The furious sea.
But the relentless winds and waves would not cease. The humble feelings of humans remained laughably insignificant in the face of nature’s power.

Just when Tang Mi was nearly in despair, the loud noise of a helicopter’s rotor suddenly reached her ears, and a rope fell before them.

“Arthur, Tang, grab the rope!”

Looking up, she saw a helicopter hovering above them. Someone leaned out from the cabin, shouting at them. She could faintly make out Simon’s figure.

“Quick, grab the rope!” Arthur’s arm suddenly swung upward with force. Tang Mi used his strength to grab the descending rescue rope, then began climbing with all her might.

At the same time, the rope continued to rise, but the strong sea wind caused it to sway. Tang Mi’s body, hanging on the rope, swayed like a kite in the wild wind. She suppressed her fear, anxiously looking down below. Thankfully, Arthur was holding onto the end of the rope and was looking up at her, smiling.

His smile was clear and brilliant, reminding her of the starry sky on the terrace of a hotel in Country Z, the brilliant sunshine in a small church, and the bright blue sky over a Mediterranean town. “Give me 35 millimeters of love, and I’ll give you the world.” The vow echoed in her mind over and over, as though the paradise of happiness was just within reach.

Yes, her happiness was beneath her feet, just a pull away. They would escape this sea of death and the dark waves forever, then soar freely.

Tang Mi held back the nausea and fear from being tossed in the air, stretching out one arm toward the man below (W//RS//HU), trembling but incredibly determined.

Arthur reached out a hand toward her. The warmth of their fingers was about to meet, like two fireflies in the dark—small, yet when they touched, they sparked a flame that would dim even life itself.

In a daze, Tang Mi even saw images of the two of them carrying a tripod, holding a camera, and smiling while watching the sunrise and sunset in every corner of the world.

It was so beautiful!

With a gunshot, the entire sky seemed to shatter. The beautiful heaven before Tang Mi’s eyes was violently torn apart, scattering into countless streams of light that fell towards the dark sea. All the brilliance and splendor disappeared in the blink of an eye, including Arthur’s body, which suddenly fell.

“Arthur!” Tang Mi exclaimed, but before she could speak another word, the helicopter swayed a few times and then suddenly ascended, pulling her rope upward at an unbelievable speed.

Tang Mi stared helplessly, watching Arthur’s figure grow smaller and smaller, gradually turning into a black dot, sinking into the immense black waves, destroyed, and forever disappearing from her retina.

The surroundings suddenly grew quiet. She could hear no sounds and feel nothing, as if she had been hollowed out. Her insides were gone, leaving only her shell, suspended in the high air, drifting with the wind.

Eventually, she vaguely felt a tremendous force pulling her upward, and she found herself lying on cold metal.

But her eyes remained wide open, hollow. Countless glaring white lights fell from above, transforming into dizzying halos that landed on her eyelashes. In her eyes, waves of bone-chilling cold crushed every nerve, shattered every bone, and finally, darkness wiped away all her senses.

The first snow of winter fell hurriedly.

One year later, at a port in Northern Europe.

The snow this year was heavy. Flakes didn’t drift down but were whipped by the cold northern wind like blades, slashing against the ferry cabin’s glass.

Tang Mi looked out the window. The deep blue Baltic Sea swelled, becoming even brighter under the thick white snow, shining like a gemstone. The ship’s railings reflected the snow’s light, creating a dazzling silver-white glare that hurt her eyes and nerves.

She lowered her lashes, and her temples throbbed in sharp, rhythmic pain, as if pierced by countless needles. It seemed her migraine had worsened. Tang Mi opened her handbag, took out a bottle of pills, and popped a few white tablets into her mouth, washing them down with a large gulp of mineral water. The cold liquid slid down her throat, and the pain subsided slightly.

Ever since returning from the Bering Sea a year ago, she had developed this ailment, which flared up from time to time, especially when she saw or heard things related to the ocean or ships.

“Kyle, look! The sea is so beautiful!” The girl sitting in front of her happily exclaimed. Her platinum blonde hair, dyed and short, was stylish and eye-catching, fluttering in front of Tang Mi, lively and vibrant against her quiet gaze.

