Chapter Four: Who Was Missing When the Applause Ended

For Lin Wu's performance, production played altered childhood footage: six-year-old Lin Wu stood alone outside a fire. There was no mother, no sheltering embrace. Lin Wu knew someone belonged in the vacancy but could not imagine her face. When the music began, she used the Backward Glance. On its final beat, she turned against the choreography. The audience saw artistry. The mirror split for an instant, revealing the golden ballroom. Shen Yan pressed his palm to the crack. Lin Wu did not reach for him. She hid Zhou Ning's syncopation in her footwork and Shen Yan's four-count breath in her pauses. Her body named two people the world had deleted. She advanced in second place.