“
Yaoyao reached out involuntarily as if by instinct and drew him to her in a tight embrace. His love for his mother reminded her of her loss. Holding him was a way to anchor herself. Perhaps he felt the same. The gap, the hole, the emptiness. It threatened to consume them. Only within his arms and her embrace could they find wholeness. In her imagination, he had leaned down to kiss her lips, but in his recollection, she had leapt into his arms, wrapping her legs around his body as she hungered for his warmth. There was a certain dichotomy to the act of giving and receiving, of loving and being loved. Even as they explored one another for the first time—an awkwardness here, an apology there—and through the giggles, laughter, and tears, they made one another complete.
”
”
J. Lam (Duel on Mount Taiyuan)