Chapter Three – “Don’t Touch the Box Unless You Want to Hear My Heart Rate”

3:04 p.m. Tuesday.

The rehearsal-room AC has officially given up.

The ceiling light hums like a mosquito trapped inside a glass.

Cold Opening, Warm Key

Lin (spinning the copper key around her thumb)

…Still no verdict?

A-Zhe (leaning against the doorframe, two paper cups)

Waiting for you to flip the table.

Lin (takes one, doesn't look up)

Flipping tables takes energy. Energy I don't have.

A-Zhe

So you hand the key to Gu Xingye instead? His résumé's so clean it squeaks. Clean enough to break your own rules?

Lin

"Rules are for people who've never been bored."

Plastic Allies Crash the Scene

Su Nian (latte in one hand, smile in the other)

"Lin-jie, trial results soon?""I flunked, but thanks for the shot."

Lin

"Thanks you? Then why were you in HR at 8:17 p.m. last night snooping my calendar?"

Su Nian (smile freezes)

"I was… streamlining my workflow."

A-Zhe (flips phone, hallway cam screenshot)

"Seventeen minutes outside the door. Workflow looked a lot like stakeout."

Lin:

"One question, public stage. Trip him and he's out. Miss and you're gone. Make it hurt."

Public Interrogation, Private Memory

Gu walks in, shirt the colour of storm clouds, sleeves already rolled to the elbow.

Su Nian (voice sharp)

"Résumé says Central Academy, 2015. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 Name's not on the list. Fabrication?"

Room goes still.

Gu (opens gallery, scrolls)

2013. Ten years old, cameo stage. Poster in the back: "Guest Performer Lin Wanzhao."

Power cut mid-show. She kept dancing in the dark. No one clapped. Just me.

Three minutes.

Lin's heart does a small somersault she refuses to acknowledge.

Gu:

"Records are accurate. I just don't do nostalgia press releases."

----

4. Empty Studio, Only Two Heartbeats

Lights half-off, AC still on strike.

Lin (key spinning faster)

"What do you actually want?"

Gu (stacking props)

"To be your assistant. Or whatever job lets me watch the real show."

Lin

"Real show's rated R. Viewers might melt.

Gu

"I brought SPF 100 sincerity."

Lin

"Sincerity expires fast in this heat."

Gu

"Then I'll reapply every hour."

----

5. Thunder That Never Left

Gu (voice low, almost embarrassed)

"2013, after the blackout, you hid in the prop room. I found you shaking. You said the thunder was still inside.

I said I'd stay until it stopped. I'm still waiting.

Lin (fingers white around the key)

"…How do you know that?"

Gu:

"Because I was the echo. Same lightning strike, same hospital. They called it "memory resonance." They unplugged the study, but the Wi-Fi never died."

Lin:

"The jinshou isn't mine, it's… ours?

Gu:

"Shared trauma, shared playlist.

Lin:

"You chased me for ten years to finish a group project?"

Gu:

"To finish the apology I never gave."

----

6. Hallway Eavesdropper

A-Zhe (leaning against the corridor wall, earbuds hanging loose)

(quiet, to himself)

Some walls fall quietly. Some just pretend to stand.

He slips away, footsteps softer than guilt.

----

7. Elevator Contract

Lin (inside, finger hovering between B1 and 1)

Tomorrow, 9 a.m. Report as assistant.

Don't mention the experiment.

Don't touch the chest.

Everything else—negotiable.

Gu (stepping in, door closing behind them)

And if I touch the chest?

Lin (finally meeting his eyes)

Then I'll touch you back.

The elevator dings. Copper key glints once in the fluorescent light.