Life Takes a Turn

I wrote this novel in memory of the first love I will regret losing for the rest of my life. That year, I was eighteen, a country boy who had made it into college. Short and poor, I worked my way through school by cleaning the toilets in the teaching building. I sat quietly in the corner of the classroom, unnoticed. One day, I ran into a pretty girl from another university. My heart raced. I worked up the courage to strike up a conversation, and it went well. One night, when all my roommates were out, she climbed into my bed. She told me to lock the door and get into bed too. I was old-fashioned, so I shook my head and took her for a walk around the sports field instead. In the end, I walked her home. She lived in the provincial capital, not far from our school. After that, she disappeared. It was 1998, and I had no way to contact her. I didn't have the courage to go to her home, either. I have regretted it all my life. I wrote this web novel to put an imperfect end to that chapter of my life.