Chapter Three: A Love Already Written

“Jiashu accepted a position in Shanghai. He only told me this morning. He promised we would discuss every important decision.” The second crack had come true quickly. Lin Wan could have maintained professional distance. Instead, she thought of the book. If she wrote that Chen Jiashu rejected the job, could she spare Manqing the betrayal? On the second page, a question appeared: Whose regret do you wish your marriage would not repeat? Her mother filled her mind. Her father had promised to stay forever, then left when Lin Wan was twelve. She remembered her mother sitting behind the door all night, but no longer knew whether she had cried. The stolen memory was a precise warning—and an unsettled temptation.