But the next morning, Bella woke to find Quentin gone. He'd left a note, his rather ugly handwriting spelling out a blunt confession of how shocked he'd been by her real face the night before. He couldn't accept how she looked.
"So there's no need to meet again," he concluded.
Bella read the words through tears, finding it almost laughable.
That last embrace had been nothing more than lust overwhelming him, his body desperate for release. And those "I love you"s—just the senseless roaring of a beast driven by desire.
Once the lust cooled, he reverted to being an ordinary man.
She should have known. After all, last night, he'd made sure she never saw his eyes.
Bella let out a heavy sigh and sat before the mirror.
She'd been planning to have breakfast with him this morning, to tell him the truth.
Under her mask, Bella was wearing a second A-Mask Series 7. The acne-covered face it displayed was purchased from a gag expression shop—not an official version, and therefore pricier. Few people used it.
If a man truly loved her for her inner self, she would remove this second layer and reveal her true face.
Her real face wasn't exactly cute, nor was it seductive—plain and unremarkable, but nowhere near as ghastly as a face covered in acne. Her coworkers had even called her fresh-faced.
The reason she hadn't shown her actual face first was twofold: one, to test whether a man truly didn't judge by appearance. If he could only love beauty, she'd lose him easily, just as she'd lost her hairdresser boyfriend. Two, she feared direct rejection of her real face. But if a man could accept a face as hideous as one covered in festering acne, then surely he could accept her ordinary one.
It was only after enduring that homewrecker's mockery that she'd made this decision.
Bella still remembered asking her first boyfriend, with the fervent imprudence of youth: "If I were disfigured, would you still love me?"
It took her a long time to learn that human beings can't withstand such tests.
5
Bella no longer expected to find a man who'd value her inner self over her appearance.
Her new date was named Kyle—single-lidded eyes that tilted up slightly at the corners, paired with a Korean idol sticker expression that gave him a certain charm.
Bella proposed up front that neither of them remove their masks. Kyle agreed without hesitation.
They watched movies, went shopping, bickered and joked like a normal couple for a month, and only then went to bed.
Kyle was leaner than Quentin, his skin smoother...
Why think of an ex at a time like this? Bella scolded herself, then rested her chin on Kyle's shoulder.
Kyle's chin was propped on her shoulder in the same position, and she could feel the mask's texture against her skin.
They held each other tight, yet never kissed.
This arrangement lasted a long time. Kyle never once asked to see Bella's real face. He guarded the agreement she'd proposed with unwavering loyalty.
But inexplicably, Bella found herself growing curious about him.
Human curiosity was a strange thing—deeply rooted in the soul. Even when you tried to suppress it, you couldn't resist its pull.
But then, wasn't it precisely this curiosity that had driven technology to its current state?
Bella's mind wandered.
"What are you thinking about?" After they made love, Kyle pulled Bella into his arms. His hands roamed restlessly, teasing her, seemingly wanting another round.
"I... I want to see what you look like..." She hesitated, then said it.
"Didn't we agree neither of us would take off our masks?"
"Um... okay..." Remembering she'd proposed that rule, Bella felt a twinge of embarrassment.
Kyle rolled over, pinning her down, and said with a hint of roguishness: "You made the rule. If you want to break it, show me your face first."
"I'm... really ugly." Bella touched the two ear loops of her masks.
"How ugly could you be?" Kyle gazed at her.
She averted his eyes.
Kyle shifted off her body, leaned against the headboard, and looked at some indeterminate spot with a mild gaze. "Actually, I've already prepared myself. After all this time, you never once wanted to see my face, and I guessed... forgive me for being blunt... I figured you probably weren't very good-looking."
Bella frowned, looking at him confusedly.
"That's okay. I don't mind at all." He smiled faintly. "I like being with you. I like the movies you recommend. I like talking with you about everything under the sun, and I like making love to you. I don't care what you look like."
He turned to face her, sincere: "Looks can be changed with surgery, or made extraordinary with a mask. But your inner self—that's not something you can easily achieve. I like you for who you are inside. Please believe me."
Bella noticed that the warmth in his eyes was genuine. His words were sincere, too.
His tone wasn't pressuring her to remove her mask—he was saying it didn't matter either way.
And he wasn't spouting this under the influence of lust, as Quentin had. He looked perfectly calm.
Bella studied him for a long time. She almost believed him. Not completely, but almost.
"Can you really accept me?" she asked.
"Really." He smiled serenely. It didn't look fake.
Bella removed her mask, revealing the acne-covered layer beneath. The red, pus-ready sores made Kyle freeze for a moment.
Bella tried to put the mask back on, but he stopped her.
He came over and held her tightly.
"It's okay," he said.
Bella was afraid this was just a polite lie, so she pressed again: "Can you truly accept me? You won't leave?"
"I won't leave you. I swear on heaven." He held her even tighter.
Bella cried. She could feel how real and warm Kyle's embrace was.
"Darling, you don't have to wear a mask around me anymore." He looked her in the face, making a promise no one had ever made to her. "Of course, if you want to, we can keep them on."
Bella nodded and wiped her tears.
"If you don't mind, look at me," Kyle said. His Korean-idol face still wore its faint, captivating smile, reminding Bella inexplicably of a spring breeze from years ago.
She nodded.
He removed his mask, revealing a face equally covered in acne—even worse than Bella's. His mouth wasn't bad-looking on its own, but paired with his eyes, it looked somehow off.
