Long-Necked Glass

Many years later, I still can't forget those nights in our shared rental, or all the scenes of A Qi I witnessed through the crack in the door. His tall, resolute profile beside a pile of books as he read with rapt concentration. The quiet, breathless intensity in his gaze showed how fervently he longed for knowledge, as if it could help him advance against fate and inch closer to seizing a chance to reach the moon reflected in the water. Perhaps immersing himself in books helped him endure his loneliness, and might even let him claim fate's most practical and uplifting gifts. Maybe he, too, was desperately seeking comfort in his hopes for the future.