The hand in front of her was broad, with long, clean fingers—perfect for playing the piano.
Five years ago, Xu Luling first noticed him at a university event, watching him play the piano. Every frame of that moment looked like a beautiful painting.
Last evening, when he held the umbrella, his finger was bare.
She had noticed it then, but her mind was preoccupied with the relief of finding him, so she hadn’t thought much about it.
Pei Ruyin pursed his lips. He didn’t pull his hand away; instead, he opened his palm, allowing Xu Luling to examine it more closely. His voice was calm, tinged with a hint of apology: “I passed out yesterday, didn’t I? When I woke up, the ring was gone. It must have fallen off somewhere along the way.”
A reasonable explanation.
Even if they wanted to search for it, the area was too vast to know where to start.
Pei Ruyin’s frustrated expression didn’t seem fake, and Xu Luling could tell.
As an investment banker, Pei Ruyin was skilled at deflecting attention with his words. He asked her in return, “Lingling, what about yours?”
Now it was Xu Luling’s turn to feel guilty. She let go of his hand.
It was an invisible, brief confrontation, but neither of them seemed to realize a subtle shift had occurred.
Xu Luling covered her face and murmured, “Mine’s missing too.”
So, why had she felt so justified in questioning him?
She added, “I remember putting it on the sink after my shower last night. Did you see it?”
Pei Ruyin said he hadn’t seen it, and when he saw her embarrassed expression, he almost laughed.
Though Xu Luling was usually clear-headed and independent, she had a soft side, like a little girl—one who could feel fear, shyness, and throw the occasional tantrum.
Instead of blaming her for the interrogation, Pei Ruyin never complained about his girlfriend. He simply said, “If they’re both lost, maybe it’s a sign that our connection with them has ended. When we have time, I’ll go with you to pick out a new set, okay?”
Xu Luling didn’t refuse. Resting her face in her hands, she looked at him and said, “You really know how to turn losing things into something poetic—like our former student council president.”
He ruffled her hair. “Teasing me again?”
Xu Luling glared at him. “When have I? How many times do I have to tell you not to mess with my hair?”
“Alright, alright, my bad!”
The room was once again filled with their playful laughter, and the atmosphere was light and easy.
After Pei Ruyin went into the kitchen, Xu Luling looked down at her fingers, but her smile suddenly froze.
There was an indentation on her finger where the ring had been, still faintly visible even after a day.
She had worn that ring for five years, taking it off only for showers or swimming, and her hand had grown accustomed to it.
She finally understood why she had been feeling unsettled.
Pei Ruyin’s finger had been smooth since yesterday, with no sign of the mark left by a ring that had been worn for a long time.
And, when they had gone to the beach a few months ago, although Pei Ruyin didn’t tan easily, there had still been a slight difference in the skin tone where his ring sat.
Her gaze lingered on his back as he cooked in the kitchen.
Aside from these subtle changes, everything else about Pei Ruyin—his habits, tone, and behavior—was exactly as it had always been. After knowing him for so many years, how could she possibly mistake her own boyfriend?
Plus, much of their conversation involved things only the two of them would know—how could an outsider be privy to such details?
Perhaps Pei Ruyin’s skin simply healed quickly, making it easy to dismiss her worries.
If Pei Ruyin knew about her wild thoughts, he would probably laugh at her for three days straight.
By the time he brought out the second dish, Xu Luling had returned to her relaxed state, helping to serve the food and set the table.
The dishes were new recipes, and as she ate, her eyes lit up. “How did you manage to improve your cooking skills so much just from attending a conference? You were already an amazing cook, but now you’ve become unbeatable! You’re raising the bar for boyfriends way too high!”
Having eaten takeout for days, the self-proclaimed kitchen disaster Xu Luling let out a sigh of envy.
“Stop talking nonsense, who else are you trying to find?” Pei Ruyin tapped her on the forehead and explained, “I went to a well-regarded local restaurant and asked the chef for a few tips.”
Her doubts, already almost gone, dissipated completely.
–
For the next while, life returned to a peaceful routine. The death threat emails and strange accidents ceased, and even the memory of the three-hour disappearance at the airport gradually faded into the background.
Soon, Pei Ruyin arranged a day when they were both free, and they went out to buy new rings.
Though the new rings were beautiful, the old ones had sentimental value, as they were bought when they first confirmed their relationship. Xu Luling still hadn’t given up on finding them.
Worried she might have accidentally thrown them away, she asked the familiar neighborhood security guards if they had seen them, but the answer, of course, was no.
Before leaving on a week-long business trip, Pei Ruyin replaced their bedsheets and even switched to dark-colored ties that he didn’t usually wear.
This time, Xu Luling simply observed without saying anything. She didn’t want to keep doubting every little thing.
However, after Pei Ruyin left, strange things started happening at home, one after another.
It started with the dirty laundry she had placed in the hamper—after returning from a walk, she found the clothes spinning in the washing machine. Then, it was the dishes she had forgotten to put in the dishwasher—by the time she remembered, they had already been washed and dried. And one evening, after coming home exhausted and forgetting to remove her makeup, she woke up the next morning to find her face not only cleaned but also moisturized.
An eerie sense of fear began to creep over her.
It was as if there was an invisible presence in the house.
