Zhou Zhiyuan × Song Chi
One always says, “Maybe next year.” The other always says, “I'll wait for you.”
Song Chi has taken photographs of everyone in Yuancheng, but never once appeared in a picture herself.
In August 2006, Zhou Zhiyuan walked into Song's Photo Studio at 173 Renmin Road and met Song Chi, who was one year younger than her. For the next nineteen years, they never had a fight, never betrayed each other, and never managed to say what they really meant.
In the winter of 2018, Song Chi said over the phone, “There's someone in my life.”
Zhou Zhiyuan believed her. She hated her for seven years.
On August 7, 2025, the day autumn began, it rained. Song Chi died in her little apartment.
Ninety-nine days later, Zhou Zhiyuan saw her name in black and white in their class group chat.
She returned to Yuancheng and received a cookie tin at a rice noodle shop: a stack of photographs, an old address book, an old phone, a medical report, and a half-finished letter.
There were thirty-six unsent drafts on the phone. The last one contained only a single character: “Zhi.”
She asked Deng Guoqing, “Did she say anything?”
Deng Guoqing paused, then said:
“No.”
Realistic fiction | Tragic ending | Warning: both leads die
Theme: Say what you feel in time, and hold each other while you can
