Chapter 227

: Sickness Comes on Horseback
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Alzheimer’s was a very terrible disease. The cause of it was unknown, but it was incurable.
As a young and talented designer, Guo Dongyue often went on business trips at home and abroad to talk about projects or exchange experiences with other designers in the industry. And every business trip took him from half a month to several months.
Guo Dongyue was occupied with his career, and he was still single, which was a great concern to his mother. From a long time ago, Guo Dongyue’s mother had formulated a habit: she would call him every 3 days to make sure he was safe. Before making the phone calls, his mother would check about the local time of Guo Dongyue’s business trip’s destination, and considered his working schedule, so that her calls would not bother him while he was sleeping or working. When he finished the work, and came back to the hotel, his mother’s call would arrive on time.
Guo Dongyue regarded his mother’s phone calls for checking his safety as an obligated routine. Sometimes, when he was agitated by work, he would sound very impatient on the phone when talking with his mother, and would hang up the phone within a few words.
It was the last night of one of his business trips. He had successfully completed his work, and he could finally relax. After taking a bath in the bathtub at the hotel, he wore a bathrobe, poured himself a glass of wine, listened to his favorite classical music, and leaned back on the sofa to take a nap.
He should have been enjoying this leisure time. He had decided that after drinking that glass of wine, he would go to bed and take a sound sleep and would take a flight back home the next morning. Yet for some unknown reason, he still didn’t feel sleepy when he finished the wine. What’s worse, he was supposed to be in a relaxed mood, but he somehow got anxious, as if he had forgotten something.
At first, he thought it was because of work. He tried to recall the details in the day, and nothing seemed to have been left out. He thought about his work over and over again, and he even opened his laptop to review his design sketches and bidding contracts. Still, nothing was wrong. Could it be about his relationship status? Unlikely, because he only had a few unsuccessful and transitory dating experiences with women, and he had already forgotten what they looked like.
He opened his cell phone, and saw the notification message about his booking of flight ticket. He noticed the date on the flight ticket, and he understood why he was upset– today was the day his mother should have called him. Why hadn’t she called?
Was something wrong?
He calculated the time difference, and found that it was lunch time in China. Perhaps his mother was preparing for lunch and forgot to call him. But she had never missed a call before. All that said, senior people had the tendency to forget things easily.
Should he initiate the call today?
That would be unnecessary, he thought. They would only talk for a few minutes on the phone. And besides, he would be home tomorrow; nothing could go wrong in such a short time. If his mother was busy cooking, and her phone suddenly rang, she might get hurt if she hurried to take the call.
So, he stopped worrying. He started to feel intoxicated by the wine, so he jumped on his bed, and fell into a sound sleep.
Ding ding ding ding…
His phone rang suddenly, and he was pulled back into reality from his dreams.

Hello?
Having not returned to sobriety, he picked up his phone with his eyes still closed.

Dongyue! I forgot to call you! I wanted to let it go, but I can’t rest assured if I don’t hear your voice!
His mother sounded very sorry on the other side of the phone.

Mom, I’m fine. Everything is alright, and I’ll be back tomorrow,
he said.

Great, great. You sound like you are sleeping. Go back to sleep. It’s good to know you are fine.


Bye, Mom.


Okay, bye.

Just like before, Guo Dongyue hung up the phone first. He put down his phone and went back to sleep. Perhaps he felt more relaxed after finally having heard from his mother, but he slept more soundly without having any dreams.
Ding ding ding ding…
His phone rang again.
Guo Dongyue reached out his hand to fetch the phone at the bedside table, but it wasn’t there.
The phone kept ringing, which was really noisy.
He had to open his eyes, turned his head from left to right, and found his phone was at the edge of the bed. He turned around and rolled beside his phone. He picked up the phone. It was his mother calling again.
Guo Dongyue stared at the image of his mother on the screen for a few seconds before answering the phone call.

Mom, what’s wrong?
he asked.

Dongyue! I forgot to call you! I wanted to let it go, but I can’t rest assured if I don’t hear your voice.
His mother apologized on the other side of the phone.
He was confused. Was it because of the alcohol and that he was half-asleep? He remembered his mother had just called and said the same thing. Was he dreaming? Was he dreaming the first time his mother called, or was he dreaming now?
During conversations with his colleagues, he had heard them talk about a marvelous feeling called
deja vu
, which meant that people were very familiar with the things that were happening, as if they had experienced or dreamed about the exact things before.
Was this what deja vu felt like?

Mom? Didn’t you just call me?
he rubbed his forehead and asked.
His mom paused for a while, and she said with confusion,
No, I was having lunch, I didn’t call you. Were you dreaming? My bad, I shouldn’t have called you while you were sleeping…


It’s okay, I’m not sleepy.


Are you well? When are you coming back to China?
asked his mother.

Yes, I’m well, and I’ll be back tomorrow.


Great. Come back home for dinner; I will make your favorite braised pork chops.


Okay.

Usually, he would find an excuse to hang up the phone, but that strange feeling kept haunting him. So, he switched the phone interface to the background, and started to search his communication records. As it turned out, there was an incoming call from his mother’s number half an hour ago, and the conversation lasted for 1 minute.
Guo Dongyue was shocked and became sober. He sat straight on his bed.

Mom?


Yes, my son.


Did you call me before?

His mother chuckled,
Why do you keep asking me this? Are you suffering so much pressure from your work that you have poor memory? Poor thing.


No! Mom, check the dial out records on your phone, didn’t you call me half an hour ago?
he asked anxiously.
Mom was slow when operating cell phone. She replied 30 seconds later,
That’s strange. I don’t remember I made the call.


You don’t remember?
Guo Dongyue was nervous. Something was wrong, could it be some supernatural powers?

No, I don’t. I probably dialed it by mistake.

Guo Dongyue didn’t say anything. It’s possible that his mom had dialed the phone by mistake, but what about their conversation over the phone? Was he really dreaming?