Chapter 7

Bai Meng pointed toward the one-way glass as though she could see Pei Chuan behind it, mocking him wildly.

“He was the one who stopped everyone from saving her.”

“He threw Ye Tingxue onto that freezing floor. He crushed her fingers.”

“His utterly false pride put the murder weapon right in my hands!”

Every word pierced him.

Pei Chuan pressed against the glass and slowly slid to his knees.

He covered his ears and shook his head desperately.

“Stop… Please, stop!”

But he couldn’t keep out the brutal truth: he had been an accomplice.

For his supposed separation of work and personal life, for his ridiculous managerial authority, he had crushed my last chance to live.

Three months later.

A gavel struck in court.

Its dull impact marked the final outcome of this absurd tragedy.

“The defendant Bai Meng is guilty of intentional homicide. Given the cruelty of the methods and severity of the circumstances, she is sentenced to life imprisonment and lifelong deprivation of political rights.”

“The defendant Pei Chuan, despite his duty to manage and provide assistance, forcibly obstructed emergency treatment, causing the victim to miss the opportunity for rescue. His conduct constitutes negligently causing death. He is sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.”

Hearing her sentence, Bai Meng’s legs gave way.

The arrogance she had shown in interrogation vanished. She collapsed in a heap.

Incoherent pleas came from her mouth before two stern bailiffs dragged her from the courtroom.

I floated beneath its high vaulted ceiling.

Seeing earthly crimes finally judged, I felt lighter than ever.

The last chain binding me had fallen away.

On the other side of the defendants’ bench stood a man who looked like a beggar.

Pei Chuan.

The public outcry over the homicide had sent Pei Group’s share price into free fall.

Many senior executives had resigned together and reported his workplace bullying.

A month earlier, the company had formally declared bankruptcy. Its assets were forcibly liquidated.

The CEO’s prestige he had prized was ashes.

Now he stood in prison clothes, his hair a wild tangle, staring blankly.

Former colleagues in the public gallery watched him with satisfaction and derision.

He didn’t even blink. He looked like a body that had lost its soul.

Three years later.

His sentence served, Pei Chuan stumbled through the prison gates.

He took out his flat wallet and emptied the last of his small change.

At the station, he bought a ticket for an old green train that ran endlessly along a roundabout route.

The train departed with a constant clatter.

Instead of taking his seat, he went straight to the metal floor between the carriages.

He knelt on both knees, tightly holding an old women’s handbag he had recovered from the police evidence store.

My handbag.

“Tingxue, I was wrong…”

Facing the empty aisle, he bowed his head to the floor again and again.

His forehead struck the hard metal until blood seeped out.

“I shouldn’t have hurt you for the sake of my pride. I shouldn’t have left you alone.”

“Will you come back? You can have my life. I don’t want anything else…”

Passengers pointed, whispered, and moved away, thinking he was mad.

Only he knew he was atoning to someone who could never answer.

He would remain imprisoned in this carriage, trapped in endless remorse until his death.

A warm summer breeze blew through the window and stirred his white temples.

I looked at the deranged man one last time.

My expression was indifferent. Nothing stirred in my heart.

Pei Chuan, this life was too painful. In the next, let’s never meet again.

I became countless motes of light in the sunshine and vanished completely into the wind.

**Enjoyed this story?**
Discover more completed short romance stories at **NovelPotato.asia**.