glow was clear and gorgeous, and the wind blowing from the forest was no longer harsh, but full of fragrant warm currents, as if to herald the coming of spring.Ed was in a good mood, so he walked out of the house alone with his mobile phone, and walked to his mother's cemetery behind the mountain with a bunch of pale yellow winter jasmine flowers that he picked from a bush.

Ed stood in front of his mother's grave for a while, thought for a while, then squatted down, took off his coat and wiped the dusty tombstone, then stood up and took two steps back, looking up at the dense woods and The sky of colorful clouds hanging above the trees.A clear moon rose slowly from behind the purple clouds, and the sky turned a charming blue-purple. Ed blinked, and could vaguely hear the melodious singing of nightingales in the woods.

The phone vibrated untimely.Ed lowered his head and glanced at it, then picked it up.

"Alphonse!" Ed insisted in a cheerful tone, and said, "I have received the message from the landlord, and all the moving things have arrived, thank you very much."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, and Ed could imagine Xiao Hai's shy smile, and his voice was as gentle as the other party's smile, "You're welcome, everything can be arranged."

"Great," Ed turned to look at the hillside behind him, "I'm on vacation back home in Idaho, and everything is going well."

"Idaho?"

"Well, Fairfield in Lewiston, you are welcome to come and play, although it is a rural place with nothing."

There was another chuckle on the other end of the phone, but the words after that seemed to be stuck in the air, swallowed by the birdsong in the woods surrounding Ed.It took a long time for Heydrich to get to the point.

"Actually, someone went to look for you at the place where you used to live today." Heydrich said, "The landlord asked him to come and look for me, a tall black-haired man named Roy Mustang, Mr. Edward you Do you know anyone?"

Like being struck by lightning.

Ed closed his eyes, turned around and slowly opened them again. His mother's grave was not far away, and the white stone tablet was reflected in a light purple by the sky.The young man said softly, "Yes."

"Eh……"

"Alphonse, what did you tell him?" Ed asked.

There was a pause on the other end of the phone, carefully choosing the words, "I told him that you moved out and left early last Saturday morning. He asked me where you were going, I think... I think it's best not to Tell anyone who doesn’t know the details casually, and ask him to contact you by himself. He said that you were on vacation from the research institute, so he couldn’t find you.”

The sour tide came up in an instant, and along with the early warm wind in the mountains, it swept over the young man's neck behind his collar, causing him to tremble.

"Thank you Alphonse," Ed lowered his head, "Thank you for everything you did for me, and thank you for not telling Mustangu."

call ended.

The moon slowly rose into the sky, and Ed walked home with his hands in his pockets under the dim sky.The branches of the forest on both sides of the road rustled under the breeze. The young man raised his head and stared ahead, his blond hair curled back from his ears.

The reason for interrupting Heydrich, the sentence that Wen Li failed to ask, the reason why he didn't want to see Roy, the reason for Ed to pack his bags and prepare documents in the middle of the night, was to get the most out of the documents in the shortest possible time. The reason for leaving Seattle—not only is very clear, but also endlessly reflected and flashed in Ed from time to time.

He couldn't face the bed where Roy got in and talked vaguely in his dreams, he couldn't face the dining table where he was lying on his stomach and wrote Roy's rescue plan, and he couldn't face the night that he used to fill with his imagination about Roy.The balcony where I drank with Roy, the astrology hall where I chatted, the ice cream I shared, the grapefruit juice I bought, the topics I discussed with Roy, the novels I read, the weather I complained about, and the jokes I complained about , and even took him on the road to Roy's house... At this moment, wherever he looked, everything was a place of sadness.

I really liked him.Ed thought that although many people said not to do it, they still did it, but it should be time to stop.This is not a big deal, love is like this, liking others is like this.

The boy stood still, turned around, and stared behind him with wide-eyed eyes.There are many low slopes, dense forests cover the way, and the night sky hangs over his head looking down on him and comforting him in a low voice: this is not a big deal, it will be over soon.

Five days later, he saw Roy Mustang again.

TBC