The courtroom was packed.
Wanyin hadn't expected that. She'd thought it would be a routine hearing, just lawyers and a judge.
But word had gotten out. Meilin's divorce had made the news and people connected the dots. The restraining order trial was public record.
Journalists sat in the back row. Advocates from women's organizations. Even some of the women from the shelter had come to show support.
Shen Jingwei sat at the defendant's table with his three lawyers. He looked calm, composed. Expensive suit, perfect hair. Every inch the successful businessman being persecuted by a vindictive ex.
When their eyes met, he didn't smile this time. Just stared. Cold. Assessing.
The judge called the court to order.
Wanyin's lawyer presented the evidence systematically. The texts, hundreds of them. The photos of the vandalized bookstore. Witness testimony from Mrs. Zhou, Sister Mei, Chen Li who'd flown in from Shanghai.
"This is a pattern of harassment and control," her lawyer argued. "Mr. Shen has used his resources to stalk and intimidate Miss Xu. He's violated the temporary restraining order. He's made threats against her livelihood and safety. This court must protect her."
Then it was the defense's turn.
Shen Jingwei's lead lawyer was smooth, persuasive.
"Your Honor, this case is about a woman scorned. Miss Xu and my client had a consensual relationship that ended badly. She has amnesia from an accident and has constructed a false narrative based on the stories of others, not her own memories. The texts she's presented? Most are expressions of concern, not threats. The vandalism? No evidence links it to my client. She's using the legal system to punish a man for ending a relationship."
It was a good argument. Wanyin could see some people in the gallery nodding.
Then they called her to the stand.
Her hands shook as she was sworn in. She could feel everyone watching. Judging.
Her own lawyer questioned her first. Gentle questions about the relationship, the control, the isolation. She answered honestly, voice steady despite her fear.
Then came cross-examination.
Shen Jingwei's lawyer approached with a sympathetic smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"Miss Xu, you claim you don't remember your relationship with my client. Is that correct?"
"I have some memories now. But when I first left the hospital, I remembered nothing from the past five years."
"Convenient. You don't remember the good parts of your relationship. The trips he took you on, the gifts, the love he showed you."
"I remember enough to know it wasn't love. It was control."
"But you can't actually remember the specifics, can you? You're relying on what others told you."
"I remember fragments. And my body remembers even when my mind doesn't. Trauma isn't just memory."
The lawyer's smile tightened. "Let's talk about the accident. You claim my client may have caused it. But there's no evidence of that, is there?"
"There were witnesses who saw another car force me off the road. Those reports disappeared."
"Or they never existed. You were driving in a rainstorm, you lost control. It was an accident. And in your injured, confused state, you've constructed this elaborate conspiracy theory."
"It's not a theory—"
"Miss Xu, isn't it true that you called my client hundreds of times over the course of your relationship? Begging him not to leave you?"
Wanyin's stomach dropped. "What?"
"Phone records show 847 calls from your number to his over four years. Many in the middle of the night. Many lasting hours. That doesn't sound like someone trying to escape. That sounds like someone desperate to hold on."
"He... he made me feel like I needed him. That's what abusers do—"
"Or it's what people in love do. They call each other. They communicate. Miss Xu, you've painted yourself as a victim but the evidence shows you were an active, willing participant in this relationship."
"I was manipulated—"
"You were an adult making choices. Choices you now regret. But that doesn't make my client an abuser. It makes you someone who made bad decisions and is now trying to blame someone else."
The cross-examination went on for two hours. Every answer she gave was twisted, reframed, made to look like evidence of instability rather than abuse.
By the time she stepped down, Wanyin was shaking. Tears running down her face.
She'd failed. Made herself look exactly how they wanted - emotional, unstable, unreliable.
Sister Mei hugged her during the recess. "You did fine. The truth came through."
"I fell apart up there."
"You showed emotion. That's human. Not weak."
But Wanyin felt weak. Felt like that broken version of herself who'd believed she couldn't survive without Shen Jingwei.