A room steeped in darkness.

Deep purple curtains tightly sealed out the sunlight, the blackness as profound as a nightmare—airless, devoid of hope, a nightmare from which one would never awaken.

Luo Xi walked in listlessly, as if sleepwalking, turning back to lock the heavy door behind him.

In the living room.

He stood silently for a long, long time.

Then.

He walked into the bathroom.

Turning on the faucet, a stream of warm water, carrying wisps of white steam, flowed slowly into the black marble bathtub.

The wedding reception lounge of the church.

Yin Xia Mo sat quietly on the crimson sofa before the dressing mirror; her eyes were unusually dark, and the flowers in her circlet were beginning to wilt.

Facing the guests and friends who occasionally knocked to offer congratulations, she managed a perfunctory smile, which gradually seemed to freeze at the corners of her lips.

“Are you tired?” Ou Chen studied her expression intently.

“Nervous?” he asked again.

Yin Xia Mo was just about to maintain the smile on her lips and reply that she wasn't, when she heard him speak slightly faster: “I am very nervous.”

She paused, gazing at him.

“It feels like a dream; I’m afraid I’ll suddenly wake up at any moment…” The usual Ou Chen was steady and restrained, as if he could control everything.

But at this moment, he looked deeply into her eyes, which were filled with the joy and happiness of intense wanting and fear of loss, tinged with a fragile unease.

A sudden ache pierced her heart, followed by a profound silence.

“No. Even if it is a dream, I will walk through it with you.”

After a long pause, she replied softly.

Everything was her choice; even if this was a performance, she could only see it through to the end.

The damage caused by her decisions might never be repaid in her lifetime; all she could perhaps do was ensure those around her lived happier lives.

The bathroom, enveloped in white mist.

The black marble tub filled with warm water; Luo Xi, still in his shirt and trousers, stepped into the bath with a calmness bordering on numbness.

He relaxed his body as if sinking into deathly stillness, lying in the water, staring straight up at the bathroom ceiling.

His face was deathly white, his lips a vivid crimson; in the black tub, amidst the swirling, hazy water, he possessed a breathtaking, arresting beauty.

The water surface trembled with gentle ripples.

Warm water continued to pour from the gilded faucet.

*The church orchestra began to play its beautiful music.

Amidst the melodious notes, the guests proceeded in orderly fashion down the aisle leading to the altar.

Smiling, with hearts full of blessings, they lit the long rows of candles flanking the aisle one by one before returning to their seats.

Like countless stars in the night sky.

The orange-yellow candlelight.

Swayed with a warm glow.

Flickering.

Illuminating a wide path down the aisle.

Leading to the wedding altar.

The razor blade flashed with a cold, sharp gleam, slashing down viciously against the pale wrist! A narrow, long gash split the pale skin, and slowly, blood seeped from the wound. Then, the flow suddenly became torrential, gushing out as if bursting! A drop… a drop… a drop… tracing down the wrist… blood droplets fell onto the warm surface of the water… like blood-red flowers blooming within the black nightmare… “Sister, are you absolutely sure?” Summer of Foam III