The car wound through mountain roads and onto the highway, heading to the neighboring city. As darkness fell, they stopped at a small motel. Tao Yu had been so distracted in the car that she hadn’t noticed how uncomfortable the long journey was until she got out and felt her waist was about to break.
She stretched, looking at the unfamiliar buildings and realizing the situation was settled. She composed herself and turned to Yue Ze: “Are we staying here?”
Yue Ze nodded. The chubby man laughed, “Don’t worry, sister-in-law. This is my friend’s place. No one will discover us. Just rest easy.”
Tao Yu smiled back. “Thank you.”
I bought it back. You’ve been sitting in the car all day and are exhausted, so just rest in the room,” Yue Ze tucked her hair that had fallen beside her cheek behind her ear. Seeing Tao Yu still wanting to argue, he simply pushed her inside and closed the door before she could turn back.
Standing alone at the doorway for a moment, he went downstairs and rented another room, standing at the front desk of the small hotel, he put a cigarette in his mouth and took out the letter Tao Yu had written to Yue Lin.
The content was nothing more than thanking him for taking care of her these days. It seemed there was nothing inappropriate, except for the last sentence: ‘One day we will meet again, and a new relationship will be waiting for us,’ which made his fingers pause for a moment.
After a while, he took a lighter from the front desk and burned the note that carried so much gratitude until it was completely gone.
The small hotel’s environment was as clean as it could be, but there was a strange disinfectant smell in the bathroom that would give people a headache if they stayed too long. She stood in front of the mirror in a daze for a long time until the water heater behind her made a “drip” sound, and she suddenly came back to her senses.
Tao Yu gave a bitter smile, took a disposable toothbrush, and started to wash up. When she came out of the bathroom, she heard a knock at the door: “Girl, open the door.”
