Side by Side

The winter nights in Linjiang are long and wet. Lin Wan worked as a night shift cashier in a 24-hour convenience store, and was used to replenishing goods in the early morning, cleaning the coffee machine, and waiting for dawn. December seventeenth, one eleven in the morning. A man in a dark coat pushed the door open and bought a can of black coffee with his left hand without looking up the whole time. But Lin Wan saw his chin, the dark mole at the end of his eyebrow, and the slightly lowered posture of his left shoulder when he walked - that was Shen Yu, his lover who left without saying goodbye five years ago. She didn't stop him. He didn't look at her either. The next day, he showed up again. She moved the black coffee from the freezer into the thermos. He took the warm can and looked at her for two seconds while paying. In those two seconds, his pupils dilated and retracted—he recognized her, but chose to continue pretending to be a stranger. Lin Wan tightened her grip on the scanner gun, her hands shaking. It's not fear, it's anger. Just like five years ago, he chose the easiest thing: disappear, or pretend to have disappeared. This is a story about resilience, surrender and authenticity. Two imperfect people, after their respective falls, learned not to hide, wait, or run, but just stood side by side and watched the sky light up. Purpose: Resilience, Surrender and Authenticity