Winter in the North arrived early and aggressive. On the campus of Tsinghua University, the golden ginkgo leaves had long been swept away, replaced by a biting wind that cut through even the heaviest coats.

I had been here for three months. I thought leaving the suffocating atmosphere of my home in Nanshi would bring total freedom, but every time I walked to the lab and passed couples huddling together against the cold, a sense of "Lu Shaodong’s absence" followed me like a systematic error in a physics experiment—constant and impossible to ignore.

Just as Lu had predicted, taking off the black-rimmed glasses and appearing on a national broadcast meant I couldn't exactly "stay invisible" as I had hoped.

"Ling Yin, I grabbed a hot Americano for you."

As I stepped out of the lecture hall for Quantum Mechanics, a tall, sunny-looking guy blocked my path. He was the Vice President of the Student Council and a star student in the Physics department.

"Thank you, but I don't need it," I said, polite but distant, as I moved around him. My fingers subconsciously brushed the tiny atomic pendant around my neck.

At that moment, the phone in my pocket vibrated violently. It was a video call request.

I walked under a withered tree to answer. Immediately, the screen filled with Lu Shaodong’s face—infuriatingly handsome, but currently wearing an expression that screamed 'I am extremely annoyed.' He appeared to be sitting in a cramped auto shop in Nanshi; the background was a mess of engine parts and the smell of motor oil seemed to waft through the screen.

"Who was the guy with the coffee?" He cocked an eyebrow, his voice dripping with a jealousy I could taste across the miles. "Must be nice and warm at Tsinghua, Owl. Your face looks pretty flushed to me."

"It’s the wind, Lu Shaodong," I couldn't help but laugh. His sharp tongue was the only cure for my loneliness. "He was just trying to discuss Schrödinger’s cat with me."

"Discuss my ass," Lu snorted, twirling a wrench in his hand, his eyes fixed intensely on me. "Tell him the cat already has an owner. And that owner has a very bad temper and knows how to fix race cars."

"How is the legal stuff going?" I asked, my heart aching a little at the sight of the dark oil under his fingernails.

"The judge says we’re close. Once the assets are liquidated, I'm coming to Beijing to find you." He paused, his gaze softening into something breathtakingly tender. "Ling Yin, has it started snowing there yet?"

"Not yet."

"Good. I want to be with you for the first snow."

Late that night, the first snow of Beijing finally arrived. Massive flakes drifted down, transforming the campus into a silver-draped fairytale.

I was huddled under my duvet, about to send him a photo of the view, when my phone buzzed.

[Downstairs.]

Those two words made my heart skip a beat.

I didn't even stop to button my coat correctly. I ran down the stairs like a madwoman. Through the swirling white flakes, I saw a figure in a black leather jacket, his shoulders covered in a thick layer of white.

Lu Shaodong was standing under the dormitory streetlamp, his lips blue from the cold, but he was smiling like a child who had just inherited the world.

"Are you insane? Nanshi is over a thousand kilometers away!" I crashed into him, throwing my arms around his neck. He smelled of cold winter air, but his embrace was like a furnace.

"Twenty hours on a hard-seat train," he whispered, holding me so tight I could barely breathe. "I told you. I’m here for the first snow. I handed the paperwork to the lawyers. I couldn't wait anymore, Yin."

He reached into his jacket and pulled out a warm paper bag. Inside was a slightly crushed blueberry muffin.

"From that shop in Nanshi. I kept it against my chest the whole way. It’s probably a bit cold, but—"

I didn't let him finish. I stood on my toes and kissed him in the middle of the midnight snow. Every ounce of long-distance heartache, every second of waiting, melted away in a kiss that tasted like blueberries and frozen starlight.

"Lu Shaodong, you’re a lunatic," I murmured against his lips.

"For you? I can get much crazier." He cupped the back of my head, deepening the kiss.

The streetlamp cast our shadow long against the white ground. In that moment, the spatial displacement dropped to zero. Our entanglement had officially transcended distance.