The ocean balls at Night Paradise were pink bubbles contained in a giant bathtub.

Lin Shilan lay on Tan Jin’s chest, sleeping quietly.

His flat chest was solid ground. Her ear heard the heartbeat within his chest cavity, like hearing a seed buried in the earth brewing its germination.

As the seed broke through the soil, her dream was lifted bit by bit.

The growing leaves carried Lin Shilan, gently climbing higher.

She reached the sky above the paradise, looking down. Countless pink bubbles emitted an eerie iridescent glow, their light illuminating the pitch-black paradise.

Bubbles large and small played scenes of memories—some bubbles belonged to Tan Jin, some belonged to Lin Shilan.

Cupping a bubble in her hands, she glimpsed his unknown history of unrequited love.

—The ignited flames burned from their fourteen-year-old night forest all the way to the rainy season of their senior year, finally extinguished by the surging torrent that crashed down.

Lin Shilan saw the end of Tan Jin’s life, the conclusion of their bond.

As the story in the bubble played to its end, she saw everything clearly, except she couldn’t hear clearly the vow she had once made to Tan Jin…

So Lin Shilan urgently needed to wake from her dream and see Tan Jin.

Between dream and waking, she tried to grab Tan Jin, opening her mouth to ask him “What was my vow?” His arm disobediently slipped away, like a stretched noodle, becoming thinner and thinner in Lin Shilan’s hand.

Her consciousness pierced through the layers of water vapor enveloping her body and crashed onto the floor with a bang.

Opening her eyes, Lin Shilan discovered that what she held in her hand was not Tan Jin’s arm.

She was holding a pencil.

Looking down, Lin Shilan saw several sheets of draft paper filled with numbers, with an exam paper placed beside them.

Rubbing her temples, the experienced Lin Shilan instantly understood the current situation.

—The rain in the real world had grown heavier, and she had returned to the parallel spacetime of senior year.

Right now, the parallel world was in the middle of the third mock exam.

Outside the exam room, rain poured down. The classroom fan was running, blowing until people’s heads felt dizzy.

The exam atmosphere was tense. From time to time, the sound of paper rustling could be heard from the back rows. The classmates in the class kept their heads down, racing against time to work on their problems.

Lin Shilan struggled to organize the chaotic thoughts in her mind. The image of Tan Jin bidding her farewell was still before her eyes—she had no mood at all to deal with the exam.

—Had he returned to the rainy season with her?

Letting go and dropping the pencil in her hand, Lin Shilan planned to stand up directly and rush out of the classroom…

“Fifteen minutes until paper collection.” The exam proctor reminded her just before she stood up.

Lin Shilan, whose body had slightly lifted from the stool, caught a glimpse of the exam paper on her desk from the corner of her eye. On the paper, her handwriting was neat and tidy. On the draft paper, the calculated equations were densely packed.

For the first time, Lin Shilan had a real sense that she had invaded someone else’s life.

This body was healthier and younger than her own. The original owner of this body treated this exam very seriously—you could tell from the formulas listed that she must have studied hard for a long time, planning to give her all to achieve a high score. The pencil had drawn a deep diagonal line at the very bottom of the paper because she hadn’t had time to finish the second-to-last major problem before Lin Shilan took over her body.

The entire exam paper was answered carefully and thoroughly. Should she hand it in with the last two questions blank? If so, this exam would definitely not achieve the desired result.

Thinking of this, Lin Shilan suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable.

She sat back down on the stool, picked up the pen, and browsed through the last two questions at the fastest speed.

The bell signaling the end of the exam rang. Lin Shilan had just finished answering. Handing the exam paper to the teacher, she breathed a sigh of relief and walked out of the classroom.

All the students who finished the exam headed toward the school gate. Lin Shilan went against the flow of people toward Tan Jin’s class.

Single-mindedly searching for Tan Jin, she unexpectedly ran into another person who had left a deep impression on her in the memory story when she was almost at his class—Su Ge.

Two exam proctors were leading her toward the direction of the academic affairs office.

Lin Shilan passed by them and briefly made eye contact with Su Ge.

The young girl’s fingers nervously picked at her backpack strap. Behind her long bangs, her eyes glanced sideways at Lin Shilan. Lin Shilan seemed to see moisture in Su Ge’s eyes, but before she could confirm, Su Ge immediately lowered her head, and her hair covered her eyes again.

Lin Shilan’s footsteps slowed slightly. Someone not far away called out her name, pulling her back from her daze.

There were fewer people in the hallway. Lin Shilan looked forward and happened to see Tan Jin standing at the classroom entrance.

He waved at her with a smile.

Round face, silly Little Jin. His single eyelids were usually listless, but now his eyes were wide open with excitement, his whole body brimming with happiness. If Tan Jin were a dog, he would already be wagging his tail and running circles around her.

Tan Jin wasn’t wearing his school uniform. The hoodie drawstring she had messed up hadn’t been straightened yet either—he was still wearing the same clothes from Night Paradise. During the previous two crossings into the rainy season, he had deliberately hidden the fact that before and after crossing, he used the same body, not letting Lin Shilan discover it.

Without thinking further, she put on a bright smile and approached him.

—”You waited for me a long time, didn’t you?”

—”I had a dream at Night Paradise. Did you show me those bubbles?”

—”I remember many things. You saved me in the flood.”

