When Qin Shi opened the refrigerator, his expression was noticeably off.

He tentatively took out the item he saw inside.

It was a sea-blue cake, topped with white waves made of cream.

The cake was already a bit stale, but he clearly remembered a major promise between him and Lu Wei.

For this promise, they had even drawn a sketch together, which he had carefully preserved in a photo frame.

It was placed in his office.

He often imagined he could have a child with Lu Wei, someone with her determined gaze and efficient actions.

He thought of Su Yue, who looked exactly like Lu Wei.

When he saw Lu Wei, there was a moment he almost burst into tears.

He and his ideal, Su Yue, had made a ten-year pact.

If Su Yue wasn’t married, he would marry her.

But Su Yue was abroad, and they hadn’t actually kept in touch.

Qin Shi had used Lu Wei to get through countless nights missing Su Yue.

He had Lu Wei wear the red dress Su Yue loved and style her hair the way Su Yue liked.

At that time, Lu Wei looked very much like Su Yue.

But Qin Shi gradually realized that Lu Wei was just Lu Wei.

She wasn’t easily submissive or fragile, easily compromising with her family and breaking up with him to go abroad.

During the pandemic, Qin Shi no longer insisted on what Lu Wei wore or how she styled her hair.

Those years, Lu Wei often wore her hair down and stayed at home in gray teddy bear pajamas.

He saw the steadfast reliance she had just for him.

It was then that he deeply yearned to have a child with Lu Wei.

They would build a family and embark on the next journey of their lives.

On their nine-year anniversary, he planned to propose.

But just then, Su Yue called him.

She said she had just broken up, had a miscarriage, and didn’t want to live anymore.

“Qin Shi, maybe you can still save me.”

He didn’t want to tell Lu Wei that Su Yue was his ex, fearing it would make her angry.

But he also didn’t want Su Yue to actually die, so he lied, saying he needed to handle work, postponing the proposal.

During those days at the hotel, Qin Shi got a double bed and slept on the bed next to Su Yue.

Those few nights, Su Yue would wake up crying, wanting to end her life.

He couldn’t bear to leave her.

But later, he realized avoiding Lu Wei wasn’t a solution, so he decided to bring Su Yue back home.

Under his watch, Su Yue might not be that upset.

But Qin Shi didn’t expect that when he returned, Lu Wei had already left.

He sensed a crisis; it wasn’t a temporary loss but a permanent departure.

He panicked.

He admitted that facing Su Yue’s initiative, he almost made a huge mistake.

But looking at the empty study and the half-empty gray-black wardrobe.

He completely came to his senses, realizing he was about to lose the most important part of his life.

That was the love that had sedimented in his life for 9 years.

He knew it wasn’t pure at first, but over time, that gem of love had been polished to a dazzling shine.

He pushed Su Yue away, feeling himself sinking into an abyss.

He sent countless voice messages, countless texts, made countless calls to Lu Wei.

Lu Wei hadn’t blocked any of his contact methods.

This was scarier than being blocked or deleted.

This proved that Lu Wei didn’t care about him at all anymore.

She didn’t care if he would be with Su Yue, didn’t care if he would kneel to beg her to stay, didn’t even care if he remembered Lu Wei at all.

She had given up.

Qin Shi couldn’t understand, he sat alone in the house through several nights, watching the sky brighten and then darken again.

In the transition from light to dark, he couldn’t understand why Lu Wei had completely given up on him just because he spent a few days with Su Yue.

Thinking about this, he got hungry.

After several days without sleep or food, he really felt hungry.

His stomach told him he had to eat something, or he would die.

He didn’t want to die yet; he really wanted to say a word to Lu Wei, even if Lu Wei only gave him one word.

Even if it was “get lost,” he would feel there was still hope.

Qin Shi opened the refrigerator, and then he saw the sea-blue cake inside.

“If we have a child in the future, as soon as we know the news, let’s make a cake for them, okay?”

“Qin Shi, what about a sea-blue cake?” Lu Wei, with her talent, quickly drew a draft on a 7-inch card with colored pencils.

“Great, Weiwei, and how about using white cream to sculpt waves on the sea-blue cake?

“Perfect.” Lu Wei outlined a few more strokes on the card.

“Our child should be like the ocean, born free, living broad, having an infinite life.” Lu Wei said longingly.

That day, he and Lu Wei stayed close until dawn.

Both of them looked forward to a new life; it was also that night he prepared to propose.

However, now without his involvement, the sea-blue cake meant for their child unexpectedly appeared in the refrigerator.

When Qin Shi took it out, he was trembling all over.

He started sending messages to Lu Wei again:

“Tell me, Weiwei, our child is still here, right?

“Please, Lu Wei, even if you reply with just ‘get lost,’ I would feel better than now.”

He sent many messages, all sinking like stones into the sea.

Qin Shi knew Lu Wei’s personality; that child was definitely gone.

He remembered the rainy night Lu Wei had a high fever and begged him to take her to the hospital.

He remembered the afternoon in the hospital when Lu Wei sent him a message, wanting to talk to him.

Thinking about it, he slapped himself hard twice, a trace of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.

He wiped it off.

It didn’t hurt.

But then he felt as if he had a fever, because his teeth started clenching uncontrollably.

He looked at the sea-blue cake, not feeling the freedom of the blue, nor the vastness of the ocean.

He only felt he was an executioner who had personally killed a baby.

And that baby was the future he and Lu Wei both wanted.

Being called “President Qin” by everyone habitually, Qin Shi now sat at the dining table like an old man.

He stared blankly at the sea-blue cake, like withered wood.

Suddenly, he saw a note pressed under the cake.

He slowly pulled it out with his hand; it had Lu Wei’s beautiful handwriting:

“No matter what, Qin Shi, when you see this cake, please light a candle for our child.”

The child was gone, and he lost control again.

Tears flowed uncontrollably, Qin Shi reached out to wipe them, but the more he wiped, the more they flowed, tears slipping through his fingers.

He couldn’t stop crying, so he bit his lip, trying not to cry aloud.

But in the end, he still cried out.

He cried loudly, but the room was empty.

The person named Lu Wei would no longer come to embrace him.

Once, during his career setbacks, it was Lu Wei who held him through the tough nights.

Later, she even boosted his career.

Further along, during the nights of success and joy in his career, it was Lu Wei who first hugged him and praised him as the most perfect man in the world.

He was very happy to be seen as so perfect by Lu Wei.

But he had messed it all up.

He cried and cried until he had no strength left, with the cake on the table coldly mocking all his stupidity and hypocrisy.

He found a lighter and lit a candle, placing it on the cake.

After the flame completely went out, Qin Shi reached out and started stuffing the cake into his mouth.

The cake was stale, and the cream was as nauseating as wax.

But Qin Shi still kept stuffing the cake into his mouth.

When he was almost done, he felt his stomach churn, and vomited it all out.

Then, a hot stream rushed from his throat, and he fainted.