A Lingering Summer

legend has it, centuries ago, the god of love plummeted to the mortal realm, his consciousness shattering into pieces, his time looping indefinitely—these were the kinds of tales suo mei liked to read. the summer after graduating from law school, suo mei lazes away at an old art studio, where a youth with rose-red eyes strikes up a conversation with her over a box of strawberries. she’d thought he was just a frivolous boy, but the truth seems much more complicated. “so, this time, will you choose to love her, or… kill her?”