Chapter Five: The Love Backup Plan

They turned one wall of the hotel suite into a Love Backup: photographs and tickets on the left, a timeline in the center, recorded audio on the right. The first entry was the mattress store in the shopping mall basement. Wanzhao admitted she had attended that miserable performance, hidden behind the escalator where Xinghe hadn't seen her. “So rehearsal wasn't the first time you met me.” “No.” “Why did you lie?” “I said your music had kept me company. I never said we'd never met.” She pinned up a rain-soaked clearance flyer. “You had four listeners that day. I was the fourth.” Xinghe crossed out FIRST MEETING: HAICHENG STADIUM and replaced it with MATTRESS STORE, THREE HUNDRED OFF TWO THOUSAND.