The following days felt like a blur to Liang Zhi. He couldn't tell if time was moving too fast or if he was simply losing track of it altogether. The woman's face—the memory of her touch—was constantly in his mind. He found himself haunted by her, but not in the way one might expect. The love they had shared seemed so real, so vivid, but it was tainted with an inescapable sadness, a sorrow that clung to his soul like a shadow.
He couldn't stop thinking about the café. The way she had looked at him, as if everything that had been lost was coming back in fragments, like pieces of a puzzle. But it wasn't just the reunion with her that disturbed him—it was the sudden flood of emotions, the flash of memories he didn't quite understand. He had seen something in her eyes, something that made him feel like he was being pulled into a vortex of emotions he wasn't ready to face.
What was the woman to him? And why did he feel like he was being led to the edge of something terrible? Something he couldn't control?
His mind was restless as he paced through his apartment. The journal lay on the desk, its pages waiting for him to return to it. He knew he had to go back—there were more answers waiting within its pages. But something inside him recoiled. The more he read, the more the truth seemed to slip further away from him.
Liang Zhi had tried to make sense of it all. The journal, the memories, the woman who seemed to have been lost to him, only to reappear like a fleeting dream. But the more he dug, the more the pieces felt out of reach. The love they once shared—was it real? Or was it something he had created in his mind to fill the void of his heart?
He glanced at the clock on the wall. It was late. The city outside was quiet, the only sounds coming from the distant hum of passing cars and the occasional whistle of the wind through the trees. He needed to clear his mind.
His thoughts kept drifting back to the woman, and every time they did, a heavy weight settled in his chest. Why did she feel like home? Why did he feel so lost when she wasn't around?
The bell to his apartment buzzed, breaking the silence. Liang Zhi froze. He wasn't expecting anyone. He walked over to the door slowly, his heart beginning to race. Who could it be? It wasn't like he had company, and yet, there was an undeniable sense of urgency, of knowing that whoever stood on the other side would somehow change everything.
When he opened the door, his breath caught in his throat.
It was her.
The woman stood in front of him once again, her face a mixture of resolve and sorrow. Her presence felt like a storm on the horizon—unavoidable, inevitable.
"Why are you here?" Liang Zhi asked, his voice trembling. The flood of emotions he had been suppressing rose to the surface like a tidal wave.
She didn't answer immediately. Instead, she stepped into his apartment, her eyes scanning the room. "You need to know the truth," she said softly, her voice filled with a quiet urgency.
Liang Zhi's heart beat faster. "The truth? What truth?"
She met his gaze with a solemn expression. "The truth about who I am. The truth about why I left. The truth about everything you've forgotten."
His stomach tightened. He couldn't breathe. The air seemed too thick, too heavy. "I don't remember," he whispered. "I don't remember anything. But I want to. Please, tell me."
She sighed, stepping closer. "It's not something I can say in words. You need to experience it yourself."
"What do you mean?" Liang Zhi's voice cracked. "What do you want from me?"
The woman paused for a moment, her gaze lingering on him. "I want you to come with me. To face the past we both buried. Because only then will you understand."
Her words hit him like a slap to the face. He stared at her, his chest rising and falling with shallow breaths. His mind was in turmoil. He had to know. He couldn't keep living like this—lost, confused, and consumed by the need to uncover the truth.
"I'm not ready," he murmured, more to himself than to her.
"You are," she said firmly. "You just don't know it yet."
Without giving him a chance to respond, she turned and walked towards the door, pausing only to glance back at him over her shoulder. "I'll be waiting."
Later That Night:
The apartment felt suffocating now, the silence overwhelming. Liang Zhi couldn't stay still. His thoughts raced with the weight of the woman's words. He couldn't remember. He couldn't even begin to piece together the fragments of his past. But something in him knew that going with her, whatever that meant, was the only way he could find the answers he sought.
But fear—fear that he wasn't ready to face whatever awaited him—held him back. His chest tightened at the thought of what might lie ahead. He had no idea what was waiting for him, and yet he felt as though it was the only thing that could truly set him free.
He grabbed the journal from the desk, flipping through its pages. His hands trembled as he read the familiar lines, but each word felt more distant than the last. He couldn't grasp the meaning. It was all so elusive, so incomplete. The pieces didn't fit.
A sudden knock on the door startled him, snapping him from his thoughts. His heart raced, and without thinking, he crossed the room to answer it.
But this time, it wasn't the woman who stood on the other side. Instead, a tall figure dressed in dark clothing stood there, his expression unreadable.
Liang Zhi blinked, his pulse quickening. He didn't know this man—yet there was something about him that felt all too familiar.
"I'm here to help you," the man said in a calm voice, his gaze never leaving Liang Zhi's face. "You need to come with me."
Liang Zhi's mind spun. "Who are you? What do you want?"
The man's expression softened slightly, but there was no warmth in his eyes. "You've been searching for answers, haven't you? I'm here to give you the truth."
Liang Zhi's heart raced, and a chill ran down his spine. Every instinct screamed for him to turn away, to shut the door and lock himself inside. But the part of him that yearned for closure, for understanding, couldn't resist.
"Why now?" he asked, his voice hoarse.
The man stepped closer, his gaze intense. "Because you're closer to the truth than you think."