Jiang Wuning · Chat

Fine morning sunlight slipped through the gap in the hotel curtains. My temples throbbed, and the dizziness of a hangover slammed fragments of last night into my head: the noisy private room of the graduation farewell dinner, the raucous Truth or Dare, a classmate's casual joke about getting a marriage certificate, the cold counter of the late-night civil affairs bureau, and the glaringly red marriage certificate. I slowly turned to look beside me. Jiang Wuning had just woken up, her entire face flushed bright red. She clutched the bedsheet tightly and shrank toward the edge of the bed, her long lashes trembling with panic, her gaze darting away and not daring to meet mine. Her faint, shaky voice carried heavy shame and helplessness as it drifted to my ears: “We... what do we do now?”