"No, he probably wouldn't" he didn't say it to be hurtful, he said it to be truthful. He spoke softly. "But to be the people we are, to make the hard choices we did, we had to kill that person first. Neither the young bubbly Nie Huaisang nor the diligent, yet hopeful Meng Yao could have survived in our world."

It was best that they did this hard step early on if they truly did wish to live a peaceful coexistence.

"She would have loved you. Talked to you about poetry for hours." his mother would have loved the rapt attention that Huaisang would have given her as she told him stories. He was sure about that.

There was a sad look on his face as he gazed down at his tea, what love did he have that he hadn't betrayed. At the time he even told himself that what he did to Nie Mingjue was to protect himself and Huaisang from his unfettered rage.

"I loved you as well. Still, I find that I cannot hate you, even knowing that you were the cause of my fall. I know why you did it. I would have done the same.

You must have been lonely."