- 6.
I woke up already in the afternoon.
My phone had a pile of unread messages. Half were Julian’s rambling shares – either a cloud in the sky or a stray dog he’d met. He always wanted to share every beautiful thing with me. Though, lately, he’d been out early and back late, acting all mysterious. He was probably cooking up some mischief.
The other half of the messages were from Alex.
Ignoring his hysterical accusations, I simply blocked him.
Back in my hometown, this place held too many of my childhood memories. Following the familiar route, I entered an unassuming bookstore. An old woman rocked on a chair by the door, fanning herself, her eyes casually glancing at me without really looking.
I smiled and approached, pulling out the old liquor I’d prepared earlier. The old woman snorted, waving her fan to signal me to go in quickly. Hiding in the furthest corner amidst stacks of books, randomly picking up a book to read, it was a rare freedom from my student days.
I stood on my toes, struggling to reach a book on the top shelf, when a hand reached over my head and precisely took it down.
“Than-” Before I could finish my thanks, I saw the person’s face. “Are you stalking me?”
“Not stalking. I’ve been waiting here all along.”
Alex’s voice held a hint of nostalgia. “In school, whenever you were upset, you liked to hide here. I always pretended not to know, but actually, I would hide in a corner and quietly stay with you.”
My gaze remained unwavering as Alex kept talking, lost in his own words.
“Chloe, when I found myself interested in another woman, perhaps I was even more afraid than you. But in my rigid life, where every step was
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planned, to have such a flamboyant and passionate person appear–it was hard not to be captivated. I hated my father’s infidelity, which made my mother cry all day, yet I ended up becoming just like my father.”
“When I received your call in London, I thought, this time, when I go back, I definitely won’t hurt you again. But fate had other plans, and in the face of life and death, I still missed you”
“You’ve said your piece. Now please leave. I have no interest in participating in this grand, self–pitying act of ‘deep affection‘.”
Alex’s feigned sincerity truly annoyed me. He was the one who hid Isabelle’s photo, and he was the one who signed the divorce papers, yet he insisted on acting like the injured party. A man with wavering affections was the true culprit behind all this tragedy.
Seeing my indifference, Alex’s eyes instantly welled up. “Chloe, I was wrong. I can’t stand seeing you in another man’s arms. I admit you won. Whether it was an act to trick me, or if you’ve been with other men, I don’t care about any of it, as long as you come back to me!”
“Ha, what about Isabelle then?”
“There are many ways to repay a debt of gratitude. At our wedding, I rejected Isabelle, but this time, if you reach out to me, I will unhesitatingly take your hand and run with you to the ends of the earth.”
Alex’s voice was seductive, like the whisper of a devil. “Don’t you want revenge?”
I slowly leaned closer to Alex, watching his sudden awkwardness. I stopped by his ear and scoffed. “Alex, you think way too highly of yourself.”
