Kindness was weakness, and weakness was something the world crushed without hesitation.
And yet… this time, that cold reasoning didn't settle as easily as it should have.
For a brief moment, something unfamiliar lingered in her chest. Not guilt or regret—just a faint hesitation that she couldn't immediately dismiss.
It was fleeting. But it was there.
Seeing Xiao Mu's silence, Chu Jing pressed her lips together slightly. It wasn't obvious at first glance, but the faint tremble at the corner of her mouth gave it away. Her fingers tightened unconsciously against the cold railing behind her.
'Was I… wrong?'
The thought came quietly, without accusation, without anger. Just a soft, aching doubt.
For a moment, neither of them spoke. The distance between them wasn't physical—it was something far more subtle, something that couldn't be bridged with a single step forward.
Then, just as that silence began to settle into something heavier—
"Sister Jing…"
Xiao Mu spoke.
