A Sleepless Night

Ji Nuo's wife had not come home in a long time.

She still messaged her every day.

"I miss you. Are you coming home tonight?"

"I bought a style I think you'll like. Picture, picture. Are you coming home tonight?"

"I've run a bath. I miss you so much..."

There was no reply.

All she could do was soothe her own feverish body.

Later, a woman moved in next door.

Tall, with pale, cool skin. When her eyelashes lowered, her expression held a distant indifference, so much like Ji Nuo's wife, who never came home.

Ji Nuo stared at that face, her breathing growing heavier.

Late at night, she lay on her back in bed, burning up.

The doorbell rang out of the blue.

Her neighbor stood outside, her usually cold face flushed bright red, a bag of snacks in her arms.

"...F-for you."

Before Ji Nuo could say a word, the other woman fled as if escaping.

A little note was tucked inside the snack bag.

Sorry to bother you. Also, please keep it down. Thank you.

*

Later, another woman moved in next door.

The neighbor said she was her girlfriend.

Ji Nuo couldn't accept that her neighbor, with a face so much like her wife's, was with someone else.

She knocked on the neighbor's door, clung to her, and gazed at that familiar yet unfamiliar face with tearful eyes. She asked if the neighbor wanted to.

The neighbor pushed her away. "Don't do this. I have a girlfriend."

Sometimes the neighbor wasn't home, and only her girlfriend was there.

The neighbor's girlfriend scolded her in annoyance. "You shameless flirt. Stay away from my girlfriend."

Ji Nuo was heartbroken, but whenever she saw the neighbor's face, so much like her wife's, she ran over again.

She looked at the neighbor's girlfriend, who had just scolded her, and apologized through her tears. "I'm sorry. I just want someone to talk to. I'm not trying to steal her from you."

The girlfriend gave her a suspicious look, but in the end, said nothing.

And so Ji Nuo went over every day.

One day, while the neighbor was away on a business trip, Ji Nuo got drunk and knocked on the door next door. Wearing a nightgown and sobbing, she said, "I don't have any friends. I'm so lonely. Could you keep me company?"

The girlfriend hesitated, then let her in.

After a few drinks, they ended up in bed together.

Ji Nuo immediately turned around and denied everything. She took pictures and threatened the girlfriend, telling her to leave or she would show the neighbor.

The girlfriend had developed real feelings for her and was furious. She had been planning to break up with the neighbor, but after this, she refused to break up no matter what.

Ji Nuo cried, her tears falling in big drops onto the other woman's chest.

"Please, let me have her, okay? I miss my wife so much. I can't live without her."

She really missed her wife. She missed her every night.

But her wife never came home.

She was so lonely.

A: The neighbor who pretends to be cold

B: The girlfriend of the neighbor who pretends to be cold

C: The wife who disappeared to who-knows-where

D: A champion isn't made alone. Glory takes four!

Theme: Keep striving every day.