Chapter 2

That day, Duan Yingze abandoned me by the side of the road.

Rain came down in sheets.

By the time I reached home, I was drenched through and chilled to the bone.

I wrapped myself in blankets and stared at a photograph on my phone. My fingertip came to rest on the small mole beneath the man’s eye.

The touch was tentative, featherlight.

As though I were afraid of disturbing him.

When I finally drifted into a fitful sleep, I dreamed I was back in my first year of high school.

The monthly exam results had just been posted. Once again, I ranked first in our grade.

As expected.

Then a boy stepped into my path and held out his hand.

“Hello, Song Shiwei. I’m Zhou Jiaci—the eternal runner-up who’s spent his whole life crushed beneath the famous number one. You’ll remember me now, won’t you?”

He was strikingly handsome. When he smiled, his eyes curved into crescents, and sunlight poured over him as if gilding his whole body.

I could not look away.

Before we graduated, we lay together on the school rooftop, staring at the distant blue sky. He said, “Weiwei, my dream is to become a police officer—to serve the people and stand ready whenever Weiwei calls!”

Later, he appeared in a police uniform, standing straight and tall as a pine, the familiar gentleness still on his face. “Weiwei, when I come back from this mission, let’s get married.”

But he never came back.

Ten years had passed since then.

I woke slowly, my face wet with tears.

Outside, the night was pitch-black. Moonlight spilled through the window. I reached out to catch it, but my hand closed on emptiness.

All at once, I thought…

Perhaps I would never have the thing I wanted most.

I curled into myself on the bed, my heart aching unbearably.

My hand clutched the phone.

As if it held the last ray of light left to me.

“Zhou Jiaci…”

Duan Yingze did not come home until the day before our wedding.

I was trying on my bridal gown at the time.

When I drew back the curtain, he was standing outside, waiting. He stared at me in open wonder, and the first words from his lips were sweet ones.

“Weiwei, you look beautiful today.”

I smiled faintly, but my eyes settled on my own reflection.

There was no happiness in them.

The car remained silent all the way home.

I watched Duan Yingze in the rearview mirror, my gaze eventually settling beneath his long, narrow eyes.

There was no small mole there.

He was nothing like Zhou Jiaci.

An inexplicable bitterness rose in me.

I knew Duan Yingze could never replace Zhou Jiaci.

And yet I clung to him, refusing to let go.

Even though his heart belonged to someone else.

Suddenly I said, “Duan Yingze, now that He Meng is back, perhaps we should cancel the wedding. You still love her, after all—”

He cut me off sharply.

“I don’t love her.”

I froze.

When I looked up, his eyes met mine with utter seriousness. “You’re the one I love now, Weiwei. I only helped her because I owe her for saving my life.”

My heart gave a jolt.

I was startled, almost shocked.

“Really?”

He nodded without hesitation.

“Really.”

Then he repeated it many more times.

I could not tell whether he was trying to convince me or himself.

I studied his face for a long, long time. In the end, I sighed.