dawn.
The next morning while I was still sound asleep, I suddenly felt someone plant a light kiss on my forehead in my dream.
I woke up with a start.
But what I saw when I opened my eyes was a familiar chin and Adam’s apple.
The scent enveloping me from above was Ryan’s favorite cedar fragrance, along with a faint, unfamiliar hint of lemon.
I had almost forgotten, Ryan still knew the passcode to my front door.
Seeing that I was awake, Ryan simply moved lower, chuckling as he tried to kiss my lips.
Thurriedly turned my head to avoid it.
I pushed him away and retreated to the other side of the bed.
Ryan was stunned for a moment, then laughed at me:
“Why so shy now? Hmm?”
I didn’t say anything, just pulled the covers over my head.
<
“Mia, you’ve gotten bold, huh? You didn’t even say goodnight to me last night, and you dared to turn off your phone and go to sleep.
“Now you’re hiding from me?”
He deftly slipped under my covers.
Before I could react, he had wrapped me in his arms.
“Be good, how many times have I told you not to skip breakfast.
“I went for a 30–minute run specially to get you those crab roe buns you love. I queued for ages.
“Do you want to get up and eat now, or do you want to… be eaten first…
His breath was very close to me, and his hands started roaming
Fully awake now, I struggled desperately.
But at 53“, I was no match for a 62” man.
I really couldn’t understand what he was thinking. He already had Claire, why was he still messing with me?
After struggling hard for a while, I was panting heavily. I hadn’t broken free, but was held even tighter.
What are you t
throwing a tantrum about now?
“Are you angry? Just because I didn’t take you to the party last night? Such a trivial thing?”
I didn’t say anything.
He buried his face in the crook of my neck, laughing out loud.
*Let me guess, your good friend Lily tattled to you?
“It was just a game, is that worth being jealous over?
are you still like before, getting all sulky whenever I get a little close to other girls.
I was furious beyond words, with no idea where to even begin,
Remembering what I learned during freshman orientation, I suddenly raised my knee and kicked him between the legs, then quickly ran off the bed while he was in pain.
Ryan gritted his teeth, his face turning red.
Thurriedly threw on a shirt over my pajamas and rushed to the living room.
I didn’t want to be in the same room as him, especially not my bedroom.
Not long after, Ryan also came out, looking both angry and helpless.
After a long while, he seemed to suddenly remember something and casually asked:
“By the way, you took the pill yesterday, right?”
“Don’t cause any trouble. We can’t explain it to our parents.
Ryan walked to the dining table and picked up a soy milk, handing it to me.
“Be good, eat somethlen hat.
I didn’t say anything, nor did I take it.
Ryan’s hand holding the soy milk hovered in the air for a long time before he finally lost patience.
“What exactly is the matter?
“Mia, even if you’re throwing a tantrum, there should be a reason and a limit, right?”
I coldly replied:
“Im not worthy.”
Ryan got angry too, slamming the soy milk down hard on the coffee table
He used too much force.
“What do you mean?
The
plastic cup cracked and all the soy milk instantly spilled onto the carpet.
“Who do you think you are, Mia?
“We just slept together once by mutual consent, and now you want to control me? Don’t you know how suffocating that is?
His tone was unprecedentedly fierce.
In an instant, tears streamed down my face without any buildup.
Yesterday’s humiliation and grievances all came rushing back.
Ryan seemed unprepared for my sudden intense crying and was at a loss for what to do.
He apologized regretfully.
Ims
sorry, I drank too much last night. I spoke impulsively just now
Ryan crouched down beside me as he spoke, reaching out to wipe away my tears, but I dodged him again.
He was stunned, his hand frozen in midair.
Just as he was about to continue comforting me, his phone suddenly rang.
He glanced at it once, his expression changing drastically. He immediately got up to leave.
“I have an urgent matter to attend to. Calm down by yourself first.
“We’re in college now. You can’t always act like a child. Who else could put up with that in the future?”
7
Less than half an hour after he left, Lily sent me a screenshot.
It was Claire’s social media post.
[Claire: Just said I was hungry, and a loving breakfast magically appeared! Feels like my crush and I are moving towards each other-
The photo showed packaging identical to the crab roe buns on my dining table.
I didn’t reply.
I just silently wiped away my tears and crouched down to carefully clean up the soy
soy milk
Ryan had spilled.
After trying for a long time, I sadly discovered that the stain had seeped deep into the wool carpet and couldn’t be removed no matter what.
<
In a fit of anger, I simply threw out the entire carpet.
It was the one Ryan and his parents had carefully chosen and carried back for me after an entire afternoon of shopping during their trip to Nepal anyway.
While I was at it, I gathered up all of Ryan’s things left at my place, as well as all the big and small gifts he had ever given me
I even collected d all our photos the
our photos together,
It took me all day to pack everything up and throw it away.
I guess he wouldn’t want these old things anymore either.
After Ryan left that day, there was no news from him for several days in a row.
I suppose things were going well with the school beauty.
Or maybe he was waiting for me to give in first.
In the past, I had always been the one to make up first after every cold war, without exception.
But this time I didn’t reach out to him.
There was no need to reach out anymore.
I blocked his SnapChat and phone number, changed my home’s door passcode, and deleted all my social media accounts.
After doing all this, I called my parents who were away on business trips.
I told them I wanted to visit my aunt in America during the summer break.
My plan was to spend the summer there, then go straight down south with Lily to start college when the break was over,
Except for Lily, no one else knew I had applied to a school in Florida.
This plan should perfectly avoid any chance of running into Ryan.
Mam still teased me on the phone, “Oh my, are you and Ryan going on vacation together?”
I made up an excuse to deny it, not wanting to explain too much.
I just told her I wanted to spend time with my aunt and grandmother,
I begged Dad to buy me a ticket on the soonest flight. I was planning to fly out that very night.
As I was leaving, I unfortunately ran into Ryan’s mom at the entrance of our building.
She warmly greeted me:
