雨中陌生男女译

Walking in the rain - 再和谷哥合作

Yu Lin, is married and has an eight year old son.  She is an administrative assistant at a company with a light and comfortable workload. She is not very busy after work either.  With a nanny at home, she does not have to cook and do chores, not even spend much time taking care of her son.  She is a typical happy wife.  At 37, she looks younger than her actual age, but still has the fullness and curves of early middle-aged women. Her average build, though not so stiking, is relatively well-balanced. Whether it is from the front or behind, it makes men want to take a few extra looks. Although she is not a beauty, she has neat facial features. Plus, she always has a confident and slight smile on her oval face, which makes her very cute.

Yu should be a happy woman. Her husband is the head of a department in the city. Although his salary is not very high, he always manages to bring home good money.  She does not care about how he makes all his money, as long as it is all deposited in the family bank. She is the kind of woman who doesn't need to worry about not having enough money to spend on food, clothes, houses, travel and entertainments.  When there are week-long public holidays, she usually goes on trips, several times a year, with her family and friends. For the last couple of years, her husband often comes home late.  But she is very understanding and supportive of him. She knows that for many men, career is the most important thing, followed by his wife and family. She believes that her husband is such a man. She is used to it now, happy as long as she is not downgraded from the second place in his eyes or heart.

Except for eating out and shopping, Yu does not have any hobbies. She loves her son, but it is the kind of natural maternal instinct. She is not used to putting love into spending time with her son, and most of the time, she doesn't need to because he is either doing homework or is occupied with afterschool programs.  It is difficult to find friends to go out to dinner every day.  Eating out alone doesn't take too much time because she usually grabs a quick bite at fast food eateries.  The rest of the time, she likes to go shopping, usually not to buy anything, but just for a walk.  She thinks it as a way to get some exercises. Her husband gave her a smart watch not long ago. She has been using it to keep track of how many steps she takes every day. After a few days, she discovered that she was walking more than those who went to the gym.  To know that she is reaching a certain fitness goal makes her happy, and she is not fat at all.

When she got off work that day, she did not go straight home. Halfway she got off the subway to go to the pedestrian street.  She wanted to go there, even if it was just to fulfill the exercise requirement for the day.  It was a day in late May. The weather was nice, cloudy, very warm, and almost a bit hot.  It didn't feel bad because the sun was not out.  She didn't need to carry an umbrella to protect her from the sun.  So it was the best time to stroll on the pedestrian street.  Once there, she just walked aimlessly.  She would go into a clothing store from time to time and looked at some summer fashion.  She did not buy anything. When she got near the end of the pedestrian street, it started to rain.  All of a sudden, the street didn't looked crowded with many pedestrians having gone inside the stores to take shelter from the rain.  Most of people who remained on the street were holding umbrellas. She did not bring an umbrella, nor did she plan to go into the shop to hide from the rain. The rain wasn't very heavy. She even liked the feeling of the rain dropping on her face. The worst it could do was to get her hair and blouse wet.  All she needed to do then was to go home and take a shower. So she walked on the street toward the subway station where she came from. 

While walking, she noticed someone with an umbrella beside her. She looked up and saw an middle-aged man in his 40s. He looked kind and tall, with a pair of glasses. Very gentle, like a scholar, at least she thought so. He was also looking at her at the same time, and after a second or two, she lowered her head and continued on her own path. The tall scholar seemed to be walking with her. He was probably also going to the subway station. She didn't mind. She continued walking. He was always beside her, as if he were her security detail. As they walked, the rain suddenly started to pour down. He moved the umbrella to her side and she was a little surprised, but did not try to avoid it. It was still bright with many people on the street. He could not possibly do any harm to her.  And he did not give her a bad feeling.  Instead, he gave her a sense of security.

They just walked quietly. People who didn't know them might think they were together, but they hadn't even spoken a word to each other. They both felt a little tacit, and a little awkward at the same time.  It was a very strange feeling. A few minutes later, they arrived at the station.  She did not wait for him when he was folding the umbrella and went in alone.  She deliberately stood in a place with few people when she got to the waiting area. She did not look around, just waiting for the train to arrive.  She thought about what just happened, and felt a bit ticklish, wondering why the man would do something like that.  At that moment, there seemed to be two of herself inside her, one wanting to look up to see if he was waiting for the subway and one insisted on not to look.  The stubborn opponent who didn't want to look won. It was just then the car arrived. She got into the car and found a place by the door to stand.  She didn't look at who were standing beside her.

It was still raining when she got out of the subway station.  Although it wasn't raining as heavily as before,, she still got soaked when she got home.  The thin blouse she had on was tightly affixed to her body.  She glanced at her chest, and couldn't help but think of the man with the umbrella.   Suddenly she felt her face was all warm.  She was all by herself riding the elevator up.  It quickly stopped at the fifth floor.  She got off and walked into her apartment.  The nanny greeted her and asked her why she didn't take shelter and wait for the rain to stop.  But the nanny went back to work before she could give her an answer.