Morning sunlight filtered through the gaps in the curtains, scattering patches of light across the pillow.
Tang Wulin instinctively reached out to gather that familiar, warm, soft body into his arms. As always, he wanted to nuzzle Gu Yue's silver hair and linger in bed, breathing in her faint, cool fragrance.
But when his palm landed, all he felt was cold emptiness.
"Gu Yue?"
Tang Wulin murmured groggily, then snapped his eyes open.
The bedding beside him had gone completely cold. It lay so neatly that it seemed no one had ever slept there.
His heart lurched, and that sense of unease surged up again. He sat up and looked around. The room was silent, with no sign of the silver-haired girl. Nor was there a prepared breakfast on the table as there usually was.
Only the note bearing the words "Wait for me" lay alone by the bed.
"Wait for you... where am I supposed to wait?"
Tang Wulin snatched up the note, his fingers paling slightly from the force of his grip.
Without stopping to put on his coat, he rushed out of the dormitory like a madman, wearing only a thin shirt.
"Gu Yue!"
He shouted in the corridor. His voice echoed through the dormitory building in the early morning, but no answer came.
The Cafeteria was the first place he thought of. Though Gu Yue was aloof, she always ate on time and made sure he ate too.
But when he rushed into the Cafeteria, panting, and urgently swept his gaze over every corner, his heart sank.
She wasn't there.
The figure who always sat by the window, sipping porridge elegantly and greeting him with an indulgent smile, was absent.
"Wulin? What's wrong?" The woman serving food in the Cafeteria stared in surprise at the usually