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墨書 Inktalez
Yuriko called her husband, asking him to pick her up after work on his way home.
Perhaps because he was busy, Yuriko's husband did not answer immediately; it took a while before he picked up the phone.
"How ridiculous! How could there be a delay in responding to my call? This is unacceptable!" Yuriko teased her husband, pretending to be angry.
Meanwhile, Hui Nai had lost interest in their playful banter.
Her attention was completely captured by the word "call" that Yuriko had used.
It felt as if that word held some special significance.
But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't recall what it was.
That evening, after finishing her bath, Hui Nai dried her wet hair with a towel and walked out of the bathroom, sitting down by the bed.
Naturally, her gaze fell upon the telephone on the bedside table.
"How could there be a delay in responding to my call?" The joke from earlier that day resurfaced in her mind.
And then there was the inscription that Qing He had written on the front page of "Notre-Dame de Paris":
"If she calls me, I would willingly offer my life and soul at any time."
If it were Hui Nai's call, then Qing He would never have delayed. So that night, after everything happened, when Hui Nai called Qing He—essentially summoning him—he arrived immediately.
Hui Nai suddenly sat up straight, a flicker of astonishment crossing her eyes.
It wasn't like that; it wasn't like that at all. The memories she had recalled were still false. Only now did the truth come back to her.
On the day Ryoji had his accident, things had actually unfolded like this.
Lying in bed, utterly despairing, Hui Nai felt as if life had lost all meaning. If she truly broke up with Ryoji, she would have nothing left. The world had lost all reasons for her to hold on.
Once the thought of wanting to die emerged, there came an impulse to act on it.
That medication—it actually belonged to Hui Nai.
She had begun to show signs of depression, and the doctor prescribed a sedative to alleviate her sudden emotional outbursts. However, if the dosage became too high, it could lead to sudden heart failure, which could be fatal. Therefore, it was strictly regulated. By a chance mistake from the doctor, she received an excess amount of the medication.
It wasn't a lot, but it was enough to be lethal.
This was the true source of the drug.
She poured all the pills into a cup of water. If she took it, death would come swiftly. At least she could quietly watch how Ryoji lived happily afterward.
In the darkness, she quietly reminisced about many past events. Each memory was so nostalgic, moving, and tearful. Yet the person who had accompanied her through all this was no longer willing to continue.
Hui Nai surprisingly fell asleep.
She was awakened by Ryoji's struggles.
Having drunk too much, Ryoji felt very thirsty. There was no water left in the kitchen, but he remembered there was some in the bedroom, so he came looking for a drink. When he turned on the light, he saw a cup of water on the bedside table and drank it without thinking.
A tragedy unfolded just like that. Hui Nai watched as Ryoji's eyes gradually lost their luster and his strength faded away. Death finally arrived, but not for Hui Nai; it was Ryoji who succumbed.
No matter how Hui Nai cried out, wept, or embraced Ryoji, he could never wake up again.
In her despair, Hui Nai's first thought was of Qing He. She immediately called him and asked him to come over.
Though he arrived quickly, all Qing He could do was confirm Ryoji's death. Watching Hui Nai faint from crying multiple times must have filled Qing He with a pain akin to being cut by knives.
When Hui Nai finally woke up, she resembled a withered tree—her eyes hollow and her face ashen.
“Qing He, please take me to the police station. I killed Ryoji and must take responsibility. I want to accompany him on this path; I can't let him be alone.”
Qing He felt that Hui Nai had been so deeply affected that she had lost her mind: “Ryoji's death seems entirely normal; no one would suspect you. Now that Ryoji is dead, don't you want to live well in his place?”
“But my entire life will be condemned by guilt and loneliness. Rather than that, I would prefer to accompany Ryoji sooner. Without him, I have no reason to live.”
Wooden yet resolute, Hui Nai appeared as if she had already died—leaving only an empty shell for others to mourn.
“I won't let that happen. I can’t bear to send you to prison and end your life myself. Please forget about this; pretend it never happened. Let's start over.”
“I can't do that.” Hui Nai stood up. “If you don’t want to help, then don’t force yourself. I will call the police myself.” She reached for the telephone.
Without giving her a chance to react, Qing He urgently used the pendant on his phone to hypnotize her, causing Hui Nai to forget all memories of that day.
The next morning, when Hui Nai woke up, Ryoji's lifeless body lay beside her. Yet, she had already forgotten everything that had happened the day before, erasing all traces of the events.
If forgetting could truly be this complete, then perhaps it was for the best. She could consider Ryoji's death as nothing more than a tragic loss, without seeking any truth. At least this way, Qing He would remain alive.
In fact, during her first hypnosis session at Qing He's clinic, Hui Nai had inexplicably fallen asleep; this was actually due to Qing He's deep hypnosis.
In that moment, he quietly implanted a false memory. This became the so-called truth that Hui Nai later recounted.
It was merely the best way he could think of to protect Hui Nai.
He had long been prepared to sacrifice himself for her.
Only that confession was genuine; it was likely what Qing He had always wanted to say to Hui Nai but never found the courage to express. Taking this opportunity to make a final confession didn’t seem too excessive. Thus, he bitterly added that part.
During the second hypnosis session, the sudden ringing of the phone was nothing more than a pre-set alarm designed to trigger at that moment. It served as a cue to stimulate the revival of the false memory in Hui Nai's mind while she was in a semi-hypnotic state.
Afterward, when Hui Nai believed the sudden memories were real and thought that Qing He was the one who had killed Ryoji, everything seemed to point toward a clear truth. However, in order to avoid raising any suspicions, Qing He chose death and kept silent about everything, all for Hui Nai's happiness.
Thus, on one quiet night, amidst silence and darkness, a woman's heart-wrenching cries echoed through the air.
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