The water mist on the bathroom mirror condensed into beads, glowing amber under the overhead light. I stretched out my hand to wipe away the mist, and the blood-colored words appeared like carvings on a knife:
**I know what you did when you were seventeen**
Water droplets slid down between the fingers, spattering tiny blood splashes on the tiles. My pale face was reflected in the mirror, and my Adam's apple slid rapidly under my skin, like a trapped animal trapped behind glass.
The phone vibrated on the sink. In the photo sent by an anonymous number, I was kissing a strange man in the back alley of a blues bar, and the neon lights stretched our shadows like two mating snakes. The second photo is from last night's charity dinner. When I received the Outstanding Lawyer of the Year trophy, my suit cufflinks shone coldly.
"Lawyer Chen's cufflinks are so unique." Zhou Jinchuan's voice suddenly pierced his eardrums in his memory. At that time, he was leaning against a Roman column holding a champagne glass. His dark gray suit was tailored like a second skin, and his tie clip was a silver cross.
The faucet suddenly erupted into a high-pitched buzz. I stepped back suddenly, my bathrobe belt brushing against the shelf, and glass bottles hitting the floor one after another. The mint-flavored aftershave spread over the instep, as cold as the stagnant water in the alley on a rainy night that year.
The wooden lockers in the locker room smelled faintly of camphor. As I buttoned the last button of my shirt, I heard the soft sound of leather scraping against the carpet behind me. Zhou Jinchuan leaned against the doorframe, spinning a USB flash drive on his fingertips, and the silver chain dangled in tiny spots on his wrist.
"I heard that Lawyer Chen often goes to the hot spring club in the south of the city?" He raised his hand to throw up the USB flash drive, and the cross tie clip flashed with cold light, "I happened to pick up some interesting things in Room 316 yesterday."
The sulfur smell in the hot spring pool is so strong that it is choking. I immersed myself in the pool and counted my heartbeats. The rose petals floating on the water looked like coagulated blood clots. Steaming mist is creeping up my collarbone as the sliding door slide groans.
Zhou Jinchuan walked in with his upper body naked, and the water droplets slid along the mermaid line into the white bath towel. There was a ten centimeter long scar on his lower back, glowing pink in the steam, like an envelope that had been cut open with a paper knife.
"The surveillance at the entrance of the alley back then can actually be repaired." He picked up a handful of water and splashed it on his face. "What do you think was recorded in that video besides the fight?"
The pool water suddenly became thick. The hoarse cry of the seventeen-year-old boy penetrated ten years, mixed with the roar of rain hitting the iron roof. I stared at the cinnabar mole under his collarbone, which overlapped with the figure huddled behind the trash can in my memory.
"Do you want to listen to my proposal?" He suddenly came close, his breath filled with hot spring heat sprayed behind the ear, "Exchange your secret for my secret." Under the water, his knee pushed between my legs, and the cross pendant hung down, with dark red rust on the edge.
The phone in the locker started vibrating. When I counted to the seventh tone, Zhou Jinchuan took out a ceramic knife from the bath towel, with the faded "2009.7.21" Engraved on the handle. That's the date when torrential rain floods the city's sewers, the moment when the sin we all feed rises to the surface.
Rose petals swirled in the water. When the tip of the knife pierced the old wound on his waist, I finally saw the shape of the scar clearly - it was exactly the arc drawn in the dark by the broken wine bottle I was holding.
Intention: good-natured competition