Chapter 1

My cold, brilliant childhood friend had fallen for a delinquent girl. For her, he raced cars, hung around bars, skipped class to get into fights—and, simply because she accused me of bullying her, he had someone beat me until both my dancing legs were broken.

Seven years of unspoken love ended for good in that bloody, brutal ordeal.

When we met again later, he stared at me, his eyes rimmed red as tears streamed down his face.

All I could give him was a baffled look.

“Who are you?”

“Do we know each other?”

1

They dragged me along the ground for a while before pinning me down on the rooftop of an abandoned building.

Seven or eight people stood in front of me.

At their head was Jiang Yan.

The childhood friend I’d secretly loved for years.

In my line of sight, he was laughing tenderly with his girlfriend, Wei Luoluo.

But when he looked at me, his gaze was full of disgust and coldness.

“What is this about?”

I looked calmly at him, surrounded by nothing but malice.

“Ning Shuang.”

Jiang Yan crouched down and blew a ring of smoke in my face. “Luoluo is my girlfriend.”

“How dare you get people to bully her?”

He stared at me, anger roiling in his eyes.

I tugged at the corner of my mouth, but I couldn’t make myself smile. “So now you’re helping her get revenge?”

My chest ached as if something heavy had settled over it.

We’d known each other for more than ten years. I’d never imagined Jiang Yan would look at me like this one day.

Jiang Yan didn’t answer. His expression darkened.

The people around us couldn’t hold back any longer.

“Still pretending you don’t know? This girl’s such a fake innocent.”

“We all saw the handprint on Luoluo’s face. The evidence is right there, and she still wants to deny it?”

“So what if you grew up with Brother Jiang? You still need to be taught a lesson!”

Amid the jeers, someone grabbed me by the hair and kicked me hard, again and again.

I hit the ground in a humiliating heap.

Even then, I couldn’t believe Jiang Yan would just stand by and let them do this.

But the truth was, I had never bullied Wei Luoluo.

I stared at him in disbelief. “Jiang Yan, after all these years, when have I ever bullied anyone?!”

Wei Luoluo whimpered softly, covering her swollen cheek. “A-Yan, just let it go. Ning Shuang grew up with you. I can put up with a little mistreatment.”

“I’m only an outsider. Don’t let me come between the two of you and all those years of friendship.”

The next second, Jiang Yan sneered.

He looked at me coolly, his eyes dark. “Of course I believe my girlfriend.”

He didn’t ask another question.

He’d already sentenced the childhood friend who’d been at his side for over ten years.

How ridiculous.

I wanted to laugh, but the tears wouldn’t obey me. They rolled down my cheeks.

“Ning Shuang, when someone does wrong, they have to pay for it.”

Jiang Yan crouched down. His voice was gentle, yet cold and merciless. “Luoluo wants to be a model. You hit her in the face. You have to pay a price too.”

“That’s only fair.”

He snapped his fingers.

The people around us immediately rushed forward, grabbed my arms and legs, and pinned me firmly to the ground.

As I struggled, I saw someone set fire to my favorite dance shoes. They quickly burned to ash.

Even my beautiful dance dress was ripped violently into shreds.

I froze. My mind went completely blank.

Those were the things I needed for tomorrow’s competition.

And now Jiang Yan had destroyed them all.

At last, I understood what he meant by “paying a price.”

Tears blurred my vision. I screamed until my throat went hoarse.

“Jiang Yan, are you crazy?!”

“You can’t treat me like this. You can’t…”

Watching the scene before him, Jiang Yan shook his head, his voice calm. “It’s too late to regret it now.”

“Why didn’t you think of that when you bullied Luoluo?”

I clenched my fists, consumed by hatred.

But I was still thinking too simply.

When the cold iron rod came crashing down on my knee—

Something seemed to shatter inside me.

A scream tore out of me with the searing pain. I rolled across the ground, writhing.

I was completely broken.

Jiang Yan hadn’t just ruined tomorrow’s competition. He wanted to destroy my legs!

No. He couldn’t. This couldn’t happen…

Dancing was the dream I’d pursued. My legs were my life.

In that moment, I couldn’t care about pride or the truth anymore.

I only wanted to save my legs.

“Jiang Yan, don’t! Please…”

“I’m sorry. I really am. I’ll do anything you want. Please, don’t touch my legs. I’m begging you…”

Like a dying dog, I clutched Jiang Yan’s pant leg and begged in panic.

It didn’t matter if I lost my dance shoes. It didn’t matter if I had no costume.

But if I lost my legs, I really would go mad.

I fell apart completely. I begged incoherently for forgiveness, tears and snot streaking my face.

I didn’t dare stop. I begged them over and over to spare me.

All I got in return was blow after blow from the iron rods.

The air around me filled with the thick, metallic stench of my own blood.

