She found herself backed against the wall, her pride and dignity crumbling.

Tears fell like scattered pearls, impossible to stop. It wasn’t until last month that she realized she and Jiang Chengyi had fallen into an elaborate trap eight years ago. Now, facing his questioning, she knew clearly what he wanted – not any ambiguous answer, but a clear, straightforward response.

He stared at her intently, waiting silently for her answer.

Through her tears, she saw two small flames burning in his eyes, bright and fierce, reaching deep into her heart.

She couldn’t think of any reason to hesitate. Choking back a sob, she placed her hand on his cheek and tried to speak clearly: “Jiang Chengyi, I can’t forget you—”

Before she could finish, his kiss descended forcefully, as if he had been waiting for ages, containing the power of a storm, eagerly consuming all her words.

She whimpered, tears flowing more intensely as she responded with all her strength.

Memories flashed before her eyes, still bitter despite the passing years.

When she was hospitalized, he received the news and rushed from the suburbs to the hospital overnight.

It was seven in the morning, less than four hours after she had been admitted.

Her mother and Tang Jie kept vigil at her bedside. Despite the medication, her fever hadn’t broken.

Her eyelids were severely swollen; she could barely open them to a slit.

Doctors were doing their rounds at her bedside. She heard them discussing what additional tests she needed. From their conversation, she learned that her kidney function was severely compromised, and she had been classified as critically ill.

She realized then that external pressures could not only crush one’s will but also swiftly devastate an eighteen-year-old’s healthy body.

After her tears dried, they left her face feeling numb and cold. In just one day, she felt as if she had been thrown into boiling oil, inside and out. Now lying in bed, she was just a shell, her mind nearly numb.

Deng Man was dead. A life that had been so vibrant just days ago was now a cold corpse filled with resentment. The fear and remorse in her heart were ten thousand times worse than her physical suffering. Most painful was that this torment had nowhere to be voiced. Upon learning of her severe condition, she felt an odd sense of relief.

As the doctors continued talking, she tried to curl herself into a ball, wanting her consciousness to sink into darkness – unable to see light, hear any sounds, or touch anything from the outside world, as if this could distance her from the cold, harsh reality.

Then she heard him arrive, his voice anxious yet maintaining politeness as he spoke with her mother.

At first, her mother seemed surprised, but after a brief conversation, the distance and scrutiny in her mother’s tone subtly changed.

She had imagined a thousand, ten thousand times how her romance with Jiang Chengyi would be revealed to her mother, but never like this. She could tell her mother didn’t dislike him. In the past, this would have filled her with pride and joy, but now it only brought additional torment.

After that, he came every day, staying from morning until night, but she kept her eyes closed, unwilling and afraid to face him.

Due to her nephritis, she looked terrible. Tang Jie, trying to cheer her up while wiping her face, said she looked like a chubby white steamed bun.

Even so, whenever there was no one else in the ward, he would gently brush aside her bangs and kiss her without any hesitation. During these moments, her nose would tingle, and she had to grip the sheets tightly to keep her tears from falling.

While awake, she managed, but in sleep, she would see Deng Man standing by her bed, soaking wet. Sometimes she would stand rigidly behind Jiang Chengyi, her eyes as eerie as candlelight floating in the night, leaving her completely shaken.

She would wake up terrified countless times, seeking her mother’s embrace, drenched in sweat. Her tears would dry only to flow again. In her extreme anguish, she could only cry out in her desolate heart: she would pay any price just to have Deng Man return safe and sound, just to have everything back the way it was.

After two weeks in the hospital, she finally passed the critical period. When she returned home, she remained as numb and indifferent as a puppet.

Everyone thought it was due to the double shock of her friend’s accident and having to identify the body, but only she knew what had happened between them two days before Deng Man’s incident.

Back home, fearing her mother couldn’t care for her alone, her father hired a nurse. She lay in bed all day, intentionally cutting off all contact with the outside world.

Gradually, as she regained mobility, sometimes when no one was in the room, she would sit at the edge of her bed, staring outside lost in thought.

Summer days were always long, filled with cicada songs and heat waves, but as she looked at the verdant scene outside her window, she felt only cold – a bone-deep chill.

Summer vacation was ending, and everyone, including her, would move on to the next stage of their lives. Only Deng Man, like a freshly broken green branch, would wither here. In the days ahead, they would continue forward, while Deng Man would forever remain in the dark riverbed, without light or future.

As she thought about this, tears would silently roll down her cheeks.

She dared not hear any details about Deng Man’s funeral, couldn’t face Deng Man’s grief-stricken parents, and couldn’t even approach any corners of their old school – which, of course, included Jiang Chengyi. In her eyes, everyone else could openly weep and grieve, but she alone had no right to.

In the days that followed, when Jiang Chengyi came to see her, she refused. When he called, she didn’t answer.

Her heart was a tangled mess; she had no idea how to face him. She only knew that since Deng Man’s death, a huge, cold shadow loomed over her head constantly. The sweetness and anticipation she once felt at hearing his name had completely vanished, replaced only by helplessness and dread.

One evening, while her mother was at the hospital getting her medicine, knowing Jiang Chengyi was waiting downstairs, she felt she couldn’t keep avoiding him passively. So she put on a jacket and let the nurse help her down the stairs.

He waited under the tree shade, having lost considerable weight. Seeing that she finally agreed to meet him, his eyes lit up with a peculiar brilliance.

Her heart softened inexplicably, especially upon seeing his long-absent smile. Her previously firm resolve shattered instantly. Her throat tightened as she tried to walk toward him, but things weren’t as simple as she had imagined. After just two steps, her feet felt shackled, unable to move forward. More absurdly, she couldn’t even bring herself to look behind him, fearing she might glimpse that heart-shattering, terrifying shadow in the dark corners.

Finding no way out, she heard herself say in panic and despair: “I don’t like you anymore. Let’s break up.”

His smile froze instantly as he stared at her, saying, “What did you say?”

She spoke slowly, enunciating each word, each syllable feeling like a knife carving into her heart, causing bone-deep pain: “I said, I’m not happy being with you. Let’s break up.”

His kisses were like sparks, igniting everything in their path. In her passion-addled state, she clung to his shoulders as they made their way to his bedroom door, trailing kisses along the way.

His breathing grew increasingly heavy as one hand firmly held her waist while the other reached back to turn the doorknob. Once inside, they tumbled onto the bed.

A fierce fire had already ignited in her heart, and kisses alone were no longer enough. She wanted to touch him, to feel him, and so she raised her hands to try and unbutton his shirt. However, with one hand still bound to his by the handcuffs and the other, though free, repeatedly blocked by his interference, she couldn’t reach where she wanted to explore.

She wanted to remove the handcuffs, but he seemed oblivious to this need. Feeling the unfairness of the situation, she took advantage of the moment when he released her lips to trail kisses down her neck, and protested breathlessly: “Jiang Chengyi, unlock the handcuffs, I want to—”

“What do you want?” His voice was unusually hoarse as he pressed her down onto the bed, using their handcuffed hands to pin both her arms above her head while his free hand eagerly began unbuttoning her clothes.

Before she could writhe free like a struggling fish, he had already lowered his head and captured the spot he had long desired with his mouth.