It was raining the day they broke up six years ago.
He Yu said, "I don't love you anymore." To make the lie convincing, she even brought someone along to play the part of the person she loved.
Shen Yan remembered it for six years. What she remembered wasn't the words, but the fact that He Yu didn't blink when she said them.
Six years later, in a meeting room at the procuratorate.
He Yu pushed open the door. The person seated at the prosecution table looked up.
It was Shen Yan.
They became opposing counsel on the same case: one defending, the other prosecuting. He Yu fought for every detail that might earn her client leniency, while Shen Yan refused to yield a single word in the record. In court, they sat three meters apart. Outside it, neither was willing to leave first.
Only He Yu knew this wasn't the first time she'd seen Shen Yan in six years.
There was a folder on her computer containing videos of every public trial Shen Yan had attended. She'd kept it for six years, and when she replaced her hard drive, that folder was the first thing she transferred. Its files were labeled with dates and case numbers. Nothing gave away whose they were.
She'd watched everything. She'd never once shown herself.
Shen Yan had secrets of her own.
She couldn't sleep without drinking. The inner pocket of her bag always held a blister pack of pills. Whenever she used one, she replaced it. When stressed or upset, she didn't argue or make a scene. She simply left and switched off her phone. He Yu had taught her that trick.
For the past six years, she'd actually been getting better. Until He Yu came back.
Theme: She didn't stop loving He Yu six years ago. She just didn't dare say so. Six years later, they sit across a table from one another: one trying to save someone, the other trying to send someone to prison. This isn't a story about winning back an old love. Getting back together isn't about forgiveness or clinging to the past. The only reason to be together is that they still love each other now, and the only reason not to be together should be that they no longer do. What this story truly wants to explore is that protection itself can be a form of deprivation. Not one person ever asked the person concerned what she wanted: He Yu decided for Shen Yan, their friends decided for both of them, and their families decided for them. So even after they learn to speak up, they still keep things from each other. Shen Yan's illness is cured by medication and by herself. A lover has only one role: not to make it worse.
