This is a story about "her late arrival". The belated discovery, the belated confirmation, the belated "me too". The two women carefully hid their love for seventeen years in the cracks of their marriage.
They weren't going to cross a line, but they weren't pretending it was just a friendship either.
——This is probably something you only learn at the age of thirty-five: some love does not need to be possessed, but there is no need to deny it either.
[Shen Qing: If we were not married and had no children, would we be together?
Lin Wan was silent for a long time.
Lin Wan: Yes.
Lin Wan: What then? He is in his early twenties, young and energetic, and can quarrel over who washes the dishes. Maybe they break up, maybe they get through it, maybe they get through to the age of thirty, and still break up. You go back on a blind date, and I'll marry someone else.
Shen Qing turned his face to the car window.
Lin Wan: Now we are sitting here, with a mortgage, children, and things we haven't said in seventeen years. If you ask me, I can still answer you. If we were together at that time...
She didn't finish speaking
Shen Qing: What if we were together at that time?
Lin Wan: Maybe we can't even be friends
The car was quiet for a long time
Shen Qing: So you are saying...
Lin Wan: I mean... This road is a long detour, but luckily we didn't get lost]
Concept: There is no need to possess or deny some feelings. Acknowledging its existence is already happiness and completeness in itself