I was William’s childhood friend who couldn’t speak. He got into trouble, and I took the fall for him, spending over a decade in prison. Before I went in, he cried and said, “Lily, I’ve wronged you. I’ll wait for you to come out and treat you right.” During those years, William only visited me for the first three. He had no idea what kind of life a mute country girl led in prison. The tough inmates came and went, but I remained, enduring it all. When times got tough, I’d think of him. I’d remember the candy he bought me from town, how he said I was his girl even though I couldn’t speak. On the day of my release, William showed up in a crisp suit, driving a fancy car. Next to him was a girl, dressed elegantly like a fairy tale princess. That’s when I learned she was his business partner’s daughter. She liked him, and he couldn’t turn her down. So today, he said he was here to pick up his orphaned cousin from the countryside. I remembered then – my parents had died saving him from a flood. I was indeed an orphan. I just nodded, neither crying nor making a fuss. I played along with his act of us being cousins. The truth was, I had cancer. My dying wish was to see William one last time. I was afraid he wouldn’t be able to let me go. Now I wasn’t afraid anymore. Later, he would lose everything trying to save me, saying he wanted nothing but his Lily back. I shook my head, clumsily using my last bit of strength to sign: William, I’m leaving. Take care.
“Try to stay out of trouble when you get out,” the guard advised as the iron gate clanged shut behind me, cutting off the sky that had confined me for fifteen years. The sunlight stung my eyes, making me squint as I greedily breathed in the air of freedom. It didn’t smell of the familiar earth I remembered, just the cold scent of car exhaust. I waited for a long time, until the sun began to set, until I thought he wasn’t coming. But I didn’t know where else to go. This world of bustling traffic was so foreign; I’d long forgotten the way home. So I could only sit by the roadside and keep waiting. I seemed to be good at waiting. I’d waited for fifteen years. At first, I waited for William to visit me again. Then I waited for my bullies to be released. Now I was waiting for William to pick me up. When they contacted my family, he said he’d come for me. He promised, so I believed him. Until a glossy black sedan silently pulled up in front of me. The window slowly lowered, revealing a face etched in my memory, yet somewhat unfamiliar. It was William. He had lost some weight, his features sharper now. The boyish charm was gone from his brow, replaced by a depth and distance I couldn’t quite read. He wore an impeccable suit I’d never seen before, and on his wrist, a silver watch gleamed aristocratically in the sun. “Lily,” he said, his voice hoarse. I tried to smile at him, just like I had fifteen years ago. But my muscles, long unused to such expressions, probably twisted into something uglier than crying. I walked towards him, my steps unsteady as if I were treading on cotton. The car door opened, but he didn’t get out. The passenger door opened first, and a girl in a champagne-colored dress stepped out. Her hair was slightly curled, her makeup flawless, like she’d stepped out of a painting. She naturally walked around to the driver’s side, opening the door and affectionately linking her arm with William’s. “Will, is this the country cousin you mentioned?” her voice was as sweet as a oriole’s song, her gaze holding a barely concealed curiosity and assessment.
The girl’s voice was as melodious as a songbird, her gaze holding a barely concealed curiosity and assessment as she looked at me. My feet suddenly froze in place. Cousin? William’s body stiffened slightly. He extracted his arm from the girl’s grasp and quickly walked over to me, his eyes complex as he looked at me. His tone carried guilt and a hint of pleading. “Lily, this is Olivia, my… ” he paused, seeming to choose his words carefully, “my business partner’s daughter.” He turned to Olivia and introduced me: “Olivia, this is my cousin, Lily. She grew up in the countryside and hasn’t been out much.” That’s when I remembered. Yes, that flood years ago. My parents had died trying to save William from being swept away. I became an orphan, taken in by his family. So wasn’t I indeed just a lonely orphan with no relatives? So, I was just his cousin now. I looked at them, one in a tailored suit, the other in flowing silk, a perfect couple. And me, wearing the faded old clothes issued by the prison, my hair dull and my face pale, like a ghost crawled up from underground. I lowered my head, looking at my own dry, rough hands. These hands had been soaked in icy water through countless winter days in the prison laundry, burned by hot oil countless times in the kitchen. They had also been clenched into fists, nails digging into flesh, enduring the blows that fell on my body when I was bullied. But I had never thought these hands were ugly before, because William had once held them, saying he would give me a good life. Now, I felt they were too ugly to even belong in the same air as him. I didn’t cry or make a scene. I just nodded to him, showing I understood. William let out a sigh of relief. He was probably afraid I’d cause a scene and embarrass him. Sitting in the car, the soft leather seats made me uncomfortable. The car was filled with a pleasant scent, coming from Olivia. She sat in the front with William, chatting easily about stocks, wine, and dinner parties – things I couldn’t understand. “Will, are you really not going to Mr. Wang’s party tonight? He organized it especially for you,” Olivia said. “Not tonight. I just picked up Lily, I need to get her settled,” William glanced at me in the rearview mirror, his eyes evasive. “Oh come on, it’s just a cousin. Mrs. Johnson can take care of her. Your business is important,” Olivia pouted, her voice sickeningly sweet. I shrank into the corner of the back seat, trying to make myself invisible. The cancer in my stomach started to ache again. I quietly pressed my hand against my abdomen, taking deep breaths. The car pulled into a place I couldn’t have imagined even in my dreams. A huge wrought iron gate, a garden with fountains and neatly trimmed lawns, and a mansion that looked like a castle stood before us. A middle-aged woman wearing an apron came out to greet us. William called her Mrs. Johnson. Mrs. Johnson took the small bag from William’s hand – all my worldly possessions. She weighed it, a fleeting look of contempt crossing her face, then her gaze fell on me. I was familiar with that look. Many people in prison had looked at me that way. After all, I was just a mute country girl. “Sir, is this…” “My cousin, Lily,” William interrupted her. “Mrs. Johnson, take her to the guest room on the first floor and help her get settled.” “The first floor?” Mrs. Johnson hesitated. “But sir, that room is for the staff…” “That room,” William’s tone left no room for argument. He didn’t want to dwell on the topic. I followed Mrs. Johnson, walking across the mirror-like marble floor, past the enormous crystal chandelier, and finally to a small, dark room at the corner of the stairs. It had only a single bed and a small wardrobe, with a window facing the back wall of the yard. But it was clean, and just for me. It was much better than prison. This was my new home.
