Nameless Love

Gu Yuena opened her eyes.

What beautiful eyes they were—violet pupils that seemed to contain an eternal starry sky. Yet at this moment, that sky was shrouded in mist, filled with confusion.

Her gaze was unfocused. Only after a long while did it slowly sharpen and settle on the face close before her—a handsome, resolute black-haired man whose features were filled with tension and concern.

Their eyes met.

There was no cry of alarm, no questioning. Only a profound sorrow and sense of familiarity that not even ten thousand years of ice could erase grew wildly in the silent air.

They simply looked at one another, as though trying to see through to each other's souls.

"You..." Tang Wulin spoke, his voice hoarse and dry, like grinding gravel. He had wanted to ask, "Who are you?" But when the words reached his lips, they became, "Are you... all right?"

Gu Yuena did not answer. She merely shifted slightly, leaving his embrace. The instant she lost his warmth, an indescribable emptiness and chill enveloped her, making her shiver involuntarily.

That tiny movement made Tang Wulin's heart clench sharply. Almost immediately, he took off his already tattered jacket, intending to drape it over her.

But when he reached out, both of them froze.

Their movements had been so synchronized, so natural, as though they had repeated them hundreds or thousands of times.

Silence descended once more. Only the sound of melting ice dripping—drip, drip—struck the stillness, and their blank minds as well.

He helped her sit on a relatively flat patch of ice nearby. A single step separated them, yet that step seemed to span an entire shattered world.

"I... don't remember anything." Tang Wulin looked at his scar-covered hands and spoke softly, as if confessing to her and to himself.

Gu Yuena wrapped her arms around herself, her gaze sweeping across the endless glaciers. Her cool voice carried a barely perceptible tremble. "Neither do I."

She paused, then turned her violet eyes toward him with a hint of scrutiny. "But I know... you protected me." She meant the falling ice just now, and the way they had been tightly embracing when they awoke.

Following her gaze, Tang Wulin looked at the marks on his arms—marks left by the sheer force of his embrace, marks that had not completely faded even while frozen in ice. He gave a bitter smile. "My body... seems to remember."

Yes, his body remembered.

His soul trembled whenever he drew close to her.

His blood boiled with the urge to warm her whenever he saw her cold.

And whenever anything might threaten her, his instincts would place him before her without hesitation.

Yet his memories were a cruel blank.

Seeing the bitterness on his face, the inexplicable sorrow in Gu Yuena's heart surged again. She raised a hand, her slender fingers lightly brushing the spot over her heart. It did not hurt, yet it felt terribly empty.

"Here," she said softly, as though speaking in a dream, "it feels like something is missing. When I see you, it feels... a little more painful, and a little fuller."

Those words were like a key thrust fiercely into the lock on Tang Wulin's heart, yet it could not turn. A violent headache struck, and fragmented, blurry images flashed rapidly through his mind—brilliant fireworks, an endless deep sea, her resolute yet sorrowful gaze...

He groaned and clutched his head.

"What's wrong?" Gu Yuena instinctively leaned forward. Her hand reached halfway toward him, then stopped hesitantly.

The pain receded like a tide. Tang Wulin raised his head, cold sweat already beading at his temples. Looking at her hand suspended in midair, and the confusion and concern in her eyes that mirrored his own, an incomparably resolute feeling rose within him.

He took a deep breath. The frigid air of the far north cleared his mind. He looked at her, his gaze no longer lost, but filled with the certainty of someone who had found his course again.

"We don't remember the past. We don't remember who we are to each other." His voice remained hoarse, but it was filled with strength. "But my body, my soul, even this ice field are telling me that you are someone I must protect with my life."

He extended his hand toward her. It was not a plea, but more like an oath.

"We may have no past."

"But I want to search for the future with you."

"Would you... be willing?"

Gu Yuena looked at that outstretched hand, scarred yet warm and strong, then raised her eyes to meet his gaze, as clear as a sunny sky at first sight. Into the empty icy wilderness within her heart, a ray of real sunlight seemed to shine.

She said nothing. Slowly, she placed her slightly cool hand into his palm.

The instant their fingertips touched, two faint glows of gold and silver rose from their bodies once again, blending like water and milk as they gently enveloped them both.

Their memories were still blank.

But love had already awakened.