Chapter Five: The Love Backup Plan

Holding Mianmian between them, they entered the dream train. Faceless passengers occupied every seat. The announcement repeated: State the name of the person you are returning to see. Anyone unable to answer dissolved into rainwater. Xinghe passed through one carriage after another while names fell out of his mind. He remembered someone who collected the sounds of cities but not her face. He remembered a kiss but not whom he had kissed. Then Wanzhao laughed in his earbud. “You had four listeners that day. I was the fourth.” He tightened his grip on the hand beside him. “Lin Wanzhao.” She did not answer. She looked at him with empty courtesy.