I Loved You Too Late, Searching for You Against the Light

Midnight. Jiang Haochen sat leaning against a dining chair, his vacant eyes fixed on the cake slowly melting on the table. One lonely candle on top had burned out, as if mocking him for being forgotten by everyone. His twenty-eighth birthday had passed in silence. He struggled to sit upright, picked up a piece of cake, and took a bite. "Happy birthday, Jiang Haochen," he murmured to himself, his voice full of loneliness. Then, without hesitation, he picked up the whole cake and hurled it into the trash can...