Chapter 1

On his third night in Kenya, Hudson Riley sat under that old tree, gazing at the stars once again.

The humid, warm evening breeze carried the buzzing of mosquitoes. It made the strands of hair on her forehead flutter slightly. But she paid no attention to it. Instead, she kept her head raised, gazing at the starry sky above her. The sky was a beautiful sapphire blue, like velvet that had been smoothed out. Thousands of stars were embedded in it, shining brightly yet also carrying a hint of melancholy, just like the thoughts hidden deep in her heart.

Three years have passed.

From the time she fled in a hurry, to now, working as a volunteer in this strange land, she thought she had buried her past deep enough, deep enough that she might forget it herself. But only on such quiet nights, when she sheds all her disguises, those memories, deliberately buried away, surge back like tides, leaving her unable to breathe.

By day, she’s what the volunteers call a “tough woman” – capable of killing any reptiles that try to crawl into the tents with one hand, willing to teach children to read under the scorching sun in adobe houses, and ready to carry medical supplies across mountains to reach remote villages. Her face always wears a gentle yet determined smile, as if no difficulty could ever defeat her.

A few days ago, the new Chinese girl who had just arrived witnessed how she calmly crushed a cockroach the size of a palm. Her eyes lit up with admiration, and everyone around her flocked around her, talking non-stop in praise of her. Hudson Riley looked at the girl’s rosy cheeks and teased her, “When you’ve been here for three years, you won’t just be able to take baths with cockroaches. Even if monkeys try to break into your window in the middle of the night, you’ll be able to shoo them away without batting an eye—as long as you can get enough clean water to bathe with, of course.”

The little girl’s eyes widened in surprise. Then she brought up the key point: “Sister Hudson Riley, you haven’t been home for three years. Don’t you miss your parents?”

Hudson Riley’s smile faded slightly. Pretending to be artistic, he imitated Daiyu’s gesture of burying flowers and said softly, “Where there’s a heart, there’s a home.”

The little girl immediately applauded weakly, her eyes filled with admiration. But only Hudson Riley knew how much heart-wrenching longing lay behind those seemingly casual words.

She missed home, her mother’s sharp yet loving nagging, her father’s clumsy but considerate care. Most of all, she missed the person she once thought she would spend her life with.

When she first arrived, she would wake up in terror from her dreams almost every day. In the dreams, she was still lying in her bed at home, bathed in sunlight. From outside the door, her mother would shout, “You silly girl, get up already! If you keep sleeping, you’ll turn into a pig!” Her father would cough lightly and give her a subtle wink. And then, someone would wrap their arms around her from behind and whisper in her ear, “Sleep a little more. I’ll keep the bad things away from you.”

But every time she opened her eyes, all she saw was the cold tent ceiling and the tears still on her face. The feeling of falling from heaven to hell was almost overwhelming. Countless nights, she wanted to buy a plane ticket and go back home, to give up all her pride, to beg him to stay, to ask her parents for forgiveness.

Brody Payne once told her, “The pain from a wound becomes numb over time, and once a scar forms, the pain goes away forever. Remember, the strength you have now was built with the blood and tears of the past.”

Later on, she really dreamed very little. Even when she woke up from dreams occasionally, feeling melancholic, she would force herself to laugh it off. She couldn’t give up, nor could she let down the courage that had driven her to come here.

As night deepened and the stars faded behind the clouds, a sense of exhaustion overcame her. Hudson Riley leaned against a tree trunk and slowly closed her eyes. In her drowsiness, she felt as though she was floating in a warm ocean. In the distance, there was a golden glow, and she felt completely enveloped in tenderness. It was a feeling of being cherished and protected, something she hadn’t experienced in three years. A tear rolled down her cheek. In her dream, she smiled again, for the first time in ages, without any defenses.

Not far away, behind a tree, Thomas had been standing there for quite some time.

This white young man from the local area had been deeply attracted to this Eastern girl ever since he saw Hudson Riley arriving at the volunteer camp three years ago, carrying her suitcase with a confused and depressed expression on her face. He watched her grow from fragile to strong, saw her silently endure all the hardships, and noticed how she gave her kindness to the children while keeping herself tightly wrapped inside.

He knew that she liked green, because it was the color of hope. He knew that she liked to wrap herself up like a zongzi while sleeping, because she felt extremely insecure. He knew that she came to rest under this tree every night, because only then could she find a little peace.

He never dared to get close to her. All he wanted was to protect her from afar, like guarding a precious treasure. But tonight, she dropped all her defenses. The sad yet happy smile on her face completely shattered the defenses in his heart.

Thomas tiptoed over to her, making sure she was sound asleep before carefully sitting down and gently hugging her. The girl in his arms was so light, her breathing regular. With each breath, it seemed like she was touching his heartstrings. He couldn’t resist reaching out to touch her smooth cheeks. Seeing the faint smile on her lips, he lost control of himself. He lowered his head and kissed her cold lips.

A sudden touch on her lips jolted Hudson Riley out of her dream. Her body trembled slightly. When she opened her eyes, she saw Thomas’s panicked face. He looked like a child who had done something wrong, fumbling with his hands and head, unable to speak, with ears red as if they might bleed.

Seeing him like that, the pent-up resentment and bitterness in Hudson Riley’s heart suddenly vanished. She couldn’t help but laugh.