Ha Jin’s “Flame” explores the story of a couple, Nimei and Hsu, who were once in love; however, their ill-fated relationship soon becomes full of revenge and Hsu seeks revenge on Nimei. Early on in the short story, things are going well in their relationship and the couple meets each other in secret. But then, Nimei’s mother tells Nimei that she wants her to marry Jiang Bing, whom she ultimately does end up marrying. Nimei tries to urge her mother that she is not interested in marrying Jiang because she is in love with Hsu, but her mother does not approve of him and ultimately, Nimei is forced to give in to her mother’s wishes because of her refusal to listen and she tells Hsu the sad news. Although Nimei tries to explain to Hsu that she cannot defy her mother’s wishes, he becomes angry with her and asserts “I hate you! I’ll get my revenge” (Jin 130). This desire for revenge proves tragic for Nimei and the relationship and the author writes that even having been married to Jiang Bing for sixteen years, Nimei still thought of Hsu often. The fact that those were Hsu’s last words to her still devastates Nimei and one of the most heartbreaking parts of this story for me was when Hsu sends Nimei a letter telling her that he wants to see her again when in reality, this was once again a part of his revenge and he had likely never intended to visit her in the first place.