I looked at the baba, and something about him made my chest feel strangely heavy yet calm at the same time, as if he already knew who I was and what I would become. His eyes did not wander like others; they stayed on me, steady and patient, like someone who had been waiting for a very long time.
Shaan leaned slightly closer to me, lowering his voice as if he didn't want the baba to hear. "Lu, don't believe everything people say. Some of them are fake… don't get fooled."
I nodded, but my eyes didn't leave the baba. "I know that… and I don't usually believe in things like this," I said quietly, "but something feels different about him. It feels like he knows me… like he's been waiting for my arrival. I don't know why."
The baba stepped forward slowly, his movements weak but purposeful, like every step carried years within it. "I do not ask you to believe me," he said calmly, his voice neither loud nor soft, yet it reached me clearly. "Nor do I ask you to follow me. But I ask you one thing… please listen."
His eyes softened, and for a moment, it felt like I was not looking at a stranger, but someone connected to something far beyond this moment.
"My bloodline has been waiting for your arrival," he continued. "For generations, these words have been passed down, and today… I am honored to be the one to deliver them to you."
The air around me felt still, as if even the world had paused to listen.
"It all began long ago, so long that even I cannot tell you everything that needs to be told. But I can guide you toward the truth. These words… are the only thing I can offer."
He closed his eyes for a moment, then spoke slowly, each word carrying a strange weight.
"Seek the truth hidden deep within the shadows of pride and deceit. It can be found by following the signs that nature offers. Trust your mind… it will lead you to the place where you are meant to be."
For a moment, everything inside me went quiet. It felt like my thoughts had been washed away, replaced by a calm I had never felt before. By the time I came back to myself, my friends had already started moving away.
I followed them, but before leaving, I turned back once more. The baba was looking at the sky now, his eyes closed, a faint smile resting on his lips, like someone who had finally completed something he had been carrying for a lifetime.
We continued walking toward the temple we were meant to visit, and everyone seemed lost in the beauty of the city, the sounds, the colors, the movement of people. But I was still stuck on those words.
"Shaan," I said, breaking the silence, "did you hear that? The baba spoke Chinese."
Shaan frowned slightly. "Chinese? Yeah, maybe a little… but after that it was just random words. I didn't understand anything."
I slowed down. "No… I understood-"
"My brooo!"
The sudden voice interrupted me, and all of us turned at once. A girl came running toward us, full of energy, almost too bright compared to everything around her.
"Diya!" Shaan sighed, though there was a smile he tried to hide. "You always make a scene. Anyway, I'm good. How are you?"
"I'm great, sir!" she teased, then looked around at us. "Why so formal? And hmm… aren't you going to introduce your hot friends?"
I blinked slightly, looking at her. She was beautiful, with tanned skin, long black hair, and warm brown eyes that held a playful spark.
Shaan shook his head. "This is Lu and Lian, my friends. And that guy flirting over there is Alex."
As if on cue, Alex stopped what he was doing and rushed toward us. "Just friends? And who is this beautiful lady?"
Shaan shot him a sharp glare, and Alex immediately stepped back.
Diya laughed lightly. "Hello, I'm Diya. As you know, Shaan's sister. And since I know this place well, I'm going to show you around."
She spoke confidently, but her attention kept drifting back to her phone, where she seemed deeply focused on something.
"You like reading novels?" I asked.
She looked up, a bit embarrassed. "Sorry, I was finishing one. And yeah… I love them. They give me emotions I can't really experience in real life. I don't have many close friends, so… this is my way of feeling those things, even if they're not real."
She paused, then added softly, "Am I talking too much?"
"No," I replied, "I understand."
And I did. Before all of this, before meeting people like them, I had been the same. Watching things just to feel something, laughing when told to laugh, crying when shown how to cry, living through borrowed emotions instead of my own.
We reached the temple soon after, and the moment I stepped inside, everything changed. The air felt calm, almost heavy, and my mind went blank as if something inside me had been silenced.
Then my legs started moving on their own.
"Stop… you stupid legs," I muttered quietly, "why are you in such a hurry?"
I moved through the crowd without thinking, leaving everyone behind, following something I couldn't see but somehow felt.
And then I found it.
A small cave, hidden away, almost invisible to others, yet it felt like it was calling me.
I stepped inside slowly. The deeper I went, the quieter it became, until all I could hear was my own breathing.
The walls were covered in drawings, old and unclear, like memories that were trying to fade away.
I moved closer.
Two figures appeared again and again.
They were playing, sitting together, eating, dancing, reading, even fighting with swords. Scene after scene showed them living together, sharing moments that felt strangely warm.
Then something changed.
"They're… dead?" I whispered.
The drawing was unclear, but I could see one figure lying still, while the other remained beside them, crying.
I brushed my fingers across the wall.
"There's… someone else…"
A third figure.
Faint.
Almost erased.
Before I could understand it-
"Lu Ying, what are you doing here?"
I froze.
Kia.
"How did he get here…?" I thought, but quickly composed myself. "Sorry, I got lost. Can you show me the way?"
He glanced at the drawings, but his face showed no reaction at all.
"Sure. Come."
We returned to the group, met the teachers, and eventually went back to the hotel. Diya said she would be staying with her friends in Kerala and would visit again.
Back in the room, Lian went out with his fiancée, leaving me alone. Zhan was still asleep.
I took the book out of my bag and glanced at his tired face before sitting near him. Then I opened it.
"Want me to read it for you?"
My breath stopped.
Zhan's voice.
The letters in the book began to change, shifting slowly, forming into something new.
And suddenly…
I could understand them.