I was in a car accident. When I woke up, everything around me was blurry. After sitting for a while, my eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness, and I saw someone sitting on the sofa not far away. The man had his head bowed and looked utterly despondent.
After peering at him for a while, I tentatively called out, “Tống Dịch?”
At the sound of my voice, he raised his head and stared at me without blinking, but said nothing. Finding it strange, I fumbled for the light switch and turned on the lights.
“Tống Dịch, why am I at your house? What time is it…”
Before I could finish asking, I saw the anguish on his face and choked up. “What’s… what’s wrong?”
He stiffened, turned his face away, and didn’t dare look at me.
The last time I woke up, I was lying in the hospital. Tống Dịch was sitting beside my bed, wearing the same forlorn expression. I was still so groggy then that I couldn’t say a word. I just reached out and hooked my little finger around his, then drifted off again.
I must have been unconscious for a long time. He must have been so worried about me.
This time when I woke up, I felt light and clear, the heaviness I’d felt before gone without a trace. I probably wouldn’t fall unconscious again.
I crept over, crouched in front of him, and said softly, “Tống Dịch, don’t be sad. I’m okay now.”
As I spoke, I reached out and hooked my little finger around his.
His whole body trembled.
It was something we used to do back in high school. Tống Dịch and I had shared a desk. He was a transfer student, and I’d heard that he’d often been bullied at his old school. He was shy and afraid of people touching him, so our teacher asked me to help him come out of his shell.
I inched closer to him, little by little. Once, I tried brushing his finger with mine. He stiffened a bit, but strangely, he didn’t pull his hand away. After that, he stopped avoiding me. That little-finger hook became our secret, a silent way of feeling closer to each other.
And yet today, Tống Dịch pulled his hand away. “Duyệt Duyệt… let go of my hand…”
I stared at him, bewildered. Tống Dịch looked at me, anguish written all over his face. His voice was hoarse as he said, “I agree to the divorce. Please don’t do anything reckless again.”
Me: “?”
I was just about to demand an explanation when someone knocked at the door.
“Young Master Tống Tinh Trì is here.”
Tống Dịch looked at me and gave me a forced smile. “Go outside for now. The divorce agreement is in the study. I’ll go get it.”
I froze. “What divorce agreement?” I haven’t even married anyone. How could I be getting a divorce?
Tống Dịch opened his mouth as if to say something, then stopped. He gave a bitter laugh and turned toward the door. I followed after him, clutching my stomach in confusion.
In the living room, Tống Tinh Trì was sprawled across the sofa, half lying down, half sitting up. When he saw us, he let out an obnoxiously loud whistle. “Oh, sister-in-law, you’re feeling better?” Then he pretended to slap his mouth. “Oops, I mean ex-sister-in-law.”
Tống Tinh Trì was Tống Dịch’s younger half brother. He was notorious as a spoiled, rebellious playboy who had no idea what manners were. I frowned, unable to figure out what he was up to.
“Big brother, have you signed the divorce agreement yet? Bring it out. I still have to take my new girlfriend home.”
Tống Dịch’s face turned cold, and his hands clenched into fists.
Seeing that, Tống Tinh Trì burst out laughing. “Your ex-sister-in-law nearly jumped off a building and killed herself because of me, and you still won’t sign? Are you trying to drive her to her death?”
Tống Dịch’s clenched fists suddenly slackened, and his back slumped. Seeing him like this, I was reminded of the Tống Dịch of old: a boy abandoned by the whole world, who could only curl up in a dark corner.
My heart clenched. I grabbed his hand and quickly interlaced our fingers before he could react. I didn’t have the energy to listen to or analyze anything Tống Tinh Trì was saying. He’d made Tống Dịch sad, and that was enough to make him a villain!
“It’s none of an outsider’s business to bark about my marriage.”
“Auntie Trương, please show this dog, who just finished eating shit and still reeks of it, out of the house!”
“Yes!” Auntie Trương hurried over. “Young Master Tinh Trì, please leave.”
Tống Tinh Trì’s face flushed red with anger. “Sở Duyệt, what did you say?”
Just then, a dog barked in the yard. I suddenly remembered. “Oh, I forgot. You don’t understand human speech.”
Then I turned toward the door and shouted, “Đại Hoàng, come drag this guy out!”
“Woof!” At my command, Đại Hoàng charged in aggressively.
Đại Hoàng was a stray dog that Tống Dịch and I had found and taken in back in college. He was huge and fierce.
Tống Tinh Trì went pale with fear and shrieked, “Aah! Get away!”
