Darwin

“She closed her eyes. Tears fell from her eyelashes. Every last fiber in my body felt as if it were being twisted and wrung. I’d wrenched our relationship to the breaking point and watched it split apart. I know I made you suffer. I’ll never cut you off again. I spit out the words that were caught in my throat. She let out a laugh, and then, as if she’d finally been torn open, a cry of pain. To paint a picture of our embrace, I’d almost have to use her blood and guts.”
― Qiu Miaojin, Notes of a Crocodile

“I don’t care how badly you treat me. There’s no way in the world I could hate you. I’m fine meeting like this, I just want to stay in the same space as you. When I think about how I won’t see you here in a week, I tear up even while I walk.”
― Choi Eunyoung, Shoko's Smile: Stories

“It was clear from that moment on, we’d never be equals. How could we, with me under the table, scrambling to summon a different me, the one she would worship and put on a pedestal? No way was I coming out.”
― Qiu Miaojin, Notes of a Crocodile

“No one is clean. Living makes you dirty.”
― Min Jin Lee, Pachinko