Before I Forget

Fang Qi froze inside the elevator car.

His back pressed against the cold metal wall.

On his neck... he could still feel that warm breath.

Found... who...?

This crazy woman who called him "Aqi"...

Who... was she?!

"Click—"

A faint mechanical clicking sound interrupted his thoughts.

The elevator... stopped.

It was stuck in mid-air.

The car jolted violently, the overhead lights flickered twice, and finally stabilized.

The doors didn't open. The elevator... was stuck between the 12th and 13th floors.

His throat went dry as he slowly turned his neck...

And looked at the silver head still buried in the crook of his neck.

"Did you... do this?"

His voice was tight.

The silver-haired girl gave a soft "Mm," her voice soft and gentle, with a hint of a nasal tone.

She didn't look up, but instead buried her face deeper into his neck, almost affectionately.

Fang Qi could feel her warm breath passing through the fabric, brushing against his skin with every exhale.

"It's Aqi's scent..."

She murmured softly, her voice as tender as if she were whispering sweet nothings.

"It smells so good."

Her arms were wrapped around his waist, the pressure gentle but carrying a stubbornness that allowed no escape.

"I knew Aqi would find me."

She finally raised her head, her heterochromatic eyes shining astonishingly bright at this close distance!

The data stream in her crimson right eye... flowed slowly and quietly like a galaxy.

"You found me so quickly... my Aqi is always so smart."

As she spoke, she gently rubbed her cheek against his chin.

The movement was so gentle, like the brush of a feather.

Fang Qi's mind was still a chaotic mess, but this time...

There was something else.

A bittersweet, warm emotion.

And the Liguang in front of him...

This tender gaze, this soft-spoken tone, this almost devout attachment...

His heart slowly clenched!

"You..."

Fang Qi spoke with difficulty, his throat feeling dry.

"Are you... from the previous loop...?"

"Mm."

The silver-haired girl nodded gently, her eyes curving into a tender arc, a soft smile rising at the corners of her lips.

"I am the Liguang who stayed by Aqi's side for eighty-two years, and left while holding Aqi's hand..."

She spoke very calmly, as if stating the most natural fact in the world.

But Fang Qi's heart violently contracted.

Those blurry fragments of dreams suddenly became a little clearer!

The aged hands clasped together on the hospital bed, the snow quietly falling outside the window, and that phrase as light as a sigh, "Don't make me wait too long"...

"But, that's not all."

Liguang moved a bit closer, her warm breath brushing past his lips, carrying a familiar sweet strawberry scent.

"The previous Liguang, the one from the loop before that, and the one before that... all the Liguangs are me."

She blinked, the data streams in her crimson eye flowing slowly.

"It's just that it took me a very, very long time to realize... they weren't 'others'. They were all 'me', waiting for Aqi."

"That dream was too long... so long that I remembered everything..."

Her tone was soft, but it carried an imperceptible tremble.

"I remembered that Aqi has actually reincarnated so many times, working so hard every time to stay with me, make me happy, and avoid my bad endings..."

"It's not Aqi's memories, but... memories that belong to me."

She looked up, her heterochromatic eyes rippling with a tender, watery light.

"My Aqi must have been very tired all this time, right?"

Fang Qi stared at her blankly, opening his mouth, but the words were stuck in his throat.

Tired?

It seemed... a little.

But mostly...

"It's okay."

Liguang softly interrupted his thoughts, her fingertips gently caressing his cheek with a tenderness that made him shiver.

"Now, Aqi has found me, and I have remembered. We can—"

She stopped mid-sentence.

Fang Qi clearly saw that her gentle heterochromatic eyes...

Suddenly became dazed for a moment.

Her amber left eye slightly unfocused, and the speed of the data streams flowing in her crimson eye... seemed to slow down a little.

The soft smile on Liguang's face also faded for a second.

She let go of her arms around Fang Qi, took a half-step back, and leaned her back gently against the other side of the elevator car wall.

Then, she raised her hand and gently pressed her fingertips against her temples.

"This won't do..."

She murmured to herself, her voice so soft it was almost inaudible.

"I can't forget just yet... at least... I need to meet Aqi's colleagues first..."

Fang Qi: "...?"

...Forget?

Forget what?

What was she forgetting?!

"Liguang," he reached out to hold her shoulders. "What exactly are you—"

"Aqi."

But Liguang looked up, her heterochromatic eyes refocusing, though something deep within them seemed to be quietly fading away.

Her smile was still gentle, but it carried a hint of... imperceptible urgency.

"We need to hurry."

She gently held Fang Qi's outstretched hand, her fingertips slightly cool.

"Before I forget, take me to meet your colleagues. Otherwise... it will be too late."

"What do you mean too late?!"

Fang Qi reversed his grip to hold her wrist, his strength unconsciously increasing.

"Explain clearly! What do you mean 'forget'? What is going on with you?"

Liguang was slightly stunned by his grip.

Then, she smiled softly.

That smile was so gentle it made one's heart ache, carrying a bit of helpless indulgence.

She raised her other hand, her fingertips gently smoothing out his furrowed brows.

"Don't worry, Aqi... listen to me."

Her voice was very light, as if comforting an anxious child.

"In the last loop, I hid all of 'my' memories, all of 'my' feelings, all the 'Liguangs'... inside Aqi's mind, and came back together with Aqi."

"But..."

She paused, her gaze softly looking into Fang Qi's eyes.

"This world... doesn't seem to allow such things."

Her fingertips slid from Fang Qi's brows to his temples, tapping gently.

"So, there is a restriction on my consciousness waking up... It requires me to be extremely, extremely emotional for those memories to slowly 'come back'."

At this point, her cheeks blushed slightly, and her voice became even softer.

