Locked in Autumn’s Memories

“My number is still the same, it’s never changed. I was afraid that if you ever wanted to contact me, you wouldn’t be able to find me.”

I couldn’t help pulling the corner of my lips.

Who would’ve thought the person who once cut off all contact herself, the one who wished never to see me again, alive or dead, was now pretending to be so devoted and regretful?

“No thanks. I’m not interested in getting entangled with a married woman.”

I pushed hard on the pedals and the bike carried me away along the long path covered in golden ginkgo leaves.

The wheels rolled over the fallen leaves, making soft rustling sounds.

This path used to be so familiar to me.

When I was young, I loved coming here with my sister for morning runs and bike rides.

She was better than me at everything, except running.

Whenever I slowed down on purpose to wait for her, she would mess up my hair and laugh at how annoyed I got.

She once said that even when we were old and gray, the two of us would still walk this path together, supporting each other and basking in the sun.

But now… I was already two years older than she ever got to be.

I rode all the way back to the old apartment complex where my sister used to live. Ever since the accident, the place had been empty.

When I opened the rusty security door, a musty smell rushed out.

In the living room hung a photo of the four of us, covered in dust.

My sister and I grew up depending on each other.

When I was sixteen, Vivienne entered our lives.

She said my sister had saved her from drowning and given her a second life. From then on, she was my sister’s best friend.

She and I… were like natural enemies. We argued over the smallest things, faces red, tempers flaring.

Until after our senior-year graduation trip, when a mudslide struck the resort area.

Classmates were picked up by their parents one after another, but my sister was away on a business trip and couldn’t return in time.

The rushing mud buried the hotel in an instant. I was pinned under a collapsed beam, silently waiting for death.

But Vivienne fought her way back against the flow, digging with her bare hands from dawn until nightfall.

“Dorian, don’t be scared, I’m here!”

She carried me on her back and walked the whole night.

Only when she finally got me to the hospital did I notice that she had lost both of her shoes.

Her feet were covered in pale, water-soaked wounds, overlapping each other.

Her always-pretty manicured nails were broken from the roots, bloody and torn.

“Dummy, why are you crying? As long as you’re safe, it’s worth it even if I end up crippled!”

In that moment, even the spring breeze couldn’t compare to the smile in her eyes.

On New Year’s Eve, the three of us were making dumplings when Lucian showed up, looking a complete mess.

He was the son of a neighbor from our hometown. His family had gone bankrupt and he was hiding everywhere because of debt collectors.

Because my sister remembered how his family once gave her a bowl of hot porridge when she was young, she didn’t hesitate to take responsibility for him.

She quit her stable, respectable job and started doing business.

She drank so much at social events that she had stomach bleeding and she hovered at the edge of life and death several times.

In two years, my sister lost thirty pounds. She helped Lucian pay off all his debts and in return, won his love.

We toasted together, promising to stay close and love each other for a lifetime, never to be separated.

I was lost in thought when I heard a key turning outside.

The door opened and Lucian and Vivienne were suddenly standing there.

I had forgotten—we each had a copy of the key to this place.

“Vivienne said you came back, so we guessed you’d be here. You should’ve told us you were returning. We could’ve picked you up.”

He stepped forward as if to pat my shoulder, but I avoided him.

“This place isn’t suitable to live in. Come back with us. The housekeeper is on leave and there’s an empty room available.”

I lowered my gaze and saw that their house was here in this city.

I had only come back to see my sister. Later, I was going to meet my future mother-in-law for the first time.

I held out my hand. “Keys!”

This house had been bought by my sister and it was under my name.