Let Me Drown in You

Xu Li first met Chen Yanzhou in a dim alley. He had just finished a fight, a black baseball cap pulled low over his head as he faded into the darkness.

He glanced up and casually looked toward the mouth of the alley. The girl in her school uniform looked clean and innocent, completely out of place in those surroundings. The white light at the alley entrance made her skin glow. She was visibly nervous, so well-behaved she seemed almost unreal.

Later, a transfer student joined Xu Li’s class. He looked exactly like the boy she had seen in the alley.

Later still, in a dim corridor alcove, Chen Yanzhou cornered Xu Li. He kissed her until her eyes were red from crying, then helplessly tried to soothe her. “Please, my queen, stop crying, okay?”

The day they fell out, Xu Li’s eyes were red again. This time she cried so hard she could barely catch her breath. “Chen Yanzhou, I never want to see you again.”

This time, Chen Yanzhou only wiped her tear-stained eyes and said nothing.

*

Everyone in their circle knew that the powerful Chen, a titan of the business world, was married.

His wife was his first love.

Mr. Chen was henpecked.

[At sunset, I found the one who would save me for the rest of my life]