Bella stared at him in shock, her body trembling slightly.
"We're both lonely people. Thank goodness we found each other." He looked at Bella with genuine emotion. His dreadful face curved into expressions as he spoke.
Are you kidding me?! Bella's heart reeled. Was he also testing whether she judged by appearance?
Stunned, she reached out involuntarily and touched the back of his neck. She didn't feel the A-Mask Series 7 ear loop!
That was his real face!
But Kyle thought she was touching his face out of emotion, and even believed her trembling hands were a sign of deep feeling.
They were so close. One lean forward and he could kiss her cheek. He decided to kiss her—since the polluted air had destroyed his face, he hadn't kissed a woman in a very long time.
But just as he tilted toward her, Bella shoved him away violently.
Kyle lay frozen on the bed.
"What's wrong?" he asked in confusion.
"Let's end it here." Bella scrambled to get dressed.
She'd thought she set the bar low—just find a man who genuinely cared. But she'd been wrong.
In the end, the one who cared about appearances was herself!
She couldn't accept the man in front of her! She needed to escape!
"Why?!" Kyle grabbed her arm. "You can't accept how I look?"
"Y-yes!" Bella shook off his hand. She didn't want to spend another second in this room. His rotting face looked so disgusting! She never wanted to see it again.
"Can't I just keep the mask on?" Kyle pleaded desperately.
"I'm leaving." Bella's voice went cold. The thought of his face beneath the mask made her stomach churn. That wasn't a sticker—those were his actual features, his real flesh and skin...
"What fucking right do you have to look down on me?!" Kyle suddenly grabbed her hair and dragged her back onto the bed.
Bella looked at him in terror.
"You're a fucking ugly freak yourself! What gives you the right to judge me?! Tell me!" He was a raging demon, pinning her down, his eyes blazing with fury.
Bella struggled to push him off, but though he was lean, his strength in that moment was astonishing.
"I'm not like you!" she screamed, slapping him across the face in the chaos.
That slap stripped Kyle of all reason. He punched Bella in the face.
Then he felt an instant of cold on the back of his hand—the unmistakable chill of an A-Mask surface.
He stared at her in confused shock, then plunged his hand into her hair and yanked off her second mask, taking a few strands of hair with it.
Bella shrieked in pain. Her real face—ordinary, but clean—now wore a ferocious expression.
"Hah. So you were testing me?" Kyle sneered, clamping down on her flailing hands. "You want a man to love you for your inner self, but you're the biggest superficial snob of them all! Don't you think that's absurd?!"
"Let go of me! Let me go!" Bella kept screaming.
Kyle ignored her. He loomed over her and kissed her forcefully on the lips.
Bella's mind reeled. Then she turned her head and gagged violently.
Kyle slapped her face again.
"You still have the nerve to be disgusted by me?!" he roared—the voice of a devil he'd kept suppressed for years. "You think being clean-faced gives you the right to look down on me?! You think I chose to be disfigured by the air?! You think I want to be ugly?!"
With one hand pinning both of hers, he sat on her legs, then reached for the nightstand where his bag sat and pulled out a fruit knife.
He'd had his first romance at fifteen. At sixteen, an allergic reaction to the polluted air destroyed his face, and his girlfriend left him. Because of his ugliness, he was mocked and bullied by classmates. From that point on, he kept the knife close—anyone who called him a monster got to see it brandished at them.
"What are you doing?!" Bella looked at him in horror, thrashing desperately.
Kyle punched her again. The blow left her dizzy, on the verge of consciousness.
"I'm going to make you a real ugly freak like me!" he snarled.
Bella felt a cold sting on her face, then a searing pain, but she had no strength left to fight. She blacked out.
[News]
"At 1:00 AM Beijing time today, A-Mask held a product launch event, unveiling the new smart mask A-Mask Series 8. The event drew over 480 million viewers worldwide. This upgrade makes the A-Mask Series 8 the best smart mask in history. The standout feature is a game-changing full-fusion technology that delivers a devastating blow to the cosmetic surgery industry. The Series 8 eliminates ear loops entirely, fusing seamlessly with your face. But removal is now even easier! Equipped with a fingerprint system—users simply double-tap the mask surface to remove it. And the beloved sticker feature gets another upgrade, now with official gag expressions to fill your life with fun. With Halloween approaching, sales are sure to boom!"
6
Before seeing the A-Mask Series 8 launch, Bella had undergone cosmetic surgery. Though some traces of her disfigurement remained, she'd already spent nearly all her savings and couldn't afford further repairs.
By now, regret was too late—just as rescuing this world's air seemed beyond the power of even the most dedicated scientists.
The air grew worse, and A-Mask sales grew better.
The new mask was tempting, and Bella wanted one, but she could no longer afford it.
She'd sold off all her old masks, keeping only the very first A-Mask 1.
Wearing that basic model, Bella walked the streets and watched the endless stream of people greeting one another with sticker expressions. She felt a flicker of envy but quickly snuffed it out.
A-Mask stood for Anti-smog Face Mask. Anti-smog face mask.
If it could keep out the smog, that was enough.
Bella thought this, standing outside her office building, gazing up at the sky.
She couldn't see blue sky, nor could she make out the shape of the towering skyscraper above.
She remembered there used to be a massive electronic billboard on top of that building, displaying A-Mask ads every time they launched a new product.
But probably not anymore, she thought.
Because when people looked up, they could see nothing at all.