The Flower That Never Bloomed

(Yuri, after the main story) (A consultant and her clients) When dusk spills over the eaves, irises always cast a pale purple shadow in her hair. Lu Jianwei's studio is not famous, yet people keep finding their way there, drawn by some mysterious presence. She holds a half-open flower between her fingers as visitors tell her of betrothals soaked by rain, secrets shattered in hidden compartments, and sighs hanging over the edge of a high-rise. In her pale purple eyes, the longings left unspoken take on shapes one can almost touch. Some say she can make withered love take root again; others say she knows how to mend broken hearts with moonlight. A celadon vase always sits on her desk, holding the unfading "Flower of the Unattainable." Dewlike words glisten on its petals: "Look, what you long for but cannot have is really an answer hidden in the folds of time." When the last wisp of cooking smoke melts into the night, she removes the silver tassel from her hair and writes the day's stories in a gold-embossed ledger. As the ink spreads across the page, the irises outside the window sway gently, as though someone were softly echoing her words: "Every long-awaited happy ending was once moonlight, unopened."