The snow outside the window had finally stopped.
Yuan Su had gotten a waitlisted train ticket for the early morning of Pu Yu's discharge.
Dawn was just beginning to break, that strange moment between night and day, hazy and cold.
He filled the insulated flask with hot water and gently set it on the bedside table.
Then he turned around and stood there watching her for a long time.
She slept peacefully, her brow smooth instead of constantly furrowed as it had been before.
Yuan Su remembered all their previous partings, always rushed and messy, like fugitives fleeing from fate.
In the rain in Small Town, at the station amid wind and snow, on campus after New Year's.
Each time had felt like tearing his heart in half, leaving one half with her and taking the other with him to wander.
But this time, that frightened sense of being adrift had vanished.
In its place was the reassurance of having his feet on solid ground.
He knew she was waiting for him, and he knew where he was headed.
He couldn't bear to wake her. He simply bent down and reached out to gently tuck her exposed hand back under the covers.
The moment his fingertips touched her wrist, her hand closed around his.
Her hand was soft and warm, its reassuring grip putting him at ease.
"A Su..."
It was the faintest murmur.
Pu Yu instinctively reached out and carefully wrapped her arms around his neck.
"What time is it?" Her voice was muffled, sweet and drowsy from just waking.
"Five thirty." Yuan Su let her hold him, remaining bent over as he kissed her forehead. "It's still early. Sleep a little longer."
"I'm not going back to sleep."
Pu Yu nuzzled his cheek, feeling its coolness. "Are you