“Tống Dịch!” I burst into tears, sobbing as they poured out of me. I opened my eyes and stared into the hazy space before me, still shaken by the dream I’d just had.
Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through my left shoulder. I flinched, instantly wide awake. Tống Dịch had buried his face against my shoulder, his voice choked with emotion. “You just called Tống Tinh Trì’s name. This is your punishment.”
…
I stared blankly for a moment. It took me a while to understand what had happened. I must have been talking in my sleep and called Tống Tinh Trì’s name.
Remembering how he’d been bullied in my dream without fighting back, I felt both angry and sorry for him. “You’re only getting mad now? Why didn’t you do that back then?”
Tống Dịch looked at me, his face full of confusion.
“You idiot! As if I could ever bring myself to hurt you! How did you not realize that?” I said irritably. “Even if you didn’t think that, and I really had turned cruel and hurt you, you should’ve fought back!”
He pulled me into his arms and soothed me until I calmed down, then gently asked, “Did you just dream about what happened before?”
“Yeah.” I nodded glumly. “I’m sorry, Tống Dịch.”
“It wasn’t your fault. Don’t apologize anymore.”
“Oh, when you said I called Tống Tinh Trì’s name, it’s because I dreamed he was forcing me to drink. I was just cursing him out, that’s all. Don’t get the wrong idea.”
“I don’t misunderstand anymore. Now I can tell the difference. You really love me, and only me.” His eyes lit up with joy. “Duyệt Duyệt, I feel the same way.”
His sudden confession made my face burn. I quickly burrowed into his arms to avoid his gaze.
“Duyệt Duyệt,” he said, “you came back once before, didn’t you? That day, you woke up in the hospital, were able to move for a little while, and then fell asleep again. Do you remember?”
I nodded. “Of course I remember. You looked so sad that day. I wanted to comfort you, but I couldn’t speak.”
He held me tighter and sighed. “Thank goodness you came back that time. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to marry you.”
We told each other about everything that had happened. Tống Dịch said that when I first woke up after the accident, I’d treated him coldly, like a complete stranger. Then my father brought up the idea of an alliance through marriage, and he learned that Tống Tinh Trì and I had been betrothed since childhood.
He’d thought the reason I wanted to keep my distance was because of that. He came over to me and timidly asked if I could not marry Tống Tinh Trì, even secretly hooking his little finger around mine. But “I” just shook his hand off, plainly disgusted. That was my first dream.
After that, “I” grew close to Tống Tinh Trì, since the wedding was coming up soon anyway. He was miserable, but didn’t know what to do.
It wasn’t until “I” drank so much that I had to be hospitalized with gastric bleeding—and I happened to come back for a little while that day and tried to get close to him—that he learned Tống Tinh Trì was treating me badly. He then discussed it with Mrs. Tống and arranged a switch, so that in the end, he was the one who married me.
The wedding happened in a rush. “I” was furious about being forced into marriage and grew to hate him more and more, wanting nothing but a divorce, while still clinging to Tống Tinh Trì. It wasn’t until Tống Tinh Trì had had enough and said he’d only accept “me” if “I” dared to jump off a building that “I” actually did it. But I was afraid of heights and passed out, which gave me the chance to come back.
Listening to him, I realized that the strange things “I” had done had seemed perfectly logical to him. I sighed and told Tống Dịch about my three dreams.
He declared, “That person must be someone around us.”
I agreed. “She seems to like Tống Tinh Trì. Even when he insults her in every possible way, she still seems to enjoy it. She’s seriously messed up. Do you think she’s a masochist?”
Tống Dịch frowned. “But before your father brought up the marriage alliance, she wasn’t involved with Tống Tinh Trì at all.”
I thought it over. “Then why did she change afterward? And why did she say it would be fun for a sister-in-law and brother-in-law to tease you together? Maybe she just hates you?”
“Duyệt Duyệt, she’s targeting you.”
“She’s using your body to do those things. At first, she only damaged your reputation. But then there was drinking until you had gastric bleeding, and jumping off a building… If you’d really jumped…”
He didn’t finish, but I understood. A chill ran down my spine.
Tống Dịch placed a hand on my back to comfort me. “Don’t be scared. I’ll find her, no matter what.”
“Okay,” I replied gloomily, rubbing my head against his chest.
Tống Dịch comforted me for a long time before I finally calmed down. I reached out and hooked my little finger around his. “I’m okay now.”
“Then let’s do something else.” His fingers began to move.
I startled. “It’s almost dawn!”
“Duyệt Duyệt, we’ve been married for so long, and this is our first time. Have a little pity on me.”
Hearing him say that, I softened too.
…
The next morning, I woke up and rubbed my aching lower back, gritting my teeth in fury.
Oh my God, does anyone understand how I feel?
Waaah.