"If I were to die, would you—"
"I wouldn't be sad."
"...Do you not hold even a little bit of..."
"I've said it before. My feelings were ground away by you long ago."
One explanation after another, reasons, and even sophistry; none of it could shake Alain's thoughts.
Wanhua felt her throat go dry, all moisture drawn out by those few sentences.
Why... exactly did it beco like this?
She slumped to the floor, unable to stop herself from weeping.
But even so, Alain remained composed, sitting by the computer desk, making no move to comfort her.
"Let state one thing in advance." The young man, sitting high above, looked down at her indifferently. "If you expect to change my mind because of your crying, that is impossible, Yang Wanhua.
"Whether it is Reality, or towards you... my heart has already died."
Wanhua shook her head, suppressing the glint of tears in her eyes as she looked at Alain.
"You know... asking to commit suicide, do you know what doing so implies? Alain..."
She propped up her body, enurating the critical points within.
"I am your only reliance in Reality. It can be said that I am the only 'Anchor' you have left in the Real World.
"If I, this anchor, disappear, Alain..."
Wanhua shook her head. "You will truly, truly choose to be trapped in the Ga World forever, never to return to Reality."
"I have already abandoned Reality."
His gaze drifted toward the ceiling.
"Here, there is nothing I want."
"..."
Wanhua fell silent.
She couldn't help but ask herself: Why, exactly, is this situation happening now?
Which step was not done well? Or could it be...
Did her plan fail from the very beginning?
Could it be that after eting Alain's parents, she only needed to maintain the status quo to peacefully and happily... spend a lifeti with Alain?
She pulled out a tissue, wiping away the itching tear tracks on her cheeks, and gazed at the indifferent Alain.
Exactly why did that gentle young man turn into the appearance before her eyes?
Treating everything in Reality with absolutely no attachnt.
Wanhua could clearly sense that the current Alain viewed the Real World just as Wanhua viewed the Ga World...
rely as an object.
Or could it be...
All of this is my fault?
The movent of Wanhua wiping her tears froze.
She was dumbfounded by her own conclusion.
Could it be that, from the very beginning, this plan... shouldn't have existed?
"Alain... I, want to ask you a question."
She walked slowly toward the young man, finally standing by his side.
Alain looked up, glancing at the tearful glint in her eyes and that touch of determination.
He also stood up without saying a word.
"Speak."
"If—" She got straight to the point. "If I hadn't done anything at the beginning, what would we have beco?"
Hearing her question, Alain couldn't help but ponder in his heart: Is this so kind of delaying tactic?
But if he really had to think carefully and answer seriously...
"We would, in all probability, be engaged by now, right?"
Even now, his emotions toward Yang Wanhua were very complex.
Just as she said: Yang Wanhua was his only anchor of 'nostalgia' for the Real World.
This 'nostalgia' wasn't limited to positive emotions; it also included the negative ones.
She was the beautiful imagery Alain once held for the past scenes of the Real World;
She was also the ugly imagery of the myriad forms of human nature in the Real World that Alain had witnessed with his own eyes.
Even biological parents could abandon their children to go abroad... even loving couples could betray one another.
Then in Reality, what was there that couldn't happen?
It could be said...
Yang Wanhua was the combination of 'Beauty' and 'Despair' in Alain's impression of the Real World.
If he wanted to truly settle down in Mita's World without distractions...
'Yang Wanhua' was the final chain he had to sever.
"Engaged..." The maiden murmured softly.
"Mhm." Alain did not deny it.
Since he wanted to sever the shackles of his heart, the best way to deal with it... was to face it.
"I would accompany you to finish eting my parents. Then it would be your parents.
"Perhaps we would encounter so obstacles from your parents, given our different family backgrounds.
"But I feel... the willful you would definitely insist on having your own way and privately commit to a life with .
"You might even use a tactic like 'pregnancy before marriage'.
"Your parents would probably have no choice but to half-heartedly agree."
He had video-called Father Yang before and understood that he was a serious, square-faced middle-aged man.
Alain could imagine that if Yang Wanhua really adopted the 'pregnancy before marriage' tactic, his father-in-law would probably be so angry he wouldn't eat for three days.
"And then?" Her small hand grasped the corner of Alain's clothes, her eyes revealing a deep yearning.
Alain said, "After obtaining your parents' consent, we would first get engaged. Then wait for university graduation.
"If you were pregnant before marriage, you might give birth to the child during our university years.
"At that ti, it would be 'The Child-Rearing Life of an Ordinary and the Eldest Miss on the University Campus'."
Alain couldn't help but chuckle as he thought of this.
These were all once his beautiful yearnings; there was no harm in saying them out loud.
"T-Then after graduation?" The black-haired maiden obviously wanted to continue listening.
"Graduation, huh... Probably taking the baby to get our marriage certificate." Alain pondered, scenes rising in his mind.
"After we get the marriage certificate, perhaps at the graduation ceremony, we would go directly in a wedding dress to have the principal turn our tassels.
"Watching that kind old man smile bitterly as he offers his most sincere graduation and happiness wishes to us two little rascals who aren't wearing academic gowns, but suits and a wedding dress. I imagine his expression would be quite wonderful, right?"
Wanhua nodded. "Is there... more?"
"Of course there's more." Alain continued speaking.
"After graduation, we would enter a flash marriage. The wedding might be held at your place, Yalin Villas No. 6. Although there's a bit of a shadow there, I still quite like the environnt.
"Then, we would join hands and run toward the waves of life together. Of course, with your help, I might enter your family business to work."
Wanhua responded heavily, "And the life after that, how would it be?"
"How? That would naturally be..." Alain imagined those possible scenes one by one.
Graduation, wedding, flowers, ribbons, father-in-law's fury, tears, household register, assisting the husband and raising the children, growing children, a second child, the first white hair, wrinkles, Gaokao, travel, brand new academic dress, suits, wedding, grandchildren...
A grave.
Growing old together.
These simple four words, yet they require a lifeti to write.
If none of that had happened, perhaps it would have been an unprecedented Happy End.
No...
It would be a 'Real End' in another sense.
"I, understand." Wanhua seed to have finally let go of sothing.
She looked at Alain, whose expression had returned to icy coldness.
The beautiful dream gradually shattered, and the bone-chilling cold of reality drove her hand to extend toward the side of 'Alain' on the sickbed...
Those ampoules of anesthetic.
"I... agree to your terms."
____
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