She Fleetingly Passed Through the Light

1.

When Yuan Shiqiu turned eighteen and started college, she had a secret, brief romance.

He was the one who first pursued her, but in the end, she was the one who called it off.

The night they broke up, in the stairwell of Building 5, where the lights had gone out, Yuan Shiqiu was backed against the wall, with Song Zhiyou before her. He blocked the moonlight spilling through the window completely.

With no light to borrow, Yuan Shiqiu couldn't make out his face, half-hidden in the gloom.

Just like their relationship: hidden from the light, never meant to be seen.

Yuan Shiqiu heard herself say, with almost perfect calm, "Let's break up."

She also heard him reply coolly, "All right."

It was like some absurd dream, hastily begun and abruptly cut short.

As if Yuan Shiqiu were the only one who would be sad about it.

But she was the one who fell first.

2.

Years later, in a shadowy pub, Song Zhiyou tried a cocktail called "Looking Back." It was so bitter it was hard to swallow, but its aftertaste was devastatingly sweet.

Just like her.

The bartender asked him, "If you can't let her go, why did you break up in the first place?"

The man lowered his eyes. After a long silence, he said:

"She never loved me."

She was a fleeting glimmer, a fool who loved in secret.

Theme: Everyone is one of a kind and irreplaceable.