Chapter Two: The Woman Everyone Forgot

The morning shoot was postponed. Wen sat alone in the lounge, searching her phone. Everywhere a person ought to have existed during the past seven years, she found seamless absence. Her contacts showed no gap. Work photographs remained naturally composed. Even memory supplied replacements. She remembered inventing the rice-paper scars on South Wall herself and assumed Tang had always stocked the medicine. The world had prepared explanations for her. When Jianwei entered, Wen did not look up. “Why do you remember?” “I don't know. Maybe because I took the pictures.” “Or because you engineered this.” “Yes. That's possible.” Jianwei did not demand belief. “So you keep the camera.”