- pulling Dr. Sun away.
- I stood there for a long time, until my legs
- were numb and stiff.
- As I passed Quintin’s room, sounds from inside made me stop.
- I found a cigarette in my pocket and lit it
- く
- after several attempts.
- “Mr. Qin, lie down, I’ll start your therapy.”
- “Don’t call me Mr. Qin, call me Quintin. Hold
- me tight.”
- “Ahh-
- The strong cigarette smoke made me cough
- uncontrollably. I covered my mouth, and with
- each cigarette, my love for Quintin faded.
- By the time I finished the last cigarette, I let
- go, tears streaming down my face.
- Quintin, that’s how my sister called him.
- To differentiate, I always called him by his full
- name.
- Five years of willingly being my sister’s
- substitute. I thought that as long as I was by
- his side, my hopes would come true. I was
- wrong. Not loving someone is just not loving
- L
- someone.
- In his heart, there was only ever my sister. He
- loved whoever was more like her.
- When the noises subsided, I stumbled to my
- feet, brushing off nonexistent dust.
- I glanced at the closed door one last time and
- left.
- Quintin, you’ve deceived me ninety–nine
- times.
- In three days, I’ll deceive you once.
- The next morning, before they woke up, I
- went to a barbershop and got a haircut,
- changing my hairstyle for the first time in five
- years.
- Looking at myself in the mirror, I realized I
- could never go back to how I was five years
- ago. Tears welled up in my eyes.
- L
- When I entered the room, Quintin glared at
- me.
- “Where were you this morning? You went out with those wounds still open.”
- I touched my head, and calmly answered, “The station is doing equipment checks, I got a haircut, it was too early to tell you.”
- His eyes fell on my new hair.
- “Your hair-
- “New hairstyle, like it?”
- I interrupted him, walking to the table and
- naturally picked up the milk.
- But Dr. Sun snatched it away.
- “Officer Sarah, this is mine. Yours is over there.”
- I followed her gaze to a bowl of seafood porridge.
- <
- Seeing that I wasn’t eating, Quintin picked up
- a spoon, scooped some porridge, and offered
- it to me.
- “Is your wound still hurting? I can’t help it, I’ll feed you.”
- Looking at the steaming porridge, I asked
- again.
- “Are you sure you want me to drink this?” “Of course, it’s specially for you.”
- “Quintin, it’s seafood porridge.”
- you”
- “So what, you-
- He swallowed his words, his face turning
- uneasy.
- Seafood wasn’t the problem; I was severely allergic.
- “Oh, I’m so sorry, Officer Sarah, I made this
- porridge, I didn’t know you were allergic to seafood”
- く
- seafood.”