I stared at Jiang Yan, numb, still begging.

“Jiang Yan, please. Let me go!”

“You know how much dancing means to me. Why would you…”

Soon, I couldn’t feel the pain anymore.

I couldn’t even feel that my legs were there.

The cold wind dried the tears on my face, leaving nothing but despair.

Only after they were sure I could no longer stand did Jiang Yan tell them to stop.

He looked down at me from above. “This is the lesson you deserved.”

Wei Luoluo giggled and nestled into his arms.

I lay prone on the ground, unable to get up.

Looking at the bloody ruin of my lower body, I completely broke down.

Hatred flared like an unquenchable fire, erupting together with pain and grief.

“Jiang Yan, I hate you! I’ll never forgive you—not in this life!”

In the chaos, a hand shoved me hard from behind.

I tumbled straight down the rooftop stairs.

The back of my head slammed against the ground.

Amid the confusion and shouting, I heard Wei Luoluo’s bright laugh. “Oh, what should we do? Did we just kill her?”

“A-Yan, Ning Shuang grew up with you—and she’s been secretly in love with you!”

Before I lost consciousness completely, I heard Jiang Yan answer mockingly.

“She deserves to die.”

“Like me? Disgusting.”

2

Wei Luoluo wasn’t wrong.

I really had been in love with Jiang Yan.

For seven years.

We were born in the same hospital and became neighbors as soon as we opened our eyes.

From childhood to adulthood, our lives followed almost the same course.

We went to school together and did homework together after class. Even Auntie Jiang used to joke that she wanted me to become her daughter-in-law.

Who wouldn’t like Jiang Yan?

When I twisted my ankle during dance practice, he gently applied medicine while scolding me for being careless.

When someone mocked me for wearing a leotard to practice because they thought I was trying to seduce people, he immediately stood up for me.

At night, with his face bruised and battered, he’d sneak through my window and grin at me.

“Don’t cry. You dance so beautifully!”

“I love watching Sisi dance the most. You’re like a little swan!”

Because of those words—

Even when stretching my hips made me sweat from the pain, even when splitting my legs hurt so much I couldn’t make a sound, I never cried again.

I trained desperately, hoping I could stand on a big stage one day.

Become the elegant swan he’d once praised.

Although, after we grew up, Jiang Yan had somehow gradually grown distant from me, I still held on to hope.

We would become the childhood friends everyone envied in a novel, never parting for the rest of our lives.

But it all went up in smoke.

Because Wei Luoluo appeared.

3

Wei Luoluo transferred to our school in a very conspicuous way.

She smoked, curled her hair, and wore heavy makeup. On her very first day, she boldly confessed to Jiang Yan.

“Hey, top student. I’ve got my eye on you. Be my boyfriend?”

As she said it, she hooked a finger into Jiang Yan’s palm. Her short spaghetti-strap dress showed off her bold, lively figure.

Jiang Yan was handsome and clever, a cold top student. Countless people had confessed to him.

He’d always turned them down without a second thought.

Everyone was certain Wei Luoluo would be rejected too.

I thought so as well.

That New Year, Jiang Yan got drunk and secretly told me that when I won gold in the competition, he would confess to me.

“Ning Shuang, I’ve liked you for a long time…”

To this day, I still remember that boy’s flushed face and bashful expression.

But when I hurried back after training out of town—

A photo of them holding hands and kissing had spread all over school.

Jiang Yan had changed.

All he could see was Wei Luoluo.

For her, he dyed his hair silver, got his ears pierced, and had tattoos.

For her, he skipped school, hung around bars, and raced cars.

He even got drunk and fought because of her.

“Ning Shuang, you don’t understand. Wei Luoluo is different. She’s bright and uninhibited. I’ve been sick of this rigid, boring life for a long time.”

As he said it, he expertly blew smoke in my face. The way he held the cigarette in his right hand felt utterly unfamiliar.

I stared at him, dazed, my mind completely blank.

Jiang Yan had once been a top student in every teacher’s eyes. Of course I didn’t want him to fall apart like this.

But no matter how much I tried to talk to him, no matter how many times Auntie Jiang cried in front of him, Jiang Yan refused to change.

I didn’t know where Wei Luoluo heard the rumor, but she became convinced that I had tattled to Auntie Jiang.

She came up to me with a mocking smile.

“Ning Shuang, are you sick?”

“Are you so desperate for a man that you have to hang around my boyfriend just to feel important?”

“I’m telling you now: Jiang Yan is mine. If anyone’s itching to start trouble, don’t come crying afterward!”

Jiang Yan was right beside her when she warned me.

They laughed together, then climbed onto a motorcycle and sped off.

They looked like the bold, reckless young couple from a coming-of-age movie.

But I had no idea then—

That this scene would become a nightmare I wouldn’t be able to escape for months of suffering to come.