She should feel guilty. I shouldn't feel bad about pushing away people who were just trying to help.
But she didn't feel anything.
Just the numbness. The emptiness. The sense of being disconnected from her own life, watching it happen to someone else from a great distance.
Her phone buzzed. Another text from Li Meili.
(Please just let me know you're okay. I'm worried about you.)
Zhou Yuxi stared at the message for a long moment. Then she typed back:
I'm fine. Just need some time alone.
She hit send before she could overthink it, then turned her phone face down on the nightstand.
Outside her window, the city lights twinkled in the darkness. Somewhere out there, life was happening. People were living their lives, feeling their feelings, moving forward.
And Zhou Yuxi sat in a pink bedroom, wrapped in numbness, waiting for something, anything, to make her feel human again.
But nothing came.