“Darling, if you fall into the sea, you won’t think it’s beautiful anymore,” the boy beside her answered lazily.

“You big killjoy!” The girl shot an annoyed look at her boyfriend and then moodily took out her phone to take pictures of the outside.

The boy, noticing his girlfriend’s irritation and realizing his answer wasn’t very romantic, wrapped his arm around her shoulder and whispered something into her ear.

A few seconds later, the girl laughed again, her platinum hair fluttering even more fiercely, and the boy snatched the phone from her hand, raised it, and pressed the shutter button, capturing their smiling faces.

“Click!” The two radiant faces were frozen on the small LCD screen, and at that moment, Tang Mi’s breath seemed to freeze too.

In that instant, the hot sunlight in a small chapel in the jungle, the shimmering creek, and the handsome, cheerful smile of a man flashed through her mind like a strong beam of light, as if countless camera flashes had gone off. The bottle of mineral water slipped from her hand in disarray.

She had once taken photos like they did, carefree, capturing their sweetest smiles. But now, everything had become a reel of film in her memory, compressed into that 35mm frame, resting quietly in her pocket, silently facing the long and difficult years ahead.

Tang Mi pressed the photo in her coat pocket, feeling another sharp pain at the back of her head. Just then, the broadcast announced the arrival prompt, and she quickly grabbed her bag and left the cabin.

Stepping onto the dock, the ground was covered in snow. The cold wind and snowflakes swept in through her collar and sleeves, making her shiver. Tang Mi hurriedly tightened her coat. Her phone gave a crisp ring, signaling a new message. She pulled it out and saw two new messages on the screen. The first was a multimedia message. Opening it, she saw a photo of Richie and Jenny with their newborn baby. The couple was smiling like flowers, while the baby in the middle was crying loudly. The caption read, “Jessica, my little princess, a gift from God! Next month is Jessica’s baptism day. Jenny and I have decided to invite you to be her godmother. Please make sure to come.”

Tang Mi couldn’t help but smile for the first time in months. She never expected that Richie, the reckless and carefree man who seemed like the wind, would have his own child, not to mention a wife and a family. She quickly replied to the message: “This is wonderful! I will definitely come. Please give my regards to Jenny and Jessica.” Her heart, which had been frozen, finally felt a trace of warmth.

Her fingers slid across the screen, opening the second message, which was from the editor-in-chief of a magazine: “The polar bear photos have been received, very good! Please return to the magazine office soon to discuss image editing. Also, be ready for your interview with the new photography assistant.” Tang Mi put her phone back in her pocket and sighed. Since Richie and Jenny got married, she had lost the best photography assistant in the world. She had tried to find a replacement, but nothing felt quite right.

If it wasn’t for the girls with strong personalities who were more interested in their name’s position in the magazine than in the quality of the images, some even asking her to introduce them to masters of nude photography… It was also the inexperienced, careless young men who would only stare at her beautiful face and figure, but once they were close to wildlife, they would shy away and scream for help.

Finding a good assistant seemed even harder than finding a good husband, Tang Mi thought with a bitter smile, walking towards the taxi with the red “vacant” sign on top.

Her faint footprints were left in the vast snowy field, solitary and desolate, like a seagull alone on the shore, calling out a few mournful cries, then disappearing into the wind and snow.

That night, at the port hotel.

The bathtub was filled with water, and the fragrance of gardenia oil turned the colorless tap water into a pale green hue, gently rippling like a small, fragrant ocean.

Tang Mi closed her eyes and sank into the water.

The gentle flow of water caressed her tired body, and everything around her was peaceful and quiet. She felt like a baby floating in a mother’s womb, with nothing to think about, as the world outside was sealed off from the few square meters of space she occupied.

Would someone who sank to the bottom of the sea feel this strange sensation? She wondered, probably not.

The water in the Bering Sea was bone-chilling, and no light could ever reach its depths. The immense pressure would crush every organ, but the dead wouldn’t feel pain. They would be lonely though, lying alone at the cold, dark bottom of the sea, surrounded only by strange sea creatures and eerie water plants, with no one to offer warm kisses and embraces.

