After the Love Faded, He Pnicked

Leo was like a beam of light that forced its way into my life. He lighted up my entire world.

After spending day and day with him by my side, I could not help but fall in love with him. This was not unusual because people who had been in the cold for a long time would always want to stay close to the warmth.

So, when Leo confessed his love for me, I could not help but cry tears of joy and agreed without any hesitation.

Unfortunately, the deep love between the two young people faded over time to the point we were barely able to stand the sight of each other.

I rubbed my temples and surfed on my phone. I wanted to look at the weather forecast to check when the rain would stop.

Unexpectedly, I stumbled upon Evelyn's Instagram post, which she had uploaded a minute ago.

In the photo, Leo was wearing a pink apron. It was vastly different than his usually cold demeanor. The man was holding a bow filled with steaming millet porridge.

Then Evelyn gave the photo a caption, "If you meet a caring man like this, marry him."

I laughed bitterly. After all these years, I did not know he could cook. Back when Leo had just started his business and we had to live in a cramped rental unit, Leo almost blew up the unit just because he tried to cook stir-fried pork with green pepper.

That night, with soot on his face, he sheepishly apologized while picking the barely edible pieces out for me. “I’m sorry. I wanted to cook something nice for you since you’ve been working so hard to help me find clients. I didn’t mean to make things worse.”

At that time, I was so touched with his sincerity, but afraid he would hurt himself if he tried to cook again, I banned him from the kitchen and took over the meal preparation.

Yet, without my knowledge, he practiced cooking just for Evelyn.

Within minutes, Evelyn's Instagram post became the top trending topic among our colleagues in the company. Many of the commenters offered their best wishes, "May you two be together forever."

I couldn’t help but chuckle at her childish games. She had tried provoking me like this more times than I could count and she always used the same cheap tricks.

Without a care in the world, I clicked on the comment section and typed my own comment, "It's time. I wish you two eternal happiness and many children."

In a second after I posted my comment, Leo blew up my phone with messages. He wrote, "Julie don't be so sarcastic. Evelyn was just joking when she posted it. Take down your comment! She is crying because of it."

Message after message popped up on my phone. I could almost picture him typing angrily the message with a gloomy expression.

Leo had always been a calm and composed man. He rarely revealed his emotions.

“Steady and reliable” was practically synonymous with him. That was what I thought about him until the day I watched him lose control. He beat up some thug who’d been stalking Evelyn.

No matter how much I tried to stop him, he wouldn’t relent until Evelyn called out his name, “Leo.” That single word pulled him back from the edge.

He hurriedly wiped the blood from his hands, then cradled Evelyn’s face as he gently comforted her and told her not to be afraid.

I had never seen that kind of tenderness from him. From the way they looked at each other, their love was loud and clear.

As the rain outside finally subsided, I realized that the young man who once looked at me with such devotion had gone.

I took a long sigh and resolutely blocked Leo on every platform.