Her name is Qingqing. She has spent twenty-one years living under someone else’s roof, always treading carefully.
The person who calls her “older sister” is Shen Qi.
He rests his chin on her collarbone like a puppy, and sometimes, eyes red, grabs her by the chin and asks, “Can’t you just look at me?”
He says she’s his, and has been since he was five.
But there’s someone else hidden in her heart, someone she thought she had long since forgotten.
Late at night, she lies to her aunt and says she’s going to Jiangcheng.
Under the covers, Shen Qi tightens his arms around her and silently mouths two words
“Please.”
She doesn’t know whether this escape will free her from her cage or push her into an even deeper abyss.
