Dark blue clouds settled over the hazy atmosphere, the waning moon hung in the night sky as the last ray of sunlight disappeared from the horizon.
The curtains swayed gently in the evening sky as wind blew through the tall apartment complex. Yu Ning's lashes fluttered as she stared blankly at the tablet in her hands, an aching pain seeped through her chest as her eyes darted down the luminescent screen. She sat cross legged on the bed as another figure slept soundly beside her, his breathing even as he slept peacefully.
In front of her, rows of obscene images and videos flooded the tablets local cloud drive. "Zi Xuan's Baidu Cloud" sat at the corner of the screen. Her stylus trembled in her hands as she scrolled through the tablets drive, hundreds of intimate photos of different girls filled the screen. Some of the girls on the screen looked awfully young, and the poses they were in made her feel sick to her stomach.
Feeling as though her dinner she had earlier was about to be wretched out of her throat, she shut the tablet close, her breathing erratic as her gaze landed on the sleeping figure next to her.
"Zi Xuan."
Her voice was quiet, she sounded as if she was coaxing a little kid.
"Zi Xuan!" She said a little louder, nudging him awake. Her voice more strained this time round.
He sat up almost immediately, in a dazed state, asking her what was wrong. Yu Ning tossed the tablet to him, "Open it," she said coldly, her right leg now hanging from the bed, as if she was ready to dart out of the room.
Zi Xuan, still muddle headed, flipped open the tablet, his gaze landed on the contents of his own Baidu Drive. The room was quiet for a few seconds, the only sound that could be heard were the cars driving down the highway amiss the howling wind.
"It's not what it seems like-", Zi Xuan started as he reached out to grab Yu Ning's arm as she dodged his grip.
"Don't touch me, " Yu Ning exasperated. Her tone was filled with disgust and hatred, but her eyes were already tinged red, betraying the tough front she was trying to muster.
A wave of guilt flooded Zi Xuan's body as he scrambled to find an excuse, his upper body was bare and his trousers were in disarray as if hastily put on. He sat up reaching out to hold Yu Ning's left arm again, however she stood up from the bed. She stood rigidly, hatred seething from her eyes. Her brows furrowed as a pained look swept her face.
"How is that not what it looks like?" she snapped. Her eyes pinned on the dazed man in-front of her. She paused for a moment, collecting her thoughts as tears threatened to fall from the corners of her eyes. "Two years. Two years I put up with your shit, you chased me and begged me to give you a chance-"
The tears had long fell from her face before she realised, trickling onto the floor as she screamed at him.
"You do know that this is illegal right? Some of these girls look like fucking kids? What the fuck is wrong with you?" Her voice was hoarse from yelling and her words became incoherent as she listed all the nonsense she had put up with over the years.
Zi Xuan listened to her rant on, trying to justify himself but he was harshly cut off.
"This is sick. I don't even know if these girls know that they have been filmed."
The man in front of her paled, as he stuttered, "You're not going to call the police are you?"
Her body stiffened, she could not recognize the person in front of her anymore. She let out a laugh, but the expression in her eyes were far from happy.
"We're done. You're sick in the head."
Packing up her bag that was thrown on the floor, she gathered all her make-up and items on the study table. Zi Xuan sat on his bed, staring at the space that she had occupied previously, his brows furrowed.
Seeing his pathetic figure unmoving, Yu Ning left the room and headed for the main door. Just as she reached the door, an elderly woman nimbly walked out from the kitchen, calling out to her in a soft voice.
"Yu Ning? What happened?" the elderly woman's voice croaked. Tears streamed down Yu Ning's face as she hastily tried to dry it with her sleeve. Her eyes not meeting the elderly lady in-front of her.
"I'm sorry for causing a scene," she choked out and darted out the door.
~
Below the apartment complex, Yu Ning sat on the bench, the tear stains had just started to dry when her phone buzzed. Once. Twice.
[Yay! We have located your driver, they will arrive in 9 minutes!]
Then another two notifications popped up.
[Shu Hua: Yu Ning, what's wrong? I'm sorry I missed your call earlier, I was in a group project meeting.]
[Song Yan: Shu Hua texted me to ask if you were okay? What happened?]
Yu Ning stared blankly at her notifications before typing. Her phone screen glowed under the dim lighting, by the the time she had calmed down the sky had already turned dark. She glanced at the digits at the corner of her phone, the clock has just turned to half past nine.
Soft sounds of crickets could be heard amongst the tall bushes and grass near her. Occasionally a car would pass the roundabout drop-off point that she sat by. She had noticed a couple of instances where the people alighting from the cars would sneak a glance at her.
Her makeup had been smudged and her mascara and eyeliner stained both sides of her cheeks. While not looking awfully hideous just yet, she definitely seemed to be in distress, furiously typing on her phone as she sniffled.
[Yu Ning: I found illegally downloaded leaks of other girls on his phone-]
She typed then deleted the string of messages.
[Yu Ning: I can't believe he would be such a disgusting-]
Was she really surprised by his actions?
Deleting the paragraph again, Yu Ning paused. She didn't want her friends to find out about all the atrocious things Zi Xuan had done. The things he made her do...
She hadn't told them about any of these things before, pretending as if everything was okay when her friends asked her about her relationship. If she mentioned the cause of the break-up, she would eventually have to tell them about everything that had happened throughout the relationship. She did not want to burden her friends with her issues - she was the type that would hold things in until she would break, and even then, she would rather be buried with her own grievances than involve anyone else.
She blamed herself for all the things that had happened. The Baidu Drive was just the tip of the ice berg that caused her to finally pick her dignity up and leave the relationship.
Just a month ago, she had found out that Zi Xuan was cheating on her with an "online friend" that he had met, the girl had told him that she would treat him better than Yu Ning could, that she was just an overbearing girlfriend.
They had an ugly fight about this, causing Zi Xuan's grandfather to rush into the bedroom, preventing the fight from escalating. In the end, she still decided to stay in the relationship, naively thinking that Zi Xuan would change and that she truly was not being a good girlfriend. That this was all she could ever deserve.
Yu Ning closed her eyes as she leaned against the concrete wall.
She had just turned 19 that spring, and Zi Xuan was her very first boyfriend. They had met nearly two years prior when Yu Ning was in her rebellious phase. A friend had suggested getting tattoos at a tattoo parlor ran by a senior of hers. Zi Xuan happened to be the tattooist recommended to them.
A memory flickered in her mind, a cheerful young man showing her around the tattoo studio. His clear eyes and friendly disposition made her feel like she was safe with him. The initial excitement she felt getting her first tattoo, feeling that no one could control her. That she would never be controlled again.
That naivety of feeling invincible in the moment, was her biggest mistake.
~
[Yu Ning: I broke up with Zi Xuan.]
She had to tell her friends what happened eventually.
A black electric vehicle pulled into the roundabout, grabbing her bag, Yu Ning moved to the car listlessly.
The car ride was silent, as she watched the streetlights blur from the window seat. Her long black hair swayed in the wind as the cool autumn air blew through the partially winded down window. Her red eyes drifted to the city lights around her. Any dull memories she had were drowned out by the sound of cars passing by as they drove into the night.
For the first time, in a long time, she felt that the city air seemed clean.