Years of Absurdity

Fu Chu and Yuan Qi met in college and shared a dorm room. The four words Fu Chu said most often to Yuan Qi were, "Shh, don't make a sound."

Fu Chu loved watching Yuan Qi late at night, trembling as she tried to hold back, her face flushed as she bit the corner of the blanket and closed her eyes, letting Fu Chu do as she pleased. Yuan Qi's unspoken sensuality and vulnerability were Fu Chu's favorite things.

But Fu Chu knew in her heart that there were many more interesting things to do in life than be with Yuan Qi.

So after graduating, Fu Chu vanished from Yuan Qi's life without a trace.

Seven years later, the two reunited at a hospital.

Yuan Qi wore a white coat. Her figure was graceful, and her silver-rimmed glasses made her look exceptionally refined. The eyes that had once shyly met Fu Chu's in college were now cold and utterly impassive.

Fu Chu raised an eyebrow, glanced her way, and smiled at her as usual.

That evening, she lay in her hospital bed and asked the friend beside her, "Do you think my ex-girlfriend would say yes if I tried to win her back?"

Her friend replied, "If you seriously pursued her, what woman wouldn't give it some thought?"

Yuan Qi overheard. She asked a nurse to replace her needle with a larger one. The injection left her hand bruised, and it hurt for days.

Three months later, Yuan Qi had not only failed to return to Fu Chu, but brought another woman home to spend the night right in front of her.

Fu Chu spent the whole night downstairs from Yuan Qi's apartment. Cigarette butts littered the ground, and her eyes were bloodshot with exhaustion. At last, she understood one thing:

Someone you've lost isn't so easy to win back.

An absurd, unconventional capitalist x a doctor of internal medicine who is cold on the outside and utterly jaded within

Setting tentatively in Northeast China

Note from 2021.8.6

Theme: Regret comes at a price.