1041 Isve Been Thinking About You Again 6 (1/2)

She had just spent two nights on the sofa, but how her slender frame had curled up on it, cowering under a thin blanket, seemed to have been etched into his mind. It became so clear and real that it felt like the woman was really there in the room.

Without realizing what he was doing, Qin Yinan walked to the sofa, squatted down, and reached out his hand. His fingertips found only air.

Qin Yinan frowned, and then he realized that the sofa was unoccupied. There was not anyone on it; he was merely imagining things.

Qin Yinan froze in his squatting position. It was not until his fingertips sizzled with pain that he realized the cigarette had almost burned down to its butt. He tossed the cigarette butt into the ashtray and slowly stood up. He worked his two legs that had gotten slightly wobbly from squatting down for too long before moving to the balcony.

It was still quite far away until sunrise. However, Qin Yinan did not feel like sleeping. Like a statue, he stood out in the cold until the eastern horizon became dyed with white.

…

”Qingchong! Qingchong!”

Qin Yinan sat up in bed and gripped the cover with a blanched face. He gasped for air before pulling the cover off to head into the bathroom.

He twisted the faucet open and cupped some cold water in his hands to splash his face. The chill of the water slowed his beating heart slightly.

This was the third consecutive night this had happened.

Cheng Qingchong left on the same day Mrs. Cheng departed from Beijing. From that night onwards, that question ”Will you forgive me?” was like a curse repeating itself, complete with choking tears, beside his ears every night.

The first night, after he was woken up, he had spent the rest of the night out on the balcony.