Cycle After Cycle

My boyfriend, You Ci, is a bona fide control freak-his possessiveness borders on the pathological.

I finally couldn’t take the torment anymore and broke up with him.

But what I got in return wasn’t the escalation I’d dreaded-no crazier power plays or forced manipulations.

Instead, I got the news of his death.

He killed himself.

Now I’ve been reborn, back to the moment before I broke up with him. I lower my eyes, watching as the man carefully lines the inside of the ankle shackle with a soft cloth.

I lift my foot and stomp it hard on his shoulder, a provocative smile tugging at my lips.

“Quit dawdling-are you going to do it or not?

“If you’ve really got what it takes, then go ahead-wear me out so bad I can’t even get out of bed, so I can’t go anywhere. Stop wasting time with all this fake tenderness.”