"Just now at the police station, when Aqi said in front of that officer that he wanted to marry me... I was... really so happy."

"So happy that... I almost cried."

She lowered her eyelashes, the silver lashes casting tiny shadows under the light.

"But, too many memories flooded in all at once, and I couldn't... process them in time. I could only stay quiet and wait for them to sort themselves out."

Fang Qi was stunned as he listened.

So...

That doll state from earlier, with the standard smile and vacant gaze...

Was actually this crazy woman quietly and intently...

Receiving their eighty-two years of memories?

And then... she even found the time to smack away Gu Xi's hand and tear up Gu Xi's business card?

...You crazy woman, you really are...!

"And now?"

He immediately asked, though his voice unconsciously softened. "Have you... remembered everything now?"

"Mm, I remembered."

The silver-haired girl looked up, her gaze tenderly fixed on him:

"From Aqi's first time looping back, to the entire lifetime we spent together in the last loop, I... have remembered everything."

Her eyes were as soft as a spring lake:

"I remembered the way Aqi cried when he tripped as a child, how Aqi's hands shook so much he couldn't put on the ring when we got married, and the day Xingxing and Chenchen were born... Aqi held them, smiling like a fool."

As she spoke, her eyes grew slightly red:

"I remembered it all."

But then she gently shook her head, a faint trace of regret in her tone:

"But... this state of 'remembering' won't last for long."

Her slender fingers tightened slightly, firmly grasping Fang Qi's hand:

"...This time, it might be the last time."

Fang Qi's heart skipped a beat, his pupils shrinking: "The last... time?"

"Yes."

Liguang nodded gently, a faint sorrow flashing through her heterochromatic eyes:

"This world... is rejecting the memories I 'shouldn't have'."

"I can feel that this awakening... has exhausted all possibilities. Once I forget again, wanting to remember anew... will be almost impossible."

Her voice was very light, yet every word was clear:

"It's like... a door that can only be opened once."

Fang Qi's throat tightened: "Then... then you..."

But Liguang suddenly smiled again, a smile that was gentle and firm.

She raised her other hand, her fingertips lightly tapping against Fang Qi's chest over his heart:

"However... these memories will forever remain here with Aqi."

Her gaze gently fixed on him, her eyes filled with trust and devotion:

"I have given my everything—eighty-two years of companionship, all my feelings, all of 'Liguang'—to Aqi."

"They will stay safely and securely within Aqi's mind."

She paused, her voice as soft as if making a wish:

"So... even if I forget, Aqi will still remember."

"Aqi will remember that we were married, that we had children, that we grew old together, and remember... all of me."

Her fingertip gently drew a circle on Fang Qi's chest:

"I have placed my hopes... on Aqi."

Fang Qi felt his heart beating violently right beneath the tip of that slender finger.

"Maybe one day..."

Liguang said softly, her gaze gentle and expectant:

"When Aqi finds a real solution, when Aqi is strong enough... he can bring 'me' truly back."

"So that all these memories will no longer be Aqi's solitary treasure."

At this, she took a light breath, as if trying to suppress some emotion:

"But right now... we need to hurry."

Her speaking pace unconsciously quickened, that urgency finally seeping through her gentle facade:

"While I still remember, while I am still the 'complete Liguang'... take me to see your colleagues. I want everyone to know that I am Aqi's Liguang. The partner acknowledged by Aqi."

She let go of his hand and turned to press the elevator's control panel, her movements still gentle but carrying an unconcealable urgency:

"I want to... leave something behind."

"At least... Aqi once brought the 'complete me' here and declared it to everyone."

Her voice grew lower and lower, finally turning into a soft sigh:

"Otherwise, when I forget, I'll only be able to pretend to be a docile AI again, watching quietly, feeling a sour ache in my heart without knowing why..."

Fang Qi looked at her slender back, at the trace of urgency and sorrow on her gentle profile that she could barely hide...

His heart ached with a bitter soreness!

So... in the last loop, she had tried her absolute best, perhaps even risking complete erasure, to hide her memories within him...

Just for... this brief awakening?

No, not just that.

She had entrusted all her hopes, all of herself, to him.

So that one day, she could truly return.

"Liguang."

He called out to her.

The silver-haired girl did not turn around, her fingertips resting lightly on the elevator button: "Just a moment..."

"Liguang."

Fang Qi called out again, reaching out to gently grasp her wrist.

Liguang's movements paused.

She slowly turned around, her heterochromatic eyes meeting his gaze.

In those eyes, there was tenderness, reluctance, attachment...

And a shallow fear and anticipation.

Along with a deeply hidden... slightly morbid obsession.

"Aqi?"

She asked softly, her voice carrying a gentle probing.

Fang Qi took a deep breath, and then—gently pulled her into his arms.

His arms wrapped around her slender waist and back, holding her gently yet firmly in his embrace.

"There's no rush," he said, his voice low and hoarse but solemn.

He paused, speaking word by word:

"I will remember. I will remember it all."

Liguang trembled slightly in his arms.

Then, she relaxed, her arms wrapping around his back, her cheek resting gently against his chest.

"...Mhm," she replied softly, her voice carrying an indescribable sense of relief.

A few seconds later.

"Ding—"

The elevator suddenly vibrated slightly, and the overhead lights flickered.

Immediately after, the numbers on the floor display started jumping—jumping to "13", then "14", "15"...

The elevator had resumed operation.

Fang Qi released Liguang and looked down at her.

The silver-haired girl also looked up, her heterochromatic eyes gazing at him tenderly, a soft and contented smile curling her lips.

"Let's go, Aqi."

She took the initiative to hold his hand, her fingers gently interlocking with his.

"Take me... to see your colleagues."

She paused, her voice soft yet firm:

"While I still remember... that I am your Liguang."