Asking about love is hard to let go of, but it’s also hard to continue.
Author’s note: Who says you have to put clothes back on? With such a striking name and synopsis, how could I not start with something striking?!
Scattered memories of the past. I put on a coat, walked to the window, and opened the curtains. A cold wind blew on my damp hair, providing a cool sensation. The burning-like pain on my neck, shoulders, and chest was now soothed.
In front of the street lamp, a black Hummer SUV was parked, its deep color and sharp angles suggesting it belonged to a man who could conquer everything. I couldn’t see through the dark green window, but the engine was still running, and light gray smoke drifted from the exhaust pipe, disappearing into the night. Next to the car stood an old elm tree, its withered yellow leaves illuminated by moonlight.
I tilted my head back, remembering the old elm tree at my childhood home, lush and verdant in summer. My father and Yin Zhongtian’s father were long-time colleagues and friends. Yin Zhongtian, four years older, always wore a clean white shirt, his patient smile evident. I often pestered him to play with me, sometimes begging him to help me climb the old elm tree, but he always refused.
On the eve of my college graduation, Yin Zhongtian confessed his feelings for me in a romantic café.
He wore a tailored suit, with smooth skin, thick eyebrows, and a high-bridged nose, looking refined and cultured. He nervously stirred his coffee with a steel spoon, confessing he had liked me for a long time.
Scared, I shook my head frantically.
He was puzzled, as if the relationship was perfectly logical. “Do you have someone you like?”
“Yes! But they haven’t appeared yet!”
Yin Zhongtian was classic husband material—handsome, gentle, cultured, and hardworking. After graduating, he became a national civil servant in the municipal government, with a bright future. However, influenced by Taiwanese romance novels, I believed the taste of “unable to give up” was true love.
I was waiting for a man who would make me fall in love at first sight, grow deeper with each meeting, and leave me heartbroken yet without regret.
