Madman

"Do you know why I got close to you? Because I love Du Shaohua. I've just been playing you all along," I said cruelly.

"If you hadn't tried to seduce him, I wouldn't have traveled all this way to target you," I continued. But as I looked at the woman sitting motionless on the sofa, peacefully knitting, anger surged inside me. Why wasn't she angry? How could she not be angry? I'd been playing her all along!

I rushed toward her like a madwoman, grabbed her shoulders, and forced her to look up at my face.

The old sofa screeched under my violent movements, its springs groaning harshly.

My face must have looked hideous just then, but that didn't matter. I wanted to see shock, fear, and hatred on hers.

"You wouldn't do that. I believe you. But... Moli, it seems you don't quite believe me?" She continued to meet my gaze with eyes as calm as still water. I couldn't read a thing in them. The corners of her lips lifted. I must be a wretched woman, the kind who breaks up a loving couple. If another woman faced a mistress who provoked her at every turn, she'd grab a cleaver, yank her by the ear, and bring it down. So why was she just sitting there, unmoved? This wasn't what I wanted.

I wanted to watch her go mad. I wanted her to go mad with me. That was why I came here! I wanted everyone in the world to go mad with me. This world had driven me insane, so they had to go insane with me too.

"Moli, I think you need a hug right now." As she spoke, she naturally set down her crochet hook and wrapped her arms around my waist, resting her head against my chest as if she could hear my heartbeat through it.

"Don't touch me! None of you touch me! Who wants your hug? I don't need anyone to pity me!" I took her embrace as an act of pity.

She was always so full of compassion, looking at everyone as if they were pitiful creatures. No, not pitiful! I had money, status, and power. There was nothing in this world I couldn't do. If I wanted it, the whole world could be mine.

A short first-person story.

Theme: The path to salvation lies within.