Would he think of her?

“Arthur,” she silently whispered his name, opening her eyes. Air slowly left her lungs, and tiny bubbles rose from her slightly parted lips, floating with a crystalline pale green hue, so beautiful, just like his eyes. His face slowly emerged before her, as if an invisible pen was sketching his thick eyebrows, the upward curve of his brow, his deep and well-shaped eyes, the sharp, high nose, and his pale lips curving into a smile as they looked at her.

In the rippling water, the face she longed for was so real it felt unreal.

“Tang,” she faintly heard the sound of her name being called. Her body seemed to be tightly held by his strong arms, warm and comforting.

He was holding her too tightly; her chest ached, but it didn’t matter. His embrace was like a thirst-quenching poison, soothing her barren, parched heart.

Her chest grew tighter, her nose and throat felt as if blocked by stones, and the pain was so intense it seemed like it would tear her apart, but Tang Mi stubbornly thought: “Just a little longer, just let me hold him a little longer.”

She didn’t want to return to the safe but empty world without him. She didn’t want to struggle in the memories of him every night, relying on medication to fall asleep, only to wake up from nightmares of losing him, letting the cold air fill her lungs, then turning into warm tears falling down her cheeks.

“Just a little longer,” her consciousness began to dissolve.

Suddenly, a loud shout pierced the chaos: “Grab the rope!” Those were the last words he had said to her.

Tang Mi suddenly woke up with a start, and her hand instinctively swiped downward. With a splash, she emerged from the bathtub, gasping for air as water poured out of her nose and throat. She leaned over the edge of the tub, coughing violently and gulping in large breaths, her chest feeling as though a large stone had been shoved inside. After a while, she realized what had just happened—she had almost drowned in the hotel’s bathtub.

The pain in the back of her head began again. She grabbed the medicine bottle from the small table, trembling as she poured out double the usual dose, swallowing it before grabbing the bottle of strong liquor and drinking it down in one go.

The alcohol burned as it went down her throat, filling her empty heart with a burning sensation that oddly made her feel a little better. After catching her breath, she left the bathtub and wrapped herself tightly in a towel.

Suddenly, a cheerful melody rang out, startling her. She stumbled to grab her phone and pressed the call button.

“Hello? Tang, is that you?” A deep voice with a familiar nasal tone came from the other end of the line, but Tang Mi couldn’t immediately recognize who it was.

“Yes, who is this?”

“It’s Schuman. Are you okay? I called you several times, but you didn’t answer.” Schuman’s voice sounded a bit worried.

Tang Mi could imagine the man on the other end of the phone frowning deeply, his brows thick and arched just like Arthur’s. Her chest tightened, and she gripped the phone, replying, “Sorry, I was in the bath. What’s the matter?”

Schuman paused for a moment before speaking, “Two days from now is Arthur’s death anniversary. I hope you can come to the town and visit his grave.”

“I…” Tang Mi hesitated. The words “death anniversary” felt like two sharp needles drilling into her temples, sending waves of spasms under her skin.

“You didn’t come to his funeral, and now you won’t even show up for his anniversary. Have you already forgotten him, or did you never love him at all?!” Schuman’s voice rose slightly, his anger striking her ears like an invisible wave, and the pain in her forehead tightened into a steel wire, pulling back and forth in her mind.

When Schuman, the usually composed and gentle man, got angry, he had a commanding authority that made one shiver. It was very much like Arthur. Tang Mi took a deep breath, shook her head, and tried to calm her voice as much as possible. “No. I will come, Schuman.” She might be able to refuse anyone else in the world, but she couldn’t refuse Shuman.

This is what I owe him, she thought.

“My private plane will come to pick you up tomorrow afternoon. Be ready,” Shuman said before hanging up.

The busy tone echoed strangely in the receiver, bouncing around in Tang Mi’s mind, aimless. Arthur’s death anniversary? She hadn’t realized until now that without even noticing, he had already passed from her…