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.”