Xu Luling called her boyfriend, who didn’t brush off her concerns but comforted her: “You probably did all of that yourself, Lingling. You’re just overworked and imagining things. How about asking Wu Na to stay with you for a few days? You won’t feel so scared with someone around.”
Wu Na had been her classmate since high school. They studied abroad together and met Pei Ruyin, who was a year ahead of them at university.
While Xu Luling had been working a lot lately, her mental state had noticeably improved since the death threats had stopped.
She looked around her empty, spacious apartment and decided to accept her boyfriend’s suggestion.
Wu Na quickly arrived. Standing by the living room’s floor-to-ceiling windows, she glanced down at the gardeners tending the rose garden below and muttered, “In a place like the city center, where space is worth its weight in gold, planting such a large rose garden is such a waste.”
“I’ll go grab some spare blankets. Why don’t you stay for a few days?” Xu Luling asked.
Wu Na replied, “I’m all for it! It’s not often your vinegar-obsessed boyfriend doesn’t mind me crashing here.”
Xu Luling sighed, “Why would he be jealous of a girl?”
Wu Na teased, “Oh, you’d be surprised. Some people hide it well.”
Xu Luling headed to the guest room to fetch the spare blankets, realizing she hadn’t been in there in a while. She was surprised to find that the wardrobe had been completely rearranged.
She had thought Pei Ruyin only meant to replace one set of bedding, but it seemed like he had thrown out everything old.
Was that really necessary?
It felt like Pei Ruyin was trying to erase all traces of his past existence.
Confused, Xu Luling returned to the master bedroom with the new blanket, only to find Wu Na already sprawled on the bed. As soon as she entered, Wu Na grinned and said conspiratorially, “Wanna hear some juicy gossip about your jealous boyfriend?”
“What gossip?”
“You’ve never met Pei Ruyin’s parents, right? And he doesn’t talk much about his family?”
Xu Luling didn’t deny it. Early in their relationship, she had asked, but Pei Ruyin told her he had no family. Not wanting to stir up painful memories, she hadn’t pushed further, and in all these years, she had never met any of his relatives.
“Well, you know that guy I went on a blind date with? He saw Pei Ruyin’s photo in a finance magazine and told me they went to the same elementary school! So, of course, I grilled him for hours,” Wu Na said dramatically, her excitement causing Xu Luling to stop arranging the blankets and listen. “Long story short, his dad ran away with another woman, leaving behind a poor, weak mom and a delinquent brother. He grew up in a remote, rundown village. The house was made of mud, and they had only recently gotten electricity and water. Bet you didn’t expect that! I mean, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with being poor, but this is Pei Ruyin we’re talking about—the student council president, the star of our university. The contrast is just too much, right?”
Xu Luling’s eyes widened slightly. This was the first time she had heard any of this.
Wu Na continued, still baffled, “And he wasn’t even on a government scholarship, so where did he get the money to study abroad? When he was chasing you, he didn’t seem like he had financial problems at all. I always thought he was from some low-key wealthy family!”
A lot of people had assumed the same thing.
How much effort does it take for someone to completely transform and reinvent themselves?
Xu Luling wasn’t concerned with the other details, so she asked, “You said he had a younger brother?”
Even after dating for years, she often felt like Pei Ruyin was too perfect, almost like an unreal figure.
But no one is flawless. Learning some of his hidden past made him feel more human, more real to her.
She could discuss the rest with him later. Right now, she was more interested in knowing about this so-called younger brother.
Wu Na replied, “Yeah, but from what I heard, his brother passed away a long time ago. That’s probably why he never told you.”
After that conversation, Xu Luling began having nightmares for several days in a row. Wu Na, sleeping next to her, was woken up by her thrashing and cries multiple times.
The day before Pei Ruyin was due to return from his business trip, Wu Na said, “Lingling, I’m pretty sure there’s no one else in your apartment. You’re just overthinking things because you’re exhausted. It’s a mild case of burnout. I’ll recommend a doctor for you. These days, everyone has some kind of mental health issue—it’s nothing to be ashamed of!”
Before leaving, Wu Na handed her a card with the doctor’s contact information.
Xu Luling hesitated as she looked at the card.
She didn’t like sharing her private matters with others. Even with a doctor, she felt awkward. And if she didn’t fully open up, the doctor wouldn’t be able to help her.
In the end, she put the card away and took a day off to rest.
After taking a nap, she suddenly felt heavy, as if her body were weighed down by lead, and her eyelids were too heavy to open.
In her sleep, she sensed someone in the room.
That person stood by her bed, watching her, even touching her face.
She didn’t know how much time had passed before she woke up. She stared blankly, her hand slowly moving to touch her face. The clammy, cold sensation still lingered.
She looked up at the ceiling light, feeling as if a pair of eyes were hidden up there, watching her.
She knew, logically, that she was probably scaring herself. The police had already removed all the hidden cameras from the apartment—there was no way anyone else was in the house.
Later that afternoon, she got up and opened the curtains, letting the sunlight flood the dark room. The blue sky and clouds outside chased away some of the gloom, and she closed her eyes, savoring the feel of the breeze against her face.
She went into the kitchen, where the daylight remained bright, and poured herself a glass of water.
As she raised the glass to take a sip, she caught something in her peripheral vision—a dark shadow moving across the floor, slowly creeping toward her.
Plop.
Her hand trembled, and the glass fell to the floor with a loud clatter.
There really was someone hiding in her house!
