Yuan Su had imagined countless ways they might meet again.
Perhaps years later, he would see her on the television news, being interviewed as an accomplished alumna, successful and celebrated. Perhaps in a photo from a class reunion, he would see her standing at the center of the crowd, her smile radiant. Or perhaps many, many years later, he would catch a distant glimpse of her holding someone else's hand on a crowded street corner.
She should have been in the sunlight, untainted and happy.
Never like this.
Never like this, covered in windblown snow, her eyes red, appearing before him like a dream, like a little animal someone had abandoned.
They hadn't seen each other in two years.
She really had grown up so much.
Her white down jacket made her figure look slender. Her face had lost the childish softness and baby fat of her high school days, its contours more delicate and defined. There was a cool, scholarly air about her features now, but she was also alarmingly thin.
So beautiful, and so fragile.
Yuan Su swallowed hard and walked up to her.
The wind and snow were fierce, with half a meter between them.
Yuan Su was taller than he had been in high school, his shoulders much broader. The slender boy now had a man's imposing presence. He lowered his eyes, his gaze landing on the tip of her nose, red from the cold, and his brows immediately drew together.
"Why are you wearing so little?"
Those were the first words he said.
No pleasantries after their long separation, no startled questions, only that instinctive concern etched into his bones.
Pu Yu looked at him.
She looked at the face she had thought about day and night, now within arm's reach, and at the emotion