” Karl warmly and candidly curved his eye corners: “Let me know when you’re home.” ”Okay!” Naily responded more firmly, ducking into the car. Karl closed her door, waving through the window. As the car moved, his figure lingered briefly on the window glass before quickly receding. The taxi stopped at the next traffic light. Naily took out her phone, staring blankly at the street lights reflected on the screen. The phone vibrated and lit up with a message from the same unnumbered contact: ”I was very happy today.” She unlocked her phone, her fingers pausing before sliding. But before she could finish typing “I was happy too,” another message arrived: ”I love you. No matter what name you have in whatever world. I love you.” Naily stared at the message silently, covering her face though no one was watching. She watched the screen’s brightness gradually dim. In the moment before complete darkness, another message popped up: ”So I can find you here too.” On the first evening of the new semester, people walking through the university city felt somewhat melancholy, their longing for the vacation written in their expressions. Only the street food stalls could slightly dispel the gloomy cloud hanging over students’ faces. “
Naily’s steps were light as she entered an old residential area, skillfully turning through a doorway. The old building’s elevator was slow, and after waiting a while with no movement, she climbed the five floors. She paused in the stairwell to catch her breath, straightened her hair, then approached the door at the end of the corridor and rang the doorbell beside the security door.
Almost instantly, light footsteps came from behind the door. Karl opened the security door, looking at Naily: “Why is your face so red?”
“The elevator was too slow, so I walked up. Phew, I’m a bit hot,” Naily linked arms with Karl and entered together, glancing around the one-room apartment and chuckling, “You’ve been living here a week and still have so little?”
The apartment’s furnishings were indeed spartan to the point of austerity. Besides essential furniture, it was almost bare.
