"I worked myself to the bone writing every day, trying to earn money. I thought once I'd saved enough to pay you back for Grandma's surgery, I could tell you that I wasn't afraid of hardship. Whatever happened, I could face it with you."
Pu Yu spoke through her tears, her voice full of hurt. "If you hadn't left, even if we had no money, even if life was harder than it is now, at least I would've had hope. At least I would've had you beside me!"
"But you left."
She shook her head as tears fell, looking as though she might shatter. "You left me all alone in Dongzhou. For over a year, I woke up in despair every day. My portable player reminded me of you. Physics books reminded me of you. Rainy days reminded me of you, too. I even started hating the rain. Whenever it rained, I remembered you holding an umbrella over me-and then leaving me behind in the rain."
"All I could do was keep running forward. I didn't dare stop. I was afraid that if I stopped, that despair of... never seeing you again would swallow me whole."
Yuan Su clenched his hands at his sides until his knuckles turned white.
He looked at the girl trembling with sobs before him. It felt as though an invisible hand had seized his heart and squeezed hard, the pain leaving him barely able to breathe.
Pu Yu cried so hard she could no longer stand. She slowly sank into a crouch and buried her face in her arms, her voice breaking:
"You promised we'd get into college somewhere else together. You said you'd go to the same city as me... Why didn't you keep your word? Why did you lie to me?"
"Why did