Chapter Five: The Love Backup Plan

Love hid in wrong ingredients, surrendered cilantro, and complaints repeated for twenty years. At midnight, the stranded crowd's dream flooded the convention center. Black wisps became a train with no windows. Each time a door opened, someone forgot who waited at the destination. Mianmian stood before the flood, blue light weeping from the eye on its belly. It wrote: THE FIFTH FRAGMENT IS ON THE TRAIN. IF WE ENTER, WE'LL FORGET WHY WE WANT TO RETURN. Xinghe handed one earbud to Wanzhao and kept the other. Their new backup played on a loop. “Xu Xinghe fears heights, pretends not to care, and burns noodles.” “Lin Wanzhao fears fire, skips meals while working, and fixes her collar after kissing someone.”