With mixed feelings in her heart, several opening lines flashed through Lin Shilan’s mind.

When the words reached her lips, she looked at his smiling face, pressed her lips together, and first suppressed the heaviest things between them.

“I just saw Su Ge being taken away by teachers.”

“Yeah,” he said, “She was caught cheating. She’ll probably get a demerit.”

While they were talking, the rain grew heavier.

A thunderbolt split the sky, and rainwater poured into the corridor.

Even though Lin Shilan very much wanted to appear as if nothing was wrong, she was already different from her earlier self who had lost her traumatic memories.

The enormous thunderous sound made her mind go blank.

The memories from the disaster awakened, and fear and pain awakened with them. Lin Shilan trembled all over like a sieve. As if seeing again that stormy night with lightning and thunder, that Tan Jin who died miserably, she watched him in despair as the floodwater submerged him over his head.

“What’s wrong with you?”

Tan Jin came over with concern. His approach made her symptoms worse. Lin Shilan broke out in cold sweat, had difficulty breathing, and fell rigidly backward.

He caught her in time, preventing her from falling to the ground.

They moved away from the corridor, away from the rainy environment, and found an empty classroom to hide in.

Tan Jin closed the door for Lin Shilan, closed the windows, and drew the curtains.

She hugged her shoulders, shrinking her head.

And he kept watch over her from afar, separated by several rows of seats.

After a long while, the thunder outside stopped. Lin Shilan slowly recovered and sat up straight.

Tan Jin sat down next to Lin Shilan.

She looked at him, then at her own empty wrist, feeling a sense of loss.

Tan Jin had always kept the vow he made.

But what about herself? All these years, she had not only forgotten the vow she made to him, but also forgotten him. She hadn’t even preserved the bracelet he gave her.

Lin Shilan anxiously bit her lip, feeling that she was truly terrible.

A large hand reached over and circled around her wrist.

Tan Jin said nothing, only holding her firmly. The warmth coming from his palm had a solid, reassuring power that filled the void left by the bracelet’s disappearance.

Regarding vows, Tan Jin had once told Lin Shilan: “We regard those who died in the disaster as wronged spirits. If we promised them something before they died but didn’t fulfill it, it’s possible they would curse us to repeat the days of disaster until we complete their wishes.”

She bit through her lip, tasted blood, tasted a rotten sweetness.

Perhaps it was better not to remember her vow. If Tan Jin was a wronged spirit lingering due to obsession, she was willing to be cursed, to be the bad person who broke her promise to him, to experience the rainy season over and over again, entangled with him like this.

After leaving the classroom.

They had great understanding—neither mentioned the situation triggered by the lightning just now. However, the hand with which Tan Jin had gripped Lin Shilan never let go.

The motion changed from gripping to gentle holding.

He held her hand, swinging their hands ostentatiously in wide arcs.

Lin Shilan followed behind, muttering quietly, “Childish.”

After Tan Jin heard this, he played even more enthusiastically, swinging both hands toward the sky. He shook his head, his chin almost lifted to his nose, proud of who knows what.

As they neared the school gate, several classmates walking home together passed by them. Their intimate appearance made it obvious they were dating. The classmates exchanged glances, whispered to each other, and let out ill-intentioned laughter as they spoke.

Tan Jin wasn’t deliberately listening, yet he still heard the words “Class One class monitor” and “puppy love.” These people must have recognized Lin Shilan.

Lin Shilan was thin-skinned and didn’t like being discussed by others. He secretly observed her expression, gradually reducing the amplitude of their hand-swinging.

She indeed reacted to their words.

Those classmates kept glancing over. She stopped walking and stared straight at them.

“What are you looking at?” Lin Shilan raised Tan Jin’s hand toward them, letting them see clearly. “It’s exactly what you think.”

Then, without waiting for their reaction, she vigorously swung the hand holding Tan Jin’s again and happily left the scene.

They walked home chatting and laughing all the way.

It grew dark. Hungry stomachs, tired brains—they needed to eat and rest.

But when they reached the downstairs of her building, the two people were still stickily holding hands, with not a single thought of saying goodbye.

She asked, “Why do people have to go home?”

He sighed, “Right, why do people have to go home?”

Tan Jin walked Lin Shilan upstairs, and Lin Shilan walked Tan Jin back downstairs. They tirelessly escorted each other back and forth, making several round trips.

Lin Shilan spoke again, “I don’t want to be separated from you.”

Tan Jin nodded, “Then how about I stay at your place?”

Knowing he was joking, Lin Shilan played along. “How would you stay?”

Tan Jin said seriously, “I can disguise myself to look like Jing Jing and sneak into your home. You don’t need to prepare a bed for me either—I’ll just squeeze into her nest with Jing Jing.”

Lin Shilan giggled at his joke.

In the midst of her laughter, her front door opened. Behind the door was Lu Xiaorong with a displeased expression. She had her arms crossed and looked like she’d been standing there waiting for a while.

Seeing Lin Shilan in this state, she walked over and separated them without any explanation.

Lu Xiaorong dragged Lin Shilan inside the house.

Tan Jin said “Hello, Auntie,” wanting to chat with her. Lu Xiaorong gave him no chance, immediately closing and locking the door after entering.

Lin Shilan anticipated a lecture was coming… but there was none.

The door banged repeatedly.

Tan Jin, blocked outside, still wouldn’t settle down.

He began scratching at the door.