Her entire eighteen years of life was built from cobbled-together pieces. Was that what he wanted to hear? She knew what she liked and disliked. She enjoyed slotting puzzles together; she was good at being an illusion for other people. She didn’t want to spend her life straitlaced, nor partaking in respectable society. Her favorite food was strawberries. Her least favorite color was orange. She had enough of a personality to make something that felt real, but when asked who she was and what she believed in, Hong Feiyi was only one part of a constructed picture, split again and again for
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