Chapter One: Midnight Final

Gu Yan backed into his chair. It rolled away, then corrected itself. “Who are you?” She examined her hands as if counting her fingers for the first time. Then she looked up. Her voice was one Gu Yan had auditioned hundreds of times while editing sample advertisements, then rejected. “You gave me forty-seven faces,” she said. “But no name.” He stared at the empty monitor. A transparent checkerboard occupied the center of the poster, surrounded by all his buried drafts. “Bai Mi,” he said without thinking. She smiled. The two syllables settled over her like a typeface with perfect fit. “Bai Mi,” she repeated. “And you?” “Gu Yan.” She stepped closer. She smelled of ink not yet dry. “No. I mean—what are you in this composition?”