“Woof, woof, woof!”
He stumbled and tumbled around as he ran for his life. Even as he fled, he didn’t forget to threaten me: “Sở Duyệt, just you wait! Next time, even if you really die, I’ll never forgive you!”
As soon as Tống Tinh Trì ran off, Đại Hoàng came trotting over to show off the torn pant leg he had in his mouth, wagging his tail. I burst out laughing and patted his head. “Good boy, Đại Hoàng! Keep a careful watch over the house from now on, okay? I’ll give you some beef in a little while.”
“Woof~” Đại Hoàng wagged his tail excitedly and rubbed his head against me, acting like he wanted affection.
Auntie Trương asked worriedly, “So… are we still taking Đại Hoàng away this afternoon?”
I was surprised. “What?”
“A few days ago, Đại Hoàng suddenly got aggressive. Whenever he saw you, he barked up a storm, and yesterday he nearly bit you. That’s why he arranged for someone to come pick him up this afternoon.”
“Woof.” Đại Hoàng rolled onto the ground, clearly objecting.
“Be good. We’re not sending you anywhere.” After soothing Đại Hoàng, I looked up at Tống Dịch. I had a whole pile of questions in my heart, but I didn’t know where to start.
Tống Dịch spoke first. “The divorce agreement is in the study desk drawer.”
I blurted out, “You want a divorce? No way!”
He froze, a hint of sadness in his eyes. “Don’t give me hope again.”
“I’m afraid I won’t be able to let go…”
He shoved the divorce agreement into my hands, as if afraid he’d see me beaming with joy, then hurriedly locked the door. My thoughts were a tangled mess. I tore it into a hundred pieces. I hadn’t even had a chance to rejoice that I’d married him, and now we were about to get divorced.
I let out a long sigh and pretended I’d lost my memory so I could ask Auntie Trương what had happened recently.
She told me I’d been in a car accident three months ago. Two months ago, the Sở family ran into trouble, so my father brought up the marriage agreement the old lady of the Tống family had arranged years ago and set things up for me to marry Tống Tinh Trì. Unexpectedly, the one I married was Tống Dịch.
Tống Tinh Trì was the biological son, while Tống Dịch was only a stepson, brought home at the age of sixteen. Rumor had it that if Tống Tinh Trì hadn’t been such a wastrel, the Tống family wouldn’t have cared whether Tống Dịch lived or died. Even after he was brought home, he was only Tống Tinh Trì’s shadow, working himself to the bone without getting anything in return.
That was why both “I” and my father opposed this marriage.
After the wedding, “I” hated him bitterly and clung to Tống Tinh Trì all day long. Yesterday, Tống Tinh Trì got drunk and said something outrageous: if “I” dared to jump off a building, he’d accept “me.” Foolishly, “I” believed him and really climbed up to the roof. But before “I” could climb over the railing, “I” fainted. When “I” woke up, everything was as it had been just now.
…
This was absurd! I clearly remembered being unconscious all this time. How could I have done such foolish things? Besides, I’d never cared about Tống Dịch’s status, much less treated him so cruelly. The way Auntie Trương described “me” made it sound as though I’d been bewitched.
Bewitched? Or… had someone taken over my body? I couldn’t explain it any other way than with ghosts and spirits. No wonder Auntie Trương said Đại Hoàng had been fierce lately, barking up a storm whenever he saw me. Yet just now, he’d been so affectionate. He must have realized that the “me” back then wasn’t really me.
You awful woman! What gave you the right to use my body to hurt the person I love? The thought made me so furious and heartsick that tears welled up in my eyes.
I lost control and ran to the study, pounding on the door. “Tống Dịch, open the door for me!”
Auntie Trương’s words kept echoing in my mind: “When you first got married, he was like a child who’d found a fortune, smiling all day. But later… he kept his head down, avoiding your disgusted gaze.”
Tống Dịch, you were as timid as a snail. Little by little, I coaxed you and helped you shed your shell, until you placed your whole heart in my hands. And yet… and yet I could bring myself to pour salt into that wound.
“Tống Dịch, please let me see you. I’m begging you…”
A little while later, the door opened. Seeing me in tears, he looked flustered. I threw my arms around him and sobbed, “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”
“What… what’s wrong? Don’t cry.” He reached out as if to wipe away my tears, then hesitated and pulled his hand back. “You haven’t done anything wrong to me. Don’t cry.”
My heart gave a sharp pang. I timidly reached out and hooked my little finger around his. “If I told you the person before wasn’t me, would you… believe me?”