After entering the hotel room, I went online to inquire about Wu Miao's news for the first time.

  Missing.

  My mother passed away unexpectedly.

  In the past six months, history has not changed at all.

  ……

  In the afternoon, my mood was really bad. It wasn't until I had been smoking for a long time in the icy and snowy weather, almost to the point of numbness, that when I returned to the room, I found out that Tan Jiao had already fallen asleep.

  I quietly turned off the lights, leaving only a bedside lamp on, and sat down beside the bed. Looking at the woman's peaceful sleeping face, waves of guilt and heartache surged up. In the dim light, something drove me to put my arms around her, holding her close as I gazed at her. At that moment, I really didn't want to hold back anymore, wanting to tightly hug her, wanting to kiss her to death, wanting to completely possess her.

  And I really did lower my head and kissed him.

  ……

  A moment later, when I lifted my head, her bathrobe was already loose and sloppy, with white and full lines, two smooth legs under the nightgown, right in front of me. Those legs that had tempted me countless times. At this time, she murmured and turned over. I heard my own heartbeat suddenly lose stability, and subconsciously grabbed her wrist. If she woke up at this time...

  She didn't wake up.

  She smacked her lips in a dream and breathed steadily.

  There is a certain fire burning in my head and chest, unknown to anyone, including herself. The fire gradually spreads, almost engulfing my eyes. I don't know how long I've been holding on like this, maybe it's short, maybe it's long. I, submerged in that wild fire, can't even tell the difference.

  But in the end, the fire slowly subsided, and in her soft and light breathing, it slowly went out, buried deep within my icy chest.

  I released the woman's slender wrist and pressed down on my own forehead, lying down beside her.

  ……

  So that night, we returned to our room and I took the pillow and blanket and threw them onto the sofa. She looked at my actions without saying a word.

  After I turned off the lights, lay on the sofa and gazed at the ceiling in the darkness, I could still hear her breathing up and down, not asleep yet.

  "The sofa is too short, shall we swap?" she said.

  "I said: 'No need.'"

  We were both quiet for a while. She said: "You can actually sleep on the bed."

  I covered my eyes with the back of my hand and said slowly: "I can't do it."

  I don't know how much meaning she heard in my words, but she didn't say anything else. I lay there for a while longer and listened to her gradually slowing and deepening breathing. She fell asleep.

  And I lay there with my eyes open for a long time, in the sound of her breathing, in the faint and yet palpable presence that filled the room, and eventually fell asleep peacefully.

  The next morning, I was woken up by a knock on the door. When I opened my eyes, sunlight had already seeped in through the curtains. Tan Jiao was still asleep, muttering to herself and covering her head with the quilt, clearly in a state of deep sleep. One leg was still hanging outside the bed. I got up, helped her pull the quilt back over her, then put on my clothes and went to open the door.

  The sunlight was bright, and the breath of snow came with the wind. A slender girl wearing sunglasses and a windbreaker stood at the door, saw me, took off her sunglasses, paused for a moment, then nodded very calmly: "Sorry, wrong door." Turned to leave.

  "It's a big fish." I shouted, looking at her surprised expression. "You didn't knock wrongly, Tan Jiao is inside. She's still sleeping."

  Half a year ago, Tan Jiao's good friend had already failed to recognize me.