PROLOGUE
February. The year Lin enrolled
[February 16 - Thursday – 11:05 p.m.]
“I hate this place…” When Lin Dai Lu finally spoke, her voice sounded hoarse and meek. Rare salty tears ran down her cheeks and fell heavily onto the torn sculpture history textbook that lay carelessly on her lap. “Who would have thought that things you get for free would end up being the most expensive.”
“Lu,” Cao Kai knelt down and, touching her chin with his fingertips, lifted her face. “You look terrible,” he whispered sadly.
Dai Lu turned her head away and wearily removed her friend's hand, avoiding unpleasant touches. About a year had passed since their last illicit encounter, but nothing had changed. The memories were still fresh. Time had not healed the pain, only driven it deeper. A man's touch, even one so harmless and seemingly filled with trepidation and tenderness, only caused rejection. They awakened dark feelings hidden deep in her soul.
Reddened eyes, cheeks wet with tears, a small wrinkle between her broken eyebrows — a familiar picture that Kai had periodically observed since Dai Lu first met Him. A dull irritation mixed with the acrid bitterness of regret and guilt churned somewhere deep inside. Meanwhile, Dai Lu always kept Kai at a distance, making no secret of her distrust. His hands were tied.
A narrow, pale palm slid over her sensual lips, unsuccessfully gathering the remaining moisture. Dai Lu sniffed loudly and threw her head back. Her eyelids slowly closed, and her eyelashes trembled.
“Try to avoid any encounters with him,” Kai said hoarsely and handed her a handkerchief. “Song is aggressive, like Abaddon incarnate. I don't understand you... Why all this?”
“How can I stay out of it?” Dai Lu snorted softly, taking the handkerchief. “I'm in this mess up to my neck, and I can't pretend that nothing is happening, okay? I care…”
“And Wu? What are you trying to achieve by provoking him emotionally?”
“Emotions? It seems he has neither feelings nor emotions,” Dai Lu said irritably. “His anger and hatred seem fake. He could just as easily play the role of a good guy,” a touch of irony slipped into her voice, along with a quiet smile. Dai Lu wiped her lower eyelids with a handkerchief, nervously licked her lips, and sniffed again. Her tongue felt salty.
“I don't really get it. Explain.”
“He's completely fake.” Dai Lu looked at the handkerchief, folded it in half, and pressed the clean side to her nose again. “I get the feeling that he doesn't really feel anything,” she continued in a whisper, smiling. “But he's very good at pretending.”
“Oh come on,” Kai said confidently and grimaced when Dai Lu held out the stained handkerchief to him, disgustedly pushing her hand away. “Please, keep it,” he thought for a moment and added, “It's impossible to pretend like that. At least, not for so long.”
“Actually, none of that matters. I don't mind much about him. I feel like the main character of a low-budget movie with a second-rate plot,” she sighed heavily. “To be honest, I'm just tired.”
At the last sentence, Dai Lu looked intently at Kai, tilting her head slightly toward his shoulder; gusts of cold night wind swayed her light curls, which had escaped from her carelessly gathered ponytail. Lin’s eyes – large, with an inexpressible moist gleam – clearly spoke of feelings she was not ashamed of. Just one glance from her was enough to take Kai's breath away, as if someone had squeezed his throat.
“Even if you could turn back time, you would do the same thing you did then,” Cao forced a smile and ruffled Dai Lu's soft hair in a fatherly manner. “I guess it's time to go back to your room. Or you'll catch a cold...”
Dai Lu and Kai walked slowly down the dark, empty corridor of the dormitory. Each of them was lost in their own seemingly gloomy thoughts, and only the rhythmic tapping of wide, low heels broke the oppressive silence.
‘An endless vicious circle,’ Dai Lu thought and smiled bitterly. This place, which was originally supposed to be a breath of fresh air, an opportunity to change her life for the better, turned out to be a painful prison for her. She felt that she had fallen out of favor with the local elite and did not know how to redeem herself in her own eyes.
“Damn it…” Kai whispered hoarsely and suddenly stood up as if rooted to the spot. His movement was so unexpected that Lin, who a second ago had been looking at her feet and silently mourning herself, could not avoid the collision and buried her face in his broad shoulder.
“What's wrong?” Dai Lu asked discontentedly and noticed Kai's frozen gaze. Raising her head, she froze too. A chilling horror gripped her body. She couldn't move and seemed to have forgotten how to breathe, and the whole world around her vanished in an instant. It just disappeared.
Under the ceiling, a body hung from a jute rope tied around its thin neck, swaying gently like the pendulum of a grandfather’s clock. The head was bowed, dark hair covering the face, but Dai Lu recognized the victim with sorrow, mentally regretting the day she first met Her.
