Fleeting glimpses. Passing moments. Those were the only bits and pieces she had that remained of that man, Li. No, not Li. Hei. Like the shadows darting about in the corner of your eyes, he could only be observed indirectly, teasing and taunting you. As soon as you turned to look head-on, he would simply vanish with the wind. Gone without a trace except those brief peeks she managed to sneak when she feigned inattention, striving to sharpen the vague image in her peripherals and see beyond the fog, but only succeeding in making herself aware of how unreachable her goal was. At that time, she had thought it was torture. She figured that it was like tormenting a starving prisoner with a piece of meat just barely out of their grasp; if the meat hadn't been there at all, it would be less hurtful. But she was wrong. Now that he was gone, she only experienced loneliness and emptiness. Now all she had were these little shards of him, clasped so tightly to her that it made her chest ache with the sheer intensity.