Prologue
Regret has no voice, yet it echoes louder than any cry.
The night was still, heavy with silence, as if the world itself was holding its breath. Lian Yu stood beneath the faint glow of a streetlamp, his hands buried deep in his pockets, the taste of unspoken words sharp on his tongue. Across the road, Xiao Ren walked away—her figure shrinking with each step, until she was nothing more than a shadow swallowed by the distance.
He could have called her name.
He could have run after her.
He could have told her everything he had buried for years.
But pride is a cruel master, and fear an even crueler one. So he stood there, motionless, as the moment slipped through his fingers like water he could never cup again.
Years later, he would remember that night as the one that defined them. Not the days of laughter, not the promises whispered beneath spring blossoms, but that single instant when silence shouted louder than love.
And when fate returned her to him—unexpected, uninvited—regret was the only companion left at his side.
For some, love arrives late.
For them, regret had always knocked first.