Hello, A Lu. Goodbye, A Lu.

“A Lu, are you scared?”

A Lu slowly walked over to Ji Shi and stood beside him. Together, they gazed toward the place where the sun was about to rise.

“Are you an idiot, Ji Shi?” A Lu smiled. She took his hand, placed it on her hair, and ruffled it. “Yang Mie Mie, Dong Gua, and Master... everyone has been here all along.”

The sun rose little by little. A Lu seemed to be saying her final goodbye before turning into grains of sand and disappearing along the shoreline.

He remembered the first time he had met A Lu on the rooftop. In the quietest voice, he had greeted her silently in his heart.

“Hello, A Lu.”

Now, at last, he could open his heart and shout without restraint toward the sea.

“**A Lu!”

Because he knew she would surely return. Perhaps in a year, or perhaps tomorrow.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.