The sky was ridiculously blue the day I left the city.
Too peaceful for someone who had just burned down her past.
I didn't tell Lu Shen where I was going, but he found me anyway—sitting alone by a lake outside Suzhou, feet dipped in the water, hair tied up in a lazy bun.
He didn't ask anything.
Just sat beside me, handed me a cup of chrysanthemum tea, and watched the sunlight ripple over the water.
After a long silence, he said, "You don't have to decide anything today."
I looked at him. At the calm strength in his eyes. No judgment. No pressure. Just him, being there.
"I don't know what I want yet," I admitted.
"That's okay," he replied. "But when you do—I'll be wherever you are."
A pause.
"And if not, that's okay too."
I smiled, something soft and real and almost painful. "You're kind of amazing, you know that?"
He grinned. "Don't ruin my image."
I laughed. For the first time in two lives, it felt like my laugh.
Not someone else's version of who I should be.