"After graduation, I'll come to your city."
Cai Qiuyi had promised Zhao Lei.
Later, she broke her promise. But when she decided to leave, she still loved him deeply.
She used to be afraid that her enthusiasm would feel unwanted. She wanted to ask someone to eat with her, but couldn't bring herself to ask. She wanted to finish telling someone about something that made her happy, but her family always had something else to do.
In high school, a girl saved her a seat, and a boy was willing to help her fight for the ending of a story.
Little by little, she learned to say, "Count me in," to say, "I want to see you," and to believe that someone would keep her in their heart.
They held hands in the sea breeze and saved up to visit each other's schools. They even shared a ruined dinner over a screen. Every time they parted, they looked forward earnestly to seeing each other again.
They even lived together. They could see each other after work, shop for groceries together, and talk endlessly over dinner.
All she had to do was say yes, and she could stay.
But although the place had the person she loved and a job she could do, it didn't have the path she longed more and more to follow.
The girl who once couldn't even bring herself to say "I want" now had to tell the person she was most reluctant to leave:
She wanted a future with him, and she also wanted to live the life she longed for.
