Chapter Two: The Blank Book of Vows

“Why did I buy this?” Before she could answer, a hollow opened inside her mind. She remembered her mother's last winter in the hospital, the dying mint plant by the window, and carrying soup on the subway every day. But she could no longer remember the sound of her mother calling her Wanwan. It was not faint. It was gone. Her phone vibrated in the study. A message from an unknown number read: Crossing it out doesn't restore the old world. It only makes the new one lose something else. Gu Chenzhou answered immediately when she called. “You knew the cost.” “I warned you.” “What did it take?” “Every time you make it prove love for you, it takes a memory of a time you believed in love.” “How do I destroy it?”