"Xia Mo!" Ou Chen cried out, instinctively gripping her hand with a choking terror that made his hold iron-tight! No, she couldn't leave! If she left, perhaps she would never return... But she turned back to him blankly.

Her eyes were utterly vacant, lost in a daze, as if she didn't recognize him at all; her gaze drifted past him to a point far, far away. Her hand was ice-cold, trembling ever so slightly, a delicate tremor that suggested disbelief, as if she were trapped in a nightmare.

It seemed as though her very soul had silently floated away the instant she heard the news of that person's suicide... Ou Chen’s hand shook.

Then, Shen Qiang pulled her away without a backward glance, their figures slowly vanishing at the end of the hospital corridor.

Yin Cheng stared helplessly at his sister’s stiff, vacant silhouette, then looked back at the pale, anguished Ou Chen. His mind was a blank canvas; he remained seated in the wheelchair, stunned into immobility.

Zhen En trembled violently, her face bloodless! Fear and guilt seized her body.

It was that phone call... that very phone call... She had caused a life to end; she had killed someone...

*………………"I think... before I die, I must finish everything I want to do... Do you know... I’ve wanted to propose to you for so long..." In the dappled light filtering through the leaves, his pale smile was haloed by the warm glow of sunlight fragmented like glittering gold dust, yet he himself seemed entirely ethereal.

………………The world was chaotic and illusory. Yin Xia Mo felt as if she had suddenly plunged into a vast, blinding fog. It felt like someone was pulling her along; her wrist ached, but she could see nothing, hear nothing, only the roaring echoes of fractured memories flashing wildly inside her skull!………………"If you have nothing left to care about in this world, you will die..." Under the violent rustling of the leaves, the light transformed into shadow. He was as breathtakingly beautiful as the youth who stepped out of a picture book six years ago—eyes dark as night, skin like cherry blossoms, lips the color of blood. His voice was as hazy as a transverse flute played from a distant, secluded alley in the dead of night.

………………She was lost in a daze, unaware of her location, as if she were abruptly shoved into a car with a loud thud. Someone was shouting at her near her ear! She couldn't hear the words, only sensing the anger and hatred within them stabbing at her like daggers! Yet, she felt no pain.

The car seemed to be hurtling forward, lurching violently with constant sharp braking and sudden acceleration. Her body swayed wildly in the rapid motion, but her mind remained numb and muddled. She couldn't think clearly. Was this a dream? Why, why couldn't she wake up even now……………………"Even if I vanished from this world in the next second... you would still marry him without hesitation, wouldn't you..." He looked at her steadily, a strange light flickering deep within his eyes. His pale lips suddenly grew vivid again, crimson as if soaked in blood.

………………The car seemed to reach maximum speed, screeching to harsh stops and then wildly accelerating again. The grating sound was like the devil’s screeching laughter in a nightmare. Her body was violently thrown about, and a searing pain gripped her skull, accompanied by waves of nausea rising from within her! And then.

She began to vomit.

Heaving great, wrenching dry coughs.

Until someone thrust a paper bag into her hand.

Summer of Foam III

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