That evening, William didn’t stay for dinner. Olivia laughed coyly, saying she wanted to take him to a new French restaurant, claiming their foie gras was exquisite. I sat alone in the vast dining room. Mrs. Johnson had made me a bowl of noodles. Plain boiled noodles with two pieces of green vegetables floating on top, not even a drop of oil. I ate silently, the pain in my stomach growing more intense. I remembered the times in prison when life got unbearably tough, I would think of William. I remembered how he had saved his allowance for half a month to buy me a pack of fruit candies from town. He had handed them to me like a treasure, smiling and saying, “Lily, when I make big money, I’ll let you eat candy every day.” I remembered when the village kids made fun of me for not being able to speak, it was William who beat them up one by one, then turned to me with red eyes saying, “Don’t be afraid, Lily. Even if you can’t speak, you’re still my girl.” For fifteen years, these memories had kept me alive. Night fell, and I was curled up on the bed, my stomach pain so severe that cold sweat soaked through my thin clothes. I couldn’t bear it anymore. I stumbled out of the mansion in the dark, relying on my faint memory to find a 24-hour convenience store. I searched the shelves for a long time before finding the cheapest fruit hard candies, colorful and exactly like the ones in my memory. I clutched that pack of candy like a lifeline. The next day, I saw William coming downstairs. He was dressed casually but still looked elegant. I gathered my courage, walked up to him, and opened my palm. In it lay a translucent orange candy. I looked at him expectantly, perhaps with a light in my eyes that I wasn’t even aware of. I wanted to tell him, “William, look, I found our candy.” He froze. Before he could say anything, Olivia came downstairs in her slippers. Seeing the candy in my hand, she laughed dramatically: “Oh my god, Will, you still eat this stuff? It’s all artificial colors and sugar, so unhealthy.” William’s face instantly turned red. He seemed to have been reminded of some embarrassing past, and suddenly swatted my hand away. The candy rolled from my palm, scattering across the floor with a series of tiny clinks. I stood there, frozen, looking at those colorful candies on the expensive floor, feeling how cheap and ridiculous they looked. I silently crouched down, reaching out with my rough hands to pick them up one by one. But my hands were shaking so badly, I couldn’t grasp them. I heard Olivia cooing nearby, “Will, don’t be angry. Your cousin meant well. Mrs. Johnson, please clean up this mess, it’s an eyesore.” I finally managed to pick up one candy, clutching it in my palm. The cheap sweetness seeped through my skin, but it felt bitter in my heart. Days passed. William was busy with his business and with Olivia. He would occasionally ask me if I was “settling in okay,” but wouldn’t wait for my nod before being called away by another phone call. I was like a weed forgotten in a corner, silent and unnoticed. Later, Olivia’s friends came to the mansion for a party. They decided to play hide and seek. I had played this as a child. They invited me to join. But someone, as a prank, pushed me into the second-floor storage room and locked the door. The small, enclosed, dusty space instantly pulled me back into the nightmare of those fifteen years. In prison, because I refused to “pay respect” to a new top dog, she and her gang had locked me in solitary confinement. No windows, no light, just endless silence and the scratching sounds of rats gnawing on things. That time, I was locked up for three days and three nights. When I came out, I was half dead. I opened my mouth silently, immense fear gripping my throat. But I could only tremble, curled up in the corner, my arms tightly wrapped around my head. My stomach churned, and I started to dry heave uncontrollably. I don’t know how long it was before I heard Olivia’s impatient voice outside the door: “Who locked this? The game’s over!” The door opened, and blinding light poured in. William and Olivia stood in the doorway, both stunned to see me curled up on the floor, my face streaked with tears. “What’s wrong with her? It was just a game, why is she crying?” Olivia complained, her tone full of disgust. “Such a mood killer.” William’s brows furrowed tightly. He walked over and roughly pulled me up, his grip so tight it hurt my wrist. “Lily, what the hell are you doing? Can’t you stop causing trouble for everyone?” “I’m already stressed enough with my business. I don’t have time to coddle you like a child every day!”
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