Cold Tears

It was a late autumn night, and the weather was cold and dry. Avery worked overtime before returning home. Wrapped in a heavy cashmere coat, she walked all the way into the run-down neighborhood.

In the distance, a beige-white figure could be seen standing under the dim lights of the buildings. Flames flickered between his fingers.

Avery stopped in her tracks and calmly stared at him from a few steps away. This man whom she thought she would never see again in her life. “Louis?” A trace of astonishment flashed through her clear eyes.

Louis looked at her with a faint smile on his lips, then threw the tip of the cigarette on the ground and extinguished it. “Avery, how have you been recent?”

"Not bad. What about you? How are you doing?” Avery's voice was warm and gentle as if she was greeting an old friend that she hadn't seen for many years. No one could imagine that they had once been an unmarried couple.

Louis didn't reply. In a few steps, he arrived in front of her and said in a low